Ralph Lermayer's "It Is What It Is!" article in Predator Xtreme......

Rusty,

I know how you get so much land to hunt on. You go up to the rancher's door, ask them if you can hunt and them give them your best puppy-dog eyes. [beeep], you are so cute anyone would let you on their land. People like George and I don't have that luxury. We have to pay. Heck, at least one of us even had to pay women to marry us! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Randy
 
Nothing to add to the paying for predator hunting debate (agreed bad idea), but holy crap you fellas have a lot of coyotes and bobs down there. You guys kill as many in a few nights as I do hunting my butt off all season here in Oregon.
 
Rusty, I have an idea. Hook George up with some land to hunt. He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet. If I was a Texas land owner and George knocked on my door I'd charge him too. That is if I didn't already know him. On the other hand, you'd have an open invitation. Buker's right! You're a cute lil' fella. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Let's keep this big junk contest going! There's some great pictures coming out of it.

On the subject of PX I don't mind the magazine although after reading it for two years I feel like I've seen all of the same articles several times. The pictures, author, and wording changes but the content is the same. Lermayer's editorials aren't exactly a shining star in the magazine. He does seem to be way out of touch with the magazine's readers. Not something I would expect out of the editor of a periodical.

Nate
 
I guess the idea of paying to hunt predators is -no offence intended-pretty much American.We have an upland game bird club a couple miles from here that charges $35,000 a year just to be a member, $35 per bird and if you need a dog they'll rent you one for $500 a day...they are having a problem with coyotes getting their birds but won't allow me to hunt there without being a member...they apparently have more money than brains (seems to be a common problem) since I can call the coyotes through the fence easily enough.I can't see any of the farmers around here (crop or cattle) actually thinking they could make a buck off coyote hunters, deer hunters maybe /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif but I would picture them rolling on the ground laughing at the idea that someone would be willing to lease their land for coyote hunting, but then again, city folk are kinda dumb. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
As for Predator Extreme I don't think it's actually a magazine as much as a catalouge with longer descriptions...
 
Now that right there is funny /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Well i've never paid anyone to hunt their property (never will) and Maine is 98% private. No one is beating down my door to hunt cause lets face it, Maine is not game rich state like Texas for instance (not saying its easy).
I think the land owners down there and other game rich states know that they are sitting on gold. I've never paid a guide either, but what is the difference from paying a guide for a chance at a coyote, than paying a landowner to hunt his property?
 
Rusty, you sure stirred up some Yanks on this one,,,LOL
Have to agree with you about the article and magazine though. I've gotten to where I don't read the "B.S. Gazettes" anymore. Just how many ways can you come up with to call in a critter? You have to wade through so much crap just to find anything useful. Then you have someone that writes something really stupid just to make an article or deadline. I also used to be a long standing member of VHM,,,,used to be. Just too much B.S. for me.

Back to the topic of paying,,,never have nor never will. Seems every year I pick up more country just by word of mouth from one rancher to another. I'm still callin and killin, just seldom posting anything. Maybe if George acted right he would be like a few of my friends from out of state,,, they get to hunt free with me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Ya know... I've been thinking about this a little bit more.

I don't have any problem with anyone paying, or leasing up ground to the exclusion of others. From the outside looking in, it seems like most guys hunting that private ground for free, do their best to keep others out, if they can. So, somebody with a big checkbook comes along and swoops it out from under them. Why should the rest of us care? We were all on the outside of that locked gate looking in anyway - doesn't make any difference to me whether the guy keeping me out has it for free or paid for it.

I'm one with absolutely ZERO people skills. I'd sooner die of the hot drizzling shidz than knock on a strangers door and beg for "permission" (even just typing the word makes me want to gag...). So, if I had to move somewhere where the coyote hunting was all private, I'd either have to quit coyote hunting, or pay. Chances are, I'd just quit coyote hunting. But then again, if I had money to burn, why quit coyote hunting when I could use my big checkbook to lock up some prime predator calling all to myself? I'd just be substituting my big bank account for someone elses people skills, the way I see it?

