Hunting Sense

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.

In my opinion, many of the controversies we see today, like the recent Jim Zumbo fiasco, can be directly traced back to this very thing. With Jim, we have a more traditional type hunter, who had an opinion on what type of weapon he thought provided an ‘unfair advantage’ to him as a hunter. Whether anyone else agreed with his view is irrelevant, because it was one based upon his own morals and ethics. We all have them, and sometimes they clash, but we still have the right to hold them.

The critical point we have to keep in mind, though, and most of have problems doing, is that we have to be considerate of differing viewpoints as long as they fall within the guidelines of what the majority considers to be acceptable. It doesn’t mean that we have to choose them for ourselves, or even agree with them, but we do have to show tolerance. If we don’t do that, then we have no right to expect it from anyone that disagrees with our own views.

There will never be a universal agreement, so exactly what fair chase is, and what is an unfair advantage, will have to be decided for ourselves without taking the right away for another to decide what it is for themselves within the confines of what it means to the majority.

Hunting, ethics, morals, fair chase, unfair advantage, Boone and Crockett Club, Jim Zumbo, controversy, tolerance, game laws