People who know you’re a hunter and ask why you hunt will likely be from two different camps. They may simply be curious, or you might be confronted by someone who opposes hunting and is just interested in winning an argument. How we respond individually and collectively will have a significant influence on how hunters and hunting are viewed—and then accepted or rejected.
Conservation
Where Hunting Happens, Conservation Happens™
Hunt Fair Chase
The Boone and Crockett Club is proud to announce the official unveiling of an online learning module that is sure to excite new and seasoned hunters across the continent. Thanks to a National Rifle Association (NRA) Hunter’s Leadership Forum grant, and a team of Boone and Crockett Club fair chase...
The old saying, “waste not, want not” means if you don’t waste anything you will always have enough. In the context of hunting ethics and public perception, it means far too many people have the wrong impression of hunters and hunting. There is a growing belief that hunters waste the game they harvest.
Because hunting is too important to be lost over misconceptions and a poor public image due to the unethical behavior of a few.
Those who cherish hunting—for themselves and for future generations—understand that hunting is a privilege to be recognized, cherished, and maintained by today’s hunters through deeds to benefit wildlife and through establishment and adherence to standards of fair chase. Excerpt from Fair Chase...
The overwhelming majority of hunters truly care about and respect wildlife and the game animals and birds we hunt. The question is, where does this respect come from, and more importantly is this the image we are projecting? For most hunters it was an early fascination and curiosity for wildlife in...
“In the United States, while the right to keep and bear arms is constitutionally assured, hunting is a privilege to be repeatedly earned, year after year, by those who hunt. It is well for hunters to remember that in a democracy, privileges, which include hunting, are maintained through the...
High-fence hunting is one of the most complex issues faced by our wildlife conservation community. It is a multi-faceted conundrum that includes aspects such as private property rights, public ownership versus privatization of wildlife, the spread of wildlife diseases, wildlife and hunting ethics, and the public perception of hunting.
The lines between hunting and poaching are being blurred. What this means is the non-hunting public is increasingly not making a clear distinction between hunting and poaching. Increasingly, the two are being used interchangeably. Even the media is getting it wrong.
It would be tough for anyone who hunts not to be disturbed by the rhetoric being put forth by anti-hunting groups.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a bad picture might be worth a million. Those of us who care about hunting can no longer afford to dismiss the fact that some of the images we share and post on social media are, at a minimum, having a negative effect on the public image of hunting, if...
If you’re still wondering where hunting ethics come from and why they have been passed from one generation to the next, the man’s name is Theodore Roosevelt. He was more than just a president who was a hunter. He not only got it, he is credited in history for inventing it and popularizing it. Roosevelt saw conservation as a duty of citizenship, on the same plain as a commitment to one’s family, religion, career and country. In riding, shooting, hunting and exploration he saw the character in what it meant to be a man; a fair man, a free man, an honest man, a straight shooter and a hard worker who commanded respect and deserved a square deal.
It’s hard not to be preoccupied with the siege against hunters and hunting being put forth by the anti-hunter establishment. Their rhetoric and outright lies have gone on unchecked for too long. But lets be realistic about two things.
The term “sport hunting,” emerged at a time in history when our society had awoken to the plight of wildlife, and commercial market hunting was rightfully being rejected. Sport hunting was used to describe hunting for personal reasons and not for profit; a form of hunting with an honor code that...
It would be tough for anyone who hunts not to be disturbed by the rhetoric being put forth by anti-hunting groups. They’re among that 10 percent of the population who not only does not hunt, but they are trying to make a living out of ending all hunting.
“In a civilized and cultivated country, wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen.”―Theodore Roosevelt, founder Boone and Crockett Club An ethical code of conduct, that which was viewed as the right way to approach hunting, was a concept that originally developed in...
December 18, 2017—The British Columbia government, at the behest of reportedly 78 percent of its residents, ended all grizzly bear hunting for residents and non-resident sportsmen. “Through consultations this past fall, we have listened to what British Columbians have to say on this issue and it is...
Man-made; adj. Made by humans rather than occurring in nature; artificial or synthetic. A conversation about hunting and fair chase would be incomplete without talking about the pursuit of “game” that has been genetically manipulated to produce abnormally large antlers, which are then sold as “...
Hunting is not a sport like basketball, football, or soccer, but there are lessons that can apply to hunting from the coaching of these sports. Coaches are taught to identify two different personality types in their athletes so they can adjust their coaching style to best benefit both the athlete...
One of the best and worst things that has happened to hunting in the last 20 years has been hunting shows on television. On the best side, having shows about hunting on television started out as a vindication and validation after hunting on TV went dark when “Personal choice” is mentioned many times throughout this website. There is no escaping the fact that hunting itself is a personal experience, preceded by personal choices. The issue of legal versus ethical raises another very important personal choice question.
