Hunting Sense

I was Googling hunting news this morning in hopes of finding an idea for a post, and I came across an article about changes to Alberta’s subsistence hunting license. Basically, it’s a hunting license issued to anyone in the province that relies upon moose, elk, or deer meat to feed them and their families and can be used anytime during the year. It got me to thinking.

Would the creation of a subsistence hunting license elsewhere help curb the cases of out-of-season poaching? Granted, some poaching isn’t for the meat to feed the poacher and their families. For those people poaching as a means to feed their families, though, it would provide a legal way for them to do so.

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In the animal world, its eaten or be eaten, the hunters are doing what mother nature would be doing if we hadn’t removed all the natural predators. Now, it is up to us to do the job.

I ran across the above quote while reading a response to an opinion piece on hunting in a newspaper. As you can tell, it is in support of hunting, not against. And it is a sound argument, even one that I have found myself using from time to time. But after reading it, it got me to thinking.

There are a few things about this argument, as stated here, that are a bit off, and seem to be quite often. First, all the natural predators haven’t been removed. What is more accurate is that we have reduced the number of natural predators to the point that they are no longer effective in naturally controlling the population.

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Recently, we’ve been making a lot of excursions into the woods and meadows behind my mother-in-law’s house out on the farm. The farm is made up of twenty-eight acres and there is a wide variety of habitat between it and the surrounding property. The farm itself is made up of mature pines from an abandoned Christmas tree farm, meadows, softwood stands, apple trees, and a wet weather creek. The property on either side is planted in soybeans while the back turns into thick bush.

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According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation, only five percent of Americans now call themselves hunters. This sad fact is driven home by situations like the one in Solebury, Pennsylvania where they are paying the U.S. Department of Agriculture over $250,000 for sharpshooters to get the deer population under control. There is something seriously wrong with people being paid to kill deer because hunter numbers aren’t great enough to control the ever growing deer population.

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Hillbillies and gators are just two images I don’t see going together. Apparently, though, the hillbillies are firing up the truck and loading the guns because they may be going gator hunting. That’s right, it seems Arkansas is considering having their first alligator season in history.

Now, I hope none of my readers in Arkansas take offense as I’m just joking around about the hillbilly part. It was too good to resist. If it makes anyone feel any better, I openly call myself a Redneck all the time.

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Steve over at Black Bear Blog has published the results of a poll they ran asking: “Do you think the use of ‘military style’ weapons hurts the image of hunters?” It was nearly a 50/50 split between yes and no, with a handful of people unable to decide.

If the answer being sought by the poll was whether or not you think the use of ‘military style’ weapons should hurt the image of hunters, I think it did a pretty fair job of showing the division within our own ranks of the issue. On the other hand, if it meant exactly what it asked as worded, then I personally think anyone who believes the use of ‘military style’ weapons doesn’t hurt the image of hunters is living in a fantasy world. Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but it seems there’s a huge difference between the two.

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I had an in-depth conversation about hunting last night with a friend of mine who has never been before. In the course of the discussion, the topic of prayers and rituals performed to honor the animal, like many Native American tribes practiced, came up. I think he was a little surprised to find out I actually have a prayer I say over every animal I kill.

My grandfather was a fast friend with a full-blood Indian (for the life of me, I can’t remember which tribe) and they often hunted together over the years. I believe it was him that taught my grandfather an old Indian prayer honoring the animal and giving thanks to it for giving its life so that they could eat. When I was old enough, it was something my grandfather passed on to me.

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I just read an excellent article by Russ Chastain over at About: Hunting/Shooting titled ‘Why do Hunters Kill‘. I have uttered the very same reasons he lists I don’t know how many times. I think it is the same for nearly any hunter.

There is one spot that caught my attention, though, because my wife and I were just having a discussion about this the other day. Russ states that “Without the kill, we’re not hunting”. He goes on to say, “The kill is not the bottom line reason for the hunt, but it cannot be removed from the equation.” These are two very interesting statements, and I’m not going to argue the validity of either. I am, though, going to give my take on them as they apply to me and how I tried to explain to my wife.

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Yes, you read that right: Hunting is the #1 global activity. From the North Pole to the South Pole and all around the globe, every person is hunting. They may not classify themselves as hunters, but the fact that they are isn’t changed just because they don’t realize it.

