mountainbunny wrote:
“He did things that might very well get him thrown in prison here (burying the tag, baiting the animal, animal cruelty -using an underpowered bow).”
marktwain replies:
You seem to be just making things up. Baiting is legal in most states in the U.S.
I have not seen any claim about “burying the tag” (what tag?) anywhere else. If you mean the collar, I do not know of any law requiring that radio tracking collars in the U.S. be returned.
As for the “underpowered bow”, again, you just seem to be making it up as you go.
I will happily retract my statements if you produce links to evidence that your accusations are correct.
But I have not seen anything to indicate that they are.
Burying the collar, is what I should have said. The carcass and collar were buried. In Colorado, I have been told and have read that we must turn radio collars over to the DoW, and that in certain study areas, you can’t hunt tagged animals. I have family members who have worked with the DoW, including helping with collaring interstate big game transfers. I will see if I can get more information and will let you know.
As for burying the carcass, it is illegal everywhere I have hunted to leave anything more than the gut pile, including head, hide, and legs below the knee. I can only find sites with individual states (no central list of laws). Alaska seems to be close to average:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=hunting.meatcare
According to this, baiting is illegal in many states, and severely limited in others. Limits include volume of bait (two gallons seems to be common), no baiting 10 days prior to a hunt, no baiting certain types of animals (big game), and baiting only on private land. No where does dragging one animal behind a vehicle through a government preserve look to be legal, which is what they did to lure the lion away.
http://lucky-buck.com/state-regulation-list-baiting-feeding
As to legal minimum firepower, most states do have regulations:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20121108160916AA3j6Eb
More detailed information by state. Only a few don’t have minimums:http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/threads/minimum-legal-calibers-for-big-game-hunting.130541/
Minimum draw weights for big game ranges between 35-50 pounds in the United States. I saw one report that said he was around 100 yards. The maximum (not 100% sure on how it is codified) is 50-65 yards. http://www.fieldandstream.com/forums/hunting/big-game/recommended-minimum-bow-draw-weight-elk
Finally, I would say this: there is legal, and there is ethical. I may be wrong about the legal requirement of turning over the collar, but burying it is at minimum bad practice with even worse optics.
I am not going to argue for someone who has a prior conviction for poaching.
I am not going to support someone who unethically kills the lynchpin of a pride of lions, endangering the cubs during cub season. One of my proudest moments as a hunter was seeing another hunter turn his back on shooting a mountain goat with her late-season baby. It would have been legal, but was not ethical to consign the baby to starvation. I knew that he knew that he might never get another goat tag, but his ethics were more important.
I enjoy your pro-gun articles, and know that you know that hunting, which is highly regulated, is not the purpose of the Second Amendment. There is no absolute right to hunt.
What this man did was highly unethical, and his Safari Club membership has been suspended. They understand that defending him is the wrong thing to do. I dread seeing the possibility of federal legislation coming from this. I really do. I don’t want to see a federal ban on lead, which many anti-hunting nuts want.
The concern over killing this lion has been likened to the fact that many are unconcerned about abortion. As a pro-life worker, and hunter, I know that you can be concerned about both abortion (the worst scourge of our time) and poaching.
Both may be legal. Neither is right. While they don’t compare with regard to depravity, both rely on changing hearts.
I want to add that, aided by Reuters, the federal hunting law making frenzy has begun.
Sen. Blumenthal Proposes Federal Legislation to Curb Hunting Endangered Animals
Hunting club that suspended U.S. hunter donates to top lawmakers
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0Q506C20150731?irpc=932