I began discussing the topic of trophy hunting in my last post, In Search of Trophies. The foundation of the post was that the social debates around trophy hunting are often structured around, and derailed by, two false distinctions. In the first post, I talked about a false distinction between two groups of hunters: trophy hunters and non-trophy hunters.
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In a sense, each and every one of us is a trophy hunter. In two ways, actually.
I have somewhat deliberately avoided this topic. For one, I didn’t want to belabour the debate about trophy hunting. For another, while often presented as straight-forward and simple, the nuances of trophy hunting become quite complex, so it takes a deliberate open-mindedness to discuss it. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that openness in much of the trophy hunting conversations. The concept and practices of trophy hunting are troublesome, murky, and highly emotive, and this is exactly why it is worth discussing.
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I don’t recall when I first heard someone use the term fair chase. I do recall becoming gradually aware of a set of thoughts, feelings, and ideals regarding different aspects of hunting that I would later come to identify as a developing understanding of what is collectively referred to as fair chase. Fair chase is a concept that is somewhat popularly understood as the moral foundation of our community; however, while many of us are familiar with the feeling of fair chase and most of us can point out actions that we feel fall outside what would be considered fair chase, it is an idea that is difficult to put our finger on and clearly define what it means in practice.
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I understand some people’s general disdain for list posts: “7 ways to…”, “10 reasons why…” I capitulated for this post, but it is at once a plea for others to get involved in conservation and some suggestions for easy ways to start. As a hunter, issues around conservation are always on my mind and I find myself constantly worried that I’m not doing quite enough. I also often think about how to talk about conservation with people who may not think about and prioritize it as I do. Part of striving to be a good conservationist often involves some element of advocacy, the effort to convince others that they should care and the attempt to recruit people into this conservation task. To do so effectively, we need to be able to provide the public with accessible ways to join the conversation that fit their lifestyles and abilities.
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“Buffler!” exclaimed Boone Caudill, A.B. Guthrie’s iconic character in his 1947 novel, The Big Sky.
Guthrie’s story gives us glimpses into both the beauty of the landscape and the mindset that led to some of the biggest mistakes we made on it. Guthrie writes,
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A scene from The Bourne Identity (2002) captures the meaning of situational awareness perfectly for me. In the scene, Jason Bourne is trying to explain his frame of mind to Marie Kreutz. Bourne explains,
I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab of the grey truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.
He concludes by asking Kreutz, “Now why would I know that?”
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I recently changed the declination setting on my compass from 11° 22.26′ West to 22° 49.56′ West when I moved from Peterborough, Ontario to Nain, Nunatsiavut, Labrador. If you have ever used a compass to follow directions or navigate to a point on a map and you are unsure what I’m referring to here, you may have found yourself slightly off your target.
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If you derive any enjoyment from the largely intact suite of wildlife that lives in North America, you have benefitted from the interactive roles of scientific research and management in North American conservation over the last century.
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It is a generally accepted truth among hunters that heavy winters with deep snow are bad for deer, making it especially difficult for them to evade predators like wolves and coyotes. As I was looking for some recent science that might be interesting to hunters, I came across a new study about boreal woodland caribou that sheds some new light on the effects of snow depth and wolf predation on calf recruitment. While interesting on its own, there is also a larger North American conservation story that caribou are part of now. As hunters, wildlife managers, and conservationists, the role we play in that story will be an important part in writing the legacy that we leave with regards to wildlife conservation in North America.
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In an earlier post, I gave a short list of recommendations of books related to hunting and the outdoors. Some of what I consider to be the best books for people interested in the outdoors are not necessarily immediately apparent as outdoors writing. Others are quite explicitly hunting writing. I particularly enjoy those books that speak to the complex interaction of hunter, angler, naturalist, environmentalist, and conservationist that defines many of us.
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Paul McCarney