Another to shoot or not to shoot

[Bullkllr]

40 yards? Nahh.

[boneaddict]

Honesty is awesome PD and the willingness to talk about it.   

If I shot every bear that ever popped its jaws at me, YIKES   I think it was duckmen up above that made the comment, its a way of communication.   A doe or a cow stamping her foot etc.  Any animal can hand it to you at any time.     Its a mother defending her cubs, I doubt she wants to cuddle.   At least she is communicating.     

[Tbar]

Curious why your first two (only two) post are ethical shoot / no shoot scenarios about bear.  Are you trying to get hunters to admit or say they would shoot a sow with cubs.....or in the first scenario shoot a bear without observing long enough to see if their were cubs with that bear? 

I don't know a hunter that would shoot a sow knowing it had a cub.  I have property hat has an overabundance of bears that I would love to have gone....and I still won't shoot the sows with cubs.  Our state is jacked up in the fact that our spring bear season has been taken away, we can't bait and we can't run dogs.  Bears become opportunistic kills for most hunters and even then...most hunters pass on sows with known cubs.  If our state wanted to insure sows with cubs were not targeted, they would allow baiting / running dogs.  The fact that they don't, the sows that are shot with cubs (my guess anyway) is due to the opportunistic hunter shooting a bear that presents a very small window of opportunity. 

Now the talk of taking away trail cameras.....which would add that much more complexity to some bear hunters.  I know which sows have cubs long before hunting season.  We know if we see said bears (regardless of cubs being present) to not shoot.  Eliminate trail cameras and even more sows will get shot that have cubs. 

Sorry for the rant......you may be legit.....but your only two post make me suspicious of your intent.  I hope it is...what it is....and you are just trying to learn, thus inquiring about instances you have experienced this year.   Hunters already don't trust our Commissioners, WDFW officers, Governor, etc.....if your fishing for anything else....

This is a great post jrebel. We have to be careful especially on the internet and communicate our reality and ethics. I had nearly an identical reaction when I read this. I didn't look at your post as a rant but rather a word of caution that is appreciated.  I do appreciate ingrained outdoors sharing an experience but the shoot out no shoot scenarios seemed odd to say the least. I have had dozens of similar scenarios where shooting has not only not happened it has not been considered including several false charges. Thank you for your thoughtful post jrebel and thank you for the clarification ingrained outdoors both are valuable IMHO.

[pianoman9701]

To the OP: Good post and good, ethical decision not to shoot. If there's anything to karma, you've got a nice boar in your future.