doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Wild bird Limits ....Good or Greedy?

I've seen a number of comments from posts on this website and others where the writer says, "I don't shoot limits anymore". I'm interested to see what the opinions are from those of you who do shoot wild birds.
Here we tend to have a good population of wild chukars, and less hunters. If you get a 5 bird limit, You've hunted hard, had good dog work, shot fairly well, and had some good luck.
I don't have the opportunity to hunt daily, nor have I come to the point where I say at 10 AM after shooting 2 birds, lets go home.
Any thoughts? Thanks

The game department are supposed to be the experts. they are supposed to set the limits based on scientific evidence. Limits should sustain a population indefinately. So, load up and knock 'em dead!!
How was chuckar hunting this year? I didn't go. Do you hunt the North, or South side of the Lake? I hunt the South, but want to hunt the Hogup mountains on the Northwest side sometime.

The limit is a guide line and is set to sustain the species. The hunting or time afield is for pleasure...good friends and a good dog. When both dog and hunter have had enough exercise and hunting pleasure it is time to quit for the day and plan another. The end of a hunting day can be by a limit of game or just the end of a pleasant day afield. There will always be another day and hunting within the limits on game may leave another bird to flush on another day.
Best,
Ron

Here's my take on self-imposed limits. The first and only time I have taken less than my limit, when the opportunity was present was 16 years ago. I was hunting sage grouse and the numbers were down by half from the previous year in the area I was hunting. The game proclaimation stated that you could take two birds. I chose to take only one. The area has since been closed to hunting sage grouse. In this rare case I was ahead of the game warden in assessing the vulnerbility of that certian population.

But in most cases I think that people who use self-imposed limits are not looking out for the welfare of the game, but instead want the accolades of their fellow hunters. Some hunters I have met have introduced themselves like this, " Hi I'm Mr. Hunter, I don't take my limit because I'm morally superior to you, excuse me, I have to pat myself on the back."

If a game animal is rare, or threatened, I could see self- imposed limits. But when there are a billion chuckars, I think a self-imposed limit is just a way to put yourself above others.

I have to correst myself. Four weeks ago I only took seven rabbits when the limit was ten. I just got tired of gutting them and I had plenty for rabbit stew. Nothing wrong in calling it quits early as long as you don't turn it into a self righteous sermon.

With the benefit of age, I have come to believe that the drive required for bagging a limit of any kind of game is directly proportional to one's age for the majority of us. As a young man I expended a lot of time and energy while making every effort to bag "my" limit, or at least be "Top Gun" for the day. Nowadays I seem to have less time for some reason; but also, now being on the back side of 55, I don't have the same energy levels and drive either! Now if I were hunting for subsistence, things would be much different of course; but, as someone who has shot his share of limits and is now approaching the autumn years of his life (what a pathetic thought!), I find my greatest pleasures afield come from the friendship of my companions, watching a good dog work or a puppy grow up, watching the enthusiasm of kids just developing their shooting and hunting skills, admiring and fondling a fine double shotgun, and just being out in the great and wonderful outdoors. If my game bag is a little lighter, and my gun a little heavier than it used to be; so what, I am not the least bit discouraged. The scriptures advise us, as we go thru the daily grid of life, to pause long enough to smell the roses, something in my youthful haste I had little time for; but thankfully, I have now lived long enough to understand and appreciate this great advice.

I'm with topgun.

I like to shoot some birds, but killing them isn't what hunting is all about for me.

I like running my dog and watching her grow and develop. I like being outdoors and experiencing the seasons. I like finding new spots. I like walking up on a point and hearing the bird go.

I like to shoot some birds - especially ditch parrots - but most times I leave them alone so my dog can point them again.

I also run my dog a lot in the off season. Then I'm only firing a starter pistol and a camera.

OWD

BTW: last summer I talked to a guy who said he shot 60+ Ruffed Grouse a year. That's excessive. Who needs that many dead grouse?

BEWARE! rant ahead:

First let me say I see nothing wrong with shooting a "legal limit",BUT- if the hunter we are talking about is one that has a freezer full of pheasants, doves, ducks or what ever that he can't or won't cook and eat or worse yet is just throwing away! Well- I don't care how skilled he or she is their GREEDY! I even don't care if every time I visit this guy he offers me some cleaned and frozen birds to take home. He should find a clays game he likes, a regulated shooting grounds where the birds are paid for or take up bowling! When I am out for a day of bird hunting and run into a guy with birds in the bag and he offers them to me my blood starts to boil! I know he is most likely looking to unload birds so he can continue killing. I am actually to a point where when I'm told "oh I donate my game to food banks" I get angry! The way I see it sport hunting is the art in life. I know small numbers still subsistance hunt and I know what they do with their game. A limit is only for those who use it on the table. I have even quit hunting with friends who ask me to take their game so they don't have to haul it home; "the wife complains when I bring these in the house". Hey golf in the summer, ski in the winter. Heck! Take up knitting! Hunting is more than skillfully killing. If a person does not know how to use game after it is taken they should not have taken it!

Kurt

Wild birds are a short lived species. Doves for instance, 90% of them will be dead within one year if they're hunted. If they're not hunted 90% of them will be dead in one year. You can't stockpile wildlife.

There is nothing wrong with taking limits, nor is there anything wrong with self-imposed limits.

I'll bet I could eat 60 grouse in a year...I've only shot 3 in my life, but they were GREAT eats.

As far as my personal preference, more times than not I don't have an opportunity for a full limit (unless I were to hunt by myself). When I get the opportunity to take one, I do. There'll be enough 1 bird or no bird days to balance it out.

Todd