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Why do bowfishers leave the fish they shoot on the shore of the bay?
My friend and I were fishing the South Dike area on Sunday and saw several bowfishers shooting the lowly carps but then just leaving the fish to die and stink on the shore. Is this acceptable behavior for this group of sportsmen? Are there any regulations for how they should handle the fish they shoot? I have other friends asking the same questions and who they might report this to.
As for me personally, I really do not appreciate having to watch a wounded fish suffer at my feet while i cast my rod into the bay. Also, the stink of dead ones shot days earlier is annoying as it is easily preventable by puncturing the bladder and tossing the fish back into the bay for the crayfish and other scavengers.
Am I just expecting too much???
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I am just getting started on the Bowfishing. I haven't noticed people leaving the dead ones on the shore but have heard it mentioned before.
I only hunt them at DC and as you said, I cut them open and leave them in the water for the seagulls or other species to feed off of.
Leaving them on shore is totally unacceptable! But, not surprising with the garbage many bring in but neglect or figure someone else will pick up after them.
That has stupid written all over it. In other words, it's Not just you!
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Well, here's the regulation. Good luck trying to get anyone to actually read the proclamation, or follow the rules.
Quote:Disposal of fish
Utah Code § 23-20-8
In most instances, you may not waste any fish or crayfish or allow them to be wasted
or spoiled. Waste means to abandon a fish
or crayfish or allow it to spoil or be used in
a manner not normally associated with its beneficial use. For example, using the meat of game fish as fertilizer or for trapping bait is not considered a beneficial use of the meat.
In 2013, however, the Utah Legislature passed a new law that allows anglers to dispose of carp and a few other species—particularly species under catch-and-kill orders at certain waterbodies—without violating the state’s wasting statute. If you visit any of the following waters and catch any of the species listed for those waters, you may dispose of them:
• All waters statewide: common carp
After catching any of the above fish, you
may consume them or dispose of them at one of the following locations:
• In the water where the fish was caught
• A fish-cleaning station
• The angler’s place of residence
• Another location where disposal is
authorized by law
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As FG said, I've seen many bow guys throw the fish back in and occasionally I see them float back to the shore, but I haven't seen them just leave it on the bank. I think the majority of the bow fishing group are no less respectful than the majority of hook and line anglers.
I'll take a rotting biodegradable fish carcass over a dozen feet of line that some impatient person cut off their reel when it bird nests and just drops. And I seem to find line far more often. That or powerbait jars and beer cans...
While it does smell worse I see no difference in giving it to the crawdad's than I do the skunks, racoons and coyotes.
Personal opinion I guess? Welcome to BFT by the way!
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a dead carp, no matter where it's located, is a good thing!!!!! thank those bowfisherman next time you see them!
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While I certainly agree with how the carp were thrown on the shore, your comment about suffering fish boggles my mind...if you have a problem with fish bleeding and dieing understand while fishing you drive a barbed hooked into a tender area they use to eat, grow, and stay alive...
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Thanks for the info everyone!
FG - I agree with you. People who are too lazy to pick up their trash will always be the problem whether bowfisher, bank tangler, swimmers, etc. I see dead carp as trash that should be removed or properly disposed of by those doing the killing.
Fishrmn - thanks for posting the regs...I hadn't seen them.
MS - Throwing a dead fish back in the water is different from cutting it open and puncturing its swim bladder. Also, I have no problem with what species eats the dead carp, hell even our species eats the damn things, I just don't want a popular beach area littered with dead fish. Thanks for the welcome! 
UG - sorry, I don't share the same opinion 
db - don't let it and I don't use barbs on my hooks...I crimp 'em down...just preference. Still causes suffering, I know. Oh, and I certainly do not have a problem with fish bleeding and dying...I eat fish! I just don't want to have to watch them do it at my feet cuz someone is too lazy to slice it open and throw it back into the water...
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The first time I ever bowfished I shot 13 at Utah Lake and threw them all up on the shore. The next time I went back to the same spot I learned really fast why you throw them back. That stench was a great teacher!
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This may come across cruel to any carp lovers, but I find to fully dispatch a carp to be dead dead dead (I'm feeling better!) takes more work than I'm interested in.
But - I don't like to smell up a shoreline, and I find that personally gross. THOUGH - in an effort to make fertilizer, I found I lost out to the voles and critters the eviscerated the remains before it had a chance to dry and be ground to soil goods. I have opened a gut, puntured and air bladder, and seed a carp STILL swim away, but I envision what a GoPro vid that would be to witness a cat-swarm descend on the gooey goods of a carp's leftovers, and I don't feel so bad.
The bow-fishers I know make an effort to puncture the airsack and release them back into the water, and the biosystem of the lake/river where they are at. Granted, shore critters will contribute, but it still leaves a pile of bones. And the stink in the meantime. I've rather feed cats and dads than voles personally. I'd LIKE to catch voles for bait! (if anyone has ideas, or tips).
Thanks for posting the true regs, think it's clear IN the water is ok, but not on the shoreline. My dog LOVES to roll in the nastiest grossest crap she can find. One of those things about dogs I DON'T love!
Oh how cute, you're rolling. NOW what? It can be as simple as where a fish was laid in the grass, or SO much more! (DON'T ask me about pig-shit, ugh. White fur...that was just Nasty! - picture Eddie Murphy voice)
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just what willard needs, something else to attract more bugs!
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I don't bowfish as much as I used to, but I realized the last couple times out that the stalking and shooting are the fun part. So, unless I need to shoot some bait, I use a spike, rather than a barbed harpoon to shoot fish. Then, they self release, usually.
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