Off Limit Game

[Blindstitch]

I see no problem with this: a lone fawn is coyote food in a short while, anyway. Better that someone eat it than the coyotes .....

The game department issued the antlerless tags because they wanted the population reduced: if they did not, they would not issue the tags.

jimbob86,

When you see a 50 pound fawn on a buck pole you might disagree. Usually shot in the face.

[Pahoo]

Many years ago when I started out this "Great-Adventure" called hunting, I thought it would really be a challenge to go to Africa and hunt the Big-Five. I think it's five. Later when I really thought about it, it didn't make much sense to "me". I don't eat cats so that cuts out two of then. I think it I shot a Rhino or Elephant, the skies would open up and I'd get struck down by a bolt of lightning. So that only leaves a Cape Buffalo and I'd be fine with that. Just have to make sure of a clean kill or I might not make it back home. ...

Be Safe !!!

[Geezerbiker]

Years ago I wouldn't have any interest in hunting big cats but the liberals pushed through California type hunting rules with no baiting or hunting with dogs.

Now they're over populated and the state has had to hire professional hunters to thin them out. Guess what, the pro hunter can use dogs and bait...

It's almost monthly that I hear of some school on lock down because of a cougar sighting... Now I consider cougar a shoot on sight animal.

Tony

[Cheapshooter]

Lions, and tigers, and bears oh my, lions, and tigers and bears!

Well, OK, bears I would.

[jimbob86]

jimbob86,

When you see a 50 pound fawn on a buck pole you might disagree.

Not likely. I'm not one to let anthropomorphism or misguided emotion outweigh reason.

Reason rules.

Usually shot in the face.

I'm of two minds on this: On the one hand, I'm not a fan of the headshot, as the target is tiny, tends to be moving at random times, and is surrounded in bone that is sloped at shallow angles over agood portion of it ....... so the margin of error is very slim, and if you jack it up even a little bit, you are likely to lose the animal ...... OTH, if done right, no meat is wasted at all.

[FrankenMauser]

No snappers here but from what I've heard they're a lot of trouble for a little meat. I'd pass unless one was a pest on my land.

I had an Alligator Snapper that lived in my backyard in Florida (estimated to be 35-50 years old). He was stolen (there's a healthy black market ), and replaced with a regular old snapping turtle.

I don't have to worry about it in Idaho; but even if I still lived in Florida, I'd leave them alone. Trapping and relocating works well enough most of the time. (And for the Alligator Snappers, you can almost always talk to a zoo that will take them if they can get a permit.)
And if relocation didn't work, I'd see about eliminating their food source to drive them out.

When you see a 50 pound fawn on a buck pole you might disagree. Usually shot in the face.

Sounds like the perfect shot, to me.
It's the only "good" place to shoot a fawn....

Where and what I hunt... a lone fawn is a dead fawn. Whether a hunter shoots it, a coyote kills it, or it can't feed itself... it's dead.
Why not fill a tag and make it a quick death?

[Scout]

I will only shoot it if I want to eat it.

[cougar gt-e]

Sasquatch. Way too tough and gamey.

[tahunua001]

I really don't think there is one I couldn't shoot. there are several that I have no desire to hunt however. wolves are too elusive for my liking, they are everywhere out here but they are so nocturnal that I really couldn't hunt for them short of night vision scope and suppressor(neither of which I currently own). same with cougars. I wouldn't be eating the meat and I primarily hunt for meat purposes so it's not worth it for me to hunt them. however I buy the idaho sportmans package every year because it includes hunting and fishing license, muzzle loader permit, salmon permit, steelhead permit, deer, elk, blackbear, cougar, and wolf tags so since I already have the tags I'll shoot them if I ever see them but I'm not going to go out of my way to find them. I hunt grouse regularly but there's such little waterfowl hunting area around that I don't hunt for them, I got my waterfowl stamp last year and never even used it.

[grubbylabs]

If its legal to shoot, its going to die. its either food, or one less pest. I have had to get creative with water fowl, but it gets eaten to.

Out where I work, even stray dogs are fare game, cats on the other hand get left alone. They eat rabbits and mice. If we had a population explosion of them, they would get thinned out, but never eradicated. And I hate cats as pets, but they are good tools.

[jimbob86]

Out where I work, even stray dogs are fare game, cats on the other hand get left alone. They eat rabbits and mice.

Feral cats eat quail and pheasants ...... which are hard enough to come by these days ......I don't even hunt pheasants anymore- don't see enough of them as it is ..... stray cats, OTH ..... lotsa them ......

[Doyle]

The Audubon Society estimates feral cats kill more than 2.4 BILLION wild birds every year in the US. Kill every one you see.

[Bella]

I used to live in a large city. A river ran through it. Along the river there were many miles of nature trails. Actually it was a nice place to explore.

I would go explore that area with my dog. When we first began going there there were cats everywhere, bit not much else as far as wildlife went.

One Spring coyotes started to move into the area. Two things happened.

The cat population went down and the bird population went up. Even quail covies were becoming common.

I spoke to a park ranger about this. He did say that the coyotes did away with the cats and that helped the wildlife return. I don't about you, but I find more pleasure in hearing songbirds and seeing covies of quail scurrying around then hearing feral cat mating calls or seeing the remains of their kills.

