Baiting: Don’t Play That Game!

Whenever I get out and take photos of things such as Bald Eagles (like the one above), they are typically positioned in the worse spot; between the sun and myself. This is annoying because the camera has a hard time with the subject being overly back-lit. Luckily, I shoot in RAW so I can bring out some of the detail of the bird and not all hope is lost.

What do I mean in the title by baiting? Baiting is typically the practice of leaving things out that entice critters to come out in the more open in order to get better photos. I personally have not baited an animal in order to take it’s photo and think that it’s cheating. You might as well just go to the zoo!

I have heard of people baiting animals, such as the eagle in the above photo and I have heard of some extreme cases too. The above photo was taken in Qualicum Beach. Robyn and I were on a little walk before we headed back home and I noticed a couple sitting on the beach on chairs. Next to the chairs were two large white buckets, what was in those buckets is unknown but I’m sure it was some sort of fish guts.

A man (with his 300mm f2.8 lens) would walk out with a bucket, drop some guts on to the beach and walk back to sit down in his chair. Moments later, three adult bald eagles would circle in. They would then dive down and snatch whatever was in the pile on the beach. Sure it’s a great way to get photos of these magnificent raptors going after some food, but in the same time if they (the people) keep it up, the eagles might get used to hand outs, right? Yes, thanks to this guy and his bucket-o-fish-guts I was able to capture the eagles in close proximity, but that’s beside my point.

I’m all for capturing animals in their (somewhat) natural habitat. I do have some photos of an eagle snatching a fish from a Great Blue Heron at Spanish Banks, but I wouldn’t ever try and bait an eagle or any other critter in just to get the shot. I have read stories of people who will use LIVE rabbits to bait eagles too. They will break the leg(s) of a rabbit, tie it to a long rope and leave it there where they know bald eagles are present. Since the rabbit will make some sort of suffering noise, the eagles pick up on this and go in for the kill. So much for the survival of the fittest eh?   Perhaps we should adopt a similar rule to Star Trek’s Prime Directive! Yes, that’s right I used an example of Star Trek

Some photographers I think go too far to get the shot. I believe that baiting animals (with dead or alive bait) defeats the challenge in photographing wildlife. Shame to those who do such a thing!

*sigh*