What is "fair chase" to you?

[wapiti]

Just wondering what the thoughts are on hunting big game behind high game fences. I was just reading an article about the hundreds of such operations in the US-mostly for elk. Would you pay $$$ to shoot a buck or elk on a "farm"? Would you consider this "fair chase"?
With the proliferation of these operations in the States, I wonder if we'll ever see them in BC....and if we'd want to??:(

[joelp37]

i wouldnt pay money to shoot an animal on a farm. thats just my opinion. hunting is a challenge, but if your on a farm i just dont see the challenge in that.

[300 wsm]

fenced in game kills are garbage in my books they are kills and not hunts their is one in sask i beleive that has had alotta talk about it being wrong it is banned in alberta to hunt any big game in a fenced in closure where is tha fair chase and excitement in that i give it two thumbs down

[Mr. Dean]

This is not hunting.

It is what it is - I don't have a problem w/ the concept. I do, however, with domesticating MORE wildlife for the purpose.

Haven't done it yet... But I CAN see me 'hunting' a bison or a couple of pheasant (off a farm) down the road.

[Gateholio]

Before you can pass judgement on a "farm" hunt, it has to be put into context.

You have to look at the game, the square footage (or mileage) of the farm as, well as what you hope to accomplish.

Much of South Africa has high fenced farms to hunt on, but many of these places are HUGE, HUGE areas. No BC hunter goes out and covers 1000 000 acres on deer hunt...

A "fair chase" hunt implies that the animal can run away...On a large ranch, it's not much different than in open country.

I have crossbow hunted wild Russian boars on a ranch, and it's not an easy thing. It was not BC hunting, I viewed it as a fun way to get some excellent meat, but it wasn't fish in a barrel...

There are so many level so of these fenced operations, it's hard to be 100% objective.

Some are purely "canned hunts," some are "meat hunts on ranches" and some are "there is so many miles between our fences, it don't matter"

i don't like the "canned hunt" I have no issue wiht the "meat hunt on ranch" as long as you call it what it is, and the "it's so big" doesn't apply here in BC

I am glad that we dont' have fenced hunting in BC, but not all of it is evil.

[mapguy]

how much a lb do they clean it can i get a variety pack.
can we say safeway hehehehehe
it would depend on the farm canned hunts should be illegal
use to hunt the farm in ontario they would always be close to the grain fields
but they were still hard to get close to
your right gatehouse it would depend on the farm

[Walksalot]

A canned hunt can be equated with hiring a hooker. You don't have to do a lot of fancy foot work or put out a slot of effort to achieve an end result, you know you are going to score. Not my cup of tea but what the hell if there is someone who is willing to shell out the cash there will be someone willing to set the stage.

Hunting ranches, well there is another story. For a hunter who loves to be pampered it's the full meal deal. Some hunters like to stay at a fancy resort and the only survival skills they need to know is to never check into a five star without your platinum card. Having said that, I don't think many of the hunts are guaranteed and I presume one still has to have some hunting skills in order to bag an animal. Tree stands over bait stations is used by some of the hunting ranches. Fair chase? To some it is. I remember reading a article where a number of whitetail bucks were released into an enclosed area, I forget how big but it wasn't huge and a number of experienced hunters were sent in to locate the animals. I believe the animals were even marked for easier detection A very small number of the bucks were located by the hunters.

Meat ranches, I don't have a problem with these at all. If the price was right I would lay down cash to shoot a animal. If I was after meat I wouldn't care about the head wear. I may keep the horns but would make it very clear to anyone the circumstances of how I got the animal. I think there is a buffalo ranch in northern B.C. is there not? These animals would have to be vaccinated for disease so I don't think you are getting meat free of antibiotics.

