Fair chase

Fair chase is a term used by hunters to describe an ethical hunt. North America's oldest wildlife conservation group, the Boone and Crockett Club, defines “fair chase” as requiring hunted big game animals to be “wild and free-ranging.” Wild refers to an animal that is naturally bred and lives in nature. Free-ranging, as defined by the Club, means an animal is “unrestricted within its biological home range, has adequate protective cover, and reasonable opportunity to elude the hunter.” A game animal’s biological home range is generally understood as the geographic area where an animal roams to find food, water, shelter, and to reproduce. Biological home range will vary from species to species and depend on available habitat. It is a concept of animal behavior and ecology that is very difficult to model or measure accurately.

Fair chase has been the honor code of North American hunters for over a century and the principle underlying many of North American hunting laws, and is taught to new hunters in hunter certification courses.