Rebuttle

I got a little fired up, and couldn’t wait for my rebuttle to Anonymous. In order to completely understand this post, please read the comments on the Heat post. I was questioned about me feeling that a limit is the most important part of chukar hunting and my ethics. It got me fired up about the word “”ethics” and I have to react before I settle down.

First of all, ethics are different for everyone. I often read in other chukar sites exactly what anonymous posted. People complaining about pictures of dead birds on tail gates and complaining about people showing hot spots to hunt. First of all, I know that most people that post tailgate pictures are proud of what they accomplished and deserve a pat on the back instead of an “I hate tailgate pictures”. Secondly, I hope everyone can enjoy chukar hunting with their dogs as much as I do, so I don’t mind mentioning spots. That’s just who I am. I love chukar hunting and especially hunting with my dogs. The last post was pointing out how I forgot about how important the dogs are and how stupid I was for keeping on hunting because “I” simply still could. I could have hurt my dogs seriously because of the love of hunting chukars. Not because of a tailgate picture.

Now to my ethics. I am willing to keep going, no matter how bad it hurts. But shouldn’t be willing to keep going because it hurts my dogs. I do take what the day gives me. I have no control over the amount of birds I see. But there’s something built in me to keep on pushing. I was an athlete in my younger years and got a scholarship to Boise State “College” in track. And always learned to strive for better things. I have always strived to do more than the other person, whether it be in work or having fun. That’s just me.

The reader mentioned I never talk about ethics in my posts. Probably because of who might be “pointed” out because of my so called ethics. Mine might be different than others. A lot of my posts are for out of staters who can’t be here in Idaho but want to know how it’s going so they might be able to plan a trip to hunt chukars in Idaho. So, I post what my hunts are like. I’ve had some wish that I wouldn’t encourage out-of-staters come to Idaho. My ethics tell me “why shouldn’t others be able to enjoy what I love”. They are either going to love it and learn to work harder to get birds, like most of us did. Sadly, most decide pheasants on flat land is more fun.

Anonymous mentioned I never say what a person should do when there is a crippled bird. Once again. What is ethical here? My ethics say, you try hard to find the bird, and after I give it an honest try, me and the dogs move on. If I say it’s just one chukar, I’m sure some will say I’m cruel or cold. But, in reality, it is just a bird, and if I put more importance on it than that, I should not be hunting them. I thank God for being able to be on the mountain with my dogs every day, but I’m not one to stop over every bird I have shot and say a prayer. I know there are people who do that and I appreciate what they are doing, but that’s just not me. If someone can tell me what else I should do to find a crippled bird, please post it. I’m sure any help would be appreciated by me and others who have lost a bird.

The reader mentioned that I act like getting a limit is of paramount importance. I always strive for that, but it’s on the bottom of my list of importance. If you have followed me long, you’ll see as many pictures of unsuccessful hunts as successful. There’s the time I went 8 for 8 on a very steep hill. I was very excited about that. And you’ll always see the time, on that same hill, I took a picture of 19 empties with no birds. I’m about both ends of chukar hunting. They were both fun hunts with the dogs.

Here are my feelings on other ethics as far as chukar hunting. I’m not going to chastise those who road hunt with or without dogs. They have every right to be there as I do. Just because they drive down the road until they see birds, then jump out and chase, doesn’t mean they are having any less fun than I am. As long as they are being legal, I don’t care. My thoughts on tailgate pictures are, once again, I don’t have any. I don’t know how hard they worked for the birds or if they shot them on a ranch. It doesn’t affect my hunting at all. But what I do mind, is the person that puts down tailgate pictures. He or she has no idea of how hard they worked or what a great job their dogs did to get those birds. I usually think the complaining person is just jealous and that’s probably wrong for me thinking that way.

Ethics on ATVs. I don’t have a problem either way. After a lot of work and a serious roll over, I have decided that hiking is my preferred method. My dogs like it more, also.

Ground shooting. Sometimes, it’s just what you have to do to get a chukar. I don’t, but I sure don’t blame a person for doing so. But I do encourage a flying shot behind a pointing dog. There’s not a much better feeling then that teamwork as the dog brings the bird back to you. Especially if it’s your dog that you trained.

Flushing or pointing dogs. Who cares. As long as you and your dog are enjoying the experiences, keep at it.

How far a dog ranges. Once again. Why does it matter? As long as you can get to them and they aren’t lost for the day, it doesn’t affect me or the birds on the hill. I want the dogs to be in a range I can get to, and it scares the heck out of me when I haven’t seen my dog for more than three minutes. But that’s just me and how much I love those dogs. Which, once again, was the reason for that last post. My love for the dogs is why it was so stupid for me to keep hunting as hot and dry as it was.

People that move in on the spot where you are hunting. I’ve seen that a lot on other sites. Once again, I take that with a grain of salt. I don’t believe that most people do it on purpose. I can count on one hand the times that has happened to me over forty years. Chukars inhabit a lot of space and there is usually a place I can go to get away from them.

Those are just a few of my thoughts on ethics. In other words, if you are hunting legally, then to each his own. Most of the time when I hear someone talk about how some unethical hunters screwed their hunt up, it’s someone who was looking for a reason to go home to the warm fire.

To the guy that posted that last comment. I really do appreciate what you had to say. Maybe that helped me explain myself in this post. I did the wrong thing to keep hunting on those last two hunts. I know that and hope someone else learned something from my outing. I post because I love chukar hunting and yes, I hope to be an ambassador of how fun chukar hunting can be. I am not here to tell people how to be ethical or even how to get birds. I say what has worked for me and am not afraid to talk of my bad moments. This blog gives me a chance to talk chukars when I’m not chasing them.

I’ve taken thousands of pictures of my dogs pointing and retrieving. I’ve also taken many tailgate pictures. The pictures of my dogs are just because I love seeing them do their thing. The tailgate pictures are just pictures of pride on how good my dogs are. Nothing more. Not a picture of a limit that was of paramount importance.

In the end, I’ll pat myself on the back. I shoot probably more chukars than 90% of what other chukar hunters do. As I aged, the numbers are going down. Not because I’m maturing and want to leave more birds for the younger generation. Because I can’t go the extra miles my dogs would like me to go. They have no choice but to stop when I do. I didn’t do the same for them on my last hunts. I will keep going as long as I can and hope that I can inspire a few to love it as much as I do. I will keep doing what my heart tells me is the right thing and not try to please anyone but me. Because I know, that there is nothing that I can do as a hunter to ruin the experience for others. Remember, only 8% of bird mortality is due to hunting pressure.

Now, off to the wedding.