Fair Chase?

[Gbro]

When I hear the term fair chase I too think about all the rules of the hunt, like stand height, right-of-way restrictions etc, etc.
Then about what is ethical, the shot placement, distance, limiting out every time and other such things that are not spelled out in the hunting regulations but are just the right thing to do.
And the bedded animal is always on the list of fair chase.
We also hear about not shooting at a sitting duck or a Grouse on the ground(ground swatting)(dry gulching), but that is a developed discipline IMHO. I would rather blow the head off a grouse than fill the thing full of fine shot.

And I have to admit that if legal I would place bait for the young hunters to give them a better opportunity in our wolf haven forest.

[Hoskins]

I think it boils down to..."to each his own." I have my own way of hunting & my own personal prefrences. I don't want to hunt with a guide who tells me where to go, what to do, when to shoot, where to set up at, etc... to me that means that I didn't actually hunt that animal, I just simply shot it. Some may want that & there's nothing wrong with it.

I also don't get into baiting a deer, that takes the difficulty & sport out of it for me. I just don't think I'd get much of a thrill out of dumping out pounds & pounds of corn & apples in one area, strapping a trail cam to watch over it, & have my stand hooked up in a tree that sets up on a perfect lane overlooking that feeding area.

I would rather stalk an animal or set up on the ground where the sign is good or use my protable climber to set up on some good sign that I have scouted. I do use scent killers & Code Blue scents...but I mainly use that to help cover up my scent.

There is guys where I am from that just drive around on 4 wheelers looking for deer to shoot & will shoot them from the ATV. To me there isn't any skill in that, just my opinion though.

Where I am stationed here in costal NC...dog hunting for deer is a common practice by the locals. Now, it aggervates the crap out of me because I have had dogs mess up my hunt waaaayyyy too many times, but those folks probably have had family members hunting like this for ages & who am I to knock thier traditions or method...it is legal after all.

What I do disagree with is poaching & hunters that think that thier way of hunting is far superior to anyone elses. Bowhunters are bad about this, not all, but plenty. I've met plenty of Bowhunters that think you are inferior if you hunt with anything that doesn't have a string. The same can be said about Rimfire only shooters for squirrel... putting down folks that use a shotgun. I use to bowhunt before my bow was stolen & I hunt squirrel w/ both a shotgun & a rimfire. If it is early season w/ allot of leaves still on the tree, I lean more toward the shotgun...more toward the rimfire when the leaves begin thinning out.

I say...to each his own...as long as it is legal.

[Dannyl]

DannyL, you missed the first part where I said, "If you are in North America and see a big buck you want to shoot but have to wait for a orynx, a kudu and a nubian ibex to get out of the way before you have a clear shot, you might not actually be hunting."

Todd, I did indeed miss that point, my apologies.

Now, I spent the past four days hunting in the Eastern Cape (South Africa)
Each day I decided exactly what species I was going to hunt, and in what order. so If I am after a black Wildebeest and a springbok came past (happened several times) I had to lie still until they moved so that my quarry would not be spooked. ( the part I was hunting was 11000 hectares).

As for my "bag of tricks", I use no more than cammo, scentless soap and substitute toothpast with lemon-juice. no animal scents and calls.
I also carry with me a shooting tripod, so that I will always be able to shoot form a stable position.

Back to the hunt, I also decided to shoot all animals from less than 100M, in order to give them more than enough chances to get away. the aninals I hunted favour open areas that are always found between the clumps of thicker bush, these have plenty grass and sparse bushes, which makes it harder to get closer.

There was a severe restriction from the farm owner to leave trophy animals alone unless we were prepared to pay what the American hunters that come to his farm pay for them. if one knows the behaviour of Wildebeest you will know that they stand in a tight bunch, and ususally those that stand slighly out are the biggest (they are sentries) so in several occassions I had to wait for minutes with them in my sights but no clear shot at any of them, just to see them move on and have to start all over. after three of those, I finally had a fair size female in my sights, but before shooting I decided to look for calves in her vicinity, only a moment later a tiny one ran to her and started suckling. not having fired that shot is the happiest thing I did in this hunt.

Later that day I finally managed to get them when they were more spaced out and shot a nice female, from 85 meters (all my shots were ranged afterwards with my range finder).

The following day I hunted with my handgun (S&W 586, 0.357 Mag, 6" barrel) still carried my rifle as a measure of fairness to any animal in case I'd wound one. I first hunted Springbok and got a nice Ram, later I went looking for Blesbuck and also got one. both were shot within 45 to 50 M.

In the last day of the hunt (Saturday) I went after Blue Wildebeest. At first I was dropped in a position that put the wind behind me, so it was a 4 Km walk to circle around and put the wind in my face.

As it often happens when you hunt one species, once again I had to "dodge" other bucks that I came across and wait for them to move. I had decided that I would only shoot from a distance that would be within handgun range, just to see if I could get that close. I spotted a troop of about 12 Blue Wildebeest in a clearing, and slowly moved on. got to about 70M, and decided to give them one more chance. I broke cover, waved my arms and caused them to spook.

As I expected, they ran straight into the wind. I spotted them again after about 500M or so. once again got to about 60M. and decided to give them one more chance, so I stood up, shouted and let (made?) them run away.
Again, I followed upwind and decided to make this my final stalk. stalking a bunch of animals hat you have spooked twice in the past hour, in an area with grass and only the odd bush is not that easy. this time I got to a range where I could have used a handgun (I limit myself to shooting only smaller bucks with a .357, and the license for the .44Mag that I bought may take as much as a year) and shot the third biggest bull with my 30-06. they ran off but after 150 meters he dropped. by the time I reached him he was dead.
The bullet (180 Gr Hornady interlock) had entered between two ribs, gone through the lungs and lodged under the skin in the far side.

I ranged the distance at which I took the shot, it was 44 meters.

yes, this was most certainly a fair chase hunt.

HOSKINS,
I am very familiar with what you describe as some hunters thinking that they are better than others, it happens with handgun hunters, bow hunters AND also with people that compete for "the longest shot" and consider themselves superior to people that like to get close to their quarry.
I do not consider my self at anytime better than any of my fellow hunters. my challenge is with myself, and I always try to be better than I was in my last hunt.

Now I have to way 3 weeks for my next hunt..... this time it will be going for Kudu.

My apologies for the long post.

Brgds,

Danny