Santa brought us a new video camera but with all the snow and cold temps we had to wait for a little burn-off. We went out yesterday to try it out and see if we could find any birds. It was fun. For us.
The recent cold snap and snow resurrects some ethical questions about when you should stay home instead of hunt. It seems to me that regardless of whether Angus and I can brave the cold, there should be a “mercy rule” for hunting upland birds when it gets below a certain temperature or wind chill, or when snow and ice vastly reduce the available cover. “Fair chase” should apply since it doesn’t seem fair, and doesn’t seem like hunting, when you can just scan for small patches of burn-off and find birds with higher-than-normal frequency. Which is what we did yesterday. Granted, we slogged through lots of snow to get to those places, so maybe that factors into fair chase. I don’t know. What do y’all think? Do you have a set rule for yourself on when you won’t hunt?
