rmyoung1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2010
- Messages
- 2,326
In a hunting magazine I recently saw an add for the new Swarovski dS Smart Riflescope (MSRP $4,500). It boasts a built-in rangefinder. When you sight in the scope and pair it with the mobile app, data can be transmitted to the scope via Bluetooth that will then allow for the user to get a target distance reading, an illuminated aiming point corrected for shot angle, temperature, barometric pressure and imbedded hash marks to adjust for pre-selected wind speeds. Distance accuracy is said to be +/- 1 yard out to 1,500 yards and barometric pressure readings within 1/20th of an inch.
I'm not trying to be overly dramatic or "Chicken Little" about the world and claim that the sky is falling, but I can't help but feel like, as a hunting community, we have a large problem looming. This threat, like many, seems to come from within. I don't start this thread to begin a where-do-we-draw-the-line argument. But I do think this issue is something that the hunting community, if our traditions and passions are going to be tolerated in an increasingly urbanized democracy, needs to begin to address. Already we have state agencies scrambling to codify a fair chase ethic within their hunting regulations. Those regulations seem to get expanded every year as so-called sportsmen head into the field with game cameras capable of remote transmission, drones, "smart" rifles, etc. etc. etc. I find myself longing for a universal "Hunting Constitution" where hunting ethical boundaries are stated and defended.
Back in 1992 at the first Governor's Symposium on North America's Hunting Heritage, Ann Causey said, "to protect the privilege of morally responsible hunting, we must attack and abolish the unacceptable acts, policies, and attitudes within our ranks that threaten all hunting, as a gangrenous limb threatens the entire body."
I think we need to add "excessive technology" to her list of things to attack. I don't claim to know exactly where to draw that line, but with things like the aforementioned rifle scope, it's going to be difficult to proclaim the values of connecting with nature when we head afield with every possible gadget to overcome it.
Thoughts?
I'm not trying to be overly dramatic or "Chicken Little" about the world and claim that the sky is falling, but I can't help but feel like, as a hunting community, we have a large problem looming. This threat, like many, seems to come from within. I don't start this thread to begin a where-do-we-draw-the-line argument. But I do think this issue is something that the hunting community, if our traditions and passions are going to be tolerated in an increasingly urbanized democracy, needs to begin to address. Already we have state agencies scrambling to codify a fair chase ethic within their hunting regulations. Those regulations seem to get expanded every year as so-called sportsmen head into the field with game cameras capable of remote transmission, drones, "smart" rifles, etc. etc. etc. I find myself longing for a universal "Hunting Constitution" where hunting ethical boundaries are stated and defended.
Back in 1992 at the first Governor's Symposium on North America's Hunting Heritage, Ann Causey said, "to protect the privilege of morally responsible hunting, we must attack and abolish the unacceptable acts, policies, and attitudes within our ranks that threaten all hunting, as a gangrenous limb threatens the entire body."
I think we need to add "excessive technology" to her list of things to attack. I don't claim to know exactly where to draw that line, but with things like the aforementioned rifle scope, it's going to be difficult to proclaim the values of connecting with nature when we head afield with every possible gadget to overcome it.
Thoughts?
......
