Absolutely, craig. I felt snobbish to express myself as I did but it's part of me. I posted several times over the years, if I were king I wouldn't permit waterfowling without a dog. There's too much pursuing without respect for wild creatures. I've always responded to buddies' phone calls to bring the dog to "I know where it is but it isn't there." Not as a favour but a duty, pleased to do it.
There was enormous blowback here years ago when I said I had hunted in season with commercial market hunters and poachers who had a higher standard than most when it came to retrieving birds. They would never leave a wounded bird even if it meant putting off the skiff, spending the best gunning of the morning to get it, sometimes stripping off naked to make the retrieve.
These men were recognized as "best gunners" on our Eastern Shore. It was my privilege to deliver the eulogy for one of them, a neighbour. I mentioned the above because in totality of their existence---$2-a-pair for ducks in a fishing village of subsistence living, an orange for Christmas, bare feet to school in summer and gumboots in winter---they found an ethical balance.
Your point is a good one, craig. It's just that I'm disappointed in what I see of legal hunting today.
