by Charlie Booher
Conservation and hunting have been tied in this country for more than a century of recorded modern history, and since time immemorial before then. Neither is an accident. People who hunt have always been intimately familiar with the fluctuating functions of the natural world, ranging from shifts in population dynamics of game to the ways in which certain habitats might be manipulated to achieve our goals.
Hunters recognize that our role in society extends to the conservation of all natural resources. We’ve made ourselves responsible for ensuring the health of habitats and wildlife populations for generations to come. We’re leaders in conservation – not just because we hunt, but because our experiences in the field reveal the ecological realities of our time – and mandate our action far beyond merely ensuring that this year’s harvest doesn’t jeopardize next year’s.
The habitat management, advocacy and land conservation work of RGS & AWS, and organizations like it, are a critical component to demonstrating our community’s collective care for the natural world. Our individual commitments to field ethics – like fair chase – are equally important.
Conservation
President Theodore Roosevelt said that “conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of ensuring the safety and continuance of the nation.” It seems that in the last century, we’ve lost sight of the fact that conservation is bigger than just wildlife.
The unregulated harvests and habitat destruction of the 19th century nearly decimated many wildlife species. Yet, it was hunters who first advocated for science-based wildlife management and sustainable use of resources. By placing limits on harvests, funding conservation efforts and restoring critical habitats, hunters played a pivotal role in reversing the tide of wildlife decline. We still do.
The forest ecosystems that grouse and woodcock inhabit require regular disturbance to thrive. Without active management interventions like timber harvesting and prescribed burns, these habitats age and lose the structural diversity that provides food, cover and nesting opportunities. However, these efforts face increasing challenges. Public misunderstandings about habitat management techniques, urbanization and the growing disconnect from nature make it more difficult to implement proactive conservation measures. Hunters must serve as ambassadors, educating others about the ecological benefits of forest management and advocating for policies that prioritize habitat conservation.
Today, organizations like RGS & AWS continue this legacy by championing habitat management and advocacy. Its work ensures that forest habitats remain viable not just for grouse and woodcock, but also for countless other species that depend on early successional forests.
The wisest among us have always known that prudent use of these natural resources is necessary for our very survival as a species. Examples abound of societies that out-consumed their resources and disappeared.
The reality that underpins our collective need for water, food and shelter first and foremost is something that many of us no longer have to recognize on a daily basis. Less than 2% of the people in this country are primarily employed in agriculture (farming and ranching), fishing or forestry. A few percent more are engaged in oil and gas extraction and mining. In the 1880s, nearly half of the population was employed by these industries.
By and large, our economy has moved away from land-based careers and livelihoods, leaving many of us prone to Aldo Leopold’s “great spiritual dangers” of “supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery and … that heat comes from the furnace.” Everything we do depends on the consumption of natural resources. All decisions have consequences. Acknowledging those consequences shouldn’t leave us ridden with guilt, but we must acknowledge them just the same and adjust our behavior, our spending and our votes accordingly. Unfortunately, we have little motivation to do so when the goods and services that come at the lowest cost also come with the greatest civil and ecological consequences.
Issues of land and the distribution of natural resources – issues that impact us as hunters, not to mention citizens of the world – underpin the rest of the problems and opportunities that our country and our world are grappling with. Issues of technology and food insecurity, and the quality and quantity of water as well as national security are all inherently geopolitical. They are also hyper-local.
It’s not just that kids don’t go outside as much as they used to or that video games and organized sports take up all too much of our society’s precious collective free time, but that we as a people have fundamentally lost touch with the biological, physical and chemical processes that enable our lives to exist on this earth. Food, fuel and fiber all come from somewhere, and require labor to turn raw materials into commodities into manufactured goods. I’m reminded of the Paul Harvey quote that reads, “Man – despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication and his many accomplishments – owes his existence to a 6-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
However, before that topsoil and rain enabled us to produce crops for harvest in neat and orderly rows, those elements produced enough wild plants to feed enough undomesticated animals for humans to hunt. There are many, extraordinarily good reasons for why we as a species no longer subside solely on wild proteins. For one, cows, hogs, lambs and chickens are much easier to raise and eat than having to find bison, javelinas, bighorn sheep or grouse whenever someone is hungry. However, absent the need to hunt, many in our world have forgotten why some of us still do. Reasons abound. Social scientists and philosophers have generated lists of motives and categorized them, but that matters little. What matters is the rest of the world’s perception of what drives us afield and how we behave when we’re there.
For hunters to convince the non-hunting public that the work of active forest management is necessary, and that hunting ought to be able to continue, we first must be the example among our ranks – and that starts in the field when no one is looking.
