Question:
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
I didn't get a deer this year, either, not because I'm a bad hunter, but
because I couldn't afford it....
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."
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.
Answer:
OK, now for the sermon: lease hunting is simple, plain, bald-faced, out-and-out
theft of money from the taxpayers. Those deer belong to the state and the hunters
who paid for them, and alandowner who is permitted to charge for them is stealing
their value from the public. Those of you who live in lease hunting states like
Texas: get started on a campaign to end it. Here is how: 1) Go on strike. Refuse
to pay lease fees for a couple of years, and DON'T HUNT if the only way you can get
into the field is to pay some thief for access to YOUR game. If half the hunters
in places like Texas decided to down tools for two seasons, the state would move
quickly to make lease hunting illegal. 2) Start lobbying your legislature for
more public land and to outlaw the charging of fees for the hunting of native game
animals. Texans often brag to me about how much public land they've got, but
the fact is that in a state of 250,000+ square miles there are fewer that 1,000,000
acres of public hunting land. For comparison, my state of Virginia, 1/6 the
size of Texas, has nearly three times that much. If lease states can increase the
amount of public land available, then hunters can have an alternative, and the
money for leases will dry up.
But the most important thing you can do if you live in a lease state is to
change your mindset. The landowner who's screwing you and all the other hunters does
NOT own the game, and he is NOT charging you "rent" and he is NOT charging you for
"access" to his property. He's selling GAME and nothing else; and you already
own that game. To sell something you don't own is dishonest; it may be legal but
it's still wrong.
Lease hunting LIMITS access to game to those who can afford to pay; and it is an
ecil that hurts the sport of hunting. It has many other drawbacks, and it
interferes with proper management of game resources in many case. Lease hunting
can be stopped, and the sort of abuse that Ref is detailing--the standard in
many places--CAN be halted, but it's up to you poor guys in places where leasing is
accepted to change things.
