Fair chase hunting

[WAB]

I grew up on a farm in Canada and spent most of my adult life in Wyoming and Alaska. The tragedy of the commons is an economic term referencing the overuse of common grazing ground in England. This is in no way applicable to any area where I have lived and hunted in the US and Canada. In my experience, our game departments do an admirable job of setting seasons and bag limits to ensure responsible management of the game. I also applaud their efforts to ensure that the desires of both trophy and meat hunters are met.

As to the comment on hunting for record boot status or awards, please understand that many of us hunt because we love to hunt. Hunting is at the very root of who we are. I have a number of trophies that very likely would make some record book or another, and I couldn't care less. Hunting is an honorable pursuit, and is typically engaged in by honorable men and women.

There is sport hunting, and hunting for other reasons. Sport hunting is conducted in accordance with rules, and ethical consideration. Part of the reason for this is because one is in some form of contest, either just the spirit of a contest, or possibly trying to get some recognition for records, or things like grand slams. So there was a guy who claimed to have shot the NA grand slam with a longbow. The fact he did not use a longbow (though in many other regards admirably fulfilled the test) is a problem should anyone else want to achieve that result for real. There is the possibility that non-adherence to rules will deny a more rightful contestant.

In NA, the game is generally not owned by the land owner, and one is hunting for a limited resource, a classic tragedy of the commons exercise. So people engaged in a lower form of hunting, that is likely to allow them to make a harvest where adherents to the rules might not, are going to be held to be cheating. A classic example of this was when crossbow hunters edged their way into bowhunting with the obvious intent of gaining the prize of special seasons with minimal effort or commitment. I could argue on the crossbow side, though my heart is not in it, but you can see how different approaches have the effect of taking someone else's cookies.

In much of the world landowners own the game which has the double effect that there is no general competition for it, and that there is an incentive to sell it however that may be done. Claiming fair chase without really adhering to it, would certainly be an advantage in some commercial situations.