chucker34

Bawanajim is on to something. We have 3 plus acres behind our house that I've taken two deer on in two seasons and could have taken more. You don't have to buy the ponderosa. It just has to be the right spot in the right situation. Our land is smack in the middle of about 20 acres or woods, adjacent to a huge alfalfa field and across the highway from a 3,000 acre state park where hunting is not allowed.

DoctorDeath

BH you just dont get it do you my friend .... I said in my post I HATE to have to pay to hunt ..I even think its wrong to have to buy a license when its really a God given right to hunt ...but with that being said the facts are the facts and I admited to being as guilty as anyone else ... Im old enough to remember when all you had to do was drive around in the country until you found a farm you wanted to hunt ..go up and ask the farmer and most likely in about 15 min you had permission...I also remember when in Alabama you could buy mountian land for about $200.00 per acre and it wasen't THAT long ago but now its $1000 and up... times have changed and in no small part due to the the BIG HUNTING SHOWS on the tube causing a desire for many to want to hunt and spend whatever it takes to get "the big one"...and for the most part we support them because we watch and buy from their sponsors ...as for making big bucks on my big buck thats a joke ...my deer was a nice one but not a Hanson buck by any means ... look ole buddy Im with you on this but Im also a realist ..you dont make excuses you make adjustments ...ive just made an adjustment.... "POWER TO THE PEOPLE ...RIGHT ON "

dd

LebeauHunter

The extent to which this is a problem is also regional.

The areas I hunt are not very close to big cities and aren't known for record bucks, so we don't get a lot of non-local hunters chasing our land and deer. So if you are blessed to live in deer heaven, then there will be outsiders looking to get a piece of that action.

For me the most satisfaction is gained from managing your own deer, working your own land or lease, and then finding and hunting the biggest deer on your place. It's totally different feeling when you are tied to the land and your kill results in part (hopefully) from all your efforts.

DoctorDeath

LH THATS AN EXCELLENT POST ...I WOULD AGREE 100% ...THE 10pt I TOOK IN TENNESSEE TWO YEARS AGO IS NOWHERE AS LARGE AS THE BUCK I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO TAKE IN ALBERTA IN 04 BUT I CAN TELL YOU IM JUST AS PROUD IF NOT MORE SO IF THE TENNESSEE BUCK BECAUSE IT CAME OFF OF A 200 ACRE FARM I HAVE BEEN HUNTING FOR OVER 5 YEARS ...ITS NOT A MONSTER BUT FOR TENNESSEE ITS A NICE BUCK AND I HAD TO HUNT LONG AND HARD TO HARVEST IT...

dd

bhunter50

dd, i can agree with you on most aspects, but i sure hate it nonetheless. i guess this is why i am trying to make the best with my education so some day my children won't have any worries when we have our own property to hunt. As it stands, as a college student, it isn't anywhere in the realm of reality to purchase property, even with the aid of friends or getting a club together, and with the massive inflation of land prices and no sign of a plateau, I'm not sure what my future is in hunting. I will never quit, something about an addiction or obsession, I wasn't really listening during the lecture from my fiance, jk, but I just fear the inevitable if this downward spiral of available ground continues and takes what was a beautiful hunting traditionon aplummeting course. good luck to everyone in the woods, and I am going to appreciate what land I have today and do the best with it, because complaining about it only means I am not scouting or shooting my bow! Happy Hunting Doc and everyone else!!

IL-Cornfed

The serious problems with Outfitters andseriously over priced leases is an area specific problem and mainly due toantler worship! Here in West-Central Illinois land goes for un-Godly amountsandthere's simply NO WAY the avarage workin' class man is going to be able to afford it. It cracks me up (and saddens me)by the snobby cracks thatsome folksmake ,simply because they do not live in a popular deer area and their land isn't worth nowhere near as much yet. Buy your own ground,... sure, anyone have the $20,000+ it's gonna take for a down payment for a small tract, let alone the monthy payments that will be most of anyone's monthly budget! I realize that the vast majority of folks simply can not afford their own tract. I consider myself fortunate in that I do have a smallproperty as well as several farms of huntin' buddies that I get to spend time on but I see more and more folks every season that are down tothrowing themselves on tiny over crowded public tracts that are very limited in a state that ranks 47th in the nation for public land!

Eeven when I realized that Outfitters and NR hunters were becoming interested in my area I had NO idea that it would go at such an alarming rate! I am amazed at the number of locals that no longer have any place to hunt UNLESS they want to pay an Outfitter $2K to 3Kfor week of hunting on their large leases! It's truly starting to get ugly 'round here. Of course, with the state realizing folks will pay more and more, expect to see NR tags continue to climb in price with no end in sight. I'm almost to the point where if folks wanna pay $500 for a deer tag.... let 'em! On the bad side of that coin though is the fact that many NR hunters come to Illinois looking for that trophy of a lifetime only to shoot the first 2 1/2 year old 110" buck that walks by.... this in turn is having an effect on the Quality Deer Management that many of us take so much pride in. It's a catch 22 in so many aspects with no end in sight.

Best of luck to all of you searching for a place to hunt. Just like hunting, don't give up and follow any leads you hear about. Property is still out there it's just getting a LOT more difficult to find.

IL-Cornfed

I do NOT agree with that statement at all. Hunting is NOT a right,.... it's a priviledge. One that the state(s) can easily take away from folks. To think otherwise would be naive.

DoctorDeath

I suppose I am just "naive" ...read Genesis 1:26...1:28 ..1:30... I suppose the person who wrote that was also "naive" ..and it mentions nothing about needing "license" ..thus why I said its a God given RIGHT !

dd

il coyote

Nicely said Cornfed.

The recent land price boom really snuck up on a lot of guys. 10 years ago you could ask a farmer to hunt, he would say yes, and there might even be other guys with permission to hunt there. Farmers didn't care, they just wanted you to kill crop-stealing deer. Eventualy, in most cases, all the guys would even become friends. Everybody worked with/around each other and stayed happy.

Now there are so many people starting up for the first time, or just becoming plain and simple greedy, and reasonable access to land is becoming difficult. Guys are becoming more and more obsessed to show off a big buck to their buddies, or show it in the newspaper, or post it on the internet somewhere in hopes of becoming a pro staff member and are gradually losing sight of the 'recreational' side of hunting. Now all the guys who prioritized things a little differently for their entire livesand just liked to get out and hunt for a few months of the year, shoot a few deer and eat them,are getting outbid and overran with guys who are more horn crazy than someone reallyought to be.

This has become a very big issue to many people in illinois, outsiders(not meant in a bad way) may have a hard time comprehending the circumstances.

LebeauHunter

cornfed,

I hope that my comments weren't interpreted as a "snobby crack." I was just adding my two cents that in large parts of the country this trophy hunting land craze phenomena is either not occurring, or not occurring to such a large extent.

I do count myself very fortunate to have a place to hunt (which I can't afford but friends and family can), even though I know you will likely never find my name in Pope & Young. The two places I hunt (one family, one friend) are both very good about letting other people hunt and creating opportunities for new young hunters, like on Youth Hunt days.