Personally, I like to go one on one when hunting and I hunt both private and crown land and I like to walk a lot. To stay at a resort or pay someone to guide me is not my cup of tea but hey, that's just me. To go into an animals back yard and out smart it in it's turf is an accomplishment in my books. I have been bow hunting for many years and still have not harvested a whitetail buck with a respectable rack. In the summer I watch some very respectable whitetail bucks feed in a rancher's field I am allowed to hunt on. I try to pattern these animals to get a crack at them first day of archery season but those big buggers are smart. The rancher cannot figure out why I don't sit in the hay shed and shoot the biggest one which enters the field on opening day of rifle season but will sit in a tree stand with either rifle or bow, on the mountain above the property in November. In that same area where there was a whitetail buck rubbing some big trees. For three years I sat in that area and year after year the same trees would be rubbed. I logged many days in that stand with my bow and as fate would have it my father and I were doing some work on the cabin and I wasn't intending to hunt but threw my rifle in on a lark. We got done work early and I told him I was going to sit in my tree stand for a couple of hours. I climbed into my stand, clipped into my safety rope, pulled my pack and my rifle up, hung my pack in a peg, put a shell in the chamber and heard an animal walking on dead leaves. That evening I shot a 5X5 with a 24" spread at 30 yds with my rifle. The trees were never rubbed after that day.

[mapguy]

how different is leh from farming your still controlling the amount of animals and the number of hunters in a set area
geez shouldn't be long before were overrun lack of hunters and all
eheheehehehe

[thatskindafunny]

Really don't think I would pay to go on a hunt for big game. However that said......Pheasants & Chuckers, well, we never say do you want to hunt some birds tomorrow we always say "Do you want to do some birds tomorrow" How many do you want put out? This is not a hunt but sure is a whole bunch of fun. And LEH is not the same as hunting in a fenced area as one still has preperation, patiences and perseverance.

[Walksalot]

The LEH system is one tool to be used in a responsible wildlife management strategy. While both hunting ranches and the government wildlife section use the same tools, to some extent, I think the hunting ranches might have a bit of a better finger on the pulse of what is going on. While hunting ranches can encompass huge tracks of land the population is regulated to the extent Mother Nature has less of an impact on the population. Also, hunting ranches supply the nutrition to promote large antler growth and the inferior animals are removed from the gene pool, a cull hunt so to speak.

[bigwhiteys]

I would not pay to hunt a fenced animal and consider it a trophy.

Neither would I... However I have and will probably continue to kill a farmed buffalo for meat every year.

Happy Hunting!
Carl

[tuchodi]

300WSM : The law must have just changed in Alta as last fall a couple of fellows from work went north of Edmonton for Buffalo and Black Pigs and they were in a large fenced in area, they payed the farmer and all he said was dont shout a certain Pig and Buffalo as the weere his best breading stock. Personally I would not do it but makes for good meat hunt.

[Westicle]

walksalot,

yes there are buffalo ranches in northern bc and for the most part, pay your $500 for the animal and go at her.... most guys will even bring thier tractor out for you with a gimbal allready set up to hoist the animal.

it is good meat, but as you say they are farm raised, vet cared for and frankly they are not usually finished off right.... they just keep eating the grass till you shot it.

some of the best buffalo around is that which is available at the local butcher stores, grain finished and butchered properly with coolers and such so the meat is cooled fast.

[riflebuilder]

I have hunted in Texas where every ranch is fenced. Some of these places are over 7000 acres huge. The country is scrub bush and not easy to walk through. Most hunting is in stands over bait. It is different than hunting here. Conditions in differrent huntng locations require different hunting methods. 95% of Texas is private land so hunting opertunities are limited unless you lease hunting rights to a ranch or buy a place just so you have a place to hunt. In BC you have some of the best hunting in the world so be thankfull. You have a choice as to your preferred method of hunting but don't be to jugemental about fences and bait untill you are in the other guys shoes.

[bigwhiteys]

some of the best buffalo around is that which is available at the local butcher stores, grain finished and butchered properly with coolers and such so the meat is cooled fast.

There are farms in the peace country that DO finish the buffalo on grain and do things properly. They bring out the tractor with a generator and a sawzall... makes short work of a buffalo :)

Carl

[Phil]

Fair chase to me is hunting in the wild with no constrains on the animal of any kind, with no gaurantees that there are any animals in the area that I chose to hunt. Hunting on a canned hunt eliminates major parts of the hunt like scouting, map research, talking to locals ect... . It also means that the animal has the ability to escape to cover and/or out run me if need be. In addition, fair chase means that I may inenvertently end up as some other creatures lunch. Hunting with out these variables is not truly hunting in IMO as it eliminates the witts required to truly hunt and the right to call yourself a hunter.

