MidwestMatthew
Member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2015
- Messages
- 25
Although I'm personally a new hunter, I've known hunters all my life. From them, I've learned that, other than legality and following safety rules, there are really only two primary principles of hunting ethics:
1.) Only take a clean shot, and,
2.) Follow the rules of fair chase.
At the hunter's safety course I took a couple of months ago, the instructors (both lifelong hunters in their 80's) spent a fair bit of time on both these points.
Regarding clean kills, they spent several minutes hammering on students to never shoot at a running deer, because it's hard to kill them cleanly when they're running.
Almost immediately after making that point, they got into Fair Chase and spent a similar amount of time chastising hunters who shoot sitting birds, because it's not giving the birds a chance.
It seemed obvious to me that their examples of Fair Chase totally contradicted what they'd just said about clean shots. But when I asked one of the instructors about this after the class, it was clear he'd never thought about that conflict himself. He told told me that everyone has to make up their own minds about it, but it seemed evident he had been taught a certain hunting ethic, decades ago, and had never questioned it before.
So, is it just me, or is there actually some real tension between these two rules? If so, what is a proper balance?
1.) Only take a clean shot, and,
2.) Follow the rules of fair chase.
At the hunter's safety course I took a couple of months ago, the instructors (both lifelong hunters in their 80's) spent a fair bit of time on both these points.
Regarding clean kills, they spent several minutes hammering on students to never shoot at a running deer, because it's hard to kill them cleanly when they're running.
Almost immediately after making that point, they got into Fair Chase and spent a similar amount of time chastising hunters who shoot sitting birds, because it's not giving the birds a chance.
It seemed obvious to me that their examples of Fair Chase totally contradicted what they'd just said about clean shots. But when I asked one of the instructors about this after the class, it was clear he'd never thought about that conflict himself. He told told me that everyone has to make up their own minds about it, but it seemed evident he had been taught a certain hunting ethic, decades ago, and had never questioned it before.
So, is it just me, or is there actually some real tension between these two rules? If so, what is a proper balance?