ORIGINAL: karabiner
Although I agree that it is getting very hard to find a place to hunt reasonably, and the economics of deer hunting land in Illinois is beyond my middle class income; there is one positive aspect to the outfitter trend. An outfitter will/ should at least help preserve the habitat and herd, in order to sustain his income potential as well as the land owner's. With population growth, home building expansion, increased revenue potential from crops (ie corn/ethanol) vs. CRP or timber; those landowners are ever more hard pressed leaving those woods and fields aside for hunting. Unfortunately, I don't see how this trend can be altered for the better. It just now comes down to, "If you want to play, then you'll have to pay".
I disagree. What good doesthat do (outfitters) to manage the land they own or lease for Illinois hunters when almostall of their clients are non-residents? Doesn't do a thing to help us.
What Lanse couche couche says is spot on! Many of the leasors are taking bucks only. In fact one of the landowners I hunt on wastelling me a couple farmer friends leased some land for a couple years only to find out theguys from Georgia leasing it only took a couple of bucks and since they hunted it for only two weeks thecrop damage costs were far exceeding the money they made by leasing it out. Good news for hunters like me, because a few landowners are starting to see that leasing is not all its cracked up to be.