High-technology gear for the outdoors is better than ever. It is expensive, but so very effective. The real question is this: How much help do sportsmen want before the challenge starts disappearing? Photo courtesy of Forrest Fisher

A friend of mine was casting for muskies on Chautauqua Lake last summer when he had one of those moments that fishermen both love and hate. He was using one of the newer live sonar systems. On the screen, you could actually see a fish moving toward his lure from about 20 feet away. The new Polaroid sunglasses are helpful for that. The shape got closer. And closer.

“Here it comes,” he whispered. Then the fish stopped. It hovered for a moment, turned slightly, and swam away like a diner politely declining the special of the day. That little scene says a lot about where hunting and fishing are today. There has never been a more high-tech time to be outdoors in Western New York.

Hunters now carry laser rangefinders that measure the exact yardage to a whitetail standing deep in the hills near the Allegheny National Forest. Trail cameras don’t just take pictures anymore; they send them directly to your phone. That means a buck can stroll past your stand near Cherry Creek, and you’ll get the photo while sitting at home drinking coffee.

Meanwhile, some anglers chasing walleye on Lake Erie are running boats that look suspiciously like floating computer labs. Modern sonar shows depth, water temperature, bottom structure, boat speed, and GPS mapping. The newest side-scan and forward-facing units even let anglers watch fish react to their lure … in real time. You cast. You see a fish approach. You watch it inspect the bait. And sometimes you watch it swim away unimpressed.

Of course, every hunter and angler also carries another powerful modern tool now — the smartphone. It’s a GPS, weather station, map, camera, and emergency communication command center all in one pocket. Beam me up, Scotty. Years ago if you got turned around in the woods outside Jamestown, you wandered until you found a road or someone’s deer camp.

You might have made a new friend. Today, your phone calmly informs you that you’re exactly 0.81 miles from your truck and probably walking the wrong way.

There’s no question that technology has made the outdoors safer and helped people understand fish and wildlife better. But it also raises an interesting question. Is there a line somewhere?

The idea of “fair chase” has long been part of the outdoor tradition. The basic idea is that animals should have a reasonable chance to escape and that success should depend on

skill, patience, and understanding of nature. In other words, the deer shouldn’t feel like it’s playing chess against a supercomputer. But where exactly is that line?

At one time, someone probably complained that fishing reels were too advanced compared to hand lines. Later, it was compound bows. Then depth finders. Now, the next technology waiting in the wings may be drones. It’s not hard to imagine someone launching a drone over farm fields or marshes to scout for deer or over open water to locate fish. Once that happens, the fair-chase conversation probably gets a lot more serious.

Still, here’s the funny thing. Even with all this amazing gear, the outdoors still manages to humble us. The deer still slip through the woods unseen. The walleye still refuse to bite even when the sonar says they’re right under the boat. And the musky on Chautauqua Lake still follow your lure halfway back to the boat … just to turn away.

Smart fish? Smart deer? Nature, it turns out, still has a pretty good defense system. Which may explain why hunting and fishing remain so appealing. No matter how advanced the equipment becomes, success is never guaranteed. So maybe the real question isn’t whether technology will keep advancing.

It will. The real question is this: How much help do we want before the challenge starts disappearing? Or put another way … If your sonar, trail camera, GPS, weather app, and drone are all working perfectly — and you still don’t catch anything or hang that deer you’ve been chasing — is it finally time to admit the critters might just be smarter than we are? Hmm. We’ve turned our direction toward video games in the woods and on the water. Many say, It’s fun. OK. For now.

Gotta love the outdoors.

CALENDAR

March 10: Children in the Stream, Youth Fly Fishing program, free, Costello Room, Rockefeller Art Center, SUNY Fredonia, 7-8:30 p.m., 12 years old and older, info: 716-410-7003 (Alberto Rey).

March 14: Spring Meat Raffle, Ellington Rod & Gun, 1045 Hagerdon Hill Road, Gerry, members only, Info: 716-287-3987.

March 15: Celoron Rod & Gun Club, St. Patrick’s Day Shoot, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 210 E. Livingston Ave., Celoron; info: Jerry Martin, 814-688-9209

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Submit calendar items to forrestfisher35@yahoo.com at least 10 days in advance.