- DAA
 
Dave,

It's just the difference in a state that is all private land.
I'm familiar with both sides of the coin, because we have ranches in both Texas & NM.

I don't quite "knock on doors & beg permission" as you put it, but if I know a rancher that has a big-uncalled ranch, I might call him up and ask if he cares if I go shoot some coyotes. In all cases that I do that the answer is "Sure!, go help yourself!"

I let the rancher know what we kill off his ranch, & sure enough, his neighbors are calling me to do the same for them.

On the other hand, we have a ranch in NM...We can hunt pretty much anywhere, because it's like where you live. Mostly BLM....BUT, we still call the rancher up in the same manner & let him know we'll be out there. Just common courtesy down here. It makes for more open gates & more opportunities for hunting.

Whether it's private, or BLM, I just try to be courtious to the rancher. I keep more country than we could possibly get around to calling that way.
In that manner, we stay in prime calling country when we hunt, and we don't have to call the same areas...we let them cool down.

Barry
 
Barry,

don't get me wrong, I'm not putting anyone down for getting access to private ground. Heck, if you or anyone else can do it, more power to ya. I'm just saying that I don't care "how" you do it. It's all the same, from where I sit. If you just know somebody, great. If you just have the gift for talking to people and get access by asking, great. If you have the money to just up and pay for it, great.

And I sure as heck don't blame anyone who has been hunting for free, that is out of a place to hunt because somebody else came along waving cash, for being angry about it. If that happened to me, I would wish great harm on the guy that bought out my old honey hole. But, at the same time, just being honest, if it happens to somebody else, that was locking everyone else out anyway, while I can understand why that guy is mad, from where I sit, I can't feel any sympathy.

All I'm saying, is that I got to really thinking about it today, what would I do? If I were suddenly in a place where all the coyote hunting was private and I didn't know anyone? You can call it not having people skills, you can call it being shy, you can call it being too proud, you can call it whatever you want, but the simple fact is, I can't go calling folks I don't know or knocking on their doors to ask for anything. I just can't do it. For instance, I had my truck stuck in the mud a couple years ago. I walked right past a ranch house with the lights on, and walked another 10 miles, spent the night alone in the snow and kept on walking the next morning till I reached a pay phone to call for help (which had to drive a couple hundred miles to get to me...). Rather than knock on that door. Just the way I'm wired.

So... like I said, I got to thinking, if I were in a place like Texas, what would I do? The REAL answer, is I'd just quit hunting. I can't afford to pay. BUT! IF I COULD afford to pay, then I have to say, I reckon I would, rather than not hunt.

So, I just don't see how I can hold it against someone else for paying. When in the same situation, if I could, I might do the same?

- DAA
 
Very well put Barry. It's that one little word that keeps a lot of people "out",,,, courtesy.

I also was thinking,, GA has been to Texas how many times and paid??? He brags about his people skills are so much better than his typing,,,you would think he would have hooked up with a rancher along the way by now. Guess he loves to throw his money around like a bigshot. That's all right, let him keep paying taxes for us.
 
DAA : Be glad you live in the land of milk & honey. Some state land here, but lot's of private. Top it off with many small farms of 250 to 400 acres and it takes some time lining up permissions for hunting and trapping.

I always have more land than I can handle anyways, but the thought of being in the west and asking 1 farmer to hunt or trap a whole section of land. Wow ! A real shocker.

To get back to the thread-kind of, look at how commercialized all forms of hunting and trapping have become. Almost sickening. I just enjoy going out with the kids now and watching them really "see" whats in the outdoors. Just sitting quietly in the woods never meant so much.

Paying for hunting is sure changing the East. Not in the best of ways, I believe.

I think I'm still mesmerized by all those spots on those cats!!!!!!!
 
