Xausa:

Thanks for a well thoughtout response, and that is EXACTLY the type of response I was hoping for when I sort-of rhetorically posted the questions. Shackleton, ditto.

My whole point in asking the questions was, as you grasped very well, to prompt discussion of hunting methods and preferences, which of course vary from locale to locale with some methods, e.g. baiting, being legal and/or necessary in one place on one species and unacceptable/illegal with another. Having said that, sometimes the method may be necessary but NOT legal, as in hunting cougar where some states have banned the use of hounds though that is essentially the only effective method to kill them.

We all have our personal tastes, to be sure. For example, my 18-year-old son is adamant about NOT building any Hochsitze on our place here and he doesn't even like the concept of using treestands. He watches the hunting shows and is basically disgusted with "box hunting" for deer, though he grudgingly admits the method might be OK in various places in Europe for pig, for example. He is not too keen on a friend's shooting Red Stag over bait from a box in Lithuania every September, however. To each his own. So far, no Hochsitze on the ranch here!!

I personally believe that the general issue of agreement/disagreement as to methods of hunting and game management will be one of the most important issues for hunters over the next quarter century, at least here in the States, as these issues creep into the general political process. Many States have seen political "initiatives" whereby certain methods are condemned by one group and then an attempt is made to ban them which de facto pits hunter against hunter whether hunters want to enter the fray or not. It is true that we must police our own, and strive for some concept of "fair chase" that will pass political muster and protect our sport, but as Xausa has so well put, what is acceptable or even necessary in one area might be unacceptable in another.