Really??? I'm actually surprised, even though I don't know you I have pretty much come to the assumption you are a pretty good, well-natured fisherman from reading posts on here.
#1...the killing/wasting of ANY fish(especially native, non-invasive species) for no reason is just wrong(as many on here would agree). What if I caught a musky and just tossed it on the bank to die? Or a bass? Or a sucker? You get the point. Now an asian carp or a snakehead would be a different story.
#2...bowfin cause no harm to the fishery. In fact they were here much longer than pretty much any other gamefish.
I'm not trying to start a whole "save the bowfin(or insert whatever other species)" thing, but I(and a lot of other fishermen who care about our fisheries) get irratated at the pointless killing of native fish that are supposed to be here and don't cause any harm. Does nothing to help a fishery, and even though the killing of one or two fish won't destroy the population(obviously, most of us keep some fish here and there), it's just flat out wrong imounless of course you are putting it to good use, ex. for food. Like I mentioned, this also happens with bullhead, drum, and I'm sure other native fish. And as other people said it happens in hunting also. People are uneducated, or just don't care. I think it's both.