I would love to say I’m talking about hunting in the way we sportsmen think of it, but, sadly, I’m not able to. What I’m talking about is hunting of any kind. The thing is, in a round about way, no matter what kind of hunting it is, it all relates back to the type of hunting we do.

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Hunting and guns often go hand in hand, but do hunting issues always need to be turned into gun-right issues? Not hardly, but more times than not, they are. There are times when the two may overlap, but sometimes a hunting issue is just that, a hunting issue and no more. And when it is made into more, it often does more harm than good.

In the hunting world, there is a thing we refer to as ‘fair chase’, something I have wrote on in a previous post titled Fair Chase Ethics Creates Unfair Controversy. It is basically the belief that a game animal should not be taken by means that give the hunter an unfair advantage over the animal. Exactly what this constitutes is of varying opinion, as I mentioned in the post on the subject. But the ethics behind this belief is what I consider to be paramount to the subject of this post.

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FAIR CHASE STATEMENT
FAIR CHASE, as defined by the Boone and Crockett Club, is 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.

Above is the Boone and Crocket Club’s Fair Chase Statement as it appears on their website. The cornerstone of our modern game laws, it’s meant to be a simple, straightforward statement guiding hunters in the ethical pursuit and taking of game animals. If it was truly that simple though, there wouldn’t be the number of controversies and differing opinions that we have in the world of hunting.

…in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals.

Although constantly being defined and redefined, what constitutes an ‘unfair advantage’ is in no way simple, and isn’t something that will ever be fully agreed upon by everyone. The very definition of it has to be based upon morals and ethics, and those two things are not universal. Yes, on a larger scale, we can decide as a majority of what they should be, but that still doesn’t mean that they fit each individuals own morals and ethics.

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Even after two years since Texas lawmakers put a stop to the so-called virtual hunting website Live-Shot.com dreamed up by Texas rancher John Lockwood, other legislatures are taking measures to prevent such sites in their states. A bill has been filed this month in Illinois which would make it the latest to take pro-active measures against this flawed and outrageous concept.

The original concept of the Live-Shot.com website was to allow hunters to hunt animals on Lockwood’s Texas ranch using their computer and a remote operated rifle located on the property. In defense of the idea, Lockwood claimed it would be a useful tool for disabled hunters. Shortly afterwards, the Texas legislature shot the venture down, to much applause of sportsmen.

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According to an article in The Kentucky Post, steps taken to promote youth hunting have raised a debate. The state Fish and Wildlife Commission sets the minimum age children may enrol in hunter education training at 9, increases the age it’s mandatory for the child to pass the course to 12, and drops the requirement of purchasing a “junior: hunting license for children under 12. This has brought about the question of at what age should a child be allowed to hunt with firearms and who has the right to decide—the parents or the government?

Having come from Oklahoma, a state where many children are traditionally introduced to hunting at an early age, and a family that hunts, I started hunting before the age of ten. Granted, every child may not be mature or responsible enough to begin at that early of an age, but it’s surprising how many are. And a deciding factor is the amount of instruction they receive, whether it is by attending a hunting course or the parents passing along what they know.

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I prefer hunting with a bow and arrows to hunting with a gun because I feel that the animal and I are on a more level playing field by doing so. Despite this fact, I still find myself sometimes struggling with whether or not this gives me too much of an advantage. Does the level of technology of the weapon and equipment I use negate any perceived level of fairness I think there is?

My bow is a Jennings Buckmaster with fiber-optic sights, overdraw, and a stabilizer, and I use a mechanical release and graphite arrows. All of these are fairly recent innovations that can greatly increase an archery hunter’s chances. Their skills still play an important role though, no matter, but does that justify the use of these newer technologies?

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I’ll admit, few things get my heart to pumping more than a huge racked whitetail buck. Any hunter who doesn’t have sweaty palms and visions of the rack hanging on the wall is someone with immortal powers. But even as excited as I am by the rack, they are secondary as far as I’m concerned.

When I go into the woods to hunt, there is only one thing I’m thinking about. That one thing is putting food on the table. If it wasn’t for that, I would be out there sitting with a camera instead of my weapon.

I’m a meat hunter first and foremost. If I get a chance to kill a nice buck with an awesome rack, all the better, but it isn’t what drives me to the woods every fall. But that’s the only reason some hunters even hunt, just for the trophy they can come home with.

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