Mountain Pursuit Advocates Prohibiting Trail Cameras for the Aiding in the Take or the Take of Wildlife

Mountain Pursuit advocates prohibiting the use of a trail camera, or images from a trail camera, for the purpose of taking or aiding in the take of wildlife, or locating wildlife for the purpose of taking or aiding in the take of wildlife on public and private lands in the Western US.

• “Take” means pursuing, shooting, hunting, fishing, trapping, killing, capturing, snaring or netting wildlife or placing or using any net or other device or trap in a manner that may result in capturing or killing wildlife.

• “Trail camera” means an unmanned device used to capture images, video, or location data of wildlife.

• Trail cameras used for research, general photography, cattle operations or any other reason other than the take of wildlife would remain legal.

Framing The Issue

The language above mirrors exactly a proposed regulation change currently being considered by the Arizona Game & Fish Department. Mountain Pursuit advocates this regulation change across all states in the Western US.

The use of trail cameras has occurred for years in the Eastern US primarily for whitetail hunting, but has been steadily increasing in the Western US. In the west, trail cameras are currently being set up on water to track elk, on high alpine ridges to track buck mule deer, and bait set ups to track black bears.

Trail Cameras Violate "Fair Chase" Balance between Predator and Prey

Key to the principle of Fair Chase is the pursuit of the prey in a manner which does not give the hunter an unfair advantage. Game animals should have a reasonable chance of avoiding detection and if detected, eluding the hunter.

Any technology which tips this balance in favor of the hunter is unethical.

Trail cameras violate Fair Chase by allowing the hunter to be two places at once. Trail cameras and the images from them deploy technology to tip the scales in the favor of the hunter - a textbook violation of Fair Chase.

Trail Cameras Tarnish Hunters and Hunting in the Eyes of Non-Hunting Public, and therefore Threaten the Future of Hunting

While overall hunting participation is declining in the US, general public support for hunting remains strong. Key to sustaining this support is maintaining the Fair Chase balance where the game has a chance to avoid detection and if detected, eluding the hunter.

Use of trail cameras to take game or aid in the take of game by hunters violates Fair Chase and tarnishes the perception of hunters and hunting with the non-hunting public, and is used by anti-hunters in marketing efforts to end hunting.

Because of the relative few numbers of hunters in the population, approval from non-hunters will be required to keep hunting allowed, especially on public lands. Fair Chase violations turn non-hunters into anti-hunters and thus are a direct threat to the future of hunting in the western US.

Questions You May Have

1) Why both public and private land?

The wildlife are owned by the state, not by the landowner, thus, all hunting regulations extend from public to private land. A landowner, for example, cannot poach an elk even if the animal is on his land. Prohibiting trail cameras is a hunting regulation and needs to be treated the same as other hunting regulations.