RANDALL K
New member
I recently spoke with my dad to see how his elk hunt was going this year and he told me some disappointing news. That, coupled with something I experienced during last years (2001) season compelled me to, shall we say, get on my "soap-box" and express my extreme displeasure/annoyance of what I heard & saw
.
On opening morning my dad and brother heard 8 shots, not far away, in rapid succession , dad said he could tell by the sound that there were at least 3 bullet impacts. A few hours later they met a pair of hunters who were 'packing-out' the elk they'd harvested. They were the ones who'd done the shooting, they'd gotten into a herd of about 50 animals and had taken one. Continuing to hunt, my dad soon saw a dead elk in the distance.
After reaching it they found it'd been "gut (paunch)-shot," and had just, very recently, died. My brother decided to go ahead and claim possession of the dead elk and put his tag on it. While my brother started to clean "his" elk, my dad back-tracked the animal. It turns out it was part of the herd the others 2 hunters got into. He also found ANOTHER blood trail, which he followed for a distance. Although the blood loss seemed heavy at times, it eventually stopped, and he lost the trail among the other elk tracks, so he went back and finished helping my brother. Turns-out that when the other hunters saw the herd they just shot until something fell.
Last year, just after dark on opening day, I was coming off the mountain and saw a disturbing sight. About an hour before a hunter saw some elk feeding near the road, he'd harvested one, drug it down to the road, and gutted it right there in the parking spot. The really bad part of this is that this wasn't an "unimproved" or "back-country" mountain road, it was a paved and heavily used road about a mile from a mountain town, and the gut-pile was only about 25 ft from the road, where it could easily be seen by all. And, unfortunately, the scavengers didn't "remove" it for another 2 days, it wasn't gone until the fourth day of season.
On the second day, of that same season (the day after I saw the 'gut pile,') I came upon a couple of hikers. We spoke for a few minutes, they were a couple of non-hunters who were just out for the day. I informed them of the on-going season and the importance of "being-seen" when in the woods during this time. They also expressed their displeasure of the easy viewing of the 'gut-pile.'
There are many groups/individuals out there who are taking efforts to see our favorite activity abolished. Incidents like those above just adds support to their argument, they'll single-out such un-ethical practices and use them to paint a bad picture of ALL hunters. Unfortunately, these "anti" groups are gaining ground, in my home state of Colorado they've already managed to eliminate our spring bear season, and the use of leg-hold traps (which caused a very serious financial strain upon the families of a couple of fur trappers I know --even destroyed ones marriage), and I'm always reading of legislation challenging outdoorsmen in other states.
Our sport is under serious attack, and such a "lack of ethics" (as those above) only weakens our struggle. So, if you witness a fellow outdoors-person using bad or questionable ethics, stop them, if they give you flack, the local game-law enforcement officer will be very interested in the details of your situation. If you come upon an unethical act "after-the-fact," please take a few minutes to either correct it, or make it less noticeable. We must take these necessary steps to ensure our favorite sport, that is often taken for granted, remains; many won't miss it until if's gone, and then it's too late
.
Don't let the unethical practices of a few give us a... BAD NAME!!!
On opening morning my dad and brother heard 8 shots, not far away, in rapid succession , dad said he could tell by the sound that there were at least 3 bullet impacts. A few hours later they met a pair of hunters who were 'packing-out' the elk they'd harvested. They were the ones who'd done the shooting, they'd gotten into a herd of about 50 animals and had taken one. Continuing to hunt, my dad soon saw a dead elk in the distance.
After reaching it they found it'd been "gut (paunch)-shot," and had just, very recently, died. My brother decided to go ahead and claim possession of the dead elk and put his tag on it. While my brother started to clean "his" elk, my dad back-tracked the animal. It turns out it was part of the herd the others 2 hunters got into. He also found ANOTHER blood trail, which he followed for a distance. Although the blood loss seemed heavy at times, it eventually stopped, and he lost the trail among the other elk tracks, so he went back and finished helping my brother. Turns-out that when the other hunters saw the herd they just shot until something fell.
Last year, just after dark on opening day, I was coming off the mountain and saw a disturbing sight. About an hour before a hunter saw some elk feeding near the road, he'd harvested one, drug it down to the road, and gutted it right there in the parking spot. The really bad part of this is that this wasn't an "unimproved" or "back-country" mountain road, it was a paved and heavily used road about a mile from a mountain town, and the gut-pile was only about 25 ft from the road, where it could easily be seen by all. And, unfortunately, the scavengers didn't "remove" it for another 2 days, it wasn't gone until the fourth day of season.
On the second day, of that same season (the day after I saw the 'gut pile,') I came upon a couple of hikers. We spoke for a few minutes, they were a couple of non-hunters who were just out for the day. I informed them of the on-going season and the importance of "being-seen" when in the woods during this time. They also expressed their displeasure of the easy viewing of the 'gut-pile.'
There are many groups/individuals out there who are taking efforts to see our favorite activity abolished. Incidents like those above just adds support to their argument, they'll single-out such un-ethical practices and use them to paint a bad picture of ALL hunters. Unfortunately, these "anti" groups are gaining ground, in my home state of Colorado they've already managed to eliminate our spring bear season, and the use of leg-hold traps (which caused a very serious financial strain upon the families of a couple of fur trappers I know --even destroyed ones marriage), and I'm always reading of legislation challenging outdoorsmen in other states.
Our sport is under serious attack, and such a "lack of ethics" (as those above) only weakens our struggle. So, if you witness a fellow outdoors-person using bad or questionable ethics, stop them, if they give you flack, the local game-law enforcement officer will be very interested in the details of your situation. If you come upon an unethical act "after-the-fact," please take a few minutes to either correct it, or make it less noticeable. We must take these necessary steps to ensure our favorite sport, that is often taken for granted, remains; many won't miss it until if's gone, and then it's too late
Don't let the unethical practices of a few give us a... BAD NAME!!!