[grubbylabs]

We don't have what you would consider quality bird habitat, around us so the cat and bird interactions are not much of a concern.

[Model12Win]

Fox and wolves are about the only thing I wouldn't shoot either to eat or to get rid of a pest.

Brother Fox is my spirit animal, and Father Wolf is the noble king of the wilderness IMHO.

YMMV.

[Crazy Carl]

I will only shoot it if I want to eat it.

Same here (with the exception of vermin/pests), but in my case that means critters bobcat, cougar, bear, snapping turtles & raccoon are fair game. Hell, if the missus wouldn't freak out, I'd bag the groundhogs at the end of the road & cook 'em up.

I don't hunt birds or waterfowl, 'cos I'm a horrible wing-shooter (extremely cross-dominant) & don't like duck/goose. Doubt I'd shoot a fox, 'cos I can't think of a single good reason to, though coyotes are "shoot on sight" in my book, as are feral dogs & cats.

[Arizona Fusilier]

For the longest of times, I would not hunt dove. Symbol of peace, love, and all that jazz. Just didn't sound macho enough for my narrow-minded mindset. Besides, people who don't hunt anything else (at least in Arizona) will try their hand at dove......usually with a shot of tequila....with the attendant fratricide results.

Then I tried it. Some of the greatest, exciting, fast-moving, hard-hitting, challenging, just plain fun-loving bona-fide hunting experience anyone can have.

Oh....and they are kinda tasty, too.

[10-96]

I guess it's my own silly reasoning, but I wont normally hunt cottontails. There's not a lot of sport to it. I don't have a garden for them to goober up. And my biggest reason is if everything comes unhinged, I'd like to think I'd do my best to make table fare with rabbit before I would dishonor myself with (the theft of) shooting someone's cow or goat. May be false reasoning, but if I don't shoot them now- maybe more will be around if needed.

Mastodons. I can only think of two reasons not to shoot those. 1. I have no idea where to aim for best shot placement. 2. If I did manage to bring one down- nobody would believe me.

[Pathfinder45]

Interesting that some of us would shoot a coyote on sight, while others of us need a compelling reason before shooting the same animal, because we have seen that they were actually beneficial in our previous circumstances. I'm sure that too many coyotes would be a bad thing and I could shoot them. Now imagine a world without any coyotes. I think it's good to have some. So I won't shoot coyotes. Besides, when I camp out in wild places on a star and moon-lit night and hear their wild song, it makes me feel a certain way that the civilized world can't.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

since the thread is game animals, & I don't consider feral cats as game animals...


for me it's doves... at least in my area there isn't enough ( they don't migrate here ) don't have much meat on them anyway

[Gunplummer]

I can imagine (And remember) a world without coyotes. There were none in this area when I was growing up. I would not miss them if they were gone again.

[dayman]

I wouldn't shoot any canine, feline, or member of the weasel family without a compelling reason. I did hunt (unsuccessfully) one particular fox that kept eating my ducks for a couple winters, but I got sick of keeping ducks before I caught him. Honestly, I think it would have been a little anticlimactic and sad if I'd ever won our little battle of wits.

I enjoy hearing the coyotes at night, and will neither hunt them, nor allow any one else to hunt/trap them on my land.
We're overrun with turkeys in these parts, so anything that can kill more that 2 of them a year without breaking any laws is welcome company.

I'm in basically the same boat as many of the other posters. I really only kill things I intend to eat, or animals that are causing me undue harm. If I can build a better fence I generally try that first.

Nothing irritates me more than "hunters" who wander about killing whatever little critters they can see.

For myself, I enjoy sneaking about the woods in the off season and just watching the local fauna almost as much as hunting.

[BerdanSS]

I'll also drone in with the "not unless I'm going to eat it" deal.

With a couple of exceptions.

(1) Something (anything) causing immediate threat/danger to a human or one of my dogs.

(2) A persistent pest that is being a pest where it shouldn't ( a spider, mouse, raccoon coyote ect..... out in the woods / it's own element, is not a pest to me. That's where they belong. In my house/garage, horse barn or pastures.....they gone

Example:
Got out in the woods for the first time this year for archery deer season, this past Saturday. On the hike into my stand, I came upon an older (but very healthy looking) and overly friendly opossum. He got WELL withing booting distance, heck for a second I though he was going to climb up my leg and nest in the pocket of my sweatshirt.

I was carrying a crossbow. I know several people who would of shot the critter for no more reason than it being there, and then laugh about it. For myself, we exchanged a puzzled head tilt and both went on our way, me chuckling a little. there would of been absolutely no reason to kill it, other than someone just being a complete A hole. He was where he belonged, miles from houses in the middle of the woods.

My Dad and Grandpa taught me young that you don't kill or harm anything for the heck of it. If your not going to eat/use it, it's not gnawing your leg off and it's not killing your dog/neighbors kid/ or livestock....LEAVE IT BE.

As for game....no. If I will eat it, I'll hunt it.

[Brotherbadger]

I don't hunt anything I don't eat. I will however, help a friend with a pest problem. Hogs, Yotes, whatever. To me, that's different. I have a hard time with feral cats. I know the harm they cause, I just can't do it. I have no problem with others doing it. I just can't pull the trigger. That's my limit.

[reynolds357]

Armadillo. My son is highly allergic to yellow jackets and the armadillos keep most of the yellow jacket nests dug up and killed.