Angered as I saw a deer 'HANGING' off a hitch cargo carrier on the highway today...

[hookset6969]

QUICKDRAW, My point exactly!!!!!! THANK YOU

[Powell1120]

I don't believe that a dressed deer bothers any hunter but not every one feels that way. I think that the majority of the population, hunters and non alike understand what has to be done after the kill but not everyone cares to see it. I think as hunters we have to respect this fact and try to keep things like this to a minimum. I also agree that the anti's are in the minority but there are also a lot of neutrals out there that it may only take one experince like this to start them in the wrong direction. For those that like to display their harvest like that good for them, I personally will not do the same.
 
I do not have a problem with they hitch carriers, what i would have a problem with is the manner it was positioned and strapped down.

[woodsalta]

I got one for you- a few years ago I was coming back from a hunting trip and while driving down Rt95 in Maine this guy had a open air trailer with ladder racks being towed by his pick-up truck with a deer hung upside down, suspended in the air by all 4 legs tied to opposite corners like some ancient torcher device. This deer was gutted with the cavity facing up for all to see. Never mind the fact that he was going 70 mph and it was getting caked with road salt, sand and what ever else was on the road. The deer was almost black from all the grim on it, and by the way it looked I wouldn't want to eat any of it. I thought of it as a total waste.

Someone else posted from MA (that's where I'm from) that according to law we are required to have part of the deer showing until it is checked in. I dont have a problem with this law, but at the same time a little discression is good. We don't have a large hunting population in the eastern part of the state, and as stated before, we are all looking to put a good foot forward to give hunters a better name. If I'm driving through the town of Weston (one of the wealthier towns around) with a deer hanging out of the back of my truck, people would be calling the cops left and right saying that I'm out killing bambi. I guarantee you I wouldn't make it out of the town without getting stopped and checked out.

I guess what I'm saying is that different parts of the country look at hunting differently. Depending on what part of the country, or even what part of the state, you are from depends on how we can give hunters a better name. If that means putting the deer you killed into the bed of your truck and closing the tailgate or wrapping it up in a tarp before you strap it down to the trailer hitch rack will help all of us in the long run.

[Goose]

Up until a couple of years ago, it was a state law that your deer had to be visible until registered here in WI. Now it doesn't have to be, but I don't know of too many people who cover their animal up. How you "display" your deer is up to you, but I try to make it look respectful. No blood or open cavity showing if it can be helped. I am a proud hunter so the way I display my kill is respectful. I have no problem showing it off, but I do so with consideration to the other folk that will see it. I am glad that I live in an area where this is common and get a lot of thumbs up from other drivers.

[kellory]

Even in a pickup bed, my deer is wrapped in a tarp. I do this for my reasons first, and other people's reasons second. I wrap it to keep it clean, and to keep my truck clean,(It belongs to my father in-law, also a hunter) It shows respect to the man who loaned me his truck. Second, to keep it from drying out. Third, No one who has ever tried to keep warm with a tarp has ever succeeded. The meat will cool just fine. Next are other people reasons. It is not my intention to gross out kids or thier parents, nor do I wish to give hunting a bad name, the tree huggers and bambi-thumpers have that well in hand. I have no problem leaving the head exposed for public display,(assuming it is presentable) but if it is not suitable to display here among hunters, it is too gory for non-hunters to see at all. That is showing respect for thier views, and they are intitled to thier views. Waving a red flao at them is just rude. Just like the gay pride parades. I don't need it in my face, neither do they. Legal though it may be. And lastly, they do vote, they do complain, they do influance our future laws and regulations. While we can not please them, it is not wise to tease the bears. Hunters understand the value of silence, tree huggers understand that noise gets things done in politics. We are not equipted to put out the same level of noise they do, so teasing them is foolish. I am quite proud of what I do, but I try not to be aragant about it.

[Bukmastr]

My question back to the O/P would be: If you saw a guy with luggage on that hauler insecurly straped and getting sprayed by road slime would that inferiate you too?

I hunt, Im a predator... Thats why god gave me canine teeth. Its not my fault, nor is it natural for a human to be a vegitarian tree hugger. There is no differance between him poorly securing his kill, as there is poorly securing his grocerys...
When we start hiding what we do, and start calling killing "havesting", and try to make believe or hide the fact that deer get gutted, that is the same thing as saying we are doing something wrong and need to keep it hidden. There is nothing wrong with hunting, and if someone is offended by my hunting, I don't care.

[jonny5buck]

My question back to the O/P would be: If you saw a guy with luggage on that hauler insecurly straped and getting sprayed by road slime would that inferiate you too?

I hunt, Im a predator... Thats why god gave me canine teeth. Its not my fault, nor is it natural for a human to be a vegitarian tree hugger. There is no differance between him poorly securing his kill, as there is poorly securing his grocerys...
When we start hiding what we do, and start calling killing "havesting", and try to make believe or hide the fact that deer get gutted, that is the same thing as saying we are doing something wrong and need to keep it hidden. There is nothing wrong with hunting, and if someone is offended by my hunting, I don't care.

x2 Buddy...you summed it up pretty well.....even though this post is a yr old or more......it warrants a response ...if you dont like it Tough...look away...this post makes me want strap a deer across the hood ...a dead deer is just that...being disrespectful is saying that a dead deer on ahitch hauler gives hunters a bad name....PLEEEEEZE...way off base way off!!!!!!!!!!!----

[Woods Walker]

When we start hiding what we do, and start calling killing "havesting", and try to make believe or hide the fact that deer get gutted, that is the same thing as saying we are doing something wrong and need to keep it hidden. There is nothing wrong with hunting, and if someone is offended by my hunting, I don't care.

BINGO! We're hunters. We hunt. The purpose of the hunt is to make meat. The only way I know of to do that is to KILL it first. Deal with it. And while were on the topic, after I KILL my game, I BUTCHER it.

Processing is what they do to you after you're arrested, or inducted into the armed forces, which they don't have to kill you to do.

You harvest tomatoes, of which I have to add that you DON'T need to kill the plant first in order to do that.

Everytime I hear a hunter use the "harvest" word as a euphemism for what REALLY happens when you end an animal's life by severe trauma....loss of blood which leads to shock and then total heart failure....I wince, because IMO there's someting very dishonest about it.

I also get a kick out of hunter's that use the term "take", as substitute for "kill".

"Hey Bob? How'd you do hunting this weekend?"

"I did OK! I took a doe."

"You took her? Where, to a movie? Out to dinner? I hope you don't mean "took" in the OTHER sense!!!"

[scotman]

When we start hiding what we do, and start calling killing "havesting", and try to make believe or hide the fact that deer get gutted, that is the same thing as saying we are doing something wrong and need to keep it hidden. There is nothing wrong with hunting, and if someone is offended by my hunting, I don't care.

It is called having tact. If you ever get a chance you should read the Deer and Deer Hunting Trilogy by Robert Wegner. That man has tact.

[avluey]

Just don't see the big deal. If the guy wants to ruin his meat, that's his problem. I just don't understand what was or wasn't 'respectful' in the OP's view. I mean I guess I could see your point if the head was hanging off the back of the trailer and dragging on the asphalt... but the legs hanging off and not being shredded on the surface? Yeah I think you over reacted quite a bit. I drive a Tahoe, so when I'm hunting the deer go in the back. If I drove a pickup or a car with a trailer the main factor deciding whether or not I used a tarp would be the weather and road conditions.

I'm with buckmaster, WW, and johnny5 on this one. If I were talking to a neighbor's little kid I would probably consider using some of the PC language, but I don't with my own kids (5 and 3) and I'm sure not going to with adults. It seems totally disingenuous.