I have never paid someone for the privilege of hunting either....yet. I'm fortunate enough to know enough people that will take me hunting just about anywhere in the U.S. I might want to go.
I plan to pay to hunt predators (big time) when I get to Africa, Siberia, and Canada though.
In that same vein (well OK not quite the same vein, a guide is required in some places) I can understand someone from a long distance away with a limited amount of time who doesn't have a local friend hiring local experience and/or access.
Heck, guys pay for "guided" prairie dog shoots, and in my opinion it's often a smart thing for them to do (at least the first time). For some guy from across the country it might well save gobs of scouting time that could be spent shooting, and might well mean the difference between a 2000 shot trip and a 200 shot trip. Don't forget, he probably doesn't have the option of coming back next weekend to a honey hole he found after all day scouting.
Getting (free) permission for land to hunt can be a little difficult for out-of-towners too. Where I lived in N.E. NM, virtually 100% of the land is private. I had no ultimate problem getting permission to hunt it, but some of the ranchers I didn't personally know checked me out pretty close with others who did know me. An out-of-towner (especially a durned Yankee /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif) would have had a pretty hard time I'm sure.
To the original point of the article, it seemed Mr. Lermayer's point may have been that because of the economy, it might be possible (for very little money) to open up land that hasn't previously been open at all.
I kind of doubt that would be the case in most parts of the country (at least that I'm familiar with), but I suppose it might be worth a try if you had large areas that were currently completely off limits. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif