What i question about what gets called party hunting, is a loose group of guys with pickups and a tank full of gas start chasing deer in open country from one section to the next with generally two gunners in each pickup.  They go out and shoot a bunch of deer and then try to decide who takes what home.   how can that possibly be a calculable situation.  The other one is when they have posted hunters, driving hunters and guys running back and forth playing pick up the other guys, then they drive a smaller river bottom and everybody starts shooting at every deer they see.  I can tell exactly what happens very often.  They do a tally to decide how many tags they have in the assembled loose group and then decide how many they are going to leave lay when they have exceeded the number of tags that they have.  It happens all of the time in NW Iowa and the game wardens cannot possibly keep up with it.  One year in Lyon county the game warden petitioned the state to ban the gun deer season because he felt the hunters were out of control and did not deserve a hunting season.

  Once again what we have is a human problem not a legislative problem. I know we are too far down the road to avoid all the laws, but if people used common sense and a strong appreciation for natural resources then it wouldnt matter if a deer was shot over corn, or on someone elses tag because every animal taken home would be eaten and respected. Unfortunatly we are in a society where that is becoming a small percentage and pride driven hunting is now main stream. And yes I too have been guilty of this. I think it best to not dwell on tactics but emphasize the result of what an ethical hunter does with game after taken home. Just my 2 cents. And I appreciate everyones opinion and this site!

There are regional influences for certain but it boils down to personal choice. A few years ago I killed a beautiful 6x6 bull elk and I felt like I'd poached it.....just because I shot it with a rifle. That isn't really an ethical question but a question of preference. It had been so long since I'd used a firearm on a big game animal that it just didn't feel right! For me, no difference shooting a buck under an apple tree or over a pile of apples away from the tree.  For me ethics come into play on whether or not to loose an arrow at a marginal range or angle.

Great points, all.

I believe it's is not region, it is personnel. I see ethical and unethical in almost all of the areas I have had the privilege to hunt.