To pay or not to pay. I've had the pleasure of hunting in Texas with some great hunters, Watson, Mike, Rusty and Clint. Obviously I was working on a video while doing most of that but the fact remains that I hunted there for free. I've also had the pleasure of hunting with another gentleman down near Corpus Christi. In that case I was his invited guest and went hunting with him.

When I ask myself if I would ever pay to hunt predators... I have to say that I'd do it once just to experience the quality of hunting they have down there. It's nothing like I can hope to experience up here.

I get a lot of phone calls looking to book a hunt with Watson just because my phone number is on "Hunting the Night Shift." I really encourage them to book a hunt. Everyone should experience it.

With that said, now that I've experienced it, I'd never pay just to do it again. Wonderful memories and wonderful friends and fantastic hunting... But, paying to hunt, either a guide or a land owner just goes against my grain.

I contact as many land owners as anyone I know. Each year I contact between 50 and 75 land owners. I don't come begging with hat in hand. I ask politely and the gates open.

Randy
 
You're not necessarily begging for permission to hunt coyotes. You're asking for permission to be in the land owners backyard. A backyard is a backyard whether it's 100 feet or 100 sections.

When someone asks me where I shot (insert animal here) I usually tell them it was a town about 4 hours east of my home. Is that the same as paying a landowner for exclusive hunting rights? I don't know anybody that can prevent someone else from hunting anywhere unless they own the land or lease the rights.

What really chaps my tuckus is landowners selling the hunting rights on huge tracts of land then begging fish and game to come in and do a damage hunt because all of the deer that they protected to make a quick buck during the season are eating their crops. They create a situation that leads to 10 deer being killed on their property for the duration of hunting season and expect someone else to come clean it up. Or better yet their neighbors, who allowed hunting, have to request damage hunts for all of the deer that spent the season hiding on the fee hunt land then returned to the neighbors property to eat his crops.

Nate
 
DAA,

You have always been the sort of fella that I tend to take a "second look" when you post, as they are usually of good intent and well thought out. I see them much the same as your videos, of good nature and informative. I cant help but think that your opinion of this matter is a lack of personal experience (in this region) than anything. You know little about our situation, just as I know little about yours. I couldn’t imagine having that much land at my disposal without me doing anything to say about securing it. I would feel quite naked not asking someone for permission. You see, our asking permission is not much unlike you making an every day phone call. Our situation, although quite different form yours, is ours none the less.

I grew up in Central Texas, we had no deer, turkeys, pigs or any other big game to hunt. We hunted predators, and that is all we had, aside from running rabbits, and coons with dogs. Land in Central Texas comes by the hundred acres, rather than by the thousands. Asking for permission is something that I learned early in life. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to hunt, and hunting is something that has been apart of my life for longer than I can remember. If I didn’t hunt I wouldn’t be able to hunt with my dad, and like most kids I wanted to be just like him. Even to this day if I wish to hunt in my old stomping grounds, I have to make no less than 6 phone calls to secure permission on a days worth of hunting. You can see one such hunt if you search for “back to my roots” on the forum. I made those same phone calls for that hunt to happen.

While I don’t necessarily like to ask to hunt, it is what we have to do, and have always done. A good name, and a land owners past experiences is what we have to hunt (and live) on. Like it or not that is the long and short of it. I would love to not have to ask for permission, but that is not an option here.

Deer hunting as I was a kid was much like coyote hunting now. My dad had to finally start paying to hunt deer so we could go deer hunting together. He finally stopped when the prices reached $750. That was unheard of! We have not deer hunted together since that day! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif That is the exact reason that I hate to see people pay for “access” for predator hunting now. I hang my head when I think of a father not being able to afford to take his kid predator hunting.

Not bashing, just giving a different perspective.

Todd
 
Quote:
DAA,

That is the exact reason that I hate to see people pay for “access” for predator hunting now.
Todd



If someone from out of state pays a Texas guide to go predator hunting aren't they paying for "access?" Is the client hurting the future of the sport of predator hunting by hiring the guide? Is the guide hurting the future of the sport by taking money from the client? Just asking.
 
Back
Top