So let me get this straight.
If hunters or fishermen stay home and don't hunt or fish, wildlife (like all living creatures on this planet) eventually die and then is consumed by scavengers, bacteria, etc. Whatever remains eventually decomposes to basically become soil. That chain of life and death has gone on for millions of years, with or without a human being involved in the demise of the critter.
But all of a sudden, a human kills the animal purposely or accidentally (car collision, etc) and then the guts must be removed from the environment in which the critter would have naturally lived and died if a human wasn't involved? This is insane.
My wife and I just returned from a wilderness canoe trip in the Boundary Waters (BWCA), in MN. Before they will issue your launch permit, you must watch an orientation video. The vid does have some useful, valid info, especially for someone that's inexperienced in wilderness travel.
But the video also talks about Leave No Trace (LNT) camping which in the case of BWCA is a joke. All camping must be done in an established campsite complete with a fire ring and outhouse (basically a hole in the ground with a toilet seat on top). There is no such thing as "dispersed camping". That very fact is exactly counter to LNT. If you restrict people to camp in one spot and I guarantee you that there will indeed be a "trace", to put it mildly.
But the most ridiculous rule in the BWCA is the rule on fish guts. Guts may not be thrown into the water...You know, that same water where many thousands of fish die naturally every day. If I practice catch and release, those fish that I return to the water will eventually die of old age, disease, or predation and it will become part of the biology of the lake which is actually beneficial to the fertility of the water and feeds the food chain.
BUT, if I decide to keep the fish for a camp meal, I must dig a hole 150(?) feet from the water and bury the guts. How is THAT leaving no trace?
It's unadvisable to bury guts near camp, so now I'd have to stomp across "delicate" flora to find a suitable place to dig a hole in what was virgin soil in order to bury guts that were better off if they remained in the lake. Then there is the likelihood of raccoons, bears, or other scavengers will come along and dig up the guts. No Trace?? Hardly!
Does one have to reach a certain level of "stupid" to become the bureaucrat who makes these rules and regs?