On a roll - fair chase

[elkoholic]

Since I'm on a roll tonight, how about a few thoughts on fair chase hunting.  I read a statement today that got me to thinking about the current state of hunting and doing absolutely everything we can to put the odds in our favor as hunters.  The thought was, that in order for it to be fair chase the animal we are pursuing should have at least a 50% chance of getting away and for it to be truly sporting it should have a greater than 50% chance.  From the simple act of providing unnatural food sources to draw them in, along with manipulating travel routes, to creating bedding areas we have increased our odds depending on how adapt we are at changing the habitat.  Add in camouflage, scent control and the myriad  of cover/attractant scents, decoys and the odds become even more uneven.  Now throw in a shooting house which further veils scent, along with sight and sound, plus it is left in place and the animal becomes complacent with its presence as it has become a harmless piece of the landscape.  The list goes on and on and with each passing season more "technology" floods the market.  Even the animals movements are being tracked, and that is the only real unknown for the hunter on stand.  Will the animal show up while hunter is sitting there?  If it does step out in range (and that has probably been manipulated) the odds are probably not 50%.  Bow hunters sitting in an open stand are the closest to the 50/50 proposition and on a stalk the animal probably has a better than 50% change of getting away.  What do you think is the best "fair chase" hunt?

[wtnhunt]

Think it is all relative to the situation Dave. 

Hunting here is by no means similar to hunting large tracts in the west or even large ag fields here where deer come out like clockwork daily.  I mean you could hunt an only water source for miles in the west where you know animals are going to come to.  Is that any less fair than hunting a planted food source in an area that has small tracts with thick bottom ground broken up by hundreds of acres of ag crops that give deer an abundant source of food that the hunter really is merely chancing that he/she may get lucky on any given day and find the deer decide to use the food they strategically planted as opposed to eating the corn or soybeans in the large fields around them where there are a number of other hunters?  

So to answer the question, the best fair chase hunt would probably be spot and stalk with a handmade stick and string with no optics and in old flannel.  That said even the native Americans used "technology" to better their odds. 

[elkoholic]

Well, I think that anytime the intended quarry can use all of their senses to detect danger within their flight zone and have an avenue of escape would qualify as fair chase and definitely spot and stalk is on top of my list as well.

A few thoughts to stir the pot.  A treed animal has no avenue of escape.  Long range shooting where not only does the animal have little chance to detect the hunter but even if it does it does not feel threatened.

[Adjam5]

This is a can worms here...

Where folks hunt has a lot to do with it. New Mexico, Oklahoma, The Dakotas, Texas. A 3-400 yard shot may be common. Is that hunting? You are killing a animal, but I think it is more a long the lines good shooting. Firearms give a huge advantage in hunting. The lesser the weapon, the greater the skill. Less margin of error.

Drawing a bow(compound or stick) in the presence of a animal changes the game so much as far as fair chase goes. So to make the hunter successful, crossbows are allowed. No more choosing a pin and drawing the bow with the animal in front of you. Easy with a crossbow. Now for as far as kids and folks who have disabilities hunt however you want, as long as you hunt.

Spot and stalk with a recurve , longbow, spear or Atlatl are the only pure methods in hunting. All the other weapons have used advanced technology to make a less skillful hunter more...er...skillful .  But even if you spot and stalk with primitive weapons in a apple orchard, you are still hunting over bait.

Advantages of a Steel broadhead or obsidian? Carbon arrow shaft or Osage? Plastic fletch or Feathers? Bone or self nock?  Who defines what is and whats not?

[wtnhunt]

51 minutes ago, elkoholic said:

Well, I think that anytime the intended quarry can use all of their senses to detect danger within their flight zone and have an avenue of escape would qualify as fair chase and definitely spot and stalk is on top of my list as well.

A few thoughts to stir the pot.  A treed animal has no avenue of escape.  Long range shooting where not only does the animal have little chance to detect the hunter but even if it does it does not feel threatened.

Always enjoy these posts.  Killing a treed animal does not seem to me to be all that sporting, but it is legal and where so I guess more power to those who enjoy it.  Really boils down to a persons own ethics and morals as to how each individual will view that type of "hunting".  

Big differences and challenges with hunting different scenarios.  In places where you can see for miles on game that may not be as wary or skittish would be far different than hunting in more dense places where you have very limited many areas to actually see an animal.  Like I mentioned earlier this morning, water holes out west in many places are a big draw, as where places around here there is so much water and cover a deer can go undetected for years if not for them losing their better senses during the rut.  

 

 

[Ravin R10 man]

a treed animal can jump down anytime and run off, some old black bears never tree, they just swat the dog wide open, and keep going.

we have guns capable of 700+ yard kills today...

we could go round and round about this and not long ago a simular post was debated.

as far as Im concerned if its legal, do it, and enjoy whatever your style of "hunting" may conform to.

 

Now like above, I'd agree, spot and stalk in wide open country, probably as basic as it gets....but then I often see binos, wind detectors, yardage rangeing device...heck they even got automatic ranging sights nowdays...