Question:
have just returned home after hunting on my deer lease near Llano.
I will not be able to return back to it next weekend because the
rancher and his family get a weekend to hunt. This is unfortunate
for us paying hunters ($1000/gun) because the rut is begining. Is it
too much to expect year round access to a hunting lease with full
hunting privelages for this kind of money anymore?
Answer:
In Texas, probably not. Hunting in this state is an abomination. Landowners
are so bloody hungry for money, hunting isn't an activity any more, it's a
"consumer good." The $1000-per-gun lease you describe is the bottom of the
market, the "KMart level" hunt.
I didn't get a deer this year, either, not because I'm a bad hunter, but
because I couldn't afford it. I was bowhunting about 60 miles north of Austin,
paying $100 a day for a doe or spike buck. If the deer had *any* fork at all
in the horns, it was an extra $300 "kill fee." What do you know, a spike walked
up with two little 2-inch horns forking out from his spike. That would have been
a $300 deer. No way I'm going to spend that kind of money just to shoot a stupid
deer, an animal that's as common as flies in this state.
I ran into another landowner who had hogs on his property, and charged $150
d day to hunt them. Never mind the fact they only came to the feeders once
a month, he just tells the empty-handed hunters that same, tired old line,
"well, dadgum, a guy got one right there a couple days ago." This guy also
wanted an extra $250 "trophy fee" if the hog had tusks over 2 inches long.
When I talk with people up north, who hunt with landowner's permission, they
just gasp in disbelief at these stories of $5000-a-weekend deer hunts,
$200-a-day duck hunts, $1200-a-day quail hunts, and so on. Pennsylvania turned
out 2 1/2 *million* deer hunters on opening day, and not a single one of them
paid a penny.
The extreme is the "trophy ranch," and there are many of them in this state.
These places charge up to $10,000 for a 3-day weekend. Elegant hunting lodge,
9-foot deer fence, high-protein year-round feeding, field dressing,
cellular phones ("hey, I got one, go pick it up for me, please"), the list
goes on. Many of these places deliberately overpopulate with deer, which
forces them to go the the feeders daily for food. All the hunter has to do
is pull the trigger. Chances are the deer will have good horns, , since they're
raised like show cattle. That's why some of these places *guarantee* a
14 -pointer or better. Then you can take it home and everybody will slap
you on the back and tell you what a great hunter you are. Yessir, it was a
real accomplishment, something you can really be proud of, when you "bagged
that trophy buck." Sigh.
