Almost everything we use and deal with on a daily basis is now powered by microprocessors and onboard electronics. It’s no surprise that our pickup trucks, ATVs and rangefinders have more processing capability than our desktop computers did just a few years ago. Do you remember the days when the only batteries you needed for a hunt were a few AAA batteries for your flashlight and you were set to go? Nowadays, electronics have permeated almost everything we use. How many different battery-powered devices “must” you now have for a successful hunt? Cell phone, binoculars, e-bike, GPS, riflescope, rangefinder, flashlight, inReach, headlamp? As a Millenial myself, I feel as though I grew up with much of this new technology and it has been easy for me to embrace it, but I still question much of it and the exponential increases we have seen in technology.
THE COST OF SUCCESS
Self-reflection as hunters is often a difficult task. We spend thousands of dollars each year on gear and gadgets to give us the utmost advantage over our quarry. We figure out how to scout, save offline maps, and be the most prepared as possible to stay in the field and sleep near the game we pursue. While I do not intend to preach my ethics on your style of hunting, I feel we need to check ourselves and ask if we are okay with where we have arrived.
The reality of hunting in the 21st century is that opportunities for more tags are slim, the demand is high, and we will not be able to hunt as much as we would like. That being said, do we expect that we deserve to harvest an animal just because we waited years to draw a tag or that we finally burned our points?
The reality of game management is that tag quota numbers are set based off of an estimated harvest success percentage. A hunt with an expected 50% harvest success can allow for two times the amount of tags than a hunt with an expected 100% harvest success. It seems simple, but do we understand what that really means? If you want to manage a hunt for ultra high success rates, you must face the reality that you will most likely never draw that tag. What are the other options? What success rates are tolerable before hunters cry out that the hunt is horrible?
Recently, my home state of Utah put together a working group committee under the direction of the Wildlife Board to analyze and make recommendations on emerging technologies for hunting. I was invited to participate as a committee member as a public representative. I can tell you, I probably lost more friends than I gained by serving in this capacity. We had some great conversations and produced recommendations that were well thought out and I believe were a step in the right direction, but anytime there are new regulations or limitations, much of the hunting community cries foul! We tried as a committee to not force our personal ethics on the general hunting public or portray that our hunting methods are better or more correct than anyone else’s. However, if we want to preserve hunting opportunities and provide tags for our children and future hunters, we realized we must do something to curb success rates.
Some individuals are still shocked to hear that some hunters have been using high-definition thermal binoculars Bluetoothed to their iPad along with surveillance style radio earpieces to direct an archery hunter on their stalk in complete darkness before sunrise. Then they may suddenly move to hunt a different animal that has walked by their motion-activated cellular 5G trail camera which sends them an HD video clip in real time. What may sound like a Black Ops Hollywood movie scene is the reality of where western hunting has arrived. There is a time and a place to use all of these tools as they are not inherently bad or unethical, but is this the way we want to hunt? Is this “fair” to the everyday hunter who has the same permit to hunt at the same time?
PRESERVING THE HUNT
The word hunt in and of itself does not imply success by way of a kill or harvest. I know how it feels to wait 15+ years to draw a coveted tag and the pedestal we put ourselves on when feelings of entitlement creep in. Have you ever felt you deserved to kill an animal because you have the tag?
If we want to increase tag quotas, we are faced with a few options – shorten or move the season dates, restrict the animal that can be taken, or limit the weapon. This balance is a difficult one to maintain to provide a quality experience while preserving a lower success rate. I, for one, want some animals to have a chance to get away and “slip through” the cracks to grow older and more mature, but I also want the chance to hunt more often. Waiting decades to hunt deer or elk once is not practical. Life is too short.
Don’t misunderstand me, I love long-range precision shooting and I love exploring new technologies and getting my hands on the newest gadgets. I am not advocating for a three-day longbow-only hunt on every hunt in the West, but I would like to see more technology-restricted hunts that allow more tags to be allocated and thus more experiences to be made in the field. They do not just have to be archery hunts only. Perhaps an open sight rifle hunt option? Or what about a hunt without rangefinders or sights at all? What about radios and in-field communications?
Some of those I have spoken with immediately jump to say that I am now an advocate of wounded game. This is not true. I want to kill every animal quickly and effectively as part of my moral compass, but I believe that we have to sometimes miss or not be successful or we end up in a never-ending circle of entitlement. We should be expected to practice and become efficient with our weapons. Current technology is making us lazy hunters, with ever so accurate gear being readily available and cheaper than ever before. I do not speak for all hunters, but I would dare say that most of us will push our chances of success as far as we can financially and legally are able. For that reason, we should agree to hunt within some boundaries we agree upon that level the playing field for all of us.
ARE WE TOO GOOD?
I, like many of you, love the chance of chasing trophy quality animals and enjoy the chase. I want a chance at harvesting a big mature buck or bull on any hunt that I have a tag for in my pocket. However, I have come to realize that if we do not accept some limitations, we have just become “too good” at taking the top and best animals on every hunt and unit around. If we continue to allow long seasons, unlimited weapons, etc., one day soon we will wonder where all of the big bucks have disappeared to and why we can never seem to draw a tag.
We are not far away from Starlink providing high-speed internet right to our cell phones no matter where we are on the globe. It’s going to be more affordable, and we will be more connected than we ever have been in the past. I hope some of my thoughts here will help you ask yourself how connected you want to be and help you shape hunting seasons and management in the states you hunt.