I think I'm done…

JAVI · 01-10-2010, 04:43 PM

Hunting that is…
I haven’t really been on a serious hunt since ’05 and before that it was probably five years between anything but a casual weekend at a friend’s place which amounted to more of a cookout and respite from work than a hunt.
I don’t really know when it happened because it was one of those gradual things, but all my hunting places evaporated. The old friends that owned the farms and ranches; most of whom I’d known since about the time I got weaned died one by one and the kids split the places up and sold them off or discovered that it was easier to lease the hunting to a big corporation or outfitter than keep the place going.
I’ve tried to find a lease, but the ones I find with openings (that I can afford) want additional money and time for planting food plots, building and maintaining protein feeders, and buying corn. Then they want to restrict the kill to only certain animals with big antlers or to old culls past their prime.
All I’m interested in is a place where I and my son-in-law and maybe a couple of friends can go on the weekend and kill a deer and hogs for the freezer. I don’t care about antlers, but I would like to be able to spend the time with friends and take home some meat...
Heck, I can’t even find a place to go dove, squirrel or rabbit hunting without someone holding out their hand for a week’s pay.
Those places don’t exist in Texas anymore it seems, so instead of waste my time worrying about what I can’t change….. I quit… at least I’ll save the money the license cost me each year just to take up space in my wallet…

Daniel Boone · 01-10-2010, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAVI

Hunting that is…
I haven’t really been on a serious hunt since ’05 and before that it was probably five years between anything but a casual weekend at a friend’s place which amounted to more of a cookout and respite from work than a hunt.
I don’t really know when it happened because it was one of those gradual things, but all my hunting places evaporated. The old friends that owned the farms and ranches; most of whom I’d known since about the time I got weaned died one by one and the kids split the places up and sold them off or discovered that it was easier to lease the hunting to a big corporation or outfitter than keep the place going.
I’ve tried to find a lease, but the ones I find with openings (that I can afford) want additional money and time for planting food plots, building and maintaining protein feeders, and buying corn. Then they want to restrict the kill to only certain animals with big antlers or to old culls past their prime.
All I’m interested in is a place where I and my son-in-law and maybe a couple of friends can go on the weekend and kill a deer and hogs for the freezer. I don’t care about antlers, but I would like to be able to spend the time with friends and take home some meat...
Heck, I can’t even find a place to go dove, squirrel or rabbit hunting without someone holding out their hand for a week’s pay.
Those places don’t exist in Texas anymore it seems, so instead of waste my time worrying about what I can’t change….. I quit… at least I’ll save the money the license cost me each year just to take up space in my wallet…

It is exspenizive and leases are not easy to find affordable. It does surprise me with all the land the size of Texas. Leases are that high ever where. Your always welcome to come hunt with me sometime. Got lots of does and they eat fine. Deer chili for lunch.

Seems tody there nothing you do thats cheap.
DB

whitetail101 · 01-10-2010, 04:57 PM

Your always welcome here in PA as well, only thing I require is that once you tag one, you have to become the "dog" for the rest of us

Looney Bin · 01-10-2010, 05:16 PM

Mike,

If your ever in northen Maryland or South Eastern PA. All you have to do is buy a license, come down and I'll put you in a stand. Open Invitation..

JAVI · 01-10-2010, 06:04 PM

Thanks for the encouragement and offers guys; I’m just bummed out that I can’t even find a place to take my granddaughter squirrel or rabbit hunting without being asked to spend $500 for the weekend for two hunters. All I really wanted to do was take her out for a morning of hunting like I grew up doing but today that isn’t possible in Texas…
And dove hunting is even worse, not 20 years ago I could go anytime I wanted on any one of 50 or 75 farms within a 30 mile radius of Waco, and now the few places that even allow hunting want a minimum of $250 per hunter per day with a 2 day minimum and then you end up knee deep with neophytes some of whom may never have held a weapon before today. Or a bunch of drunks who have no clue or care that someone else is hunting the same field.

gamoboy · 01-10-2010, 06:36 PM

i know its expensive but you could always just cross the oklahoma border and hunt squirrels and such. non resident deer tag is pretty expensive unless you can get on a lease with a d-map program

