BCJ_WINTER18 Digital Edition
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BEYOND FAIR CHASE<br />
Tim Romano photo<br />
TO SHOOT OR NOT TO SHOOT<br />
HOW ETHICAL HUNTING BUILDS CHARACTER<br />
BY ERIC NUSE<br />
TIME: Dark, early and cold<br />
DATE: Last days of goose season<br />
HUNTER: Just me<br />
WITNESSES: None for miles<br />
The truck is hidden a half mile away, the decoys are set and a<br />
brisk west wind is at my back. Legal light is still 10 minutes away<br />
and life is good. Yesterday morning I hear the murmur of geese<br />
from my deer stand a good hour after sunrise so plenty of time to<br />
sip some coffee, stretch out and enjoy the solitude.<br />
The good thing about Canada Geese is they usually announce<br />
their arrival with a honk or two. So I figured a little shut eye<br />
wouldn’t hurt. I’d been up early deer hunting for a week and the<br />
old body was starting to feel it.<br />
By the time my brain registered the sound of wings and my eyes<br />
focused, the ducks were landing in the corn stubble on the far side<br />
of my decoys. With a slight tilt of my head from the layout blind<br />
I could see three beautiful greenheads. I love to eat mallard and<br />
hadn’t had any time to hunt them this fall.<br />
Shoot or don’t shoot?<br />
My stomach said go for it. But a little voice in my head said not<br />
so fast, buddy.<br />
Whatever I decide I know it’s legal and it’s safe – OK so far.<br />
Can I make a clean kill? I’ve got double 00s in the gun, full<br />
and modified chokes., the distance I’m guessing is 35 yards. I’ve<br />
killed plenty of geese at this range, but ducks are smaller and even<br />
cripples are hard to swat on the ground. Flush them? They would<br />
be at least 5 yards further away before I could shoot and that is the<br />
edge of my ability and range for a clean kill.<br />
They are moving further away - it’s decision time.<br />
As hunters we face tough ambiguous decisions all the time.<br />
Most of the time we are going to be the only ones who know what<br />
we do - no witnesses and no referees. Everything you have experienced,<br />
read, talked about and thought about coalesces into a little<br />
voice that whispers the answer. For me it was clear – don’t shoot.<br />
As they walked away, I ran the event through my ethical hunter<br />
matrix and came up with two bottom line reasons not to shoot:<br />
(1) marginal odds for a clean kill, (2) poor fit with why I hunt.<br />
I hunt waterfowl for the enjoyment and satisfaction of bringing<br />
them in close and making a skillful wingshot. The eating is important<br />
but only a bonus.<br />
“The true test of character is when you do the right thing even<br />
though you know no one will ever know.” (From an old hunter<br />
education16mm movie)<br />
An hour later the goose Gods smile on me when 23 beautiful<br />
Canadas worked my decoys and on the third pass came right in.<br />
Two shots and two geese were dead in the air. Preparation and<br />
skill met with opportunity and challenge.<br />
Now that’s hunting!<br />
Eric is a retired game warden from Vermont. He is on the board<br />
of Orion – The Hunter’s Institute and the New England Chapter of<br />
BHA and is the former executive director of the International Hunter<br />
Education Association.<br />
This Backcountry Journal department is brought to you by Orion<br />
– The Hunter’s Institute, a nonprofit and BHA partner dedicated<br />
to advancing hunting ethics and wildlife conservation. To learn<br />
more, visit orionhunters.org. To discuss this article and others, go to<br />
backcountryhunters.org/fair_chase and follow to Facebook post.<br />
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 19
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