Well I do not see much of the Public Land vs. Private land debate so I am going to post my 5 cents worth.
Texas as most of us know is a state that consists of mostly private land. I suppose that would lead some of you to think with all the controlled access, we would not have as many of the issues the public land hunters have and that might be why our hunting can be so good. Wrong!
I am a landowner and I work very hard at managing my property for quality hunting, most landowners I know fall into this category and owning hunting land can be the worst investment. To those who do not understand why a landowner sometimes has to sell exclusive access...
Taxes
Improvements
I would say you should own something worth millions that you never made any real money off of but everyone had a 401K or stocks up until recently
. I earn my money in town and spend it in the country.
One of my fence lines that has an absentee landowner and charges way too much for a lease. What I get out of it is high turnover of the hunters and the ones he gets think it buys them rights on my land and everyone else’s as well as some highly irritating behavior related to drinking to excess. They do look pretty in their camo and bright colored ATV’s scooting across the pastures 2 hours after the prime hunt or during the prime hunting time whichever. I will have to say this and hope it offends the guilty parties. If you are a leaser and think the hunting is so much better on the wrong side of the fence you are just as dumb as a cow and watching way too much Outdoor channel. They forget to show the hard work that goes into successful hunting. I swear some of those large population center guys (just being PC) think they just need to show up and the animals will come a running.
If you are a died in the wool poacher in Texas we have some laws that have teeth in them and the Enforcement Officers and landowners who will make sure that is done.
Bottom line, we have issues with poachers and hunters of all types here and a huge population that lives in the cities that one can tell is losing touch with Mother Nature mostly because life is so busy, I suppose. But give me a break Ask an experienced hunter to share those informal rules and the knowledge they have gained over the years. Most of the good hunters I know are cognizant of what is happening to our sport and if we don't police ourselves and teach, then someone else will find a way to really mess things up.
And no matter what there is a certain amount of people who will never get it.
