To protect our hunting heritage we need to support all forms of hunting

Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, recently wrote a column (Dispatch, Nov. 19) that urged all Minnesota hunters to oppose hunting in enclosures. Johnson is entitled to his opinion, but his dislike of one legal form of hunting doesn't give it the right to take it away from those who enjoy it.

I don't own deer or elk or have an enclosure that I charge people to hunt in. My opinions are based on 45 years of hunting experience and the belief that any legal form of hunting with any legal weapon should be supported.

I've never wanted to hunt in an enclosure, but it's a common practice that's been around for a long time in many parts of our nation. If a fellow hunter chooses to hunt this way he should have my support, not my condemnation.

First, let's agree on the definition of an enclosure, often referred to as a hunting preserve. A landowner installs a high fence around all or some of his land. It might contain 40 acres or 1,000 acres, but the enclosure serves two purposes: it keeps the animals he bought and raised from running off and it prevents predators - four-legged and two-legged alike - outside. As a source of income the landowner charges hunters to hunt on his land and shoot his animals.

The MDHA's position on enclosures comes down to this: we're not anti-hunting, but we oppose hunting in enclosures because it isn't hunting.

Hunting in enclosures is a nationally recognized legal method used by people with little or no access to public land, people who have little time to hunt, and people with disabilities, to name just a few. If you actively try to stop them from hunting through their chosen method you're an anti-hunter hunter, the worst kind of anti there is.

If hunting in enclosures is banned, what's next? Should hunters in Texas be banned from hunting over feeders? How about hunters who legally use dogs to hunt bear or tree cougars? I think you'll agree this is a very slippery slope the MDHA is sliding down.

The MDHA believes that a rancher who raises deer or elk on his own land doesn't have the right to do with the animals as he pleases. They speak of wild animals and fenced animals as if they are the same. But they're mistaken. Wild animals are just that; they're wild and free to roam anywhere they choose to. They belong to all people of the state they live in. Fenced animals, though highly regulated by state law, are the sole property of the person who buys and raises them.

The MDHA opposes hunting in enclosures due to ethics. But the only person who makes any legal hunting method unethical is an unethical hunter. I guarantee there are more unethical hunters who hunt on public land than among those who hunt in enclosures.

The MDHA opposes hunting in enclosures because, in its opinion, it undermines our hunting heritage. But hunting in enclosures has been around for a long time. I've yet to see it negatively impact hunters' rights or our hunting heritage. Remember the buffalo hunters? They're part of our heritage, too, and their methods didn't destroy our hunting heritage.

What can? Apathy and hunters who take anti-hunting stances.

The MDHA opposes hunting in enclosures because it says it doesn't promote fair chase. Now, finally, we've reached the crux of the matter. I acknowledge that in a small enclosure the odds of success are high. But in a large enclosure a hunt can be as tough as a hunt outside a fence. And, as a bonus, it offers a variety of animals on the same hunt. For some hunters, preserve hunting is a wonderful alternative.

Who shall decree what fair chase is? Look at how our hunting heritage has evolved since the days when our nation was founded. Haven't "tradition" and "fair chase" become arbitrary concepts? As with everything else, time brings change. Hunting isn't immune to this law. Imagine what Daniel Boone would say if he saw the guns, equipment and methods we use to hunt today. I suspect he might have a few opinions to offer about fair chase.

Before the MDHA and its 20,000 members, many of whom know little or nothing about this debate, start setting standards for fair chase, I'd like to ask these questions:

How many of you have shot deer near a well-maintained bait field, which is what a wildlife food plot really is? Is that fair chase? How about hunting from a heated luxury suite on stilts, which is what many deer stands are?

I think 'ol Daniel just rolled over in his grave.

Edward "Ike" Isackson is an outdoor writer, charter member of The American Crossbow Federation and Minnesota Association of Crossbow Hunters, and partner in Horizontal Bowhunter Magazine. He can be reached at 838-5455.