What hunters do, and don’t do, is important

Hunters have ethical decisions to make when in the field. photo by Tim Eisele

What hunters do during the months of October and November is important.

What they don’t do is also important.

Today an estimated 13 million-plus people hunt in the United States. There is also at least 3 million people (PETA members) who do not support hunting.

But, there are more than 200 million voting-age people in this country and more than 120 million off them cast votes in the most recent national election. These are the people who will decide whether our hunting traditions continue in the United States for future generations.

They have supported modern hunting as long as it is done ethically and with regulations.

Thus, hunter behavior, what hunters do or don’t do, is important.

The Boone & Crockett Club, since its first meeting in 1887, discussed the need for an ethical code of hunter conduct.

Today the Boone & Crockett Club’s rules of fair chase include the reminder to hunters to harvest game “in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals.”

The Boone & Crockett Club’s rules on fair chase and hunter ethics include such points as:

Exercise a personal code of behavior that reflects favorably on your abilities and sensibilities as a hunter;

Behave in a way that will bring no dishonor to either the hunter, the hunted or the environment.

Hunters are used to following rules set down in print in regulation pamphlets by state and federal natural resource agencies.

But each hunter must determine his or her standard of ethical behavior. More than ever before, hunters have to know that what they do and don’t do is important.

Most likely, the future of hunting is in the balance.