What is Fair Chase?

[mtns2hunt]

Fair chase? I am not sure there is such a thing. Man has evolved very quickly over the centuries. Critters not so much otherwise we would not have to continue restocking to compensate for over harvesting. Game departments are in the middle by trying to regulate how large the harvest should be. They don't get much credit.

What's wrong with decoys? I once saw a set that were thousands of years old from Egypt. Native American Indians used them as well and everyone knows what great hunters they were - are.

People think too much and put limitations on themselves in the name of sportsmanship. I however think back to how hard it was to kill that first deer and especially that Turkey. Beginning hunters are very handicapped by lack of woodsmanship and knowledge of game. This is especially true when one has no mentor and must learn on their own. At this stage of the game fairness is slanted toward the game animal but over time the pendulum changes.

Most on this forum are older and have hopefully learned the tricks of the trade. What one individual may think is fair may be completely different from another's perspective. At a minimum we should not be so critical. Just my 2 cents. Not sure how I keep getting sucked into these biased posts.

[WV Flopper]

 Some awesome, very good, thoughtful responses to this question!

My opinion, it's not for me to decide fair chase. The states that I hunt make those guidelines law. It is my responsibility to follow those guidelines.

Individuals may not hunt the way I do, that's their call, not mine. I was taught that if a turkey is in shotgun range you did it right. This was way before fanning, cameras, at the beginning of decoys.

I will admit, I have pushed that. I hunt with a shotgun today that will plan out shoot better than any shotgun in the woods in the late 80's and 90's. TSS

I don't own a decoy, fan, or deploy cameras. "I have two cameras NIB", couple years old now. But, I ain't shooting Winchester Double X magnums no more either.

We all should think for a bit before casting stones. Not all, but lots of us running souped up shotguns today.

Food for thought. When I was in my early 20's I laughed at a flintlocker. He would get mad about percussion guns, inline guns were just out of the question! With the powder under his skin on his cheek he would explain to you how you were not doing the sport right.

Turkey hunting is about communicating with turkeys right? Calling them up, right?

Those two boys that killed turkeys the last day earlier in this thread..... That's hunting, that's woodsman ship. Did they call them up? No. But there was nothing unfair about what they did. Those turkeys had the ability to use all of their senses to avoid that situation. Kudos to those boys.

[3bailey3]

one cluck!

[bbcoach]

EXCELLENT responses!  Even with ALL the added technology and woodsmanship we think we possess, we  still lose the battle 98 to 99% of the time, AS IT SHOULD BE.  Sometimes we get WRAPPED around the axles about what the other guy is doing, when we should concentrate on ENJOYING THE MOMENTS!  As I age, Fair Chase is relaxing and enjoying every aspect of the hunt.  If I manage to pull the trigger, that is icing on the cake.

[Howie g]

Letting the land owner get really close before I take off running =" fair chase "

[Pluffmud]

College kids with real time game cams are going to eradicate turkeys in my area. Especially with no tagging system in place. All so they can post the pic on instagram. Problem is they kill the limit of 3 in about 10 days, and there is still 37 days remaining in season. You think they hang their guns up?

Dang. The turkeys in your area are either as numerous as the fish in the sea or just flat out dumb for college kids to regularly kill 3 in 10 days.

[GobbleNut]

Letting the land owner get really close before I take off running =" fair chase "

    Good one!  ...Good to see a little humor in these discussions...

[Mossberg90MN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1xL83kATbw

It's a brew I dare not drink, but still to temptation I might fall.

Ok I'll take one stab at it :

To me it's hunting on the animals turf and with methods and approachs that gives the animal reasonable chances of escape/survival using it's normal instincts. Ploys and plays that use the animals distinct vulnerabilities to  the point that his/her escape by daily survival instinct is greatly slanted  or compromised enough that the game is fixed to the extent that survival is unlikely,  is not "Fair Chase. Like going to a casino where the games are rigged against the player. We expect fair play by rules in our sports, like football, why aren't game animals afforded the same fair rules?

Good definition. I would say I agree!


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[RutnNStrutn]

Fair chase? Ethics? Sporting? They're all personal opinions, and as such there will be a wide variety of opinions. The old schoolers will chime in and criticize those who don't hunt exactly the way they do.
In these discussions I always refer back to the same answer. Is it legal? If it is, then I support you using that method and wish you luck. That's the end of the discussion for me.

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

[RutnNStrutn]

My opinion, it's not for me to decide fair chase. The states that I hunt make those guidelines law. It is my responsibility to follow those guidelines.
Individuals may not hunt the way I do, that's their call, not mine.
We all should think for a bit before casting stones. Not all, but lots of us running souped up shotguns today.

And there you have it!! Perfectly stated!!!

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

[mtns2hunt]

Letting the land owner get really close before I take off running =" fair chase "

LOL!

[NCL]

Letting the land owner get really close before I take off running =" fair chase "

Funniest thing ever read by me on OG

[deadbuck]

College kids with real time game cams are going to eradicate turkeys in my area. Especially with no tagging system in place. All so they can post the pic on instagram. Problem is they kill the limit of 3 in about 10 days, and there is still 37 days remaining in season. You think they hang their guns up?

Dang. The turkeys in your area are either as numerous as the fish in the sea or just flat out dumb for college kids to regularly kill 3 in 10 days.

It is a well known and established fact that turkeys have become scarce on Public Land in Mississippi, but there are still some good populations of birds on Private land and that is where this foolishness is taking place. These birds are being assassinated by crawling in ditches and behind fence rows, etc. In a few years they will have killed out their breeding stock and even they wont have anything to hunt.

[Neill_Prater]

I've always been a "whatever floats your boat" type of person, as long as it is legal. But, I also think, for example, that shooting a turkey off the limb is unethical, even if not illegal in the jurisdiction you are hunting.

However, it is often a fine line. I'm guessing that the majority of you would consider it unethical and not fair chase, to use a drone to spot birds in a distant field, then walk to said field and whack a strutting gobbler. Right?

But what if you hear him gobble, or spot him from a high spot in the road a mile away and do the same thing, something I have done, or attempted to do on more than one occasion, as I am sure have all of you. Results the same. Dead turkey. So, is my use of binoculars unethical? What about my hearing aids? Without them I might not have heard the bird in the first place. Does that give me an unfair advantage?

Take the aforementioned cellular game cameras. On the surface, they seem exceedingly unfair. But, how often do you hit the woods with no clue whether there's a gobbler nearby or not? Probably not that often. How you come by that information might vary, but we still tend to hunt an area that we know has a bird in residence. Back in the day, I drove many a mile stopping at strategic spots trying to evoke a gobble so I could find a bird to chase. Still do from time to time. One could argue that isn't fair either.

In essence, there's really no such thing as "fair" when it comes to modern hunting anyway. It could be argued that the only truly fair chase is with a stick and string within walking distance of camp. The odds are stacked against the game from the git go, incredibly the game still wins more often than not.

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[ChesterCopperpot]

Fair chase is a matter of legality with terms considered by each state. Personal ethics are what govern the individual and what he/she deems a morally sound means of take. Sometimes those two things match up but most times they don't.


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