RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

What is land being leased for in your area. We have been paying $7 to $10 for years in our area. Maybe you partially answered your problem. Lease a nice tract of land from a neighbor or family member and sell a few day hunts to help offset the cost of the lease. A club I was in did that each year and charged $350 per hunter per day, no lodging or meals included. It helped out a lot and wasn't a big inconvenience.

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: Jeff Ovington

:D:D:D
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO D.D. ole buddy, ol friend, ole pal does this mean your idea for a show is
now KIBOSHED?
Hopefuully ya change your mind and get it going...
I agree with the fact everybodies into killing a big rack bucks but I don't think its because of shows, I personally think its because thses bucks offer huge returns in money, endorcements to the average hunter..
One can basically become a celeb over night...Even antler sheds are going at a high price went to a custom furniture shop outside of town, and a bench seat framed from moose and elk and elk antlers was selling for $2000:D:D
Antler chandiliers not much less.. :D
These things sell and sell fast and he makes a crap load of money doing it......


/quote]

Jeff can you JUST imagine what an EXPLOSION of interest it would cause if ME ..DOCTOR DEATH where to have his own TV show ...nope for the good of the sport Ive decided to stay out of the hunting show business ;).....I agree with you that BIG Bucks can return BIG $$$ but why is that ..think about it ...20 years ago it wasent this way ...its only became this way over the last 15 or so years when all the TV shows started the BIG buck CRAZE ....who in the WORLD 20 years ago would have thought a 24hr a day 7 days a week OutdoorTV channel could servive but The Outdoor Channel is doing just that ...Ray Scott started it all with Bass Masters ...then Jackie Bushman with Buck Masters ... if you want to achive "overnight fame" there has to be a vehicle to get you there and its BIG BUCK TV ...... 20 years ago if you took a nice buck you might become a hero (something I have to live with everyday) locally but that was it ...but now with the inter net ....BIG BUCK TV... those same bucks have become a commodity ...I was told by a local hunter who films for Knight and Hale that for every kill he gets on video of a buck over 130 that its worth $5000.00 ..... that aint chump change and NOW most EVERYONE up here has their own video camera .... just look at all the hunsband and wife teams popping up .... deer hunting as we knew it as kids is sadly LONG AZZ GONE !!

dd

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

Well to be honest I'm leasing up all the good land I can right now. Difference is we take kids up to age 17 hunting and don't charge anything.
I've had guys that wanted to hunt there but I've turned them down. I can't afford someone being there that I don't know about and then take a kid out to hunt.

Not more than 4 years ago I had more land than I could handle for FREE! I had good relationships with landowners (I thought) but then the lease booming era came about and I lost a ton of land almost overnight. Every lease around here is trying to grow big bucks (isn't going to happen much here in my area) but these guys are convinced that if they buy XXXX seed and use XXXX fertilizer and XXXXX implements on their XXXX atv's, they too can grow 300" bucks in 2 or 3 years. And kill a doe? Heaven's no! They attract bucks after all, therefore they are sacred.
I've asked to small game hunt these lands and was turned down because I might spook a buck into the next lease! Geesh.

And lease's around here have went from $4.00/acre average to $17.00+/acre average. What a crock.

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

Yeah, that's a big problem. People don't want to allow small game hunting because they think that an early september squirrel hunt will ruin the Oct. 1 bow hunting. It doesn't bother me. You could do a morning squirrel hunt on my land, then shoot a deer that same evening.

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

Reading over these replies, I can see both sides of the story. Fact is, the majority of hunters in this country are not wealthy (or anywhere close to it), so we are forced to hunt pubic land. So it is a verys pecial treat when we are fortunate enough to scrape together enough cash and meet that right farmer/rancher that will let us hunt his land and get a little peace of mind. It just sucks when those who don't care so much up the stakes and wave big $$$ in their face to give them a change of heart, especially after a deal has already been made.

Again, not to say all outfitters are douchebags...just most (kidding!). But I don't think they are hosting many actual hunters as much as rich kids with guns who just want to bag that next world record animal. That brings it into a whole new realm, hell, they're not even hunters. They don't care about the meat, some don't care about the experience, they complain about amenities when in the field and most of em couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside!

I have to agree that soon hunting will become more of a rich man's game than it already is and when Rabidhunter said "Sooner or later there will be only 2 kinds of hunters the wealthy and the poachers!!!" he wasn't kidding. It's really a testament of who really holds the power here in America. Really sucks though.

Hey, I have an idea...lets all sneak onto the Tecomate Ranch this fall, all at once and go haywire! There's no way they're gonna kick 100,000+ armed hunters off their land, HA!

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

Ahhhhhhh I think Jeff would understand that LOL ...thats what MOST rednecks I know would do :D

dd

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

Just have to share my opinion!

I go to Illinois every year to bowhunt but I never use an outfitter and I always hunt private land. It's usually a farmer who wants to manage his deer population a little and at the same time supplement his income! I do my own scouting, stand set-up, deer processing, and I find my own lodging and food. There is actually a group of us who do this. We are not rich but working class folks with working class incomes, but we do not mind paying for the privilege to hunt the whitetails that we love to hunt. At the same time, we get to help a farmer with his deer harvest and we don't mind taking plenty of does too. And yes we do have buck opportunites too, but the hunting experience is what we are all about. Our experieces are great ones and I for one will do this as long as I can afford to do so. It just plain fun!

I for one would not hunt with a full-service outfitter because their prices are not for me and I don't have as much control over the methods and the stand locations. I want to do the work and reap the rewards.

I hate it for the local hunters who want to hunt and are losing their properties to outfitters, but at the same time I believe that it is an outfitters right to grow his business and be successful. It is also your right as a hunter to 'beat the bushes' and seek out new hunting spots should you lose one. Thats what I do. Also, times are changing and hunters who truly love to hunt willfind a way to get property access, even if they have to pay to secure it. Maybe prices will run folks out of hunting, I don't know. I really don't think that in the long run, the prices that outfitters are getting will be sustainable though.

Bottom line...if you love deer hunting you will hunt and you will find a way to make your hunts successful and affordable and fun, no matter what income level you might be.

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

I dunno, I enjoy living close to cabellas. :eek:

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

I might be up for the Tecomate party once old Jeffy and the good ol boys tell me I cant hunt a deer in the state I live in. I think if you are an outfitter and you lease land in a state so that you can sell "your" wears to the out of staters at insane prices that you should have to pay a higher state tax on your hunts and the land owners that your leasing from or paying tresspass fees or trophey fees or what ever should also if they dont open 50% atleast to the general RESIDENT public. If they dont then the extra tax money goes to state leases or to purchace more public hunting land. Hopefully this is only a fad and it will all go away and we can get back to just huntin!!

RE: When an outfitter is close by, it makes you think differently
 

I just really don't like the idea of being the one to beat the bushes, and harvest a couple decent animals just so the outfitters can look in and say "Okay, well that seems to be a good area, I'll go ahead and snatch that up," reaping my elbow grease, just to push me along like an annoying pest after I've done all the work.

Plus, most outfitters' prices are not reasonable and provide plenty of profit, not to mention having to tip the guides on top of the hunt fee, tags, licenses and trophy fee. It's ridiculous.

If I can hunt a given property for $1k a year and am not making any money on it, I don't think its right for an outfitter to come in, offer $2k/year and make $30k off of it in a year--off of one of his properties.

Business ethics be damned, being punished for not being rich is just not right.