Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty: Giving hunters — and human beings — a bad name...



(Hat-tip Nick Baumann @ MoJo)
"T-Paw" is taking a well-deserved drubbing from the outdoor community for not bothering to track down a wounded deer he shot on the opening day of Minnesota's firearm deer season.

A headline on deerhuntingchat.com calls the possible '12 presidential contender a "slob hunter" for wounding a deer on Nov. 7th and then leaving for a Republican fundraiser in Iowa before the animal could be found.

One contributor wrote: "What kind of slob hunter goes out opening morning and shoots a deer knowing full well you won't have time to retrieve it or tend to it? One whose presidential ambitions override his hunting ethics, that's what kind."

After the governor shot the deer from more than 200 yards away (a long shot that would only be ethically taken by a well-seasoned hunter, which Pawlenty is not), he and his brother Dan went to the spot where they last saw the animal. Finding blood but no deer, they returned to base camp for breakfast and to consider their next move. Due in Iowa that night for a fundraiser, Pawlenty left, and there has been no sign of the animal since.

As the Deer Hunting Guide says: "A responsible hunter, who is also an ethical hunter, will be prepared to spend hours trailing a wounded deer; even come back the next day if needed. You must make every effort to retrieve a wounded animal. It's the right ethical thing to do."

P.S. WTF, T-Paw? Everyone knows that real hunters gun down wolves from helicopters. That, or they shoot their friends in the face pen-raised quail.