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I just don't want hunters paying landowners and therefore ruining it for everyone else down the road. It's a very simple concept.
Rusty
If only it were that simple, Rusty. For reasons already stated by myself and others earlier in this thread, paying a land owner is the most cost effective and least time consuming method of acquiring land to hunt for those of us who don't have the good fortune to live in Texas. Surely you can understand that.
And I can understand how it's got to be a pretty sweet deal to have ranchers letting you make money off of there land by allowing you to take clients out hunting on it. Granted, you provide a service to them, but let's be honest, ranchers who are truly having predator problems don't depend on guys who guide on there land to take care of those problems. They or their ranch hands or professional trappers do the real predator control work. You'd be hard pressed to find a coyote on the ranch I hunt. The rancher just does not let them get established. He's got a lot of foxes and bobcats, but they don't really put a dent in his cattle herd or his deer population so he doesn't waste much time going after them.
I think this idea that the sport is going to be ruined or become something that only rich people can do as a result of people paying landowners for access is a little overblown. Let's say you're right, though. Do you think that maybe guides who advertise on the internet, and people who make videos about predator hunting might not have had a little something to do with how it got to the point where people are willing to pay landowners for access?
As for me, I don't share your bleak outlook. I'm all for guides making money off of predator hunting. I'm all for guys making videos and making a pile of money off of them. And I'm all for ranch owners making some dough too. I think all of these things are good for the sport and they put food on the table for those individuals to boot.
I'll leave you with a little something to chew on from the movie Unforgiven. There's a great scene in the movie where the Scofield Kid, after having just shot someone for the first time says to Clint Eastwood's character, "Well, he had it coming, didn't he?" To which Clint replies, "We all got it coming, kid." Translation: Go ahead think that guys who pay for access are ruining the sport if you want. But you're fooling yourself if you think you and people you are associated with haven't played a part in how the sport got to where it is today also.
I just don't want hunters paying landowners and therefore ruining it for everyone else down the road. It's a very simple concept.
Rusty
If only it were that simple, Rusty. For reasons already stated by myself and others earlier in this thread, paying a land owner is the most cost effective and least time consuming method of acquiring land to hunt for those of us who don't have the good fortune to live in Texas. Surely you can understand that.
And I can understand how it's got to be a pretty sweet deal to have ranchers letting you make money off of there land by allowing you to take clients out hunting on it. Granted, you provide a service to them, but let's be honest, ranchers who are truly having predator problems don't depend on guys who guide on there land to take care of those problems. They or their ranch hands or professional trappers do the real predator control work. You'd be hard pressed to find a coyote on the ranch I hunt. The rancher just does not let them get established. He's got a lot of foxes and bobcats, but they don't really put a dent in his cattle herd or his deer population so he doesn't waste much time going after them.
I think this idea that the sport is going to be ruined or become something that only rich people can do as a result of people paying landowners for access is a little overblown. Let's say you're right, though. Do you think that maybe guides who advertise on the internet, and people who make videos about predator hunting might not have had a little something to do with how it got to the point where people are willing to pay landowners for access?
As for me, I don't share your bleak outlook. I'm all for guides making money off of predator hunting. I'm all for guys making videos and making a pile of money off of them. And I'm all for ranch owners making some dough too. I think all of these things are good for the sport and they put food on the table for those individuals to boot.
I'll leave you with a little something to chew on from the movie Unforgiven. There's a great scene in the movie where the Scofield Kid, after having just shot someone for the first time says to Clint Eastwood's character, "Well, he had it coming, didn't he?" To which Clint replies, "We all got it coming, kid." Translation: Go ahead think that guys who pay for access are ruining the sport if you want. But you're fooling yourself if you think you and people you are associated with haven't played a part in how the sport got to where it is today also.
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