Well, I agree that it isn’t a game to most, but since it has rules that are to be followed, and not following them would mean something very close to “cheating” I’m going to keep the word, but I know what you’re saying. I guess I’m just having trouble getting my feelings into text.
When I first heard this story I was offended by it. In VA the regs are simple, but probably not written around this situation. The more I thought about it, the less offensive it became to me, but I would call it synthetic, for lack of a better term, and I think it would depend on why one was hunting. For instance, if you didn’t have any money and needed to put some food on the table, I don’t’ think this is that big a deal. It’s not like he shot him while the light was in his eyes. According to the hunter, the flashlight was put away for more than an hour before he shot the animal that he did.
But I’m not in the position to justify needing the meat. To me, I like to use hunting to test myself, see how good I am, while keeping it pretty natural. I don’t use decoys or bait (Food anyway). I try to keep it simple and beat them at their own “game” for lack of a getter term, let them screw up if you will, and the game has rules. If you don’t follow the rules it means you’re not good at the game. I like to feel like I could get dropped off just about anywhere with limited supply and be a successful hunter and survive. Prove I’m worthy as a descendant of my ancestors I guess.

So my opinion is – it’s not as bad as I originally thought, but it is synthetic. Since I changed my opinion a few times on this matter, I thought I’d see what you thought, or how you thought/think…