Pot Hunter?

[GoodOlBoy]

I was reading through an article the other day and it mentioned that those who used a 32-20 to hunt with were typically pot hunters. I had never heard the term so I went out and found that a Pot Hunter is somebody who hunts for the cook pot, not nessicarily for sport or even for hunting sake. I also found that it is looked down upon at all the sites I visited to find the descriptions. Well let me tell you what is the descriptions are true then yes me and my whole family have always been pot hunters. In one of the articles about it the writer was running down the hunter because they would "shoot at game they were not currently hunting in order to fill their game bag". Uhmmm yea? So if I am squirrel hunting and I take a rabbit I am a bad human being? So if I am squirrel hunting and take a deer thats stupid enough to walk out 10 feet in front of me then I am a horrible person?

What gives?

GoodOlBoy

[BILLY D.]

GOB

The term was popular during WW2.

Meat for city folks was rationed as were many other things and people hunted to get extra meat. Some legally, others not.

It was not a derogatory word, just a fact.

There is nothing wrong with hunting for the pot.

The only things I shoot that I don't eat are varmints. Never could warm up to Gopher or Pasture Poodle Stew.

I'll bet Rachael Ray has arecipe though.

Best wishes, Bill

[GoodOlBoy]

Never was much on coon and possum myself. Not to mention armadillers.

GoodOlBoy

[rattus58]

My son not long ago lived in South Carolina outside of the city some on 15 acres of land. My son was astonished at the liberal hunting seasons that were allowed in his area and that a hunting license wasn't required.

He also learnt of some neat ways to hunt deer. He sent me a couple of pictures of deer he shot as well as some from his neighbor who had a stand set up next to his corn fields... unique... I'd more likely callit a hide, but what it was were three pipes staked into the ground into a V... across the top of the V was covered with burlap bags, as were the sides. It were long enough to hold a pitcher of favorite libation, a table for the Sports illustrated and other hustler types, as well as a 30-30.

Along the numerous trails that surrounded the property but in front of the "hide", the industrious neighbor went ot hanging lolipops (trawberry and grape if I remember) from the tree limbs over the trail, and when the deer went vertical to taste it... well that was pot hunting...

Aloha...

[M.T. Pockets]

If you have a license and the game is in season, there is nothing unethical about taking an animal of a different kind than what you had in mind when you went out hunting. The last thing we need as hunters is to judge another hunter who is hunting legally and ethically. Nothing unethical about taking advantage of a chance at a squirrell when you're hunting rabbits.

Where I come from a "pot shot" is when a duck is shot on the water. This might be legal, but it doesn't pass the smell test when it comes to being ethical.

[fabsroman]

MT,

If a person is a "pot hunter", shooting a duck on the water shouldn't be an ethical issue for them if it is legal.

Seriously, what is the difference between ethics and legality? If somebody is poor as dirt and only owns a .22 rimfire and it is legal to hunt deer with it in their state, I could care less if they go out there and kill a deer with it. Now, if somebody is filthy rich and has a choice of guns for deer hunting and he takes out the .22 rimfire, then I have a problem with that. I guess I just answered my own question about ethics versus legality. The ethics part of it needs to be done on a case by case basis, but the legality is USUALLY an open and shut case.

As far as the original post is concerned, I have shot at rabbits plenty of times while out hunting pheasants. Same goes for quail on an occasion or two. The seasons overlap here in Maryland, so it is entirely legal to hunt all three species at the same time, and you can usually find all three in the same places. Most importantly, they all taste real good in the pot.

[wrenchman]

I gess i am a pot hunter i have killed deer ducks and pats in the same day.
I eat the duck and the pat on the grill that nite when we got in frome bow hunting one of the best days hunting i had.
p.s. we washed them own with beer to and i must say it was good.

[rattus58]

Originally posted by M.T. Pockets
If you have a license and the game is in season, there is nothing unethical about taking an animal of a different kind than what you had in mind when you went out hunting. The last thing we need as hunters is to judge another hunter who is hunting legally and ethically. Nothing unethical about taking advantage of a chance at a squirrell when you're hunting rabbits.

Where I come from a "pot shot" is when a duck is shot on the water. This might be legal, but it doesn't pass the smell test when it comes to being ethical.

Yeah... I got into this with a fellow I work with on developing a game management plan for the state of Hawaii. I hunt without a dog. If I see an Erkel, I shoot it, ground or air. Turkey, ground or air, quail, ground or air, pheasant, which if you see it on the ground its dang near 100 yards away already... but given the chance... ground sluicing I've heard it called.... yep absolutely.. and I do all this carnage with a single shot muzzleloader shotgun... and I do it legally.

Now, Mr. M.T. Pockets, maybe you should be doin a little ground sluicing yourself and fill them MT Pockets.... :grin: How in the world could shooting a duck, a quail, a turkey, any of these be unethical? What is the point of hunting? TO KILL THE DAMN THING! And trust me, without a dog, the ETHICAL thing is to kill it, and the best way to do that is to kill it when I can, not when its running. And its funny, when you shoot into a covey and you aim at one bird, usually its that bird only except on rare occasion in the case of quail, maybe 1 or two others... the rest go off in a cloud of dust.

How is it unethical to kill the animal you are going after? This is not competition. This is hunting, not horseshoes. The consequences are if I miss, I may not eat... bad. If I hit it, I get to eat... good. This equates to the wrong/right thing to do.. :grin:

Aloha..

[Swift]

Sure I've heard the term, but if it's in season and taken legally who cares? I sure don't.

