Pay to hunt

[GREY OWL]

I've been hunting deer for about 32 years now. What I've noticed in that time, is more and more and more land is being posted for No Hunting No Trespassing. I've seen this trend increasing more and more. Fortunately for me land is still very cheap here, this is why my wife and I jumped at the chance to purchase land. We are by far, not rich, just visionary on things to come. Canada almost always lags behind the U.S.A. on just about everything. I look at what's happening in the States, then act accordingly. Paying for hunting unfortunately will be seeping into our hunting heritage, like it or not, especially in the farmland area of our provinces.

One more note.......... Patmax I like your thoughts and thread on paying landowners for keeping the habitat intacted. I could not agree more with you, that's probably the biggest reason we've boughten land. As long as I own the land, that habitat will ALWAYS be there for generations to come. In fact we've increased our deer herds two fold, by planting grasses, fords and trees. This all gets very expensive. People hunt our land, I expect to get some recognition and compensation, no free rides.

Grey Owl

[grimsby7]

Hi , let me tell you a story of my old hunt camp located north of Owen Sound . a so called friend bought 100 acres of bush land a number of years ago for hunting. He got together 6 guys to start this hunting camp .He never charged us anything to go hunting in the begininng. We as a group went up cut wood for the stove just about every year. we built the hunting camp for us which took several weekends and bought gas stoves ect.The owner knew he had a good thing here so he decided to build a house 40 x 60 on another piece of land not far from the hunt area. he asked us all to help since he was not charging us to hunt . We all spend several 12 hour per day more weekends buliding the house . We all never got paid for any of it .Every year after we were asked to come up early before opening of deer hunting to work on the house which we did installing drywall, electrical wires , insulating , heating ducts, and sauna ect.We thought it was a good deal because we never payed to hunt . We all chipped in for food for the hunt every year. I would go up early and clean the camp which meant a 4 hour drive there and back.Not bad deal for the land owner since his taxes was $300 per year now it is up to $600 per year.The hunting was never good we only might of taken 8 deer in 20 years between 6 of us. It was a chance to hunt is what we wanted.We would all come up for a week to spend hunting. The fun would begin the last 2 days of the hunt. The landowner would get very drunk and bitch and complain about eveything and and everyone. He Pushed 9 guys out of the camp over the years with the guys not wanting to return to his camp.The landowner decided now he got his house compleated it was time to charge everyone to hunt at his camp.We asked him if we payed his taxes for the year could we come up any time to use the camp pehaps in spring to fish , the fall to hunt rabbit or Grouse. He said no just to hunt deer.Near the last few years I went up the land owner started to jack deer , hunting past the half hour after sunset at which I wanted no part of . To make a long story short I left and the rest of the 5 guys also left including his own son .That is when I bought a Excalibur and loved it.

[The Butcher]

I personally, hate to see a dollar figure put on a hunting spot. There used to be a day, not so long ago, where a guys actions spoke for him. If he was willing to help a farmer or land owner put up hay, fix fences, stopped by to clean stalls or feed animals while the farmer took his only 2 day vacation (he figured the part time farmer could not screw up in 2 days) of the year, in return, you got a place to hunt, made a good friend, and did a lot for land owner- hunter relations. Now, you end up with a bunch of folks, who may have a better job, or are willing to pay big bucks to keep the common folks out of the woods. I do not like it. I understand it, and if I lived in an area where that was the only way I could hunt, I may do the same. Or I may move. I guess I'm lucky, because the places I hunt, the guys still appreciate a little work, stopping by in the off season, maybe drop off a case of grease or some canned venison and him finding out how trustworthy I am goes farther than a dollar. They don't worry when I'm there. Believe it or not, word of mouth from one farmer to another, leads to more land to hunt. Little things like using gates instead of climbing over the stretched wire fences, picking up trash someone else has left behind. Sharing in the harvest. I'll keep going the route I'm going, before I offer $$$. It's worked so far. Just my thoughts. Butcher

[mdcrossbow]

Most of us pay to hunt one way or another. Either by leases of helping the land owner out in some way. If we want to continue to have the privledge to hunt we as responable hunters need to do our part to help with the land cost in some way. It is only courtious for us to do so and to teach the younger hunters the value of this privledge. With that in mind , this is how I have obtained the many places I have. Except for the doc's in Potomac who pays me.

[brayhaven]

Looks like every recreational activitiy in the U.S. can only be enjoyed by the rich folks who can afford to fork out the $$$. I hope this doesn't happen in Canada. Some of the crown land such as Hullet and other Provincial Parks charge hunters fees, in addition to all the license and tag fees we already pay to the government. If hunters starts forking out $$$ to lease properties, we are making the well off people more rich, while taking the true meaning of hunting away from the sport.

The "true meaning of hunting"... Er uh, say what eh??? ) I assume you're Canadian, though you're posting anonymously. Usually done when one doesn't really want to be identified with his/her statements ). You obviously don't know anything about hunting, or much of anything else recreational in the US. Do you think it's the hunters who demand to pay for hunting priveledges? Nope, it's the landowners.
As for "only being enjoyed by the rich" that's ridiculous. There are plenty of management areas where we can hunt, even here in FL where land is very dear. In fact we have many millions of acres of public hunting land. I have a 266,000 acre public hunting area within 6 miles of my home and a dozen smaller ones within 30 minutes. There are @ 150 public management areas in FL open to hunting. I harvest deer, hogs, turkeys & small game every year on these areas. The state added 7 new management areas this year alone. You can hunt about all of them, all you want,for a 25$ mgmt area stamp. Hunting starts in Sep & ends in Feb.
The difference in a lease is the access. Many people are willing to lease land for the limited access it provides the public.

Most hunting leases around here run @$500-1000. Golfers spend more than that in greens fees. I spend that in gas (hunting). Some people spend that much on tips (Americans ). Does that make them rich? Are people who choose to hunt public land excluded from hunting... I don't think so. I hunt mgmt areas because I like to hunt many areas and see a lot of country. I often cover 5-6 miles a day while hunting. If I had a lease, I would probably sit in the same stand watching the same food plot,day after day. That, to me, is boring, even if I do shoot something on occasion.
Greg