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The moon was rising over the dark distant hills and the chill of a late September evening was settling in as I stood overlooking a small valley and brook. we were camped out in this area, nearby a small lake and brook aand there was moose sign everywhere. I had called just once, a long wailing cow call and the big bull that had answered almost immediately was now walking through the four year old cut over...right to us. My buddy, who was standing out there with me whispered for me to get the rifle and shoot that bull. After all, we were in the middle of nowhere and you could hear well in the clear night air. "Shoot him, Ray," he urged. You don't know where he'll be come morning and moose season opens in just aa few hours anyway." Well, he did have some good arguments...I did have a license and opening of moose season was just hours away...and there were no guarantees we'd even seen another moose in the short three day season we have here in New Brunswick...but I smiled and simply said "No!" It all came down to hunter ethics.The season wasn't open and although we'd be the only ones who knew what we did...that still wouldn't make it right. To me, it's like someone "jacking" a deer, a big buck, and then getting the head mounted for the wall.Oh yes...people would see your big buck mounts and drool...and maybe praise you as a great hunter...but you'd know better...that's a lie... That is nothing to be proud of...granny Moses could have jacked it...no accomplishment there despite all the arguments you could offer as to why you do it! Hunter ethics means you hunt within the legal framework of season and time and accomplish or don't...within that framework.It means you don't "bend" the rules... sneak other guns into camp for moose season, or take your animal early...and you don't stay on a deer stand to use a flashlight to jack that late coming buck, you don't argue thaat you might as well kill that second deer because soemone else will, or you need it to feed the family and friends...It means that maybe no one else will know...but you will...and can you really be proud of that? Hunting Ethics kick in when you DON"T have an audience there in the woods with you. You do what's right...because it is right! What are your views on hunting ethics...and when you are all by yourself... do you practice"what you preach?"