Just for the record Outdoorslover,

God did create fences. We humans call them cliff faces, box canyons, rivers, oceans (islands completely surrounded such as Afognak), fault lines, lava feilds, deserts...to name a few. An open mind cansometimes help reveal that which isn't obvious.

An example of someone using God's fence, to hunt,can be found throughout the west (you know... the place that is vast and fenceless). Do something, if you get a chance. Visit one of the many indian buffalo jumps scatter here and there.They're pretty cool to see.When standing there, you can imagine the carnage laying everywhere.

I killed one ofmy biggest mule deer in a box canyon. I watched him go in and I killed him. He had absolutely no chance for escape unless I missed. I feel no remorse whatsoever for dispatching this creature. The hunt switched to a shoot....it was a challenge...I HAD FUN...the deer looks great on my wall...end of story.

The eqaution for fair chase must include the following:

The availability of sufficient cover/terrain in such that an animal can evade its pursuer for acertain amount of time. That amount of time, be it an hour, day, week, month, will vary with each of us.

Let's face it, if given enough time, we could all be expert hunters with tons of kills under our belt. Have you ever heard the expression "it's just a matter of time"? I personall felt that way while hunting Black-tailed deer on Afognak island. I felt the same way while hunting barren-ground caribou on Alaska's tundra. I was successful on both hunts. Neither of these places had an obvious fence-or did they?

I have hunted behind high fence-"it was just a matter of time" (So I thought)! I have had my hinny handed to me on numerous occassions. There was absolutley no shooting whatsoever...plenty of hunting though...I ran out of time.

IMO, this has been an excellent post.There's a lot of magic here, if you're willing to look for it.

Thanks Huck, nice post. I don't think the point of the thread was to argue one position or the other but to create an environment where we can discuss our opinions and maybe have or basis for those opinions challenged. I'm not looking for an arguement but to hear reasons and responses. I like vinyari's response and his insight into some Canadian's views of Americans. To answer his question: yes, for some Americans money is not as precious an object as time. Huck eluded to it in his post. Time can be the limiting factor for some people, for others it could be money, and for others it could be both. Some people have the ability to make lots of money, often this comes at a price, their time becomes a premium. I don't envy those people, just as I don't envy those who have no time or money. I would rather have the time and limited money myself, or plenty of both . When I was younger I would work on my car and do everything myself. As I got older and my ability to make more money with my time it became more cost effective to have others do some of the work for me. My buddy is a plumber and is building his house. He wants to do as much of the work himself as he can but I've told him that there are some jobs that the mark-up is so small that he's actually paying himself for the privilage of working. He can make more per hour doing his profession than he would be paying an unskilled laborer to be doing some of the jobs he wanted to do, thus creating a net loss for himself. I think another factor is people's unwillingness to deal with an unknown. They would rather spend the money and trust in the experience of another "professional" than do what it takes to become proficient in an endeavor and take the risks necessary to do it on their own. They feel the are buying "insurance" of a good hunt.

hunt-
to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing
THis is the definiton of "hunt" by dictinary.com. Hunting is the act of.
Hunting is in the eye of the beholder. IMO almost every post i have read is a FORM of hunting. The differneces are the degree of difficulty.
So i think if its legal, go for it. Does that mean I personally will participate in them, but i'm not gonna tell someone they are not hunting. If a person enjoys hunting, no matter what setting, weapon, or tools (as long as they are alllegal), I will stand beind them.