Wood Smoke II
New member
First, let me clear the air and say that this is not at all about moral obligation or anti-hunting thinking. It’s simply a pondering of thought of a hypothetical situation and it’d be interesting to hear others’ views on this. So, here’s something for the Member Club House to consider. I recently saw a very well done documentary on the wolves of Yellowstone. The history, the rise & fall of different matriarchal wolf packs, and the wolf conservation and wildlife study/research efforts over many years. This of course involved collar tagging as a research tool. The documentary essentially concluded with the end of life story about a dominant matriarch who had left the boundaries of the park and was legally hunted and harvested. One thing to note in particular was that one of the Park researchers who had studied the Park’s wolves for years (decades?) was clear on his view that the wolf was legally harvested and that he had no disregard for the legal hunter or the state’s regulations that allow regulated wolf hunting.
Let me fast forward this to the introspective question. Would you legally harvest a collared game animal of any species if the opportunity presented itself? No prejudice or moral obligation implications here at all, and I think we fully respect the opinion and decision of anyone harvesting an animal legally. Just curious as to what y’all think and especially from folks that have a long history of big game hunting under your belt.
I live in the southeast and have never had the opportunity to go west for big game, but it was always a bucket list wish. I have a friend in Montana now on a trophy elk hunt and I’ve always enjoyed hearing him talk about trips in prior years. It’s doubtful that I’ll ever make a big game trip out west, but it’d be a crazy thing to finally spot, stalk, track , etc a trophy bull elk, pronghorn, muley, bear, or whatever and then realize it’s wearing a collar. Do taxidermist charge extra for a head mount with collar pose?
Let me fast forward this to the introspective question. Would you legally harvest a collared game animal of any species if the opportunity presented itself? No prejudice or moral obligation implications here at all, and I think we fully respect the opinion and decision of anyone harvesting an animal legally. Just curious as to what y’all think and especially from folks that have a long history of big game hunting under your belt.
I live in the southeast and have never had the opportunity to go west for big game, but it was always a bucket list wish. I have a friend in Montana now on a trophy elk hunt and I’ve always enjoyed hearing him talk about trips in prior years. It’s doubtful that I’ll ever make a big game trip out west, but it’d be a crazy thing to finally spot, stalk, track , etc a trophy bull elk, pronghorn, muley, bear, or whatever and then realize it’s wearing a collar. Do taxidermist charge extra for a head mount with collar pose?
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