Maine has recently passed a law prohibiting the “feeding” of deer from August 15th to December 15. This Act was supported by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), which should be no surprise as we know MDIFW has tried for years to ban the act of feeding deer at anytime.
However, the real issue, I think, is the prevention of “baiting” deer for the purpose of improving your chances of taking a deer during the archery, rifle or muzzleloader seasons.
In V. Paul Reynolds article this week, he says that in this debate about baiting deer, ethics should be part of the discussion. But ethics of any kind, can be a very sticky wicket.
Who decides what is ethical? For years I have written about ethics as it may apply to hunting and still believe, within the written laws, ethics is a personal perspective.
I support the baiting of bear for harvest purposes because there is a need to limit or reduce the growth of the black bear populations in Maine. It is my understanding that the MDIFW mostly sees the bear baiting issue much the same way. In short, it is a necessary management tool, even if it perceived by some as ugly. Without this tool, the alternative may be even uglier.
Because most of Maine has few deer and historically the state has never really been overrun with deer, the need to call for the implementation of baiting as a management tool to reduce numbers, has never been necessary and is definitely not needed today.
But this really has little to do with ethics. I’m not a bear hunter but I can clearly say that if I was, I would NOT bait – unless, of course, I was very, very hungry. I am a deer hunter and I would NOT bait deer for much the same reasons. I don’t necessarily object to those who choose to bait their game, where legal, but I personally would not care to implement baiting regardless of how, if any, doing so effects the odds of bagging game.
I have often read those who define ethics as, “what you do when nobody’s watching.” While this may be partially true, personal ethics goes beyond whether or not someone chooses to stay within the bounds of regulations. Short of legitimate regulations to guide the scientific management of game animals, it should NEVER be left up to Government to attempt legislating ethics. When you consider the corrupt and unethical existence of Government at all levels, surely one cannot seriously ask such an entity to make the decisions as to what is ethical and not ethical.
We have been brainwashed and manipulated into a totalitarian form of existence in which one of the greatest problems in today’s society is that “useful idiots,” i.e. the totalitarian sheep, believe it is their right and their duty of conquest to tell others how to live.
To what degree ethics should be discussed in this debate about baiting deer, would be a crap shoot and more than likely would only serve to create more problems. Within the laws of man, whether or not we agree with them, my personal ethics should remain as such…personal. If I strongly believe in my own ethical practices, perhaps, and I mean perhaps, I might share that philosophy with friends…if they care to know. Besides that, I mind my own business and expect that same respect in return.
Here is a link to the story of how Maine’s record Boone and Crockett buck was shot over a pile of “bait” – culled potatoes.
Has “High-Tech Hunting” Killed the Event?
*Editor’s Note* – I have stated before that, BY CHOICE, I prefer deer hunting in the fashion I grew up with, save one exception. I grew up with a gun (sometimes), open sights, and most times with one or two bullets – it was all we could afford. I learned the forest and to recognize deer signs and stalking methods. The one exception is that today I employ a scope for two reasons: 1). With antler restrictions, it aids in determining how large a set of antlers are, and 2). My eyesight isn’t what it used to be.
While the author of the article that I’ve linked to below doesn’t come right out and ask that these “modern” and “high-tech” instruments and equipment be banned, he has little good to say about them. And that’s just fine. I don’t either, but I don’t begrudge someone who does CHOOSE to use them……UNLESS….
The main question that might be needed asking here is, due to the onset of all this “high-tech” equipment, has the number of deer harvested increased because of it? And to go along with that, has it stolen “opportunity” away from other hunters?
I can’t link you to any data that shows one way or the other. I can tell you that game managers, who set the dates and duration of deer hunting seasons, do so based upon estimations of the total number of deer they want harvested for management purposes. If the high-tech equipment is causing more deer to be taken in shorter periods of time, then, unless your state has a problem with a large, rapidly expanding deer herd, the season will be shortened in order to limit the number of deer harvested.
In discussing the pros and cons of “high-tech” we could spend days attempting to decide what is good or bad for the sport, the economy, recruitment of new hunters (are younger “techie” kids more easily attracted to hunting because of the technology?) public safety, etc.
But, then the writer gets into a bit of ethics and that’s when things get kind of gray. Ethics, sometimes defined as what you do when nobody is looking, is more than that. Aside from staying within the bounds of the law, what a hunter does or does not do, is really a personal choice….isn’t it? And who am I, or who are you, to tell someone how they ought to hunt?
As I said, I like to hunt the “old fashioned” way and I will spend time telling others about how I enjoy it and why. If I touch something in them, they might find the interest as well. On the flip side, how does that same person feel if I tried to get a law passed condemning their choice of hunting equipment and methods, all within the law, of hunting? As I have already stated, that unless they are cutting into my hunting opportunities, how they really doesn’t have much bearing on me and how I hunt.
Here’s an example that I can show you that I’m positive the author did not think about when he wrote it. It is what I have quoted from the article just below. The author approves of TU, DU, PF, IWL and MDHA and their promotion of habitat conservation and “art and ethics of hunting.”
That is the author’s choice, and he should have that choice. I respect that choice. Personally, I find much of what these groups stand for contrary to my way of thinking, but that’s my choice and should remain that way.
Just as this writer believes that these groups’ “ethics” are to his liking, he should continue to have that choice, just as much as the hunter has his/her choice of how to hunt, within the laws that govern it.
Source: How high-tech has killed real hunting – StarTribune.com