Dusky question?

willametteriveroutlaw · 12-11-2002, 01:45 PM

I hunt it and abide by the rules. Now though I hunt two places in sight of the freeway, one on the eastside and one on the west. They are both in sight of each other and on one side I can limit on cacks and tavs in the right conditions fairly regulary and on the other I can shoot duskys (because i can only shoot one cack). Its all legal to do which is weird. My question is this is it morally wrong to shoot em even though its legal?

skein · 12-11-2002, 01:56 PM

Yeah, WRO, I think so - in my humble opinion. Reason? If we can help build up the dusky stocks, then maybe the whole goose season won't have to suffer because a quota gets taken in the first couple of weeks. I pass them by no matter where I am.

There is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. It takes both, but I try to lean more heavily toward the spirit side.

Again, that's just my opinion.

Skein

bigshark · 12-11-2002, 02:19 PM

I'm not sure anyone is going to tell you what you should and shoudn't do when its legal. I think that Shakespear said it best a long time ago.....To thine own self be true! We are each responsible for our actions. You see it all the time at our duckclub. Shooting hen mallards are legal as long as you do not exceed your limit.......yet some of the guys wouldn't shoot a Susie on a bet.....not what they feel is right. Some will admit it some will not... they say something like brown birds make poor pictures or something else but they pass on hens. Others never give it a thought, bang.....down goes the little brown bird. You are the man, you are the guy who looks at himself in the mirror. What would you have your neighbor do? What is best for the resource? You are the steward of today who determines what will be the future of hunting. You must decide....At least thats the way I see it.

Chum King · 12-11-2002, 08:55 PM

WRO,

I think that Skein and Bigshark have provided some very good advice. If an activity is legal, then either there is no problem, or it has yet to be recognized as a problem. I would think that it would be a good idea to avoid shooting duskys whenever possible. Any reduction in the harvest of duskys will help in the recovery of the population and hopefully provide more hunting opportunity on the other side of the freeway. Also, if either the dusky population begins to decline again, or the harvest on the open side of I5 increases then there is a chance that the restricted area will be enlarged and more opportunities taken away.

You asked "is it morally wrong to shoot em even though its legal?" Morals and ethics are up to each individual to weigh for themself. You need to think about the potential effects of your actions, and decide whether going after duskys is something that you think is appropriate. Just keep in mind that often laws are established where ethics fail.

Choose wisely, and you will increase the enjoyment of your hunt.

Chum King

Labsforme · 12-12-2002, 04:39 AM

WRO,If you check out the Dusky population numbers you'll probably see that they are past the "recovery" quantity(24,000+) but are at a "sustained population".If you are out of the northwest goose zone then technically they are legal and don't count against any quota.Let you conscience(sp) be your guide.

1pump · 12-13-2002, 02:29 PM

They've been trying to recover the dusky population since 1983. The only result has been an explosion in the taverner population due to reduced goose hunting in the 80's and early 90's. I haven't shot a dusky since the first year of restrictions ('84) even though I had plenty of opportunities. I also missed chances to bag light geese because I wasn't able to ID them for sure. What irked me to no end were the boneheads out at SI who would check in, see that the quota was almost filled, figured it was their last chance to get a goose and would blast away at anything that honked. The result? The dusky harvest would shoot way past the quota, the SI public land season ended, and the whole purpose of allowing a limited harvest would be defeated.
Now all of SI's public land is closed except for 2 units.

I'm with Chum King, skein, and shark. Go with the spirit of the law and take pride in the fact that you're not a meat hunter.

Clackman · 12-15-2002, 07:38 PM

i think its survival of the fittist so a sub speiceis that can only breed in a small area ,and is really dumb wont make it over time.that said i dont shoot becuase we can try but i dont understand the cack regs.

'ZZZZzzzzzz' · 12-16-2002, 04:36 PM

Good Question.

I'm not sure if it is a right or wrong type of question, but I know that answer for me is not to shoot Dusky's period. I think that the only reason it is "legal" East of I-5 is that they had to draw the line somewhere, it is an easy boundary to interpret and they probably figured that there would not be very many Dusky's over there. I have let many Taverners go by in moments of indecision where I wasn't sure that they weren't Dusky's until they were on me and then out of the clean kill zone.

I think that our hunting is good enough here that everyone can harvest plenty of geese without ever having to take a dusky. I believe that the important thing is to preserve our hunting privileges and one way to do that is to not take Dusky's, hopefully.

It sounds like you are doing great so keep it up. I like to keep the Dusky's around. Sometimes they provide a good laugh when they come staight in, big, loud and dumb. They have even made pretty good live decoys sitting out in front of me and helping to lure in those wary Tav's.

Z's-