My 2 cents. My bird hunting partner and I follow very strict self imposed rules and ethics in the field. They are the credo in which we go afield. we predominantly hunt Grouse and Woodcock
1. ground swatting. unless its to feed your family, no way. we dont need to hunt to eat.
2. if we down a bird we search with our dogs for 15-20 minutes usually. If we dont recover, we will move on and come back around later and work the spot again in hopes of recovery. and recovered or not, that bird is included towards the legal limit. with only 3 woodcock per day, that doesnt leave much!
3. if we shoot at a bird and it looks like a hit, and we dont recover it, we include it towards our daily limits. we hunt with dogs and in some of the covers we hunt, its pretty thick and even the dogs aren't 100% even if my Field bred Spring is about 98% good on finding birds down. His Spinone will mark and find but doesnt normally retrieve.
4. daily limits? we dont go for limits. we go for the experience of working the dogs. we eat what we kill but its not about numbers. I dont keep a tally of my birds or flushes or retrieves by my dog. Not interested in numbers.
5. hunting shows. I loathe them. The whole high fives, looking at the camera and the fist pumps and exaggerated visceral reactions to killing a big buck are too over the top for me. I dont see the respect for the animal. I know that when I kill a buck, its reflection time. I sit in awe of the animal and admire it for a bit. the "last bite" as practiced in some European countries is a fitting tribute to the animal. Save your hooting and hollering for the Football game.
6. shooting animals at long range. If thats your thing maybe. but from my 53 years of big game hunting experience ( I am 66); I dont see that many hunters who actually practice at those ranges. and most of them dont have range finders and guesstimate the range after they have killed what they killed. I have heard too many personal anecdotes from hunters about the deer they sht running, through the brush, 400 yards away. all bullshit. but if you can accurately hit the vitals of a deer at 500 yards, and shoot a caliber with sufficient energy to make a humane kill at that range, maybe but nor for me.
I think each hunter has to live with their decisions and their actions/conduct. I know what my ethics and standards are.
