Limits on fish and game harvest

[ozark trout fisher]

20 minutes ago, Quillback said:

So much depends on context.  One of the lakes here in Bella Vista has too many 12" bass according to the lakes biologist.  They encourage harvest.  Swepco lake had a bad over population of large mouth a few years ago, AGFC encouraged (and still does) harvest.  And the bass fishing has improved as far as better quality fish. 

Maybe 10 duck hunters put together that bunch of ducks from a days hunt.

No one should be a game hog of course, but it helps to have context behind a picture of harvested game.

Yup, some of those pics could be just fine...or a mid-level atrocity...depending on where it happened and how many folks were involved.

They are meaningless without context, except to invoke an emotional response. 

That said, in a world where PETA nuts exist, the massive "hey, look what we killed" shots probably ought to stay off social media. Unnecessary ammunition.

[TRRANGER]

I understand your point, but as many have said context is important. The picture of the deer, 3 years ago I very easily and legally could have killed that many deer. I did not for 2 reasons, 1 lazy I hunt more to relax and enjoy the outdoors and dressing that many deer is a lot of work. 2 I don't need that much deer meat. I also now many people who have several kids that can and do use that many deer, as that is there primary source of meat for the year. I cannot tell them they cant kill them if legally they are allowed by the state and they buy the proper tags.

 

 

[ozark trout fisher]

15 minutes ago, TRRANGER said:

I understand your point, but as many have said context is important. The picture of the deer, 3 years ago I very easily and legally could have killed that many deer. I did not for 2 reasons, 1 lazy I hunt more to relax and enjoy the outdoors and dressing that many deer is a lot of work. 2 I don't need that much deer meat. I also now many people who have several kids that can and do use that many deer, as that is there primary source of meat for the year. I cannot tell them they cant kill them if legally they are allowed by the state and they buy the proper tags.

 

 

Yep, I have buddies that show me pics like that sometimes. I don't really approve, for reasons I'll detail below, but it's done legally and usually with at least some ethical justification. 

As an avid hunter I don't really understand the impulse to pile up all the dead stuff for the big hero shot. That has always seemed awfully immature at best, and bothers me a lot more than the actual taking of the animals in question. I love hunting, I sure as heck love venison, but I'll freely admit I hate the actual killing part.

If you're super proud that you can kill a lot of things in quick succession to the point where you need to share that with the world, I think that's worrisome for reasons that have nothing to do with game management. 

[Flysmallie]

1 hour ago, ozark trout fisher said:

If you're super proud that you can kill a lot of things in quick succession to the point where you need to share that with the world

 

How else can you prove your hunting success on social media???  

 

P.S. - I don't hunt. I'm not against it, but it's not for me anymore. 

[ozark trout fisher]

51 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

 

How else can you prove your hunting success on social media???  

 

P.S. - I don't hunt. I'm not against it, but it's not for me anymore. 

That part is something I don't get. I was brought up having it constantly hammered home that while hunting is a perfectly respectable thing to do on fall weekends, and a more humane way than most to get meat, it's not the kind of thing you throw in peoples' faces if they're not into it.

So no tying the deer to the roof of your car and driving down I-70, no showing your non-hunting friends gory pictures of the deer you accidentally shot in the head. Heck, I was always told to take the hunter orange vest off before you walk into a restaraunt on a Saturday morning in November when 90% of the people in there had also been out hunting.  

That last one annoyed me sometimes, but it was something that I can't shake even now, and I think that's a good thing. You are blind or never get out of the country if you don't realize that many, if not most have negative opinions of hunting. Heck, the person at work I have to spend the most time working with is a member of PETA, which is well, interesting. I'm not changing her views anytime soon, we both think the other is wildly, irreparably wrong-headed, but I can at least avoid being a jerk and making things worse. Sometimes that's all you can do, and it does not require a whole lot of effort.

