The Three-Minute Outdoorsman: Wild Science from Magnetic Deer to Mumbling Carp

44. The Ethics of Baiting and High-Fence Ranch Hunting

A N I M A L S A N D U S 169 Unfortunately, unlike many other species that were market hunted, such as ducks, egrets, and herons, the Eskimo Curlew was unable to rebound because too much of its prairie habitat had been converted to agriculture. Incidentally, the last clear sighting of an Eskimo Curlew in the United States was in 1962 in Texas, and one was shot in Barbados in 1963. Unconfirmed sightings trickle in sporadically . So, there is a slim chance that some curlews survive and have escaped detection over the past fifty years. Unlikely, though. From Grave’s reconstruction of the last good days for the Eskimo Curlew, we have a valuable reminder that we can indeed push a species to the brink of extinction with unregulated hunting. 44 the ethics of baiting and high-fence ranch hunting a perennial debate What do baiting deer and hunting at high-fence ranches have in common? Ethics. Few topics are as guaranteed to start an argument as different hunters’ perceptions of what is ethical. For example, many factions have dug in their heels and deemed baiting to be akin to sleeping with the devil himself. There are some good reasons for this opinion, both ethical and otherwise. If a white-tailed deer in the latter stages of a Chronic Wasting Disease infection shares a corn pile with uninfected deer, prions (the infectious agent) could be transmitted via saliva to healthy deer, and a CWD epidemic could result, at least in theory. The remaining concerns about baiting are largely ethical in nature. Some are concerned that bait piles change deer movement patterns, but so do snowmobile/ATV/hiking/biking trails, roads, subdivisions, new houses, agricultural fields, gardens, nature centers , fences, and so on. Many hunters bring up the possibility that t h e t h r e e - m i n u t e o u t d o o r s m a n 170 antihunters will have an even more negative view of hunting if deer are being shot over bait. It’s true that hunters do not need more scrutiny and negative publicity. Not all “bait piles” are the same. A garden, a food plot, a bird feeder, an agricultural field, or a compost heap can legally attract deer away from the natural vegetation upon which they should be feeding, where they are considered an ethical target to many. In contrast, some people think that food plots are glorified bait piles (my food plot has corn, apple trees, pumpkins, clover, and ryegrass). This is obviously a slippery slope. We bait bears in most eastern states, but not deer, as it is very difficult to stalk bears, and many states use hunting to control bear numbers. Some states allow both deer and bear to be baited, some neither. If local game laws reflect what the majority of hunters feel is ethical, obviously hunters (or legislators) in different regions of the country disagree about what constitutes ethical hunting. In principle, sentiments against baiting trace to the well-known North American model of wildlife conservation that provides one definition of fair chase, which is inconsistent with baiting. The issue is that the definition of fair chase amounts to a subjective judgment about what is ethical , a perennial problem for human beings. Another sure-to-generate-debate topic is hunting at highfence ranches. In states such as Texas, many private fenced ranches offer the opportunity to hunt native deer as well as a host of exotic species, such as feral hog, axis deer, sika deer, red deer, fallow deer, aoudad, blackbuck, goats, and rams of many flavors. You can even save the money you would need for an African trip and shoot a zebra, wildebeest, oryx, or water buffalo in Texas! And to compound our ethical debate, most of these places use bait to lure game into bow or gun range. Shooting baited animals in a high-fence-enclosed ranch sounds like a publicity nightmare for hunters, and surely there must be a consensus that this is not ethical . Obviously, given the large number of successful high-fence hunting operations, many consider it “ethical enough” to partake. So do I. A N I M A L S A N D U S 171 I have visited a high-fence ranch in Texas with my two sons starting when they were ten. The first question I get is usually...