In responding, I guess I’m *amned for any answer I give. If you operate on the assumption that any hunter on FR will lie to you, why ask the question?
Based on my experience, both from hunters I know and what I read, your assumptions are false. If your’s is as you stated it in several posts, hunters killing wantonly for target practice, it may be the caliber of people you’ve worked with or lived around.
Seasons don’t exist because most hunters poach. They’re there to manage and protect game. Without wildlife management, you wouldn’t have wildlife to worry about, not due to sportsmen, but to commercial hunting. And without sportsmen you wouldn’t have wildlife management.
Your third hand cougar story is certainly suspect, but assuming he had a license, they weren’t very rare where he was hunting. Maybe you should change the story to something like “he said we’ll mount the head and throw the rest away”. Fit’s your agenda better. Fortunately cougar populations are advancing.
I may not remember correctly,I'm on some heavy meds and not tracking well but it struck me as the type story a hunter might use to(bait)an antihunter after giving up on rational thought getting through the self inflicted ignorance.
After seeing the outrageous accusations made against hunters on these threads it's easy to imagine a group of fed up hunters telling some pretty good whoppers just to get someones' goat.If that is the case it certainly seems to have worked.