By Eric Nuse

We've all seen slob hunter - similar to the description of pornography by one of the Supreme court justices - "you know it when you see it". That is one extreme, but what criteria needs to be met to be a responsible hunter? We all think we are one, but are we?

Here is my take:

1. Safe - bottom line you must follow the safety rules for gun handling and hunting. If you endanger yourself, others or property you are not a responsible hunter.
2. Lawful - Game laws can be complicated and tempting to bend or break. But they have a vital purpose and must be followed to the letter and spirit.
3. Clean Kill - Responsible hunters only shoot at game they know they can kill, not to see if they can hit it. Stuff happens, but we do everything we can to make one-shot kills. Excuses like I didn't have time to sight in, or practice or check my pattern don't make it.
4. Full Utilization - If you kill it you eat it. If you don't like mergansers and don't know anyone who does - don't shoot them. For game like moose it takes planning ahead to be sure you can get it out of the woods and cool it down before it spoils, not as easy as you might think. The exception to this rule is damage or cull shooting. But that is different than hunting and I still think the critter should be used if at all possible, even if it is just cleaning the coyote skull for the local Boy Scout troop.
5. Fair Chase - If it is a 100% guaranteed kill or the animal can't get away it is not an ethical hunt. The outcome of the hunt must be in doubt up to the second the trigger is pulled. Anything else is just shooting or slaughtering. Within this definition is lots of room and it will vary between hunters and even the same hunter. There is inherent conflict between fair chase and clean kill. If you erect to high a barrier to harvest, say using a homemade stick bow, you could, without a lot of discipline, set your self up for wounding animals because your skill level is not high enough to be successful under reasonable conditions.
6. Support Conservation - This applies primarily to more experienced hunters. I don’t think you can call yourself a responsible hunter unless you are actively supporting wildlife conservation beyond buying licenses and paying tax on equipment and ammo. We need to be in the arena supporting scientific management and environmentally sound policies- politically, physically and monetarily. I also don’t think paying dues to a hunting club or conservation organization is enough. It is a great start but not enough. We need to be actively engaged with that club, doing things like habitat work on the ground and making those phone calls to legislators.

As you can see, I think there is more to being a responsible hunter than what happens at the instant of the trigger pull. All of this together is what makes hunting such an engaging and ever new and challenging activity.