I think that is a great definition. I do think fair chase should include some purely ethical and personal choices too. Like I won’t shoot upland game unless it’s on the wing. Or take more than 2 birds in a quail covey in a day.
My pop has a soft heart for animals and I think where I got my don’t shoot animals in camp ethic was when we were turkey hunting and a rabbit rolled through our camp right after we had parked and were setting up. Then it froze up when I snapped around to see what it was. I love hunting and am not bothered by killing as much as my pop. It’s not that I’m heartless, but the excitement of it keeps me wanting to be out there. I said if the rabbit was still there by the time I could get my gun and ammo out and load up we’d have him for supper. My pop agreed, but I could tell he was rooting for the rabbit. That thing stuck right there while I wandered around, even changing my choke. When I leveled my gun on him, my pop hollered at me,”Awwww, why don’t you just let the poor thing go!”. I’m not going against my pop, he’s a true man of character. I guess that’s why I say it’s bad juju. Because my pop wouldn’t like it. But that’s me and each person should make their own decisions about ethics, so long as they are working within the definition quoted above.
My father and grandmother saw too it that I ate more than a few crows, Robbins and cardinals as a trigger happy young man. If you killed it, you ate it.
I find questions like Fair Chase to be very interesting. Since it’s “My Thread” I will tell you what I think.
My impression is that the closer someone lives to a major city, or to a grocery store, the more “particular” they are about other folks hunting methods.
I normally ask what is the nature of the warning that they provide to the game they hunt? To be Fair, of course.
In Texas we primarily hunt out of box blinds. Some elevated, some on the ground. That’s just the way it is. Box blind or pop up blind, either are on the inside what it is on the outside...cold and wet? They are cold and wet. Chill north wind blowing? Yep, it’s gonna be breezy. So I personally don’t think sitting in my half built cabin is much different, but it sure kept the wind off.
See...here’s the thing about folks that feel entitled to lecture others about Fair Chase...the last time you picked up a couple of steaks at the store, before you dropped them in the basket, did you ask yourself what sort of Fair Chase that calf got at the feed lot? Bet it didn’t cross your mind.
You don’t own a rifle with a scope on it do you? If so you only take shots past 200 yards and keep it dialed down to the lowest magnification setting because thats about what your sight picture would look like at 100 with iron sights...right? I mean, you know, Fair Chase and all.
I guess you would tell my 12 year old who shot a doe in the rain last week that since he wasn’t soaking wet that, well, he was doing it wrong.
So, where does your moral superiority end, exactly?
Hunting is what you make it. As long as it’s legal. And sometimes it just depends on how hard you want to make it for yourself...that day.
Would I shoot a 12 point buck out the door of that cabin? You bet. I manage that little piece of ground for deer. Would I do the same from the ranch owners house at the property I run a deer lease on in central Texas? Likely not. The story of the hunt and the challenge of catching that big boy on his own ground is the reward.
And using a primitive weapon adds even more to the challenge and the reward. I’m only a couple generations away from my G-grandfather who as a young man traded bullets for arrows with Kiowa and Comanche. He and I briefly shared the planet together. I’m told there was a lively debate about asking the coroner to remove the arrowhead he carried in his rib cage for over 80 years after having it placed there. I’d like to know his thoughts on Fair Chase. But now, you know mine.
Enjoy your next steak my friend
