Fair Chase and Senator Feinstein
August 25, 2009
Photo by Moose
So are we to believe that the Senator is going to take up hunting with her concern over fair chase when it comes to Alaska wolves? Somehow I doubt it but I did get a kick out of a recent editorial on the subject in Juneau Empire
Feinstein did so, at least in part, because she believes the state’s effort violates “the hunting principle of fair chase.”
No, it does not, because, as she said, Alaska’s wolf control program is not sport.
“Fair chase” is a loose, ever-shifting set of guidelines employed by individual hunters who, for a variety of personal reasons, often make their hunts more difficult for themselves and thus potentially less lethal to their prey. More power to them, but such standards are illogical when attempting to manage wildlife populations.
What homeowner would set a mouse trap but leave it unbaited just to give the mice a chance? What farmer would put cats in the barn but remove their claws so the rats have a fair shake?
When attempting to control an animal population, neither individuals nor the government can apply standards of fair chase, because those standards are designed solely to make success more difficult. In a control effort, the intent is to kill the animal. The most efficient, quickest method should be used. The state of Alaska follows that mandate when it kills wolves using gunners in aircraft.
The editorial is right on the money the killing of the wolves by the state of Alaska is not for sport but an effort to control specie that is getting out of balance. This is a smoke and mirrors attempt by the Senator to inject an idea to cloud the issue that just doesn’t belong in the discussion to begin with. If the Senator wants to look at some guiding principles how about this one;
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The Federal government has become too powerful and we need it to go back to the principles established by our founding fathers and restore the rights of the states and the people.
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The states must be able to manage the game that is within their boundaries and this includes predators as well as game animals.
Hunting for Wolves is already allowed in the state of Alaska and many of them are pursued by fair chase standards but in certain areas because of the remoteness of the land in Alaska, there is no other way to control this population.
People need to ask themselves if they would prefer balance or would they like to see sheep, moose, caribou and other species wiped out because wolves will if left unchecked wipe out every single specie.