ORIGINAL: Gangly
To doubt the legitimacy of this hunt as a true, non baited, fair chase hunt, is only logical and is far more likely to be accurate. Until we know what really took place on the hunt, doubt is the more appropriate assumption
I would bet that most deer hunting in Texas is done using feeders. It's legal in Texas, and seems like I've read here that it's legal in over 30 states. What is B&C's position on whether such "baiting" is fair chase?
Here are some definitions from the B&C Website:
CANNED SHOOT STATEMENT
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.”
BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB POSITION STATEMENT
ETHICAL HUNTING VERSUS UNETHICAL SHOOTING AND OTHER PRACTICES
The Boone and Crockett Club has been a highly respected conservation leader and proponent of ethical Fair Chase hunting of North American big game since 1887.
Ethical Fair Chase Hunting
The Boone and Crockett Club, in its Fair Chase statement, advocates any hunting that 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.”
Unethical “Canned” Shooting (Improperly referred to as “canned” hunting.)
The Boone and Crockett Club condemns the pursuit and killing of any big game animal kept in or released from captivity to be killed in an artificial or bogus “hunting” situation where the game lacks the equivalent chance to escape afforded free-ranging animals, virtually assuring the shooter a certain or unrealistically favorable chance of a kill.
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.
HUNTER ETHICS
Fundamental to all hunting is the concept of conservation of natural resources. Hunting in today's world involves the regulated harvest of individual animals in a manner that conserves, protects, and perpetuates the hunted population. The hunter engages in a one-to-one relationship with the quarry and his or her hunting should be guided by a hierarchy of ethics related to hunting, which includes the following tenets:
1. Obey all applicable laws and regulations.
2. Respect the customs of the locale where the hunting occurs.
3. Exercise a personal code of behavior that reflects favorably on your abilities and sensibilities as a hunter.
4. Attain and maintain the skills necessary to make the kill as certain and quick as possible.
5. Behave in a way that will bring no dishonor to either the hunter, the hunted, or the environment.
6. Recognize that these tenets are intended to enhance the hunter's experience of the relationship between predator and prey, which is one of the most fundamental relationships of humans and their environment.
Now, for what it's worth, it seems to me that B&C would recognize hunting over bait as appropriate "fair chase" if it is permissible under local law and consistent with the customs of the locale. And, if the hunting is done from a blind, set up near a feeder, on a reasonably large piece of property, the game has an equivalent chance of escape as is afforded free range animals undera similar blind/feeder setup. Because, regardless of whether you've got a high fence or a low fence, the deer are usually within about two good leaps from disappearing into the brush. If you're in a little ten acre pen, maybe the anti-fence crowd has a point. But, if it's thousands of acres under a fence, then I think it beecomes difficult to argue that the "game lacks equivalent chance to escape" or that the "hunter has gained an undue advantage" or that the hunter is "virtually assured of a kill."