I couldnt agree more with your statement that: It's about having a certian kind of place to hunt (versus just having a place to hunt). I drive 4 hours to get to my lease and I have public land literally 200 yards from my front door. The public land is devoid of almost all deer from the beginning of youth season in mid-September to the end of late antlerless season in January. I can tell you though that Ive heard of some real nice bucks taken there during the firearms season when they get pushed around from one piece of cover to the next. For the most part it turns into 6 second encounters with a deer running frantically through the brush only to run into one person after the next that is all too happy to unload his or her shotgun in the general direction of said deer. The human participants arent much better off than the deer for the most part and have no idea where the other people are. Once a deer does get killed its a toss up who actually made the shot and there is a fair chance its gonna end up in an argument with guns present. Three guys pointing at the extra butt hole in some ill fated deer claiming only they could have shot it at that angle and only their particular guage/gun/slug combo could have caused said hole.
Now as charming as that scenario sounds in my "certian kind of hunting" mentality I would like to spare my kids and wife and self from this less than sportsman like display. And before you think that this is some made up story contrived to make a point trust me it is not I have first hand knowledge of this kind of hunting and this scenario. You see I spent a good many years hunting public ground before "THE CHANGE", when people forgot manners and sportsmanship and stewardship of the land and the resources. Truth is my hunting time was being spoiled by the bad behavior of others and for the first time I wasnt enjoying myself anymore. I stopped hunting public land the day I had 3 bullets rip into the ground not 2 yards in front of my feet in an area that I was intimately familiar with and knew that the shots had to have been taken from a line of sight position. In other words someone could clearly see me in full blaze orange against a snow covered back drop and wanted to send a message... I got it loud and clear. It was only marginally better on private land open to just anyone. People hunting my stands with the mentality that they had gotten there first, stealing my stands, messing up the place with no regard for the owners because they likely wouldnt come back anyhow. Had a sweet gal take issue with me for NOT trespassing on some land they had sole permission to hunt after her husband let me know in no uncertian terms I was not to cross the property boundry with out his permission. He let me know incidentally after crossing the private property I had sole permission to hunt to get to his stand. You might wonder why the sweet gal took issue with me, well you see I had shot a deer that crossed their field and didnt run right after it. Turns out I didnt have to because just before I was confronted they, without firing a single shot, proceeded to drag the deer I had just shot, that they knew I had just shot, out of the field with their tag on it. I was less than thrilled to be taken to task for not wantonly trespassing by someone who had just tagged a deer they clearly knew I killed. I even pointed out this minor ethical/moral/legal mistake and got not so much as an OOPS out of her.
Now we could all say no and wish on a star and blow out candles on our birthdays hoping to wake up 30 or 40 years ago when leasing was all but unheard of but I would say a better idea might be if we all started acting like our momma's would want us too... with manners and morals and common sense. My kind of hunting does not involve putting my family in harms way because some goofball insists on shooting from the truck window at deer running across some open bit of ground simply to fill his tag. Or people that would literally take a deer from someone else with nothing for proof but the fact that they emptied their gun at it (or not) and one of my all time favorites is the good old empty the gun but the deer didnt fall so obviously I didnt hit it so why track it mentality. Until there arent any rude, stupid and morally deficient folks out there posing as hunters stealing my stands, harassing my family or worse putting my loved ones at risk I think Ill just keep my lease.
My leasing absolutey affects hunting, mostly mine and my families hunting in a positive fashion but it also affects others who could have put up the money and paid for access same as me. Ive met a lot of those people who still insisted they had some sort of right and in fact were entitled to hunt there simply because the owner hadnt explicitly thrown them off. Met most of them driving field edges in 4x4 trucks with guns hanging out windows as I politely informed them I was leasing this land and asked them to leave. Charming fellows really and Im sure they feel the same about me.
As for purchasing land to hunt I have a small issue with that, Im too darned poor you see. Leasing affords me the liberty to hunt much more land than I could possibly afford without all the other complications of ownership. Since all I really want to do is hunt the land its just financially much more responsible to use my limited resources to secure hunting rights via a lease contract I hold.
Topic: How have land leases affected hunting? (Read 8603 times)
