I've got a question, tradgang doesn't allow canned blunting topics and I generally agree with that stance.
What's the definition of canned hunting? Is it put and take operations? Where the animals are put into an area they can't escape from and then hunted. Is canned hunting simply defined by a high fence to prevent escape of animals? Does an animal have to be bred in the area for it to be not canned hunting? Are exotics considered canned hunting, so would scimitar horned ibex in Texas be canned?
I'm interested to hear folks opinions on this one as I think that canned must have different connotations to different people.
Lots of definitions and opinions on this topic.
Some like Pope & Young Club say if the animal is enclosed behind game-proof fence, no matter the size of the tract, it is a canned, and therefore a non-fair-chase hunt. This would eliminate many intensively managed areas in Texas and almost all of South Africa (of course SA game isn't PY consideration.)
Others would try to define the acreage within such an enclosure and suggesting that a large enough enclosed acreage would negate the fence.
This is the litmus test I use. If you are within an enclosure, no matter the size, and the animal you kill is recovered near the fence, will pictures of the kill be organized to hide (deny) the fence? If so, that says a lot about what the hunter really believes about
his "accomplishment".
Confined and privately owned has always been my definition. I wouldnt knock someone for doing it but those are my criteria.
Canned hunts are one of my personal hot buttons. I won't go into what I think of them, but my own definition of one is any place that has something other than game that is naturally bred and born on the property it is hunted on. If it ever rode in a truck and was released in an enclosed area it is not wild game in my opinion.
High fence is another issue, and I guess if the property is large enough, such as many of them in Texas and Africa, I don't have a problem with it so long as the animals were born and bred there. The trick is in defining what is "large enough".
Calgarychef my definition of a canned hunt is if a animal is pen raised and then let out in to a very small pasture/area and then hunted. Most the time the pen raised animals are not scared of people so they do not run [THIS IS NOT A FAIR CHASE HUNT]. That being said animals such as exotics or whitetails can be raised in a High fence ranch [NOT A PEN] here in Texas and are very spooky animals and hard to kill. 98% of Texas land is private owned and some people try and protect there investment. Texas also has lots of exotics that are free range animals NOT ALL HIGH FENCED RANCHES ARE BAD.
:thumbsup:
X2 what Bowwild said!
If the animal is enclosed in a fence that it can not escape for the purposes of recreational hunting, it is a canned hunt. Doesn't matter if it was born there or not, it's behind a fence and held there for the purpose of recreational hunting.
I also agree with Whip in that if it ever rode in a truck, it's a canned hunt. The only gray area here are pheasants. They are captively reared here in PA and released by the PA State Game Commission. I'll admit that I have hunted them in my yonger years and had a good time doing it.
Behind a fence.......canned. Truck ride, not so fast. PA. And Ky both have re- introduced elk to their state and are both doing very well. no fences but free ranging animals. They didn't just grow there they had to be brought in. I don't consider this a canned hunting opportunity but just good game management. For what it's worth.
QuoteOriginally posted by Whip:
If it ever rode in a truck and was released in an enclosed area it is not wild game in my opinion.
Yep, that is why I added the part about "released in and enclosed area" I do realize that game is often relocated for restocking, relocating problem bears, etc. No problems there.
This seems to be an issue on the all websites I have lurked on....
Canned to me would be minimal acres, guaranteed kill, and of course fenced.
High Fence is a totally different animal IMHO... you can be ethical and high fence...
Canned is a place where you want your child to experience a kill, but is not what I would consider hunting... although it could be fun.
How does baiting fit into the equation? There are places folks pay to hunt over a "trained" to go there species. Guaranteed shot.
Not my bag, but others find it OK
I have never liked the concept of a canned hunt. A penned in animal, no matter how large the pen, is still a penned in animal.
But, if you stalk and/or drive an animal into a naturally confined space (box canyon) that is hunting.
In Texas there have been many a Canned Hunts where the exotic large cats are shot "in the cage". Just plain sad.
Alan
I think for trad gang the whole topic is taboo, so this thread is taboo. people do it here but you not suppost to talk about it at all....
I am going to SA next summer...20,000 acres, high fenced with no internal fencing. Animals are not transported nor are they captured. Bred there, die of old age there. I looked for that type of situation for years and finally one of my trad bowhunting heroes found the perfect bowhunting place in SA. I will feel no remorse for hunting an animal that has more room to roam than the county I live in. I will gladly take pics of where they fall. Is that a canned hunt? Hardly.
High fence is a can, and the only difference is the size of the can....
Z bone, I agree with you totally. I've hunted SA in a situation that wasn't fenced at all and it was great, I'd never hunt something trapped by a fence. But having said that I'd gladly go on a "hog shoot" I'd know it was canned and it wouldn't bother me as long as the area was large enough to make it challenging, in my mind that' sort of thing is just a way of buying a wild boar from a farmer. In Alberta it's illegal to slaughter farm animals on the farm for human consumption but its legal to "hunt" Russian wild boars.
NO canned hunt threads....that means this one is off topic.