With all the discussions of ethics re guides, lion hunters and such, want to know what people think of this. I am a pretty "ethical" guy, some of my hunter pals might say "anal" and I try to be not only legal but ethical. Often those two words are not interchangeable.
So, Wife's cousin has lived in the Kootenays all his life, years ago bought a small "farm" on large acreage and has lived there since. He's now retired there and we visited him a few years back. While sitting on his deck he pointed 2-300 metres away and said that every year a small "herd" of elk visit his property. They munch on his crops, his dog just looks at them without interest. He laughed and said I should come up one Fall and sit on his deck and shoot one.
Now he, and his Son ( in his early 20's ) have both PAL'd and CORE'd up and have asked if I would be interested in a Fall Elk hunt. Although his late Dad hunted extensively years ago in the Kootenays, neither he nor his Son have ever hunted.
I've checked all the regs re MU's, openings, dates, 6 point bulls, etc. and AFAIK it's all legal other than shooting from his deck.
My concern is the ethical aspect about "fair chase" where a herd of elk are almost domesticated, or in the least habituated to his property leaving the "hunt" to something more akin to shooting fish in a fish bowl. Whilst nothing's guaranteed, other than being a really bad shot, the odds of harvesting a bull would be very high.
To add, his son has a few disabilities that result in some difficulties in handling a rifle. I did take him out back of our Tulameen place and we tried out a number of different rifles and actions and found that lever action is by far the best. This might well be the best, maybe the only chance for him to have a decent, reasonable chance of success.
So, open to opinions, I'm not trying to moralize or anything, just curious as to what everyone thinks.