HUNTERS ARE CONSERVATIONISTS... AREN’T THEY??? Part 2
I promised part 2 of what I consider a poacher…. here ya go! This is something that bothers the hell out of me, and I am sure that in my saying this, I might just ruffle some feathers, but that’s ok… my blog, my opinions…
You’ve pulled the trigger, released the arrow… now what? Obviously our primary goal as hunters is a fast, humane kill with the least amount of suffering possible. So you get on the blood trail, and hopefully you make a fast recovery of your kill and begin the process of cleaning and quartering your harvest.
But what if you don’t find the animal? This has happened to me twice in my 20 years of hunting. Both times on mule deer on our West Texas lease. Both times I followed blood until dark, then marked the spot, came back at first light to continue the search. Both times I cried. Both times I felt guilty. The first animal I backtracked to the point of impact after looking for a day and a half and found where my bullet struck a branch, which caused it to go off course and not hit where I was aiming. Both times I searched until we were no longer able to be on the land (it was a week long lease during muley season). When I lost the blood trail and went in circles from the last found blood, and still found nothing, I glassed from high spots. I put forth every possible effort to recover the deer, both times. You know what I did NOT do? Shoot another deer. I was allowed one mule deer on that lease per year. One. When I drew blood, I used my tag. Period, end of story. Whether I recovered the animal or not, I drew blood, and I must assume that I did kill it.
I have seen so many posts on social media and heard people say “I wounded one, but it wasn’t fatal, never found it, but look at the awesome one I shot the next week”. The worst I have heard, and it literally made my stomach turn, was that someone had “shot at” and “drew blood, but it wasn’t lung blood, they weren’t fatal shots” on THREE ELK before they harvested one… ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? You killed 4 elk with that one tag. Since you never saw the animal again, you assumed it wasn’t fatal? Animals are GREAT at hiding, at camouflaging themselves in the brush. Just because you didn’t find it does not mean it was a mere flesh wound, he stuck a band-aid on, and went on his merry way… that is NOT how it works. Maybe your shot wasn’t immediately fatal… maybe the bullet is still lodged somewhere in the gut region, festering, and that animal is suffering in hiding until it perishes. Maybe you just weakened it to the point that a predator takes him down, a wolf, mountain lion, etc… regardless, that is an animal that would not have been easy prey had it not been wounded.
Once you draw blood, you used your tag. On private land, the landowner will tell you this upfront. You draw blood, you just bought that animal, whether you recover it or not. This is yet another reason why you need to be SURE before you shoot… On public land, it is 100% up to YOU to be an ethical hunter and do the right thing.
Quotas are set scientifically based on many factors, such as a lands carrying capacity. If you shoot more than one animal on that tag, you are screwing up the data on the scientific end. YOU are giving the antis ammunition. YOU are causing potential decline in game animals. Don’t be that hunter…
Hunting season is in full swing - have fun, enjoy the wild, and good luck on your harvests. Shoot straight, and bring home that delicious dinner!
*I know I have pics of tracking and bloodtrails, but damned if I can find them now… so here’s some other harvest pics just for fun.