Fair Chase: The Ethical Compass of Hunting
The history of modern hunting began in the latter half of the 19th century, at a time when the unregulated harvest of wildlife and unmitigated habitat destruction were leading many species on a path toward extinction. Logical, intelligent people proposed an end to hunting altogether. However, hunters were among the first to notice these ecological catastrophes and to propose and promote innovative solutions to these wicked problems. To maintain hunting at that time, hunters had to demonstrate the utmost care for the wildlife they pursued. It was our job then, as it is now, to demonstrate that care in deed and in spirit. When we head into the field, we participate in a human lineage that precedes recorded history. We also serve as ambassadors for this modern practice. The rest of the world didn’t (and still doesn’t) care how much these hunters knew until they knew how much they cared. These were the conditions that spurred the creation of a set of field ethics that has come to be known as “fair chase.”
At its core, fair chase is about respect – for wildlife, the land and the traditions of hunting. It embodies the principles of self-restraint and sportsmanship, ensuring that the pursuit of wildlife remains honorable. As technology advances, we must carefully consider how new tools and practices align with these ethics. The principles of fair chase are particularly relevant for grouse and woodcock hunters as hunting these birds demands skill, patience and an intimate understanding of the forest. Ethical hunters value the chase not just for its outcome, but for the opportunity to engage deeply with the natural world around us.
Public trust hinges on our ability to show that hunting is about more than personal gain. It’s about sustaining wildlife populations, respecting the land and contributing to the broader goals of conservation. Every hunter has a role in upholding these ideals, both afield and in the public eye.
I know few people who pursue grouse or woodcock to fill their freezer – and even fewer who are capable of such a feat. We pursue these birds, of course, because they’re delicious, but also for the love of the hunt, and the dogs and the fine firearms as well as the forests that provide habitat for them all year long.
Academics use the term “social license” to describe society’s willingness to tolerate certain activities. As you might imagine, apple pie and baseball enjoy rather high social license in this country; however, increasingly, our disconnect from the physical realities of growing and harvesting wheat and apples for pies and trees for bats has decreased the social license for those necessary activities. The same has, in some places, become true of hunting.
Fair chase is not only an internal code, but also a key factor in maintaining hunting’s social license — the public’s acceptance of hunting as a legitimate activity. In an era where fewer people hunt and even fewer understand its role in conservation, hunters must demonstrate their commitment to ethical practices and environmental stewardship.
Our ability to continue hunting depends on how we’re viewed far beyond our own circles. Our conservation ethic, be it Leopold’s relative to how we relate to the land or the Boone and Crockett Club’s fair chase ethic relative to how we relate to the wildlife we pursue afield or an entirely separate set of personal and societal ethics, will be central to how we use what we know to improve the world around us.
We don’t want any one person or group policing our community’s behavior – and we all know that there are plenty of folks in this world who can do that for us, plenty of whom are hunters themselves. However, I do want to build a world where my grandkids don’t have to worry about whether or not there are wild animals to pursue or about their ability to pursue them beyond the trials and tribulations that we all face when learning and honing a new skill.
But today, we live in a world where all history – regardless of how minute or raw or harsh – is recorded. Whether we like it or not, our ability to hunt relies on our ongoing commitment to the conservation challenges of our time and our exemplary behavior afield.
Hunters as Leaders
History might not repeat itself, but it sure does seem to rhyme. If that’s true, it sure seems that it’s about time the conservation community elevated itself – or re-elevated itself – to issues of national prominence.
The conservation challenges of today are more complex than ever. Climate change, habitat loss and declining biodiversity threaten wildlife populations across the globe. For species like grouse and woodcock, whose habitats are particularly sensitive to environmental changes, the stakes are especially high.
Hunters, as some of the most engaged users of wild landscapes, are uniquely positioned to lead efforts to address these challenges. Whether through volunteering for habitat restoration projects, advocating for science-based wildlife management or supporting conservation organizations, our actions can make a significant impact.
The future of hunting depends on our ability to balance tradition with responsibility, personal enjoyment with public trust and the pursuit of game with the preservation of wildlife. Forest grouse and woodcock hunters, with their deep connection to dynamic landscapes, are uniquely positioned to lead this charge.
As hunters, our legacy isn’t just in the game we harvest, but in the landscapes we leave behind. By embracing conservation and practicing fair chase, we can ensure that future generations inherit a world rich in wildlife, wild places and the joy of the hunt.
To this end, we all have a responsibility to ourselves and each other, as well as to the hunters who came before us and all those who will come after us, to advance this legacy – for the future of wildlife, wild places and all those of us who pursue them both.
Charlie Booher is a consultant at Watershed Results specializing in natural resource conflict resolution. He has the great privilege of representing some of this country’s oldest, largest and most generous conservation organizations in Helena, Monyana, and in Washington, D.C. Charlie holds undergraduate degrees in fisheries and wildlife conservation and public policy from Michigan State University and graduate degrees in wildlife biology, public administration and natural resource conflict resolution from the University of Montana. Charlie is an associate wildlife biologist and professional member of the Boone and Crockett Club. Outside of the office, you can find him hiking in the mountains of Western Montana and re-learning how to hunt and fish in the Northern Rockies.
