Hunter Ethics

Hunting laws preserve wildlife, but ethics preserve the hunter’s opportunity to hunt. Because ethics govern the behavior that affects public opinion of hunters, ethical behavior ensures that hunters are welcome and hunting areas stay open.

Ethics generally cover behavior that has to do with issues of fairness, respect, and responsibility not covered by laws. For instance, it’s not illegal to be rude to a landowner when hunting on his or her property or to be careless and fail to close a pasture gate after opening it, but most hunters agree that discourteous and irresponsible behavior is unethical.

There are also ethical issues that are between the hunter and nature. For example, an animal appears beyond a hunter’s effective range for a clean kill. Should the hunter hope to get lucky and take the shot? Ethical hunters would say no.

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