I , for one, still can't believe there are still this many hunters out there wanting to keep hunting to them selves. I have seen it over and over again for years. Hunters want to lock up as much ground as they can so nobody but them can hunt. What ends up is they can't hunt all of it and it ends up getting out of control. I see it with turkey hunting in Sc. I just think we should be working together to recruit newbies or our sports will die. Just IMO.
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
Kenny, I would like to explain to you where I'm coming from, and why it may be hard for some of you you to comprehend our logic.
Starting with the quote below, I'll elaborate from there.
I Ranch, my cousins, uncles, neighbors, ALL ranch... they want coyotes DEAD not educated, and it may be more of a value to your understanding if you calved 600 head of Angus, raised $1400 calves, or $5500 bulls, paid the land taxes on 10K, 20K, or 30K acres...
It is NOT wanting to keep hunting to "ourselves", what it is about is respect, not only to the animal, but to the person or persons who are caretakers of the land and the animal (if you will)... Try looking at it through my eyes, Planting thousands of trees for windbreaks and shelter belts, putting in thousands of feet of underground water lines for stalk tanks, putting in windmills and tanks, constructing miles upon miles of fence lines, planting thousands of acres of crops, being sure to leave native grass or thick cover for wildlife habitat, putting up thousands of 1600lb round bales, in prep to feed all winter long... all day every day, if it's not one of these things, it's definitely another, and I by no means have covered the basis... NOW, wildlife just as much OR MORE than cattle use what we have provided, we don't bitch, we don't moan, EVERYONE wants to kill a 180" Whitetail, 220" Mule, or 400" elk, and you know as well as I, that without proper management along with proper resources this can not be accomplished... You see Lee and Tiffany take a booner on a yearly basis, with strict emphasis on sponsorships and the kill, what you may catch a minor glimpse of is the WORK, and time it takes to grow and eventually take the trophy... Sure they literally advertise their grunt tube made by Primos, but I guaran damn tee ya, you ain't gonna be using it anywhere near their ranch, unless you got cash or a tie, is that hypocritical of them?
I as a landowner put up with, trespassers, cut fences, gates thrown open, finding poached big game on an annual basis. We've had sections upon sections of state walk in, which the state paid us $1 per acre to let fellers like you come in and hunt all you want... Until one day, I get hunters whom we let "publicly" hunt, complain I was driving on it, can you believe it? I was driving checking tanks, fences, gates, cattle, WILDLIFE, etc. when the cherries start poppin, and a local warden holds me a landowner, for 30 min on our own land, while I'm on the verge of dishin out a choke slam, needless to say after having a state official tell me I can NOT drive on our own land (not even to access our other private ground) while during hunting season, that shit ended real soon, and I probably will NOT put up any more walk in... I know it may suck, and most respect, land, wildlife, and others works, but in some cases it just don't pan out... I've heard it from every angle, the State thinks they own the wildlife, the Tribe thinks they own it, the local Sportsman think they are entitled to it, excuse me??? please review what was said above, does the state feed, water, shelter the animals on OUR land? I don't call the state and bitch about the deer in our circles, or stackyards, IF I DID I WOULD BE A HYPOCRITE for not letting people hunt, better yet, I'd pry let someone who needed meat come in, and carry out.
It may be hard for some to understand, but our neighbors here, are our TEAM, our BROTHERS, our HAND UP if we need it, and I love doing what I do, we take pride in helping our "brothers" with problems, and when they want something dead that is a problem to them, or a threat to their way of life, your damn straight I don't, and "they" don't want people trying who don't KNOW how, or why their even doing it.
I hear more "sportsman" complain about not enough land to hunt, because of landowners, or RICH people buyin it all up, or groups of hunters subleasing it and locking it all to themselves... my suggestion, dump your 401K and invest in something more valuable than gold, get a group of like minded buddies, sublease ground, I know a lot of guys who would take $3 an acre over $1 the state is offering for public...
You have Got to look at it from our POV in order to understand, and I don't usually rant and rant about this, people don't like to see it, and quite frankly I don't like to do it...