Observing the Hunter’s Ethical Code

Over time, hunters have developed a code of ethics that is observed to this day.

Respect Natural Resources: Leave the land better than you found it. Adhere to fair chase rules. Know your capabilities and limitations as a marksman, and stay within your effective range. Strive for a quick, clean kill. Ensure that meat and usable parts are not wasted. Treat both game and non-game animals ethically. Abide by game laws and regulations. Cooperate with conservation officers. Report game violations. Respect Other Hunters: Follow safe firearm handling practices, and insist your companions do the same. Refrain from interfering with another’s hunt. Avoid consuming alcohol, which can impair you to the point of endangering others. Share your knowledge and skills with others.

Contact the landowner while wearing street clothes and well in advance of when you wish to hunt.

Respect Landowners:

• Ask landowners for permission to hunt.
• Follow their restrictions on when and where you may hunt.
• Treat livestock and crops as your own.
• Offer to share a part of your harvest with the owner.
• Leave all gates the way you found them.
• If you notice something wrong or out of place, notify the landowner immediately.
• Never enter private land that is cultivated or posted, unless you have obtained permission first.

Respect Non-Hunters:

• Transport animals discreetly—don’t display them.
• Keep firearms out of sight.
• Refrain from taking graphic photographs of the kill and from vividly describing the kill while within earshot of non-hunters.
• Maintain a presentable appearance while on the street—no bloody or dirty clothing.

ethics: Moral principles or values that distinguish between right and wrong; they are unwritten rules that society expects to be followed

How to Behave If Confronted by Anti-Hunter Protesters

• Remain calm and polite, and do not engage in arguments—never lose your temper.
• Never touch an anti-hunter or use any physical force, and especially never threaten an anti-hunter with your firearm.
• Report hunter harassment to law enforcement authorities. If possible, record the vehicle license number of harassers.

Examining Personal Ethics

Hunting is a private, and often solitary, activity. There are no stadiums filled with fans. There are no teams with logos, and no cheerleaders. Hunting is conducted in private or in small groups and out of sight of others—yet hunting attracts the attention of many people with different attitudes about hunting and hunters.

Aldo Leopold, a leader in establishing professional wildlife management in the United States, wrote in his famous book A Sand County Almanac:

“A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than a mob of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.”

Fair Chase

The concept of fair chase began in the Middle Ages when hunters increased the challenge of sport hunting by setting rules that limited how they took game. More recently, fair chase rules were developed to stem public criticism of hunters. Fair chase rules include banning the use of vehicles, airplanes, and radios; electronic calling; and shooting in a fenced enclosure. Many states have made the rules into law.