Once upon a time; if a hunter shot a game bird and could not recover it the lost bird was counted as part of their daily limit. Is this a good idea? Does anyone still do it?
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Once upon a time; if a hunter shot a game bird and could not recover it the lost bird was counted as part of their daily limit. Is this a good idea? Does anyone still do it?
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I don't do it myself, and I don't know anyone who does. In my opinion, it's one of those things that might be good in principle, but in practice it's not such a great thing. It would be virtually impossible to enforce such a law, so it would basically be an honor system. Besides that, there's the practical side of it - what do you count as a lost bird? Is it just one you bring down, or do you include ones you pull feathers from, but fly off?
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I'm conflicted on this one. In principle, it's a good idea since if you kill the bird, you've removed it from the population. On the other hand, many bag limits read something like "limit of twelve, twelve in possession", so does that give you the right to kill enough to fill up your bag?
If you have to count the ones you can't find, it makes you look harder and longer, especially if you are planning on wildfowl for dinner.
Once upon a time, I shot a dove and broke a wing, causing it to fall into a farm pond. It struggled a few seconds and was eaten by what appeared to be a huge bass. I shot another one to take its place.
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Originally posted by huntfishtrap View PostI don't do it myself, and I don't know anyone who does. In my opinion, it's one of those things that might be good in principle, but in practice it's not such a great thing. It would be virtually impossible to enforce such a law, so it would basically be an honor system. Besides that, there's the practical side of it - what do you count as a lost bird? Is it just one you bring down, or do you include ones you pull feathers from, but fly off?
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I have done it both ways, but generally only count a bird in the bag in my limit. One thing I always do though is spend every effort to try to retrieve downed game. Many times, a bird will jump up and need to be shot again as I look for it. This leads me to believe that not all birds knocked down are dead and lost. Another wrinkle is that every US Fish and Wildlife survey I have ever filled out instructs us to only include birds in the bag and to not count lost birds in the totals.
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In MN if you drop birds you cant find, they are considered part of your limit. If you dont count them, what is stopping people shooting just for fun. They could drop birds and never look for them. According to what some of you are saying that person could keep killing birds all day as long as the bag limit isnt full.
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Originally posted by Pup49 View PostHunt with a good dog, your lost birds will be very minimal.
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Originally posted by bflowers View PostIn MN if you drop birds you cant find, they are considered part of your limit. If you dont count them, what is stopping people shooting just for fun. They could drop birds and never look for them. According to what some of you are saying that person could keep killing birds all day as long as the bag limit isnt full.
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Thanks for all the thoughtful answers. I added comments to some of the answers. Does anyone read the comments to answers or just the answers?
I still count unrecovered birds in the bag. On a recent hunt my partner thought it weird and unnecessary since its not a legal requirement. So I thought I'd ask the OL crew.
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