What is a fair chase hunt for deer?

[lilabner]

I ask the question because I hunted whitetails in south Texas this year from stands overlooking automatic feeders. The feeders clanked and whirred when they started up (they were set for early morning right at first light and late afternoon) and the deer came in. The guide would evaluate the bucks and could tell you how much each animal would cost - cost depends on B&C score and the guides are very accurate in their estimation. I was told they formerly hunted some by glass and stalk methods or still hunting but abandoned that because it was too difficult to accurately estimate antler size so there wasn't enough control. ( I should add that when I took my shot, the guide did a digital video and on playback, you could actually see the bullet impact on the deer. This is done because if you wound an animal and it escapes, you pay for it. The tape settles whether you hit him or not. ) My hunting has been in the west on public lands so all this was strange to me. I shot a nice buck in my price range but I still wonder whether I was hunting.

[huntsman]

If you didn't feel like the hunt was a challenge, then it probably wasn't fair chase. Some of these high $ outfits in S. TX have lost that quality in the name of big antlers and big dollars. I personally wouldn't hunt if I had to have a guide to tell me whether to shoot or not, or if I had to pay based on antler size, and don't think I would feel like I was hunting if most or all the deer came in to a feeder on que.

Don't get me wrong, I use feeding, but where I hunt it is a far cry from deer showing up on que. Days may go by before you see any deer at all, and many times they aren't interested in the feed when they do come through. The feed does two things that I consider fair chase: 1) causes deer to pause in shooting lanes or in shooting range so that I can evaluate age and antler quality before shooting, and 2) encourages more frequent (not constant or automatic) use by deer of the general acreage I am hunting. It is certainly not a "sure thing" to kill a deer, let alone a trophy buck, because I feed wildlife. Coincidentally, deer probably eat only 10% or less of the corn I feed. The rest goes to hogs, varmints, and birds.

[Redhawk1]

Your question could open a can of worms here. But in my opinion it is hunting. The deer just come to a different source of food rather than there natural food. It is no different than a hunter in the mid west hunting on a freshly cut down corn field. I hunt over an alfalfa field that the deer come to feed on, I have killed several deer there, but I also put out corn for them. I still consider it hunting. You have to be there when the deer come in and you have to out wit them. JMHO.  

[New Hampshire]

I wont argue wether it is hunting or not, or even if it is ethical.  AS long as you take the game cleanly there is nothing ethically wrong.  be that as it may it just dont seem right to me.  Where is the challenge?  I guess if Im paying big bucks I want to make sure I get what I pay for.  But I keep thinking of the old addage "its not about the destination but the journey."  But thats just me.  Im sure there are quite a few guys who want a rack for the wall.  And if they are happy, good for them.
Brian M.

[Graybeard]

In TX and other states the larger question of how ethical it is has been resolved by the fact it is legal. So to me the question becomes is it what the particular hunter wishes to do. In other words does it pass your own personal "ethics" standards and to you is it enjoyable.

That will vary from individual to individual and might even be different depending on the property being hunted. It is one thing to hunt over a feeder in a free range situation and quite another on a high fenced area where the population is artifically maintained at such a high level that the feeders actually constitute the primary food source. In the latter situation it really is more about "harvesting" a term I hate of trophy racks than of hunting. Still if that suits a person and it is legal then it is ethical in the larger sense but each person has to decide that for themselves.

I've never really been all that much of a trophy hunter. I mean that in the sense that I don't have the money or the inclination to go searching for the absolute largest example of any animal I can find regardless of legal method. I just want a representative specimen if I'm hunting with hopes of putting one on the wall. Sure larger is nice but if it's a mature representative animal that's good enough for me.

I really prefer to take game using still hunting or spot and stalk methods. But my physical abilities have changed over the years to the point that's not necessarily do able for me all the time. So I've come to accept hunting from blinds and treestands. Not what I prefer but often terrain dictate it's all I'm capable of.

[James B]

Bill. You hit it on the head I could not have put it better or as well. I hunt along fields where the deer come out in the evening and the route they use to come back. This year, about ten days ago I saw the biggest buck in my 48 years of deer hunting in South Dakota. A monster Mule deer. All I had were doe tage so I watched him through the scope for ten minutes  or so then I said BANG. I could have shot you. Maybe next year I will. I don't have a place to display heads and stuff and I am a meat hunter at heart. As far as hunting goes, if its legal and a guy enjoys it then its hunting. I used to walk the breaks and stalk deer but the body does not bounce back from those kinds of walks any more so I, Like you, do what I can and continue to enjoy the expierence.

[lilabner]

I had never hunted whitetails before. I am not a kid any more so my hunts can no longer be too physically challenging. I wanted to go where whitetails are plentiful and my chances of getting one were good. This hunt certainly met those requirements. The problem was that contrasted to the public land hunts I'm used to, it was just too easy. There was no question whether I'd shoot a buck or not - the question was which one. On the other hand, after parting with good money for a hunt, not filling the tag would have been a downer. I will be more careful in the future about booking hunts. I can stand hunt just fine, can spot and stalk and stillhunt. I just can't climb the high peaks and hike for miles any more like I used to. I believe matching up my remaining abilities to the hunt methods will be helpful.