The topic of non-lead hunting ammunition has become one of the most polarizing topics discussed in today’s hunting community—and beyond for that matter. The “beyond” might be even more of a concern, but let’s focus first on our own ranks. Much of this debate is rooted in concerns about the ramifications of a misguided and unnecessary ban on lead ammunition for hunting, though an equal portion is driven by a concern for individual birds that die from lead poisoning.
Conservation
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Fair Chase and Hunting Ethics
For Modern Hunting, the heart of our message must be conservation—the first love of hunters, and expressed in the Fair Chase ethic. By Simon Roosevelt, B&C Regular Member Excerpt from Fair Chase, Spring 2020 | With permission from Modern Huntsman, Vol. 3 When you are there, hunting, having...
The earliest recorded usage of the term "Fair Chase" is in the fifth article of the Boone and Crockett Club’s constitution, adopted in February of 1888. At this time in history there were no laws governing the taking of game for food or for sport. Water-killing deer (driving deer with hounds or pushers into lakes where shooters waited in boats to either shoot, club or cut the throats of deer) was a widespread practice, especially in the Adirondacks.
By Keith Balfourd, B&C Professional Member Excerpt from the Summer 2018 issue of Fair Chase Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think so. It appears that some product manufacturers these days are concerned about the ethics associated with the use of their products. On the surface this would appear...
By Robert D. Brown, B&C Professional Member Excerpt from the Summer 2018 issue of Fair Chase A few years ago I published an article in Fair Chase titled, “I’ve Walked the Line...Have You?” (Summer 2007). In that article, I provided figures on the slippery slope of gravitating from being a true...
The Ethics of Fair Chase – I always wanted an Olympic gold medal. As a young person, I learned that this achievement requires an astounding amount of time, effort, and phenomenal natural talent. This is why an Olympic gold medal is so highly coveted. National pride aside, owning the effort and experiencing the competition is what it is all about.
Because hunting is too important to be lost over misconceptions and a poor public image due to the unethical behavior of a few.
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Of all of the well-documented hunting exploits of President Theodore Roosevelt, it is ironic that the most famous of his storied adventures was an unsuccessful black bear hunt in the swamps of Sharkey County, Mississippi. On November 14, 1902, Roosevelt traveled from the White House to Mississippi...
By PJ DelHomme Sure, it’s legal, but is it right? With a high-powered rifle and a pile of optics worth more than my twelve-year-old truck, I assumed filling a couple pronghorn tags in southwestern Montana would be easy. I had two days to get it done. No problem, I thought. In time, though, I would...
The Club has long been recognized for its leadership in hunting and conservation ethics. The Club’s Fair Chase statement was the cornerstone of the establishment of game laws, which included regulated hunting seasons, bag limits, and the abolishment of commercial market hunting practices at the turn of the century. To this day it promotes ethical, fair chase hunting, which is a critical part of a broader conservation ethic.
FAIR CHASE, as defined by the Boone and Crockett Club, is the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the game animals. HUNTER ETHICS Fundamental to all hunting is the...
By Keith Balfourd, B&C Professional Member Excerpt from the Fall 2018 issue of Fair Chase Good question. For the sake of this column, the word “antis” refers to those who are vocally opposed to hunting. Some may also be animal rights advocates, although not all. If the concept of fair chase is...
What if the hunter success rate increases to 30 percent? The population can only sustain 10 elk harvested, but if there is 30 percent success, that means 30 elk are harvested from that popula- tion with 100 hunters out.
B&C Partners with IHEA and Cabela's to Produce Hunting Ethics DVD An educational DVD intended to explore the single most critical element facing the future of hunting and our wildlife – the continued public acceptance of recreational hunting.This professionally produced DVD covers such topics...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Spring 2015 We are a community of multitudes and generations. Our way of life predates recorded history. Our roots go back to a time when there was no thought of...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Fall 2015 When man first hunted, “fair” was probably not on his list of priorities. Likewise, I am pretty sure “chase” was to be avoided at all costs, and was...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Winter 2015 Wild (naturally occurring), free-ranging (unrestricted within its biological home range) big game has always been the central focus of the Boone and...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Spring 2016 We all know that sometimes the words we use mean different things to different people. This happens be-cause we have diverse back-grounds and...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Summer 2016 When you consider the phrase fair chase literally, it is nonsense. There is nothing fair about chasing animals with the advantage of our human...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Fall 2016 I recently attended a meeting of the Texas Parks and Wild-life (TPW) Commission, which sets policy for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD)...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Spring 2017 Here we are at the beginning of a brand new year with several good reasons to reconsider and rededicate ourselves to those things we hold most...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Mark Streissguth B&C Regular Member Excerpt from Fair Chase, Summer 2017 During a coffee break recently, I was thumbing through some outdoor magazines. Between the hunting stories and how-to pieces, I found myself really reading the advertisements and some product...
