OT, I agree. And that's why I even hate to post that. I don't blame either side. The farmer should make as much as he can, and the hunters have every right to lock up property if they can. I just see it eventually leaving many hunters without a place to go.


This year I lost about 300 acres that my family has hunted since at least the 1890s... My great grandfather told of finding his first deer tracks there in the 1920s and he ran all the way home to tell his father and take him out to show him. The property was passed to a daughter who lives out of the area... and was then leased by a hunting group that is from nearly 40 miles away... Apparently they lease land all over the central area of the state. Just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I didn't even know it was leased until I saw fresh signs going up and stopped and talked to the guy.


When I started hunting it wasn't uncommon to get together with locals in the area and do drives throughout the rifle season. Everyone got together, used the properties they had, and we always shot allot of deer. Those days are long gone.


Many of these leases require you to sign up for stand locations and dates/times, then stay there until you shoot one. Then you have to call the hunt master to go trail it with you... Just so you don't mess up another members hunt... it's just not "My thing"


Feels like I'm being whiney and complaining, maybe I am... I just see a poor outlook for the future with this going on. And I think that it will continue to spread to most areas where deer hunting is popular.


-Jake