Maybe it’s because the media has long taken potshots at hunters. Maybe it’s because social media invites inflammatory, soundbite headlines and unfiltered keyboard terrorists. Maybe it’s because animal rights and anti-hunting groups never seem to let the facts get in the way of a good argument...
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”―Theodore...
Regardless of our motivations for hunting, studies show that all sportsmen evolve through, or are currently in one of five identified stages in their hunting careers. As we age and our experiences accumulate, what we give and get back from hunting changes over time. What defined success or...
The Five Stages of the Hunter is a well-documented look at the progressions a hunter goes through as he or she ages and gains experience. As we age and our experiences accumulate, what we get from hunting and give back changes over time. What defined success, accomplishment, and purpose at age 14...
Bo knows hunting. So do the rest of us. We’re athletes by birth and by culture. Our ancestors were athletes, if for no other reason than they had to catch their food and avoid being eaten themselves. Next to “mama,” “ball” was the first word out of our mouth for most of us. Neighborhood pickup...
One of the best and worst things that has happened to hunting in the last 20 years has been hunting shows on television. On the best side, having shows about hunting on television started out as a vindication and validation after hunting on TV went dark when the American Sportsmen show left the air in 1967. Hunting shows being aired on television again was viewed as hunting’s coming out party. After all, everything else was making it to television, why not hunting? On the worst side, well that’s a can of worms subject to differing opinions and evolution.
Hunting is not for everyone, which means some people will oppose it. Anti-hunting sentiment is nothing new, nor are the attempts by some groups to end all hunting by smearing hunting in order to enlist more non-hunters to support their anti-hunting agenda. What is new is “anti-hunting” has become “...
Long-range shooting, extreme long-range shooting, sniper hunting —call it what you will, but there is no denying this trend is pushing the limits of ethical hunting and fair chase, leaving us with more questions than answers. The first is, why should we care? The simple and obvious answer is, as...
The opinions as to the true origins of the term “the real McCoy” vary throughout history, but it is commonly held to mean “the real thing” or “the genuine article.” Our society embraces the real thing over a lesser or fake imitation. “Real” therefore carries the most value. Imitations do have their...
As you can see, Hunt Right promotes the values and supports the ethical standards that have long been at the heart of our hunting heritage. It’s effectiveness in influencing a better future for hunting rest upon the number of people who visit this site. The best action you can take is to share this...
A clean kill of a game animal is of course the hoped-for goal of a fair chase hunt. But as anyone who spends time afield knows, there’s a lot more to hunting than just the kill. Pulling the trigger is, in fact, only a small portion of a tradition where the accent has long been on conserving our natural resources and respecting the game we pursue.
There is no question that as a small segment of society, hunters should stick together. There is enough outside pressures and criticism on hunting for hunters to be divided among ourselves. Hunters have a long history of sticking together, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for differences...
The guiding and outfitting industry has been in existence since man first had an interest in exploring and hunting new lands and for different species of game than one could hunt locally. In North America, the exploration and opening of the West primarily rode on the backs of three things: the fur...
While all the buzz lately has been about public land access, let’s not overlook the undeniable reality that many of us will be seeking to obtain or maintain permission to hunt private land this fall. It’s simply a matter of logistics and percentages. If you’ve been at this game for a while you know...
We’ve all seen it—a group of hunters sitting around a table for a meal or afterward around a fire back at camp or maybe after opening morning in a local café, gathered at a deer check station or at the taxidermist. Mood is jovial and expectations high. The expressions, the jokes and poking fun; the...
Yes, people do make mistakes, but there is no such thing as illegal hunting; only poaching. Poaching is the illegal take of wildlife by kill or capture. Poaching is often defined as unlawful hunting, as if some kind of subset of hunting, which it is not. Poaching is a crime. Poachers are not...
All significant human activities, sooner or later, are conducted under a code, or set of guidelines, that direct appropriate behavior. Without this order there would simply be chaos and the activity would become unacceptable. This website presents many aspects of hunting ethics and fair chase,...
While professional sports leagues continue making tweaks to their refereeing system and booth-review processes, it makes one wonder if hunting has had it right all along: We police ourselves and call our own shots.
Hunting, by its very nature, teaches valuable life skills such as problem solving and organization. It also instills character traits such as self-reliance, self-determination, self-discipline, and self-respect. It is because of these teachings that for centuries sportsmen were respected members in their communities, not only for their woodmanship skill in being able to provide food, but how they carried themselves in everyday life.
The great conservationist Aldo Leopold reminds us that, “Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching—even when doing the wrong thing is legal.” Leopold also made the point that, in the field, you are your own referee. There is no one else to “call the shot.” At the end of the day, the measure of the hunt is a measure of oneself.
The first rule in solving any problem is admitting you have one. If the conversation is about the public image and perception of hunters, which is a conversation about continuance, we can no long ignore the fact that the word “trophy” now plays a significant role in what people think about hunting.
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"The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So we must and we will."
-Theodore Roosevelt
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Boone and Crockett Club250 Station Drive
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406.542.1888
