Some big game hunters might cheer recent news from the Boone and Crockett Club. Others who hunt deer, elk, moose, etc., might squirm or lambast the new rules for trophy animals to be eligible for the B&C Records of North American Big Game.

B&C recently approved a number of updates to its Big Game Record Eligibility statement that disqualify trophies taken with the aid of growing technology, specifically Smart Riflescopes (commonly known as “smart scopes”), GPS-enabled tech and trail cams that transmit images in real time. Trophy animals taken with any of these technologies are no longer eligible for the record book.

It’s all about the spirit of fair chase. According to the club’s statement: Technological advancement in hunting equipment is a natural progression of our desire to be successful and affective (sic) in ethically harvesting game. At some point, these technologies can displace a hunter’s skills to the point of taking unfair advantage of the game.

The new rules went into effect Dec. 1, 2021. The update states the use of “sights with built-in electronic range-finding capabilities” and “technology that delivers real-time location data (including photos) to target or guide a hunter to any animal” are considered violations of the club’s code of ethical conduct.

Any hunter who wants to enter an animal for consideration in the B&C Records of North American Big Game must sign an affidavit swearing they have not relied on these technologies, just like they testify they have not violated other tenets of fair chase, including chasing game with motorized equipment, drugging animals, hunting inside high fences or violating local game laws.

B&C spent most of last year coming up with its position statement on technology, according to Justin Spring, director of records for B&C.

“The issue originated from our members, who have seen that every year there’s new technology and new products on the market. Instead of chasing our tail on every new product and type of product, we determined that we needed a higher set of sideboards to consider (appropriate) types of technology” rather than determining the ethics of individual products, Spring told Outdoors Life magazine in a story published Jan. 7.

“At the end of the day, our fair-chase entry requirements were never intended to be the end-all list of what is and what is not fair chase. Our intent is to try to show folks that each person will have their own personal fair-chase ethic. Our requirements are the bare minimum. You can’t drop below our standards and be anywhere close to fair chase,” Spring said.

B&C, a nonprofit organization founded in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt, advocates for fair chase hunting in support of habitat conservation. It is the continent’s oldest wildlife and habitat conservation group.

Now the group has drawn the line on technology. Cross it and there’s no chance to get your dream shot into the record books.

Here is the reasoning behind main changes to the rules.

· Knowing the range to a target is a critical piece of information for the ethical harvest of big game. Rangefinders are valuable and accepted, as are riflescopes. Combining the two into one device, a smart scope, is a step too far. When technology becomes a substitute for using basic skills in the field (or a hunter just “buying” skills), this is where technology undermines the hunting experience, i.e., replacing stalking and range estimation.

“Long-range shooting and hunting is nuanced. For some people who practice at long ranges, a 400-yard shot is a guaranteed kill. Others struggle to hit at 100 yards. That’s one of those issues where you need to decide as a hunter what your personal ethical distance is, and where you rely on technology to replace your traditional skills. What we’re saying in our position statement is that when technology makes range and aiming adjustments automatically, as in the case of smart scopes, a line is crossed. We hope it causes hunters to really think about how much of this technology is too much in pursuit of animals,” Spring said.

· Trail cameras are helpful in game management and selective hunting. The use of any technology that delivers real-time local data to target or guide a hunter to any animal in a manner that prompts an instant (real-time) response by the hunter is banned. “Real time” is the key concept. Seeing a photo and harvesting an animal a few hours later, or even the same day, uses this technology to assure a kill. It also takes advantage of the animal, which cannot detect impending danger from a camera. Waiting several days or later in the season to pursue an animal captured on camera is different, therefor not an unethicl use of a trail camera.

The new rules have been distributed to official B&C measurers. Love them or hate them, they must be followed to get a trophy animal in the record books.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.