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12-10-2009, 05:31 PM

#59

Champlain Islander

Dominant Buck

Join Date: Dec 2004

Location: On an Island in Vermont

Posts: 22,605

Quote:

Originally Posted by browningbolt

3 months on the mountain most of us on this forum actually have to work for a living.

I believe he was working for a living on most of those 3 months. Getting back to the original point of the thread, Muley said a few things that got everyone talking. All he was asking for was a separate mule deer forum which wouldn't cause much of what has gone on. The fact that he made some statements about the whitetail crowd that could be a bit confrontational created the situation that we have now. Hunting deer out west is certainly different than back east, the south or in the mid west. Hunting is hunting and every region has its own idiosyncrasies. Part of what he was talking about is one of the single most important things that affect the whitetail deer hunter. Loss of hunting opportunities due to the quest for big bucks and the large amount of cash that it takes to get one. Many areas of historically open land now are all tied up with large lease operations. Hunting access used to be by relationship and sealed with a handshake. Now it is with a checkbook. Most here are normal people who work hard and enjoy hunting and haven't had to pay fees and leases to enjoy the pursuit. There is not much leasing here in Vermont due to the fact that the area doesn't produce large racked bucks. Right now it is getting harder to find good quality whitetail habitat for free because of the movement towards leases in areas where the racks grow large. Farmers who historically were ok with people hunting their lands are now aware that they can get thousands of dollars through leases. It spreads like a plague and once it starts it doesn't end. The TV shows are just promoting all of the above along with their advertising which are hawking all the gadgets that seem to work on TV. The reality is the hunting public is being ripped off and most of the crap they are advertising doesn’t work and the sales are focused on people who don’t know any better or are looking for shortcuts to get deer. I can understand the image of a hunter going out with a pair of barn boots, a 30-30 and checked wool coat looking for his buck. Crossing from one fence line to another didn’t matter because people at that time and place just accepted that hunters were their neighbors and were only looking to bag a buck. Those were indeed the good old days.

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