On Paying to Hunt.....

[JimP]

I was over over at THR.US (not .Org- I won't subsidize theft, even with my attention!) and put this in comments.  I then wondered what you all though on the subject. 

"How do we keep prices from ratcheting up this high? Make high prices, or game-ranching itself, illegal?

The way to keep hunting in the public eye (and the public heart) is indeed to democratize it: lots of public lands available for hunting, hunting on private lands unless posted, well-enforced regulations aimed at safety and sustaining game numbers, and reasonable cost of guns, ammo, and tags."
 

I agree that you need to keep it close to the people's heart.... BUT ....

You can not, in a free market system, regulate prices or rents of private properties, goods and services. This destroys the free market and moves value from money to other forms of currency: Favors, political patronage, whatever.

You can not tell these "game ranchers" what them may do with their own property..... Fortunately, in my state (Nebraska), game animals belong to the People of Nebraska. You can not fence them in intentionally, nor buy or sell them, or any parts of them. And when these "game ranchers" do something stupid (like trucking in Elk with CWD) that damages the property of the People of Nebraska, they are made to pay for it.

You can not tell a land owner that he can not lease access to his land to "outfitters" who then then charge thousands of dollars to "guide" some idjit to a deer (public property) that nobody else has access to. You can not tell a land owner that he must let the public traipse willy-nilly all over his property.


What we CAN do is not do that ourselves. Do not subsidize that behavior. Don't pay to hunt. Don't pay "outfitters", "game ranchers" or landowners for leases. Need permission to hunt? I promise you there are farmers out there that would JUST LOVE you to come thin out deer and turkey populations. Talk to them. Visit them. Cultivate relationships with them. Become part of the land you hunt, instead of stomping through it behind some hireling.

Would it not be more rewarding to spend a week or a month getting permission to hunt a piece of ground, scouting it, and hunting it yourself, even if all you took was a doe,....... than to spend a week's or a month's pay to be led by the nose to a monster buck?

What say you?

[FarmerRick]

Yup, I agree.  You'll get no argument from me.

[Eagle1]

Works for me. I would like to see a place where land owners could list property to hunt. As owners they would be able limit what and when (following legal seasons) you could hunt on their property.
Then hunters like myself could contact them to get permission and for things like deer be able to scout the area ahead of time.
I use public lands, but as we all know they get over used, it would be great to find something different.
Heck, all I hunt for are doe's anyway. I have always been into chasing the ladies.

[A-FIXER]

^ LOL Eagle LOL and I as well agree with jim

[JimP]

I would like to see a place where land owners could list property to hunt. As owners they would be able limit what and when (following legal seasons) you could hunt on their property.

They kinda have that in the CRP-MAP(?) program, where landowners get paid a little extra an acre for their CRP ground if they allow walk-in hunting.

Some landowner will allow anyone who asks to hunt...... this can also be a problem- on opening morning there were NINE other hunters/hunter's kids watchin over the same field I was! 

[huskergun]

I agree with Jim 100%. I have 4 private places that I hunt in Eastern Nebraska with great deer and turkey hunting along with fishing and really good mushroom hunting. I have built a relationship with each on of these farmers. I try to go out and just visit from time to time along with helping them with things if I can. I send them Christmas cards, give them wild salmon and some of the shroom harvest (if I get enough).
 They all have pretty much given me free use of their land anytime I want. I am blessed to have this. I take care of the land like it is mine own, leaving it better than I found it.
 They love it when I bring my daughter out with me also.

 One tip I use to  start the process is rather than go driving up and down gravel roads stopping at every property knocking on doors find a place  that looks promising (use platt maps and areil photos) and send them a letter. Farmers are busy and some times when you just stop by you are being bothersome and they really don't want to talk to you. So, send them a letter explaining who you are and that you would like to sit down with them at thier convenience if possible to talk about doing some hunting on thier land. Include a self addressed stamp envelope with your letter and wait for thier reply. After a few weeks you may want to follow up with them in another letter if you have not got a response.
 
 By doing the above things you are showing them that you respect them, thier family, thier time and thier land. Most of the time I have found that this will at least get one foot in the door. After that you have to continue to respect the landowner and follow all the rules.
 

[Wildgoose]

Interesting topic. I guess there is a lot to think about here and at this point I am not sure where I would stand. I can give you my story to add to the information on how I came to rent the ground I hunt on. For years I hunted for free and shared the area with others. The land owner knew me well and there were never any problems. He came to me about ten years ago and said that he was tried of getting grief from neighbors about the fact that he let people form Lincoln hunt on his properties. So he decided that he would charge a modist fee to have reserved hunting rights for each area. He offered them to those who felt he was allowing outsiders to hunt first. They turned the offers down so he then made the offers to those of us who were from outside the area that had been using the land and had a proven record of respect for the property and the rights of neighboring landowners. This solved the issues and has for a long time worked well for all involved. I am not making any kind of statement with this, just telling you what took place with me. To the best of my knowledge this is not the norm in the rest of the area that I hunt in and most still do it with just permission to make use of the land. I can say that over the years there have only been a couple of times that tresspassing has happened and in those cases the landowner has been able to take care of it by just calling the warden or sherrif to deal with it and does not have to confront the persons himself. If I am not with them they are tresspassing. Much safer for him as he has had some pretty scary confrontations with tresspassers in the past.