I'm don't think anything about hunting is fair unless the deer are armed and well-trained in the use of their chosen weapon.
How much deer hunting have you done, to come to this informed perspective? States like ME list 17% hunting success for whitetails back in 1997, and it is not clear that the success rate has done anything except decrease. It would seem to me that it's a "fair fight" if every time a hunter goes out, he has a 50-50 shot of bagging a deer. I think most hunters will tell you the odds are way lower than that, so it seems that the deer are the ones with the "unfair" advantage!
Deer
are armed. They have acute senses, they are cautious, they have camouflage, they run fast: those are their defensive weapons. All deer have hooves, and the bucks have antlers: those are their offensive weapons. It is true that those offensive weapons are not as impressive as, say, the claws, teeth, bows or rifles of their several predators (but I didn't plan it that way!). So it is not surprising that they prefer to detect and run away from predators, rather than engage them. Darn good tactics, IMHO; work pretty well, too.
Hunting isn't making a nice shot on a game animal. Hunting is doing all the scouting, planning, studying topo maps, learning the habits of the deer in the area, and other preparation it takes to make that shot a possibility.
Well, for you it is.
The number of hunters in this country is steadily decreasing, even as the population increases. The attitude that in order to hunt, you need to do scouting, planning, topos, tracking individual deer before the season? That's great, for those who have the time, and who already love the sport. Especially if you've been hunting the same area for years...or generations.
For those who are caught in the standard two- (or three-)job marriages, with kids...and trying to make an introduction to shooting and hunting one of your kids' many activities--all while living in an area that you don't know well regarding hunting?
Perhaps such people just shouldn't hunt, 'cause if they hire a guide and/or pay to hunt on private land, that's not REAL hunting?
Fine. Hunting is an ailing sport with many enemies. Such an attitude should help keep fresh, young blood out of the sport, and so kill hunting more quickly.
As for me, I spent two solid years getting ready for a hunting trip to Africa. But darn it, when I got there, I hired a guide (professional hunter) instead of walking around by myself. I guess I didn't hunt at all.
It just felt like it.