B&C Supports Idaho Bill Banning Use of Aircraft

In a letter to Idaho House Majority Leader, Mike Moyle, Boone and Crockett Club president Ben Wallace extended the Club's support of the Bill he introduced that would strengthen Idaho's "no fly and hunt" law from reading just helicopters to "any aircraft." Moyle introduced House Bill 186 over the increasing practice of using aircraft-friendly landscape to exploit a loophole in state law that forbids aerial hunting.

Letter Dated March 3, 2011

To: The Honorable Mike Moyle – Idaho House Majority Leader
Re: House Bill No. 186
From: Ben Wallace – President, Boone and Crockett Club

Dear Mr. Moyle:

On behalf of the Boone and Crockett Club I wanted to thank you for stepping forward with this new Bill and formally deliver the Boone and Crockett Club’s full support of this measure.

Throughout its history the Boone and Crockett Club has had a close relationship to the laws we use to regulate public hunting and the principle these laws are based on, Fair Chase. As early as 1902 the Club engineered through Congress the first laws defining the appropriate taking of game within the newly acquired territory of Alaska. It was also in Alaska in the early 1960s when a growing problem was brought to the attention of the Club. Airplanes that were at first used to access the remote, roadless areas of the state where increasingly being used to spot game from the air and then land in its vicinity for the purpose of shooting the game spotted.

The Boone and Crockett Club responded by denouncing this activity as Unfair Chase. It further used its influence and reputation in big game records keeping by formally adopting new provisions to its trophy entry criteria that would make trophies taken by the improper use of aircraft ineligible for the records book. The following statements were added to the Club’s Entry Affidavit in 1963.

– Spotting or herding game from the air, followed by landing in its vicinity for the purpose of   pursuit and shooting

– Herding or chasing with the aid of any motorized equipment

These actions paved the way for the 24-hour fly rule in Alaska and similar laws in Canada and the Lower 48 states. Shortly thereafter the Club deemed the use of electronic communication devises to guide hunters to game as a violation of the principles of Fair Chase, which also became law in many states, including Idaho.

House Bill No. 186 clearly adds strength to the law of the land in Idaho and will hopefully do away with a practice that is both unnecessary and violates the ethical code of the sportsmen – that which has guided the honorable traditions of recreational hunting for more than a century.

Our congratulations to you and your staff on proposing this important piece of legislation.

Sincerely yours,

Ben B. Wallace
Boone and Crockett Club

Click here for the complete text of the proposed bill.

http://www.boone-crockett.org/news/featured_story.asp?area=news&ID=98