Devine Shot · 01-10-2010, 07:22 PM

Hey there is always public land and it is not always the way it is advertised. Find the right areas in east texas and shoot all your tags will allow. I grew up hunting publin in east texas with my family and friends and find myself missing it. I still hunt public in OK as of now but just do not go camp and hunt with several guys like I use to. At the camp sites I have met some life long friends and the satisfaction of getting a deer or squirrel on public is top honors in my book. Type II in texas use to be 35 dollars sure it has gone up a bit,dang govt n taxes..... but still a good option.

Jason Moore · 01-10-2010, 08:09 PM

Javi I know where your coming from. I had quit hunting. for the past 3 years until this year. I am now in the process of leasing some land with a few friends not much but enough to get some meat, and try to grow some antlers as well. If you have a few friends with a like mind maybe you to can find enough land to hunt on the way you want.
Get on the internet google some of your local timber companys and see what kind of land they got up for lease. Often you can find from 40 to a few hunderd to even more acres to lease.
Try that before you call it quits.

hstubblefield · 01-10-2010, 08:14 PM

You cant come hunt with us JAVI

JAVI · 01-10-2010, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devine Shot

Hey there is always public land and it is not always the way it is advertised. Find the right areas in east texas and shoot all your tags will allow. I grew up hunting publin in east texas with my family and friends and find myself missing it. I still hunt public in OK as of now but just do not go camp and hunt with several guys like I use to. At the camp sites I have met some life long friends and the satisfaction of getting a deer or squirrel on public is top honors in my book. Type II in texas use to be 35 dollars sure it has gone up a bit,dang govt n taxes..... but still a good option.

Back 35 years are so I hunted a lot in East Texas on paper mill land and while you didn’t see a lot of deer you also didn’t see a lot of folks, now you see a lot of folks and no deer. Them Dallas and Houston folks have found the piney woods… lol
I’ve tried some of the public type II land around here a couple of years ago with less than spectacular results..

CutTheLoop · 01-10-2010, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAVI

Back 35 years are so I hunted a lot in East Texas on paper mill land and while you didn’t see a lot of deer you also didn’t see a lot of folks, now you see a lot of folks and no deer. Them Dallas and Houston folks have found the piney woods… lol
I’ve tried some of the public type II land around here a couple of years ago with less than spectacular results..

And the Cedar breaks, the Hill Country, Mesquite thickets, Oak groves.... you name it.

Frankly...they are becoming the reason for the "disappearance" of hunting as we knew it. IMO

They've either snatched up everything, pricing the rest of em out or they have pissed in the well so the land owners are now squeamish about letting anyone back on their place.

Bowguy · 01-11-2010, 12:49 PM

Not that it's any consulation but what you describe is being repeated in many parts of the country. The only protection is owning your own property. I learned the hard way by game-managing two different ranches, first one for 8 years the 2nd for six only to be booted off once the buck-doe ratio was where we wanted and the quality of bucks was second to none.

It's not easy but if you're fortunate enough to have friends willing and able to purchase land, having a place to hunt will never be a problem again.

Your only guarantee.

Slippy · 01-11-2010, 02:47 PM

Javi, hunting will miss you, its lost a true pioneer in the sport.

Breck · 01-11-2010, 09:49 PM

I have been hunting Uncles land the past few years. It is a 6 hour drive for me. From Louisiana to Arkansas. I noticed this year I only seen a couple of spikes and only a few small does. I was hunting hard putting a lot of time in. This past 2 years were very slow for me. I have come to realize this year I will not be going back wasting my time. My cousins husband was messing me up I found beer cans around 1 of my stands. He invited one of his friends to hunt and put him in a stand 50 yards from me knowing I was there. I flashed my light at him several times. I confronted him later he told me he did not see anything. Yea Right!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well his buddy was parking a whole 50 yards from where he was hunting. Putting a lot of effort in for nothing. If I go this year but I will go Unanounced. There is no doubt in my mind he was screwing me up. He made a comment to me last year about the seed I put out for the food plot. Like I did not do a good job and he was gonna redoo it.
He was inviting friends to hunt on the land without my uncles permission. This is not good. I have kept my mouth shut. He makes one more comment I will let my uncle know what is going on. I could care less if I hunt there again.

scottnorthwest · 01-12-2010, 01:17 AM

Reading this thread makes me really grateful for all the public land we have out west. Elk and deer tag nonresident is about 700 buck, come out, I will point you in the right direction.

