How do you define ‘Fair Chase’?
Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal.
Boone and Crockett Club defines FAIR CHASE as the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild, native North American big game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals.
With these ideas in mind I will attempt to spell out my current working view on fair chase and ethics in hunting.
One thing that stands out to me as I work on this article is that the idea of Fair Chase varies with the hunter. The 50 year old archer with 35 years experience requires a drastically different definition than the recently disabled veteran who’s hunting is now restricted to a wheelchair in a ground blind. And they both differ from that of a child on their first youth hunt.
Bison Herd at Genesee Park, Golden CO
What is the point of fair chase?
THIS is the question
Fair Chase started to gain traction in the late 1800s due to a dramatic decrease in wildlife populations across North America. The pressures of unregulated market hunting nearly wiped the Buffalo off the map and severely threatened the populations of Deer, Elk and many migratory birds.
According to Hunters-Ed:
Fair chase rules make sure hunters have no unfair advantage over wild game by balancing the skills and equipment of the hunter with the abilities of the animal to escape. The rules of fair chase are defined by law, regional preferences, and personal choice.
Fair chase emphasizes self-restraint and skills development.
If I were to attempt to define what Fair Chase means to me, Jake Kunken, in the Fall of 2020 it would probably be a bit clunky but let's give it a go.
Little Parcel of Public in Long Island NY
Knowing and abiding by all rules and regulations set out by state wildlife management agencies. For me that is CPW and NYDEC the two states I will am hunting in this fall.
Reason: abiding by all game and environmental regulations is what enables the North American model of wildlife management to thrive.
Weapon: The appropriate legal weapon for the location and season
Archery:
A compound bow in archery season
Draw weight of 70lbs or more: This draw weight is what gives me confidence both in my abilities as an archer and for potential field conditions like hitting the scapula of a deer or elk.
Draw Weight let off must be 80% or less. (CPW Regulation)
A shot from 60 yards or closer
Reason: I am uncertain that I would be able to execute a shot longer than that knowing that I am the sole person responsible to trail, recover, breakdown and haul out the animal back to my vehicle.
Eventually I may choose to shoot a trad bow over a compound bow but that’s likely years away.
Crossbows:
I currently think that using a crossbow during archery season falls outside the idea of fair chase for myself. However I do think it is a great tool for children and hunters who do not have the strength or ability required to draw back a properly weighted bow
Taken on my first rifle hunt in Colorado
Rifle:
Scoped
Caliber: big enough caliber to humanely take a Elk, for me I am shooting a .300 Wby Mag
A shot from 400 yards or closer
Reason: I am relatively new to shooting long guns and have found that my consistency starts to wane beyond 400 yards, and that is from a bench rest.
Technology: For now I will keep my technological restrictions to those set by CPW
For example you can not use any electrical items on your bow such as a lighted sight or a garmin xero
Location:
Currently all my hunts are on public land, I do not think private land hunts are unethical but they are not something that I currently have the desire or financial means to participate in.
Disclaimer* If a landowner invited me onto their property to hunt and it was not going to cost me anything as long as it is not a high fence operation I would most likely participate.
2020 Public Land Whitetail Buck, Long Island NY
Fair Chase:
Pt 1: The lawful pursuit of a wild animal using an appropriately sized weapon that gives the hunter the ability to make a humane kill without unnecessary waste while minimizing the potential of wounding an animal.
Pt 2: The taking of an animal for the purposes of sustenance or to protect livestock & crops from predation.
Pt 3: Limiting the use of technology in order for the ‘chase’ to commence at an even starting point.
Ie. Alaska one cannot fly and hunt on the same day
Many states do not allow for the use of drones while pursuing wild game
Where it gets tricky:
If we care about ‘Fair Chase’ and ‘Ethical Behavior’ then why do we allow for primitive weapons to be used at all?
Weapons such as traditional bows and muzzle-loaders have lower success rates of harvest than do a scoped rifle. And one can infer that a lower success rate of harvest could correlate to a higher rate of wounded game.
If we want to end the animals' life quickly and humanely then why not allow for “unfair advantage?”
Why prohibit using things like night vision, drones, electronic sights?
Deer tracks
Example: Meat Eater S2E4 Strange Hunt in a strange Land: New Zealand
(Narration) “The hours pass and this scout turns up nothing”
(Steve) “I'm almost glad to have had an afternoon of hunting and be completely skunked without seeing anything because it's making me more ready for success or more ready to see something. It'll be more pleasurable when I do find a deer, then if i just came out and like BAM there's a deer, it’d feel like i had cheated the system to get into it too early." - Steven Rinella
The idea that fair chase emphasizes self-restraint and skills development to me is one of the most beautiful and rewarding parts of hunting. We all tend to agree on the minimum basic requirements of fair and ethical but we are also given the latitude to evolve this understanding over the entirety of our hunting lives.