[hunter1947]

For me i wouldn't pay a red penny ,no sport involved in this ,it's like shooting ducks in a small pond.

[WoodOx]

Many of you are saying you would never pay to hunt an animal.

Are you including not ever paying to hunt species, that are 100% fair chase?

No paying to goto Africa, just because you have to pay for it, but the animals are fee?

No paying to hunt completely wild and free Macro Polo Rams?

No paying to be guided on a Desert ram hunt, after youve drawn a tag?

I disagree with high fence hunting, canned hunts, etc - but paying to be guided in an area that you otherwise would be unable to hunt is not the same thing.

[hunter1947]

I say no pay for any of the things you posted ,like i said in a different post ,i would never pay for any kind of a guided hunt ,or fenced hunt ,that's just the way i feel about it all. :wink:.

[WoodOx]

I say no pay for any of the things you posted ,like i said in a different post ,i would never pay for any kind of a guided hunt ,or fenced hunt ,that's just the way i feel about it all. :wink:.


Fair enough, everyone has an opinion. Kind of restrictive on hunts external to Canada though, isnt it? No interest in any of the hunts I posted I presume then...

[hunter1947]

Agaucher ,i am happy to hunt the animals hear in Canada , like i say i love to hunt rocky mt elk ,this is the only animal that i have dreamed about every month to hunt ,it wouldn't interest me to shoot other animals ,i have had the chances to go on some other hunts ,like sheep ,goat grizzly ,caribou ,bison ,but turned them all down in order to hunt elk ,i love elk hunting and will continue to hunt them as long as i can walk.:wink:.

[brotherjack]

Totally depends on the size of the fence and the handling of the game within.

5 acres and hand-fed critters? Absolutely not.

50,000 acres (assuming no cross-fencing), where the game within is left to their own devices and the carrying capacity of the land - that's a whole other story. No different than hunting a chunk of crown land that happens to have elk fence put up by the farmers who's land adjoins it.



In either case, would I pay for the privelige? Not if I could help it - I give whole new meaning to the word cheap. :)

[chevy]

I think the guys who wanna pay to hunt on a game farm should go through a test first i say they put them in a fenced yard couplehundred yards wide with 4 bore grizzly's and no guns or anything else for 2 full days and if they make it then let them hunt on a game farm then they might just know what it lis like not to have a chance like the game farm animals do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just my 2 cents

[rollingrock]

Things like trail cam, high power scope/bino/spotting scope, high power rifle, quads, jacked up truck, infrared seeker, gps....oh well!:D

[mapguy]

hunted a small island once took two of the biggest deer there in 15 min
have to admit it wasn't much fun
a farm would have to be really big to make it fair chase

[eaglesnester]

Hunting fenced in game is almost like going to Safeway to buy your meat. Why bother with this style of hunting unless you like killing just for the sake of killing. There is no challenge, skill, or luck involved. The only good thing about fenced hunts is that the harvested meat has no hormones, or junk pumped into while it was being raised.

[oscar makonka]

300WSM : The law must have just changed in Alta as last fall a couple of fellows from work went north of Edmonton for Buffalo and Black Pigs and they were in a large fenced in area, they payed the farmer and all he said was dont shout a certain Pig and Buffalo as the weere his best breading stock. Personally I would not do it but makes for good meat hunt.

The law hasn't changed in Alberta, Your friend is confusing domestic farm animals with wildlife. You cannot hunt wildlife in a high fenced enclosure. Domestic wildlife such as 'black pigs' and farmed buffalo are not considered wildlife, you can buy them and kill them however you want, nothing more than grocery shopping. Also if you see escapees from the ranch you are allowed to shoot them at will, no tags or licence required.

[ROEBUCK]

some hunting areas around the world are privately owned pieces of land , especialy in africa and the reason for fencing "sometimes" is that owners can be sued by people involved in road accidents involving wild animals adjacent to these areas,we live in a world were many animals are restocked in certain areas this does not mean they are no longer wild animals