 

[MoCarp]

The ability of just a few, to hammer fish/game screams the need of more restrictive limits, I can't find any evidence where new restrictive limits have not made the fishing better..but what is better?...numbers? size? diversity? our fish and game managers have their work cut out for them, many user groups want conflicting results at times and for the most part do a great job...it takes a squeaky wheel to get regs changed...spearfishing game fish in Arkansas is an example, how many scuba guys do you know?..but they will go to beaver or Bull Shoals and stab harvest a pair of 8# walleyes...once on stockton saw some guys diving at night with spearguns.....called it it but nothing came of it..........to much ground/water...to few COs.................personally I don't like killing the biggest of most fish as it really has an effect on genetics over time....I still wonder what it was like when 200# blue cats swam the big rivers or Alligator gar over 300#.....I know many people enjoy eating wild game, yet when someone takes 8 deer in a day my gut instinct says they are selling the meat...till they banned the remote boats at Truman tail waters many a pound of blue cat meat went to KC tables, and money changed hands........There was a group of guys with converted school bus complete with a freezer.....All legal,... 4 guys, over 2 days, Could take hundreds of pounds of fillets,... Good money.....it was impacting the size of the big cats............................... harvest pushes down size over time...Because it takes longer to grow a 30# blue than a 2# channel......if people post this stuff on social media how bad is the poaching?????

[DADAKOTA]

MoCarp - If you knew folks were selling gamefish or deer, why did you not turn them in?  The MDC sets the limits on game and fish and this State has some great angling.  If a person legally wants to harvest a limit then so be it.  Not sure what the point of your post is.  Do you object to folks harvesting and utilizing fish and game?  Are you claiming that these pics represent lawbreakers? 

[Riverwhy]

MoCarp - You should officially display your Fake News card when posting pictures without context. 

[Seth]

If somebody is staying within the legal limits and the meat is being used, then I can't see where they are at fault. Being wasteful with wildlife is the only thing that really burns my butt. If you are the guy that shoots one deer and lets it sit in your freezer and never eat any, then you make that list. If you kill and legally tag 10 deer and it all gets eaten, then you do not make that list. We kill 8-14 deer a year between my family, but we also spread the load out across several farms. Most of those deer are kept for our own use, but we also give a few away to some needy families that aren't able to hunt. In fact, I think we could easily give away every deer we ever killed to those in need and none of it would go to waste.

If you don't like the current limits, take it up with MDC. Most people are going to stay within the legal limits so MDC really has the final say on how much of a resource gets harvested. Poachers are scum and won't give a lick about any type of limits anyways.

By the way, something must be wrong with me. I posted this picture last year of me and a buddies opening morning. It was merely to show that we had a great morning and harvested multiple deer. He recently lost his hunting ground so I invited him along to hunt with me and he was able to harvest a big doe and a buck to fill his firearm tags. One of the does was mine. Had I been by myself, I'd have only taken one deer because I don't enjoy cleaning multiple deer at once. That was probably the most fun I've ever had on an opening day.

[ozark trout fisher]

51 minutes ago, Seth said:

By the way, something must be wrong with me. I posted this picture last year of me and a buddies opening morning. It was merely to show that we had a great morning and harvested multiple deer. He recently lost his hunting ground so I invited him along to hunt with me and he was able to harvest a big doe and a buck to fill his firearm tags. One of the does was mine. Had I been by myself, I'd have only taken one deer because I don't enjoy cleaning multiple deer at once. That was probably the most fun I've ever had on an opening day.

 It's one thing to post those on a fishing forum where 95+% of the people either hunt, or are supportive of it.

I do not understand posting pics like that on facebook where my family members from New York and my friends from college and any number of other people who don't hunt are going to see them. Where you see a great November day (and you're not wrong) some of them are going to see three dead bambis, and are liable to judge you and the sport accordingly. I'm not saying that's right. I'm saying that's how it often works. 

Plus showing a little empathy for people that don't like hunting/are grossed out by it is probably not a bad thing, even apart from any "giving the sport a bad name" principles. Post 'em here, post 'em on Missouri Whitetails, but there are places where it just isn't appropriate, IMO. Mixed company and all that.