On a post I made about hogs, I mentioned they are a pest and I just wound them and let them run off in the brush and die. I don't eat them and they cause to much property damage for me to let just populate and continuing on with their devious ways. A couple of hunters called me out and said it was unethical to wound a hog and let it run off and die. I guess they mean it suffers and I should just shoot them and haul them off. Some said it was unethical to kill something I'm not going to eat also.
I have read many posts on this forum and found numerous posts on trapping animals. Well this seems to fall in the same line as wounding a hog and letting it run of and die. I mean you catch an animal in a snare, doesn't it slowly die, or suffers till you get there to shoot it? A snap trap does the same. Clamps down on the animals foot or head, what ever it puts in there and has to wait and suffer the same pain until the hunter or trapper shows up to kill it.
I know some of the trappers keep the furs but not all of them. Lots of them are trapped or killed to keep them in check. I know coyotes, bobcats, skunks and raccoons are not eaten in most cases.

So my question is , why is in some cases folks don't think its unethical to trap animals in snares and snap traps and let them suffer till killed, but do think it is unethical to shoot a hog or varmint and wound it and let it run off and die? To me it doesn't make a lick of difference how you kill a varmint.

Hogs are the po' man's big game animal...they're edible and would prefer there were more of them. You'll find less landowners complain about their treatment but the leasees will occasionally throw a fit. No one really cares about eating varmints.

The short answer is that ethics often vary from one hunter to the next. That's just the way it is. The same ones who say that using feeders is unethical, for some reason see food plots as being completely different, even though both serve the same general need - to make it easier to harvest deer.

Who eats coyotes? Is killing them ethical? Hanging them on a fence?

How about Aoudad Sheep? Ever killed a big ram and eaten it? What about a Hooded Merganser or a Smiling Mallard?

How about Javelina?

Now I know there will be several chime in who claim to have killed and eaten all of the above.

Folks should worry more about themselves and less about others. Anyone who has ever tried to manage a property that had a bunch of hogs has gut shot them and let them run off, regardless of what they will admit to. Ever try to eat a 300 lb. Boar?

TExasToad

i see nothing wrong with what you did to a pest ... several past lease buddies
did the same thing, they don't eat hogs, don't want to mess with them or
dragging them off so they shoot them in the gut and let them die somewhere.
Nothing goes to waste, as coyotes and buzzards will clean it up

Ignore the comments, lots of childish drama queens on here

who are they to tell you what's right or wrong ?

Reminder for all

I guess that's what I was trying to figure out. I always thought ethical vs unethical is in the eye of each individual. It just struck me as funny that doing the same thing to another animal in a different way somehow made it more ethical. I know lots of folks think highly of hogs, but most of those folks either make money off them or don't have to repair or pay for damages these pests cause. I guess if they had to flip the bill on the damage year in and out their ethics would change.

Some people have different opinions. You are on a forum and anyone can say anything. What you do is your own business but when you post it then everyone has an opinion about it. Next time just don’t announce it if you don’t want to hear what others think. Don’t let it get under your skin, good luck to ya!

Didn't really get under my skin, just struck me as funny that they will give one person a hard time and in the same breath tell someone awesome kill. It won't change my habits or ethics one bit, I've been around the block a time or two. Yes, I did post and it might seem as it did bother me, because why ask about it? I guess folks just fascinate me at times and I try to figure them out. As long as I've been around folks of all kind I might have learned by now that you aren't going to figure no one out. LOL

I had a cpl folks frown upon my hog killing methods of shooting into herds with buckshot... I will still state that's the most effective method of killing a lot of them in a hurry if they won't go into a trap.

yeah iv ate all of them... the merganser was not cool the others were fine

You have to bake the mergie, Nav.

TT your first mistake was writing that you shoot them in the gut.

Kill em all

Shooting in the leg any better? They get further off the road with a gut shot. Heck I don't want to mess with them, and they seem to go a bit out of the way with a gut shot.

not really, seems lazy to me.

drop them and haul them to a gutpile, then shoot the yotes.

Well I don't have a gut pile so I guess that's off the table. Lazy maybe or just a waste of time dealing with them. Rather not take my chances with the ticks and crap on them.

That's because you let them run off..

don't feel bad, they constantly oj me about spelling i'm not up ta their standards & hitting the wrong key the ones with good spelling, figure it out

Thanks I feel much better. LOL.

Exactly.

How about you try keeping your business to yourself. If you dont spill your guts, there's nothing for people to complain about. Pretty simple

Shooting something in the gut on purpose just seems like a di@K move regardless of whether it's a stray dog, a hog, or whatever.. Youre causing the animal hours of suffering because you are lazy. My 2 cents.

Intentionally wounding a higher animal so that it can drag itself out of your sight in order to die slowly is inhumane. For me, that makes it unethical and unconscionable. About 99% of the general population would agree.

I have no issue with you killing as many feral hogs as you can, but laziness is no excuse for intentionally inflicting suffering.

Is it considered a waste of game meat violation if you don't try to recover and process a javelina?

I honestly don't know the answer but always assumed that was the case.

BTW, of the few we ever shot they tasted great on the smoker!