No, I’m not saying you’re wrong. Your “opinion” is probably the most common as well. Nor do I disagree with your choice of words. I think it’s a vague concept but I don’t offer an alternative because I don’t know of a truly god one; hence our discussions being lengthier to describe it (which might also prove inadequate sadly) I suppose one aspect (although not the be all and end all) is that sportsmanship only encompasses the ethics. Hunting traditions certainly all have their ethics but they also have the drive to hunt. An inner compulsion (instinct in part: societal expectations also) As a kid growing up hunting deer meant a small group (8 to 12 hunters) We would select one hunter to be the “driver” who would take 2 to4 dogs and drive from one end of a hollow (the space between the hills) to the other. The dogs would rouse the deer from their beds (our deer are nocturnal) and chase it as it ran down the hollow towards the other hunters (the “standers”) The point and joy of that type hunt was always the comaraderie, the pride in good dogs (remember further upthread I mentioned one of the reasons I’d have trouble eating dog was because I personally view it as a partner) This concept and tradition is much, much different to what was normally practiced in other regions. However those other regions developed their own traditions just as deeply rooted and so were most of y’all’s hunting traditions as far as I can tell.
As for hunters and hunting ethics in the US it’s not a homongenous thing. Hunters and hunting here in the Deep South is far different from hunting in the Mountain West and in turn hunting in both differs greatly from the Great Plains, etc. Every region developed its traditions according to climate, game, topography and species. Likewise the differences between them and the UK. That said, I suspect most Americans would come closer to the ideas you described (we’ve been urbanized for quite some time and it’s only getting worse)
I apologize for this post being so disjointed.
My post was aimed at Broch, sorry.
Use of "incorrect" and "misguided" was purely aimed at his assertion that I was wrong to use the term sportsmanship in the context of hunting.