Chatfield, MN – The Pope and Young Club, historically, has not viewed the use of trail cameras as a violation of the Rules of Fair Chase. With the invention of wireless trail cameras and other devices that can send real-time data to a hunter, all hunters need to consider how the use of these devices may affect fair-chase. While the use of a wireless trail camera is not automatically a violation of the Rules of Fair-Chase, using this technology to deliver real-time location data of the animal being hunted, would be a violation of the Rules of Fair Chase #7.
“After numerous phone calls and emails asking for clarification on the use of cellular trail cameras and other transmitting technology,” said Roy Grace, Records Chair for the Pope and Young Club. “The Pope and Young Records Committee, with assistance from the Boone and Crockett Records Committee, jointly created a policy that should provide hunters with a greater understanding of how this technology can be used in a manner that still provides Fair-Chase.”
For clarification, receiving a wireless image (photo, video, GPS coordinate, etc.), which elicits an immediate (real-time) response, guiding the hunter to the animal would be considered a violation of the Rules of Fair-Chase. This would prohibit that animal from being eligible for entry into the Pope and Young Club’s Records Program. Fair-Chase is defined as the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit of free-ranging wild game animals that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over the animal.
The Pope and Young Club is a non-profit North American conservation and bowhunting organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of bowhunting by striving to increase awareness and appreciation of bowhunting foundations, principles, and values. The Pope and Young Club is focused on Fair Chase hunting ethics that support the ethical pursuit of free-ranging, wild game animals without unfair advantage while promoting the conservation of both habitat and wildlife. The Club also maintains the universally recognized repository of records and statistics on North American big game animals harvested with a bow and arrow.
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Media contact Rick Mowery at rick@pope-young.org, Ph: 989.884.3800
