Booner
Well-Known Member
I understand the loss of hunting for free. I've lost hundreds of acres to lease or sell of farm. But to think that just because we help with a few chores or give small gifts in trade does not ever make it a fair trade. I myself leased 1000 acres this year and it was worth every penny. No fouled up hunts by other hunters. Able to control size of deer taken. And no cams or stands stolen. Whether public or private with other hunters on land, you will have headaches. To be upset that landowners have realized the true value of what they're land is worth is crazy. What If a company offered you 10 times your salary to do the same job you do now? Anyone that says they would keep their current employer and less pay is full of it. It's basic supply and demand.
Who are you to say it's not a fair trade? I have two land owners of which both own over 80 acres. I have sole permission to hunt one and the other I'm the only person who gets to even step on the farm (only lets me shed hunt). Now both of these people are 60 + years old, both are still married and have been for over 40yrs. This generation of folks (the dying breed) could give two Sh** less about money and have both actually turned down leases from guys who tried back dooring me for the sole reason of "good ground"
Wanna know how I got permission? I showed up and presented myself in a professional manor. I got permission and never harvested a deer, that following spring I shot a turkey off the farm. I figured with them so graciously giving me permission it was the least I could do was give them something. At the time I was a broke college student and the owners knew this. I walked up to the door with a huge bag of morels. Immediately when the wife opened the door I could see the look of sheer and utter confusion. She asked what I had, and I told her that it was the least I could do and that after shooting a big Tom off their land I picked a bunch of mushrooms, took them home cleaned em up and brought em back. The wife immediately burst into tears and gave me a huge hug ( let me remind you I had just met these kind folks 6 months prior) She explained that her and her husband both love eating morels but with their old age and rugged terrain they have struggled to find em the past couple years and had to resort to buying them. We'll fast forward 6 years, I'm still the only person who has access to their land and they still continue to turn down rich pricks from DM area that think money can money anything.
But I forgot things like that don't matter right Vrod? Doing a great deed like letting a complete stranger on their land knowing anything could happen doesn't happen much anymore. Good deeds are only good deeds if you receive adequate recognition afterwords right? Shooting a Booner only matter if you can take it down to the classic and get your name on the leader board right?
I'm sorry fella but comparing a HOBBY to a CAREER is crazy!
And don't kid yourself, those farmers/landowners who OWN the land know exactly what they have. Those big time guys didn't just fall into owning that property nor did they just one day say hey "maybe some guy will lease this land from me" It was guys with the mentality your explaining that planted that seed in their head. Money is the root of all evil, remember that. I am fortunate enough to know I'd pass the gun over to a handful of buddies and let him shoot that bigger buck. Some of you fellas' I can't say the same about.