Drizzu213

Ok people say hunting over bait is'nt fair or "ethical"what about scouting with cameras?To me I don't think that this is fair chase and it makes things far to easy,cause if you put out cameras and don't see good bucks there you are probably not going to hunt there! Sorry maybe unethical was the wrong word to use but I don't think it's any different than someone who baits.If baiting is;nt fair chase than neither are game cams.Just my opinion.

Rob/PA Bowyer

You really thnk trail cameras are not fair chase?[&:]

I've used trail cameras for no other reason but to see what's in my honey hole. I was hunting there regardless of what the camera picked up because after hunting there for 28 years and walking the property long before that with my grandfather, I know what can be there. I had pictures of a couple bucks that I never saw. Those cameras did absolutely nothing for me other than take pictures of some nice bucks. They didn't influence where I hunted or how I hunted. They are a tool for scouting and why isn't scouting fair chase?

I really don't know your mindset on this one. [&:]

Rob/PA Bowyer

In what you saying you would say binoculars are not fair chase then too cause you can sit from a long ways away and scout an area and if you don't see anything then you won't hunt there. Binoculars help so you don't go tracking the area up....is this your mindset?

Howler

What Rob is saying is that a trail camara is a "tool" and a "tool" alone isn't capable of making a person become Unethical! Only a person can do something that is "unethical" such as doing an action to cause pain and/or suffering and not doing something to end it. Such as taking a shot that you know you can't make and hitting your target in a non-lethal spot and then not doing anything to correct it. Actually, two things in that example that are unethical, taking a shot you know you shouldn't and then not following up and finishing the first mistake.
The above is just one example of ethics, but I hope it gets my point across. Ethics has to do with an incorrect action/decission taken, not the tool used to take the action.

Bowhunter2001

I don't use them. I don't walk on my property after bow season till spring turkey season. Ithen, don't set foot on my property till September to cut my plots. I don't scout at all anymore. From April to September no scent left. I have 3 cameras that I don't use, but my property is a hour away. I don't think they are unethical.

davidmil

I just think it's photographic ingenuity.

janesburg

If my camera doesn't get a pic of a "good buck" it won't stop me from hunting that woods. More deer come and go thru my woods that don't walk by my camera than I'll never know.



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nctaxi

I don't understand how you guys get all caught up in the "ethical" debate. Is baiting any different than food plots or hunting in an oak that is dropping? I use camers to judge what is out there and bait them to the camera. A week before season I quit baiting (usually because appples aren't available)The way I look at it, as long as it's legal and within your limits, who am I to judge you. I recently went on a guided hunt and watched some incredible animals taken with what I feel was un-ethical means. Guys were flinging arrows way past their limits. Had one world class mulie that was shot in the rear end, I mean entrance hole 4" down and 2"right of the Hole shot!!! Another gut shot and never recovered a 190"+ mulie, another gut shot and recovered, another flung 3 arrows at the same deer...... That to me is unethical, taking shots beyond what you know you can make. I think we need to look at the whole picture instead of what we deem as "ethical", who are we to judge when it is legal. On a recent post, a guy was ridiculed for shooting a deer under a feeder..... if it's legal, who are we to judge? When I lived in northern MI, Leelanau county had deer population counts at 1 deer per square mile, how do you approach hunting like that? There are areas of my state with extremely low deer populations, so some guys bait, good for them. I see guys on here that are quick to judge but may hunt in ways that some feel unethical. I no longer rifle hunt because I like to get closer, would I judge someone for rifle hunting? Never. We, as hunters, need to stick together and quit judging each other based on our own beliefs. How about that new CVA muzzleloader that uses electric instead of primers? Can I call you unethical for using one, it's my belief but I wouldn't. Some guys think that 50,000 acres high fence is unethical/ fair chase but have no problem hunting the only 150 acres for 5 miles. Sorry for the tirade but had to vent a little...

childers

its all up to you to decide but a camera is fine to use its not making anything unfair. thats just doing extra resarch. but using bait is different than cameras. food is something that the animals need to survive and people using stuff like deer co-caine is wrong only becuz that to me is cheating and its highly addictive. using salt-licks isnt as bad to me. but adictive stuff or stuff they need to survive is sort of unfair unless its a life or death situation to me.

nctaxi

chilers - deer cane is just a mineral supplement. Deer in my area only use it in the spring. I don't know about highly addictive, they hit it in the spring and summer but don't touch it during hunting season, at least not in my area. So in your mind a food plot is unethical? They need food to survive right?