Rattlinman · 01-14-2010, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottnorthwest

Reading this thread makes me really grateful for all the public land we have out west. Elk and deer tag nonresident is about 700 buck, come out, I will point you in the right direction.

I'm with ya on the public land gratuity, we are blessed in MO to have thousands of acres of public land to hunt turkeys and deer on...maybe not he biggest deer live there, but at least you can get away from it all.

Javi, I feel for ya, we are in the same boat here as far as quail...almost can't find any in southern MO anymore...I miss it for sure.

Are you the same "Javi" from my old Pearson staff days ?

red44 · 01-14-2010, 10:20 AM

Being a suburb hunter I'm almost never out of sight of a rooftop. I always figured you guys out west had miles and miles of land to hunt, not so I guess.

JAVI · 01-14-2010, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rattlinman

I'm with ya on the public land gratuity, we are blessed in MO to have thousands of acres of public land to hunt turkeys and deer on...maybe not he biggest deer live there, but at least you can get away from it all.

Javi, I feel for ya, we are in the same boat here as far as quail...almost can't find any in southern MO anymore...I miss it for sure.

Are you the same "Javi" from my old Pearson staff days ?

Yep..

Bigdog1 · 09-28-2010, 09:39 PM

Hunting has become a business whereas it used to be a sport. Sure, the manufacturers always treated it as a business, but now the landowners treat it as a business and the "hunters" treat it as a business.
If you want to hunt, get a van and put your logo on the side, get an expensive video camera and promise a couple of young kids a few days of hunting in exchange for operating the equipment. Then go to some of these "outfitters" who are leasing the land from the farmers and give them the "you'll see it on TV and you will be overrun with customers" pitch. You get to hunt for free, the "outfitter" makes money (maybe), the farmer makes money and the dumb city dudes pay for it all! Then the city dudes stress out for the whole week because they have to kill something big to get their money's worth!
Okay now for the REAL question: Can anyone name a real Sport that still exists or is everything a business now? Think hard, I know someone will come up with one!

jim p · 10-01-2010, 07:38 PM

Horseshoes.

I quit hunting for many years because of all the hassles. I can now walk out the door and hunt. Hunting is quickly becoming a rich mans sport. The game laws are a big hassle. The bugs the snakes and not seeing anything is not a lot of fun. At some point the fun is all gone. I can't see how any kid would want to hunt now. Kids even have to take a silly hunter safety course. I guess the safety course is needed because the parents are having to work two jobs and can't go hunting with the kids and teach them about safety. I like to go the different safety courses just to see if I can learn something. Well I went to sit in on a hunter safety course. After 2 hours, I couldn't take it anymore and I had to leave at the break.

When I was a kid and squirrel season was in, I ran from the school bus to the house and grabbed my 22 rifle and I would be back when it was so dark that I could no longer see how to shoot.

I don't see any chance of hunting going back to the ways of the past. It is just going to get worse and cost more money.

Now if you lived in Alaska, there might be some property that is still good for hunting.

Bigdog1 · 10-04-2010, 12:01 AM

Look at the sponsored links at the bottom of this page! Ironic, isn't it Javi! LOL!

thehairlessone! · 10-04-2010, 10:24 AM

i know exactly what you mean javi. I am the same way. The last few years I just cant get excited about it like I used to. Think I just got burned out. Occasionally I think about going but not enough to really keep me interested.

I have alot more hobbies now, etc. and I just dont seem to have the time or desire like I used to.

I think I may get back into it eventually but I am not going to until I am ready and excited.

Do what makes you happy! Right now for me that is riding my motorcycle.

rick