Interesting Read on "Fair Chase"

[Russ]

It's the pay by the inch that ruins it for me. Not the high fence. Hunting to me is being able to shoot the biggest critter you can find rather its high or low fence for the same price. I shouldn't need a bar code scanner to go hunting.

The elk in my avatar didn't cost me more cause he was a booner. And if I would have come home empty handed it would have cost the same as well.

Too me there is lines to be drawn. I really don't want my kid to grow up thinking that hunting a trophy is all about how much money you spend when you pick your animal out like grocery shopping for a steak.

What's next? High fenced bears and cougars that we pay by the pound. Charge a flat fee and then we are talking! Lol

[Todd-ty729]

This reminds me of my younger brother.

I wupped his butt all of the time when we were younger but there was no way in heck I was going to let anyone else pick on him.

[jpbruni]

It's a good read and I like how he thinks. Unfortunately the hard reality to face is that the "Record Books" are the main purpetrators of this phrase and continue to fuel the flames by defining and then continually re-defining the "Rules of Fair Chase".

If my bow has 82% letoff, if I use tritium pins, etc, etc.

These "Organizations" are purpetuating this ideal and fostering ill will between us as hunters and actually creating splinter groups!. The damage has already been done and these "Books" are now part of our history and I don't see any kind of fix to this for the future.

The main point that the author drives home is that we need to stick together. With this, I could not agree more.

In regards to the anti's...they are clueless, usually severely mis/un-informed and 98% of them will put an animals life in higher regard than a humans! They have absolutely no idea what the average lifespans of most animals are and how gruesome and horrific their death is by Mother Nature. Some think that they just live out in the woods, frolicking around their whole live and then die peacefully. Any animal dying by natural causes is much more "inhumane" than they could ever imagine! Death by a hunter is far more humane.

Plus now there are so many new dimensions to this "Fair Chase" issue as technology advances the modernization of our equipment and our techniques. We are in a tough spot for sure!

J.P.

[Zookeeper]

HF or LF, I don't care, just call it what it is If you have a high fence property that does not

offer a deer an ability to travel freely, because of the property's size, then it is restricting the

deer's movement and is not fair chase. Food, in a contained environment, is sparse, and deer are

funneled, without choice, to food plots and feeders, because they have to. Deer in a Low Fence

environment have the option of finding other forage and therefore increasing their survivability

and our "bad" luck Doe average about a 1.0 mile home range and bucks 2.5 miles. Young bucks

may travel 6 or more miles to establish a home range and we all know that satellite bucks can

travel farther. I am not for or against high fence ranches and have hunted them quite a bit, but

please, call it what it is. I could hunt a lifetime for a huge buck on a public preserve and never

get him, but if I hunted a 1000 acre high fence ranch for the same buck, he would end up on my

wall sooner or later. That is ok with me. I like not knowing what is going to show up, for the most

part, and have even stopped using my trail cameras in certain set ups. Good luck to all of you

guys, however you choose to do it. Please though, be honest in the type of hunt you partake in.

x2

[qzilla]

So where do you (we) draw the line.

I believe each state DNR or PWD draws the line for us.

Please though, be honest in the type of hunt you partake in.

This is the problem. It is a personal pee-ing match for most of the against a HF hunt. In their mind they justify people shooting bigger deer in a fence because of the fence and that makes them feel ok with themselves.

HF is considered more expensive with more annual costs and people that cannot or choose not to afford hunting in HF tend to want to justify why the deer are bigger solely as a money reason.

There are very few people on here that wouldn't jump through the screen to lease my HF place if I did it for $1500/yr per hunter. That in itself is a testament that it is the almighty dollar that divides us, not how "fair" the hunt itself it. It is more about how "fair" it is to the hunter vs all other hunters.

[Speedgoat]

I believe each state DNR or PWD draws the line for us.



This is the problem. It is a personal pee-ing match for most of the against a HF hunt. In their mind they justify people shooting bigger deer in a fence because of the fence and that makes them feel ok with themselves.

HF is considered more expensive with more annual costs and people that cannot or choose not to afford hunting in HF tend to want to justify why the deer are bigger solely as a money reason.

There are very few people on here that wouldn't jump through the screen to lease my HF place if I did it for $1500/yr per hunter. That in itself is a testament that it is the almighty dollar that divides us, not how "fair" the hunt itself it. It is more about how "fair" it is to the hunter vs all other hunters.

I, personally, have no problem with a HF hunt. I think the "Fair Chase" term has probably been overused by many, but there are big differences between a "non-contained" hunt and a "contained" hunt. Many feel that HF hunts are the "smarter" way to chase game. I believe that you do have greater control over the animals and their health within a high fence as opposed to chasing animals on a low fenced property. This is the glaring difference. I am not ashamed to say I killed a big buck on a HF place, but some get mad when you ask them. That is what I meant about "be honest". A 180" LF deer is way more impressive to me than a 180" HF deer. Heck, I will hunt anyway I can and anywhere I can, but the greater reward to me comes from pitting my skill(or lack of it) against a big mature whitetail on his home grounds with no boundaries or fence to dictate his travel. There is a reason why HF deer cannot make P&Y or B&C. I will not begrudge a man for his choices though. If I had the money I would probably hunt a HF place too

[Monster 7]

This needs to have sticky added and to have everyone see and read time and time again. 100% right!

Yep.

[Loreva13]

Good read, I really like the message it echos "Hanging together."

[Mike Javi Cooper]

Unless you are paying for my hunt or own the land I'm hunting on, how I hunt is none of your business...

[donfish84]

Great read.

[unclefish]

If you have to question your own style of hunting or worry about what other people think of it...then it probably isnt fair chase.

[systemnt]

If you have to question your own style of hunting or worry about what other people think of it...then it probably isn't fair chase.

...or you just suck at it and should take up crocheting beanies.

[41Chevy]

Fair Chase is a matter of opinion. And you know what they say about opinions.

[RaginCagin]

What happened to the QDMA thread, did it get whacked?