In my opinion... It really screws the small guy! Why should someone be able to hunt a piece of property because of there wallet? I know that my stewardship for land and animals is way beyond some rich guy that hunts a couple days a year on a "guarenteed" quality hunting area.. It's crap.

When I got stationed in West Michigan I was so excited. I have never had the opportunity to hunt whitetails, but I knew that I would have a better chance of killing a mature buck on private property. I stopped at 40 plus farms in my immediate area looking for a piece of property to bow hunt on. All by one person said no way. And she even called back and cancelled. A few guys said they would let me hunt If I paid them $1000 a year. That's bull crap. I never bothered the property owners with small tracts of land. I talked with people who had 100 or more acres. I met with a local farmer and his family, they have a 4000 acre farm. The guy I met was willing to give me a shot, I went over for a great dinner and met all of them. There are only THREE (3) people who hunt this property, and they all gun hunt.I want to bow hunt exclusively. It was a young man about my age, his dad and grandpa. Grandpa shut me down because he didn't want me to kill his big bucks. I assured him I would only harvest 1 buck per year and as many does as he would like me to take. 4000 acres, with 3 hunters, I was floored. I told him that there are bucks on his property that he would never even see. He didn't care. So i thanked them for dinner and left. I was so down that I called my grandfather back in Idaho.. I said to him, Grandpa, don't let anyone from Michigan hunt on our land. Infact why not make them pay! He just laughed and said. " come on, who does that"

To me Leasing is hurting our sport. Instead of wanting to let everyone share the outdoors, the landowners are more concerned with making a buck. it is a shame..