Recently my wife and I attended a documentary on the disturbing amount of food waste in our country and the world, titled, “Just Eat It.” I didn’t see a connection with hunting ethics until I was in a discussion at our recent annual meeting of the Boone and Crockett Club in Nashville. Many members were lamenting the bad press that hunters get, i.e., “Cecil the lion,” and the fact that study after study has shown that only about 20 percent of the non-hunting public approves of trophy hunting, whereas 70-80 percent or more approve of legal hunting if its purpose is to produce food and/or to enhance wildlife management.
The Ethics of Sport Hunting By Theodore R. Vitali, B&C Professional Member Excerpt from the Spring 2018 issue of Fair Chase Sport hunting differs from subsistence and sustenance hunting because sport hunting is practiced for the sake of the human experience/human flourishing; not solely or...
SCIENCE BLASTS By John F. Organ, B&C Professional Member Gordon Batcheller still hunting for moose in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Excerpt from Fall 2019 issue of Fair Chase In the last issue of Fair Chase , I wrote about how we may transform the way we communicate the results of hunting...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Spring 2013 I had the opportunity to share a campfire recently with one of my relatives, Lifetime Associate David. We could not talk our way around the notion...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Summer 2013 Since this is the first time this column appears on the inside back cover in Fair Chase, it seems an opportune time to say some things you might not...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Fall 2013 Apparently to one or two of you, exposing my exceptional broadmindedness in the last issue sounded like crawfishing or apologizing. For that, I am sorry...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Winter 2013 Just last weekend I was visiting with a couple of the other cooks at a wild game dinner here at the county fairgrounds (oddly enough, we ended up...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Spring 2014 Distilling the complexity of fair chase ethics down to a set of guidelines is a valuable and effective way to convey the behavioral expectations of...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Summer 2014 I have always thought of the family as a great analogy for the hunting community. As in most families, each and every one of us wants what is best for...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Fall 2014 I remember going on a road trip with my pals back in college for a bit of revelry in a rival school’s town. As for a plan, we were up for whatever came...
THE ETHICS OF FAIR CHASE By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member Chairman, Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee Excerpt from Fair Chase, Winter 2014 So there I was, closely following the recent elections, when I suddenly realized that “they” were using exactly the same phrases, lines, and...
The Boone and Crockett Club’s Board of Directors and its membership have unanimously adopted and approved a position statement on “Canned Shoots” because of the growing concern among hunters and the increased public interest in the practice of “canned hunts.” Read our position. ETHICAL HUNTING...
A new initiative from Boone and Crockett Club is giving the shooting, hunting and outdoor industry a new way to partner with sportsmen for better scientific wildlife management, balanced policies, hunter advocacy and broader understanding of the applications and benefits of sustainable-use conservation.
Boone and Crockett Club applauds the Maryland Hunting Coalition for the passage of The Poaching Restitution Act of 2016 in Maryland. The Act has been sent to Governor Larry Hogan for signature in to law. The Maryland Hunting Coalition was instrumental in the creation and passage of the Act, which...
Poaching, the illegal killing of game animals and other wildlife is a serious problem and a crime. The targeting of trophy, big game animals is a growing concern. Protecting, conserving and regulating wildlife is becoming increasingly challenging, especially with the value of trophy animals on the...
The Boone and Crockett Club reiterates its position by firmly stating a canned shoot (aka canned hunt) is not hunting and should not be confused with hunting. The Club defines a canned shoot as the practice of pursuing and killing any big game animal kept in or released from captivity to be killed...
Ever more controversial, Governor's Tags have a new official endorsement - as well as a caution - from the Boone and Crockett Club. In a new position statement, the organization founded by Theodore Roosevelt supports the modern concept of exclusive big game hunting permits sold at auctions to help...
Trophies scouted or taken with the assistance of drones/unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are not eligible for entry in Boone and Crockett records, the Club announced today. "These highly sophisticated, remote-controlled aircraft have no place in fair-chase hunting," said Richard Hale, chairman of the...
Congressman Steve Daines (R-MT) today introduced legislation—the “Making Public Lands Public Access Act”—that guarantees funding for improving hunter access to existing public lands. This legislation, H.R. 3962, is supported by the Boone and Crockett Club and other hunting organizations. The bill...
The Hunt Equation: When a Hunt is Not a Hunt By Dan Pedrotti, Jr. Ethics Column editor for Fair Chase magazine Taken from the Spring 2013 issue of Fair Chase I had the opportunity to share a campfire recently with one of my relatives, Lifetime B&C Associate David Bradford. We could not talk our...
Sportsmen’s Act on docket for Senate Vote The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 (S.3525) is a compilation of Bills that will expand, enhance and protect America’s hunting, recreational fishing and shooting heritage. Several of the bills included in S.3525 have already passed the House of Representatives with...
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today offered a package of sportsmen’s bills in an amendment to the Farm Bill legislation. One piece of the amendment guarantees funding for improving hunter access to existing public lands. This bipartisan amendment is supported by the Boone...
By Daniel A. Pedrotti Jr. B&C Regular Member - Chair of Hunter Ethics Sub-Committee The hunt at its most fundamental level is defined in and by the relationship between man and beast . . . between predator and prey. There is an intrinsic, irrefutable and intimate connection that cannot be...
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