NZGAC Hunter Education. Enabling better education and safer hunting practices.
NZ Hunter Education Course:
Module 13 : ETHICS
“Ethical behaviour is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal.” Aldo Leopold
"A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than by a mob of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact."
Aldo Leopold
Hunter ethics are the values a hunter lives by when hunting and when relating as a hunter. Ethical NZ hunters respect and act responsibly toward the game they hunt. They also refrain from shooting hinds or does that are due to have their young or have hinds at foot.
Dictionary definition:
‘Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity’
Ethical hunters care deeply about the game they hunt, taking care not to unnecessarily wound or inflict pain on an animal.
They choose to refrain from taking shots that are unwise, they only shoot what they need and they use the game they shoot where practical.
They also respect the value of trophy hunting and refrain from shooting young stags that have potential trophy value.
THE GAME THEY HUNT
Ethical hunters have a real love for the environment they hunt in - the bush, the birds and the landscape.
They choose not to leave rubbish behind, they leave an area as they found it and they have a commitment to conservation that expresses a desire to preserve what they have enjoyed for the future.
THE LAND THEY HUNT ON
Ethical hunters recognize that their behavior reflects on other hunters.
They respect the law and the rights of landowners.
They may not agree with someone else’s opinions, but they respect the right of that person to hold a different view and they treat the person with respect.
Examples of unacceptable and bad behavior:
-
Shooting at deer or animal when the hunter is not certain of a correctly placed shot (no ethical hunter intends to wound game).
-
Shooting promising young stags because the hunter thinks if he doesn’t shoot it someone else will.
-
Abusing other hunters.
-
Abusing trampers.
-
Abusing DoC staff because you don’t agree with some of DoC’s policies.
-
Hunting and shooting deer in areas you are not legally entitled to be in.
-
Abusing alcohol and especially in the company of other non-hunters.
-
Not closing gates.
-
Leaving the remains of animals near huts.
-
Shooting up signs (see image)
-
Leaving huts in a dirty condition and with no firewood.
-
Leaving rubbish at camp sites or in huts (see image)
THE PEOPLE THEY RELATE TO