• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Guess I Stirred The Pot

Help Support Ranchers.net:

Not sure if one who is not Canadian can post here without being 'trashed', as some were on the thread for those NOT from SD.........but......

A few random thoughts on hunting/landowner/"sportsmen" conflicts:

1. didn't the US idea that game belongs to 'the people' originate with the old English rule that it belonged to the local landowner, aka the King, prince, or whomever controlled the particular piece of land?

a. wasn't that 'person', at least in effect, the government? which entity often was much hated by the 'peons' who had little and needed to hunt the game to feed their families?

So......why do we in the USA feel we are better off than that system by ........decreeing that 'the people', actually our government in this case, owning/controlling the game?????

2. Isn't it odd that when we are in a city or even in rural areas and want to go on a picnic or take the kids to a playground, good citizens go to the local park, state, or national park........all 'owned' and cared for with tax dollars.........we NEVER search out a nicer place in the yard of some privately owned home whose owner happens to have made a more beautiful and luxurious 'park' for himself, to make use of his superior facilities for our picnic.

3. Yet some people who want to hunt feel they have the right to demand that they should be allowed to do so on privately owned land simply because the game which all of us collectively legally 'own' somehow looks 'better' for hunting on than does the public hunting areas.

4. Isn't it also a bit mean spirited, at best, that it is looked upon as good business and a wonderful thing for the state economy when hotels, restaurants, bars, and many others make lots of money off hunters.....while the guy who raises the game, at real and significant costs to his ranching/farming business in feed lost and even structures damaged by the game is considered a scoundrel for wanting to make some money by charging fees for access to his land for hunting?????

mrj
 
Big Muddy our guys check both in and out. They are proud of what they harvest and like to show the deer off to us. Word gets out pretty quick if they shoot something besides a doe.
Only had one regular do that one year, his son actually. They came and admitted it. Dad was not happy. Told the son this fall to remember does only and we are opening up bucks to them this fall. He was shamed face about being reminded.

We like to see the young and immature bucks be allowed to grow up, so that is why we tell them they have to be a 4x4 or bigger in the rack and to make sure it is a mature buck.

mrj I have talked to both those who charge an access fee, lease out their hunting rights and those who do not charge.
The biggest complaint from all of them is the fact they pay for damages done by the wildlife and are told tough luck. we then hear from both the public and FWP that the wildlife belongs to the public and we can't keep them from hunting.
There is some really bad feelings growing right now.
Everything from from a big "Post Out" to changing the state constitution is getting pushed right now.
The post out would shut out the hunters from hunting different areas.
Personally I don't think it will work. It may just cause more hard feelings and cause an irrepairable breach between both groups that really need to talk it out.
 
We are have been in the Block Management program almost from its inception. Ours is set up so it is walk in only. That weeds out a lot of the problem hunters. There are always a few who don't follow the rules but the regular hunters who do follow the rules and appreciate the opportunity to have a place to hunt help watch for the slob hunters . The biggest reason we got into it was to get some control on the hunters driving around with out asking, the $10 per hunter per day is a nice little side bonus.
 
BMR the ranch we hunt on in zone 10 only lets us in there because we will shoot some does before we buck hunt. I got permission there in kind of a funny way-I'd walked from one end of a community pasture to the other when the rancher came up on a quad. He said I was on his land not the pastures-no sign at the gate but anyways I apologized and said I'd head back. He asked where my truck was and when I told him he whipped out a pen and wrote me up permission. He couldn't believe I'd walked that far lol. I don't let anybody hunt on ours other than the kids friends until all my kids are tagged out-they are pretty fussy so it takes awhile.
 
Cedarcreek said:
We are have been in the Block Management program almost from its inception. Ours is set up so it is walk in only. That weeds out a lot of the problem hunters. There are always a few who don't follow the rules but the regular hunters who do follow the rules and appreciate the opportunity to have a place to hunt help watch for the slob hunters . The biggest reason we got into it was to get some control on the hunters driving around with out asking, the $10 per hunter per day is a nice little side bonus.
Click to expand...
I like the walk in set up...it weeds out the potentially bad hunters.
 
NR how do you remove the game when you are that far in? Our hunters are walk only but usually they want to take a quad in when they get something. From a hunters point of view how should that be handled? I personally like those 2 wheeled carts with motorbike wheels that are people powered.
 
Ohh there were trails that you were allowed to drive on I just wasn't driving on them. I usually fillet out the back straps, 1/4 them and trim the sausage meat off the neck-makes a pretty big deer into a manageable package. I've never used those cartys but they sure look like they would work well.
 

Latest posts

Top