Do trail cameras cross the line of fair chase?

The dawning of more and more sophisticated electronic gadgetry and its ever- increasing use by recreational hunters pushes the question to the forefront: Does the use of trail cameras by hunters represent fair chase?

As of 2024, at least seven U.S. states have implemented bans or restrictions on the use of trail cameras for recreational hunting. These states include: Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Utah, New Hampshire, Kansas and Alaska.

The states have cited a number of reasons for their bans, not the least of which is that these devices fall outside the parameters of fair chase. This question was addressed recently by a number of New England outdoor writers who also hunt. The comments were in a newsletter issued by the New England Outdoor Writers Association.

Here is a sample:

“These are decisions individuals and wildlife agencies must make. For me, it all goes back to the fundamental question: why are you hunting?” — Ellie Horwitz

“For the sportsman, what is ethical versus what is legal can often be blurry. In embracing new technologies, a good personal compass for me is simple: Is this story of using electronic decoys or real-time camera alerts something I would want to tell my coworkers on a loading dock during a work break? If not, I leave it on the shelf at the sporting goods store, and go back to roughing it.” — Matt Dunlap

“If a majority of voters are convinced that hunting or fishing are “unfair,” the results will be predictable. To me, the important thing is looking at the big picture.” — Mike Roche

“Each person must answer these questions individually, and within themselves. But many of us will quickly find ourselves at the ultimate questions: When is enough, enough? Where do we draw the line?” — Joe Judd

Like so many issues involving ethics and social norms, one question begets another. What, indeed, when it comes to recreational hunting, is fair chase?

Hunting ethicist Jim Posewitz says that the “concept addresses the balance that allows hunters to occasionally succeed while animals generally avoid being taken. In the real world, it is a complex topic involving the entire community of hunters, populations of animals and management agencies that define both the terms and conditions of hunting.”

Since Posewitz wrote those words in 1994, the march of technology, whether it is real-time trail cameras or drones, has changed dramatically. And this technological change renders the fair chase question even more relevant.

The common thread in the above comments from outdoor writers is clearly this: each hunter must answer the fair chase question for himself.

That may be true as far as it goes, but the public’s perception of hunters remains a part of the fair chase equation. Make no mistake, many of us who hunt are tempted by the advances of technology.

But the more we rely on devices in the field, the more we take unfair advantage of the animal we hunt and the more we push the edge of the envelope on fair chase.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network.