Here's a little more context...
The NY State Assembly passed a bill, A2612, to modify the current restriction on preserve hunting. Current law prohibits hunting exotic species in a pen smaller than 10 acres. The full text of the clause looks like:
10 (3) the shooting or spearing of a non-native big game mammal that is
11 confined in a box, pen, cage or similar container {of ten or less
12 contiguous acres} OR IN A FENCED OR OTHER AREA from which there is no
13 means for such mammal to escape;
{}=language deleted; BOLD FACE=language inserted.
The phrase "OTHER AREA" is open ended -- no limit whatsoever. It occurs to me that, when hunting, that if you take an animal, there is always some moment beyond which the animal has no chance to escape. If a successful hunt is at all possible, then the "OTHER AREA" exists -- if only for a moment and in a particular circumstance -- such that the animal cannot escape. Fair chase hunting has to do with exercising skills to move from easy escape to that moment when there is no more chance. A guaranteed hunt removes that exercise of skill. As written, the bill does not capture the distinction between fair chase hunting and "canned hunting."
Maybe another example makes it clear: pheasants are not native to the American continent. They were introduced. Land use changes and changes in agricultural practice has made it necessary for the state to stock pheasants for hunting. Almost none of them survive the season, much less until the next year: there is no means of escape, even though releases typically happen on public lands without fences.
I am curious what your take on this bill is?
Dan
