$1500

WHO, Elvis coming back and buying all of the land is not reality.

I own my own land I do not have to pay a lease. Before I bought my own place I hunted State land. I have never paid to lease.

I have 80 acres of timber, a 10 acre lake. Animals? Deer, Turkey, Geese, Rabbit, squirrel, Coyotes; Bass,Bream, Catfish, Crappie. My money is spent on improving my own hunting/fishing area. I' m 69, don' t fly. and am happy where I am at. No license, load my own shells. A little Camo and I am all set.
Eat your heart out fellas.
Russ

Bob, How are you today? I hope you go back and read this post again. IF you you may see that, 1. most answers to my first post did not answer the question at hand. We have land, public land, friends land ect... 2. The elvis thing was a joke but a attempt to get each of you to look at the question and answer it with out those options.
[] You mean Elvis cant come back???[&:] If you havent noticed these little message faces can mean feelings or express a joke.[]
Sure I made the message just as crazy as I could in spots but the REALITY of it is that public and private hunting areas that were free to hunt are decreasing Nation wide. Take off the " I own land" blinders and see what could be happening around you. CWD could close down YOUR land to hunting and they do not need your permission to do so.
Back to the question. Its not a hard thing to answer. Im not trying to cause a problem between Private land owners and public hunting. Just a very simple question.
IF YOU CANNOT hunt of public or private land (including your own) how much would you pay to hunt somewhere??? Would you give up hunting like some here say they would do or would you look at finding a place somewhere in another state? If so, and you had to pay, how much $$$$$ would you give to be able to hunt?
Bob, take a deep breath and blow it out. Do this 4-5 times and relax. Just try and answer the question as ask, OK? If not dont worry about it.



Ok on to other post here.
RBH, I understand your feelings. I hunted in Col. for over 6 years. Loved every minute of it. This land is controled by the USA government and as such it could be closed to hunting any time they decide to do so. There are strong efforts being made now to do just that. Look at whats being changed in some of the national parks such as Yellowstone, Restricting access to only parts of the area to PROTECT and PRESERVE the park. Program fees can be just a bill signing away from this. Many different Groups all trying to remove or protect the areas we hunt.
Is it happening Yes, maby not in your area yet but in others it is.

Pa, Thanks for your post. I understand your position also. I am in the same boat and thats the reason I asked the question. I look at what I would LOVE to do and how it would affect my family. Would it cause a problem if I payed a $1000+ to hunt on a place? You bet it would. How much beef can I get for that? Answer, quiet a lot.

Tex and weinkabk, Good to hear from you. I dont know about your part of the state but here the cost of hunting is going up year to year. Game wardens are telling farmers and ranchers that they should be getting $$$ amount for what they have even though its not worth it. Its getting harder and harder to find a lease and hold on to it.

Hi Russ. Sounds great. How much did you pay for your place and how much would of been too much? In a yearly amount?

Good luck to each of you.
Rick

Wow. This thread has really made me appreciate where I live and hunt. Oregon is roughly 50% public land. My hunting area is only about 20 miles from my house. There are blacktails, elk, rabbit, bear, cougar, bobcat, coyote, grouse, quail, and even the occasional dove. Also a little lake where you can catch some pretty decent trout. I can buy all the tags for what I hunt over the counter, and my rifle deer season lasts about a month. My only costs are license, tags, gas, food, and ammo.
What would I be willing to pay to hunt the same area if I had to? That' s a tough question. I' ll go with $1000. No. That probably wouldn' t be it. As much as I absolutely love hunting, I' m afraid I would probably find a way to come up with whatever amount was necessary. To not be able to hunt...Geez, it' s a horrible thought. I really feel for you guys who don' t have a choice.

I cant put a dollar amount on it. I guess I would pay whatever the cost as long as it doesn' t put a financial strain on my family (wife and kids). In other words , I wont sell the jungle jim and the family dog just to go hunting.

Hntngirl,
That sounds great. I hope everyone that has areas like you do takes care of them. I dont mean to paint such a bleak photo of west texas but where there is no water its bad. Our problem is that there is good water but its so deep that it cost $$$$$$$$ to pump it. The rancher will not do it and does not have any windmills. So we depend and wait for rain. We have waited for a while! Rains come and we get just a little shower but thats it. OR we get a flood. Both do little good.
The 2001 season I had to drive 3 hrs out and back to hunt. This caused some problems. The cost jumped from 500/person to 675/person and cut out the lake. We would be responcible for the whole lease but would have fishermen coming in during the season and that was not good.
I found this lease last year but it turns out to just be a mule deer lease. Nothing else. Price 650/person x 5 people. One hr from home. This is better time and allows me more time to hunt, but mule deer season is one month[:@] and no does. I would love to find another lease that offered more and was within 1-2 hrs from home. Untill then I guess I make due with what I have.
Take care,
Rick

Jeanette: I think I am in love! Send me a picture and your phone number! A picture of your rifle and the country you hunt that is! LOLOL

Just kidding, I am happy with the woman I got. She doesn' t hunt, but she doesn' t mind that I do.

And with that, you are a lucky man!

I think what I was trying to get accross is it isn' t about money to me. I' m actually very passionate about hunting, but in a different way than you. And thats not a bad thing either.

To me hunting is the entire experience, its being in Gods country knowing its my land as much as the guys' whos hunting over the next ridge. Knowing I can come back whenever I want and know I don' t have to pay a dime. Taking an animal is only a bonus to the whole experience. To me paying to hunt land is like paying to breath, its just not the same for me.

The only reason I agree with paying for a hunting liscense is because it needs to be controlled or people would hunt animals to thier extintion. However we or the government doesn' t " own" the animals. I know they say they do but those animals are Gods creatures and the total experience is hunting them in Gods country.

Sure the government " owns" the land and WHO is right it very well could be closed down some day. When that happens I' ll plan all my trips to Alaska where the land still belongs to me. I hope I never see that day, if all the land became private and you had to pay to visit it all that would be a very sad day in the history of the US. But until then they still call it " public land" which means it belongs to all of us until further notice. And I' ll do all I can to keep it that way.

I know you posed a simple question for the sake of discussion but I am just against the whole idea so I can' t answer it with a $ amount.