[YoungBuck14]

I don't hunt ducks but i do hunt dove and will only shoot a bird off the ground or a tree if i or a fellow hunter with me obviously clipped it with a previous shot. The only reason is it will likely die later and i would rather eat it than a yote. I don't disagree with young hunters killing birds not in flight to build confidence but see no reason for older qualified hunters to do it.(disclaimer) unless they NEED the food. I don't hunt dove because i need the food i do it because i like to eat them. If me or my family EVER have any kind of question about having food to put on the table i will shoot ever landed dove, duck, quail and sparrows if it gets bad enough.

Covey shooting is very unethical tho one or two birds may fall have you ever counted how many pellets are in a single 7.5 shot. if even half of those pellets hit birds that don't go down that is plenty of wounded birds. My most common hunting partner is my cousin and one time last year sticks out specifically to me. We had walked serveral sunflower fields and jumped a couple of dove but nothing special. We finally decided to walk over the tank dam and see what we saw. As we crested the dam there was a cloud of dove enough to literally make a shadow. We both stood in aww and watched and when they were all gone we just asked why the other didn't shoot. The answers were the same.."there was no single birds to shoot at. we would have wounded WAY to many birds" so everyone of those hundreds of birds flew off. Moral of that story i felt much better about not shooting those birds and wounding none than dropping a few but wounding many more.

[skeet]

YOU are what is known as an ethical hunter. Thanks....and congratulations

[Brithunter]

Well I have shot way more Pheasants on the ground than in the air as I do it to eat them not for sport. For sport I go and shoot clays . In fact I have shot more Pheasants with my 22LR than a shotgun, even took head and neck shots with a 7x57 and 30-30 at the end of a days stalk to fill the pot for the morrow. Why buy meat from the supermacket full of god only knows what chemicals when I can have fresh naturally fed game?

[rattus58]

Well skeet and Mr. Youngbuck14 I don't think you either have a handle of the term "ethical" versus "unethical".

While you have YOUR opinions, my opinion for my hunting is to enjoy the outdoors. I don't hunt doves in flyways, and of course I'm not the great shot you are at flying birds. I don't have cripples when I come across a bird on the ground either. Sure I've shot birds when they've risen, probably 2 of every 3 of the birds I've shot come from them taking off, but you are saying that if I see one on the ground and kill it that's unethical... I beg to differ.

I've watched, in fact I love to watch dove shooting and duck shooting and pheasant and quail videos... great videos and I've watched many cripples fly away in these videos as well.. but apparently you don't give a rip if you cripple it in the air as that surely is legal and certainly ethical. Well not me, friend, I leave you to hunt legally while I will do my very best to also hunt legally.

I'll tell you both however, if one is hunting legally, it is not your place to criticize their legal hunting decisions as long as those decisions are safe.

Aloha...

[M.T. Pockets]

I'm as big a meat hunter as anybody, but no matter how hungry I am for fresh duck I'll flush it before I take a shot at it on the water. This is also taught in the ethics portion of firearms safety classes to the next generation of hunters. Right when we teach them not to skybust and to wait for a killing shot and to look for cripples. I'm not claiming to be more ethical than anyone else on this board and if it's legal I'm not going to criticize anyone who would rather "pot" one on the water.

Hunting pheasants with a .22 is legal where I live, and I do shoot one on the ground occasionally. If I'm carrying a shotgun I let them flush first. That's just me.

Fabs, I agree with you on the methods and means to supply meat. I see many hunters in the field with expensive gear and fill their trucks with game that is going to sit in their freezer til they throw it out next year, then I see a guy who really does depend on what he brings home to feed his family. I know which one I have the most respect for, no matter if he "pots" one or not.

[skeet]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rattus58
[B]Well skeet and Mr. Youngbuck14 I don't think you either have a handle of the term "ethical" versus "unethical".

Actually I didn't address anything towards you...or your methods of killing. And I certainly uderstand ethics. I also uderstand fair chase.


While you have YOUR opinions, my opinion for my hunting is to enjoy the outdoors. I don't hunt doves in flyways, and of course I'm not the great shot you are at flying birds. I don't have cripples when I come across a bird on the ground either. Sure I've shot birds when they've risen, probably 2 of every 3 of the birds I've shot come from them taking off, but you are saying that if I see one on the ground and kill it that's unethical... I beg to differ.

And again I did not say anything about YOUR methods of hunting. Understand,though, that shooting a duck on the water IS technically illegal. Learning to shoot well isn't that hard a thing to do. I taught many women...and a lot of kids!

I've watched, in fact I love to watch dove shooting and duck shooting and pheasant and quail videos... great videos and I've watched many cripples fly away in these videos as well.. but apparently you don't give a rip if you cripple it in the air as that surely is legal and certainly ethical. Well not me, friend, I leave you to hunt legally while I will do my very best to also hunt legally.

I actually don't like to watch those videos. Been involved with a few in the past while guiding. I have always enjoyed my own hunting. Yep I ground sluiced a quail one time. Got my butt handed to me. The people I hunted with just didn't do it that way. We hunted with dogs and lost almost no cripples. Oh, we also included lost birds in our bag. I was taught to hunt in the old ways

I'll tell you both however, if one is hunting legally, it is not your place to criticize their legal hunting decisions as long as those decisions are safe.

I did not accuse you of anything illegal,immoral or unethical. Why do you always want to start an argument? I didn't even address you at all. Sheesh. Get a grip!! Btw I'm not going to answer your paranoid ranting anymore


Actually, I was taught to only shoot what I would eat...I and my mentors were MEAT hunters. That's why I got a cow elk license this year. And when we hunted for upland game we always came back with a mixed bag