Muley699: I would bet money you don't own any hunting land, work on a ranch or have any real idea what it takes to make one stay profitable today. I hear your point of view, but in many instances lease money is the ONLY thing standing between keeping it a hunting ranch and selling it to developers. THIS AIN'T YOUR GRANDAD'S WORLD. Making a ranch pay for itself today is a tough. So you can be like an ostrich and stick your head in the sand, or figure out ways to make the real world work for you.

I have a ranch that has been in my family for over 100 years in Texas. I could sell it tomorrow and make a fortune to a guy who would turn it into 25-50 acre "ranchetes". That is what would be criminal in my book. We do lease some spots on the ranch to help make it at least pay for itself. We also take relatives, personal friends, and swap friends (from Colorado, Montana, and Alaska). Every year we take at least 2-4 kids that have never killed a deer before.

You want to hunt some private land, YOU network, YOU develop relationships, YOU figure out what you have that a landowner might want to swap for. I don't even live there and I have hunted there twice (took two elk) on some private and public land through relationships I worked for over time.

And if you are really that anti-personal property rights, please send me the address of your house, so that I may set up a tent in your backyard the next time I visit your great state.

If there is anyone typical in this conversation, it is you.