I read a book titled the 'Outlaw Gunner' and always thought that sounded pretty neat. But actually that title doesn't fit me at all. I have been, and will always be, about the most legal hunter around. Probably comes from 2 things. First, my Father was a Policeman and always insisted on me being a law-abiding person. Second, I have a tremendous respect and admiration for the ducks and geese I hunt. To kill them in any manner that was not "sporting" would be disrespectful.
I am not saying that I haven't bent or broken any hunting laws. But for the most part I am a true Boy Scout. I don't shoot early or late. I don't hunt over bait. I don't hunt where I don't have permission. I don't hunt out of season. All those things would make it too simple, and ducks deserve better.
I will admit to shooting over the limit on a few occasions. I have written stories here that mention doing that. I guess my excuse for it is that I don't ever get to hunt nearly the entire season. So, when I do get the chance to hunt, and the ducks are cooperating, I 'catch up' for some of those days that I had to work and couldn't hunt. Also, I study on the duck populations as much or more than anyone except people who do it for a living. If in my mind, the limit on a certain species is set far lower than that species should be, I sort of set my own limit. But never to the point of being wasteful. I have eaten more Scoters than I have hamburgers in my life. That alone should give me a "get out of jail free" card. I have had great retrievers and out of the 10,000 or so ducks that I've been in on killing, probably less than 50 cripples have been lost. Hard to believe? Come hunt with me, or ask my hunting partners. I have spoiled entire mornings because I had a cripple down and I refused to get back to hunting until I found the cripple. That goes back to my respect for the birds.
I also never have more than the legal limit in my possession. Sometimes when we have a large crowd of hunters, and some guys have to leave early or have had enough, they get to take their limit home with them. Maybe mine as well. But I don't ever do that unless I am sure that the person who takes the birds home is going to eat them. I refused to be involved with wasting of birds. Another of my crimes is shooting other hunters birds for them when they have trouble hitting anything. But, I have never recruited non-shooters just so I could kill their birds. There have been times when I have shot a limit in the morning and another in the evening, but there have also been times when I was in a foreign country fighting a war and missed entire hunting seasons.
I am not saying that I haven't bent or broken any hunting laws. But for the most part I am a true Boy Scout. I don't shoot early or late. I don't hunt over bait. I don't hunt where I don't have permission. I don't hunt out of season. All those things would make it too simple, and ducks deserve better.
I will admit to shooting over the limit on a few occasions. I have written stories here that mention doing that. I guess my excuse for it is that I don't ever get to hunt nearly the entire season. So, when I do get the chance to hunt, and the ducks are cooperating, I 'catch up' for some of those days that I had to work and couldn't hunt. Also, I study on the duck populations as much or more than anyone except people who do it for a living. If in my mind, the limit on a certain species is set far lower than that species should be, I sort of set my own limit. But never to the point of being wasteful. I have eaten more Scoters than I have hamburgers in my life. That alone should give me a "get out of jail free" card. I have had great retrievers and out of the 10,000 or so ducks that I've been in on killing, probably less than 50 cripples have been lost. Hard to believe? Come hunt with me, or ask my hunting partners. I have spoiled entire mornings because I had a cripple down and I refused to get back to hunting until I found the cripple. That goes back to my respect for the birds.
I also never have more than the legal limit in my possession. Sometimes when we have a large crowd of hunters, and some guys have to leave early or have had enough, they get to take their limit home with them. Maybe mine as well. But I don't ever do that unless I am sure that the person who takes the birds home is going to eat them. I refused to be involved with wasting of birds. Another of my crimes is shooting other hunters birds for them when they have trouble hitting anything. But, I have never recruited non-shooters just so I could kill their birds. There have been times when I have shot a limit in the morning and another in the evening, but there have also been times when I was in a foreign country fighting a war and missed entire hunting seasons.
During the times when the numbers of birds killed was really high (Saskatchewan/Argentina) I have always ensured that the birds were properly disposed of. That meant finding a hungry person who wanted/needed something for his dinner table. It's a pretty satisfying feeling to hand a 100 pound burlap bag of freshly killed ducks to a poor Argentinian who lives under a piece of tin that blew off someones barn. Or to deliver a big pan of goose breasts to the Food Bank in Saskatoon.
Overall, I've been hunting 45 years, the duck season has probably averaged 50 days per season. So, in 2250 possible hunting days in my life, I have averaged about 2.5 birds per day. So I have some catching up to do if I want to just have the limit for each day.
Calling my compilation of stories 'Ethicalhunter' would have been a little bland, but probably a lot more accurate.
Overall, I've been hunting 45 years, the duck season has probably averaged 50 days per season. So, in 2250 possible hunting days in my life, I have averaged about 2.5 birds per day. So I have some catching up to do if I want to just have the limit for each day.
Calling my compilation of stories 'Ethicalhunter' would have been a little bland, but probably a lot more accurate.
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