Hunting Leases/Kids Hunting/Drury Syndrome

[3855WIN]

Hunting Leases. It seams that we are torn as a community about how this has hurt things. For me I have come full circle. I have access to lots of family/friends property. With most being farmers it’s good hunting. However in PA we have antler restrictions. And now everyone wants to grow bucks like they are the Drury's. All the properties I can freely hunt have hit lists. How do we engage the next generation of hunters if they cant shoot 99% of the bucks they see and cant commit the time often needed to try and get lucky enough to harvest something on the hit list. That's assuming an adult takes them at all if chasing big ones. I do enjoy hunting hit list bucks and have been lucky enough to get a few. But I now lease 300 acres of really good hunting land. Not for big bucks but to allow my kids and my friends and their kids to shoot whatever is legal and makes you happy. It seams to have brought some excitement to things again for them and allows them to pull the trigger. I think as a community there is a fair part of us missing this. I did as well for a while. I lease from the farmer who has significant crop damage. He is all for it. The neighbors who are managing for trophies not so much. I will still take a couple days a year to chase big ones on family property but the rest of the time it will be in a stand or blind with a newer hunter/kid trying to get them on a legal deer. I encourage everyone to think about the future of our sport. If as a 12yr old you had to deal with what our kids do in PA would you have stuck with it?

I was the kid back in the old days, hoping against hope, to see just a little bit of bone. There was a one day doe hunt, otherwise they were off limits. So that meant many days of no opportunity to shoot. The kids have it much better now, as they can shoot does nearly every day of season.

 

[3855WIN]

I just wish more kids would show an interest in hunting. There is still plenty of opportunity for them, but not a great deal of interest.
Too many other activities using up their bandwidth

I’m 59. When I was a kid, young boys desperately wanted to be part of a man’s world. By about ten years old, we could drive a truck and a tractor. We started carrying a gun when we were big enough to handle an adult sized firearm, as youth models didn’t exist. That upbringing is rare now in the modern urban setting.

 

[RealMuddyboots]

IMO, the QDM concept, hit list bucks, management bucks ad nauseam is exactly what the "anti's" claim. Trophy hunting versus hunting heritage and using the meat. At some point, this will be used against us. Michigan, for example, has a mix of everything; 2 buck tag where restricted tag must have 4 pts one side, QDM in quite a few areas and even CWD requirements. Michigan has lost almost 200K deer hunters in last 20 years or so. This 31% decrease is from 1995 to now. Why? Not everyone gets juiced over killing a doe.

Interestingly, Indiana went to one buck rule some years ago and now is top state for BC bucks. I wonder if "natural selection" by hunters is contributing factor. Young hunters or anyone still can shoot what makes them shake. I am big fan of one buck rule.

My land? My son's land? Shoot what makes you shake, rattle and roll. We kill does. We wait for decent buck but if you like looks of one, no matter what, legal, kill it. Kids and first time hunters get shakes looking at a 4pt, hook them forever by "letting" them kill their buck. Deer hunting is what it is called.

 

[Nick87]

his 31% decrease is from 1995 to now. Why? Not everyone gets juiced over killing a doe.

Access.

 

[RealMuddyboots]

Access.

Access along with piss poor mgmt of public land. Issuing same antlerless number of permits for public versus private is not deer mgmt. Failure for mgmt from severe EHD outbreaks. List goes on and on. I was on major piece of public recently in snow. Only track there was mine. Not even any other hunters. Not that many years ago, held good population even from high pressure. EHD and Universal Antlerless permits on public anywhere is WTH. Sure some DMU's are protected but rest of state is wide open.

WI, PA, FL and KS require public access for deer depredation permits. Some are "controlled" but still forces some access to the permits. It can be controlled and opens up door for access to higher deer populations that must be reduced.

Private land is private land in my eyes and it is what it is.

 

[Nick87]

Private land is private land in my eyes and it is what it is.

I get that, but private used to be a whole lot more acessible. The majority of people whitetail hunting at least in our state hunted private, you've got more farms being hunted now than ever before and less people doing the hunting. So many farms that didn't allow hunting do now mainly because they won't/can't turn down the money from a lease. The properties who used to let quite a few guys hunt now have a couple people hunting it also mainly due to leasing. More acres less people. Its pretty easy to see that when dnr says hunter numbers are down yet brag about deer harvest numbers being up or at least maintained. Doesn't take a mathematician. Not familiar with Michigan, maybe the majority of hunting has always been on public there?

 

[3855WIN]

“Trophy hunting versus hunting heritage and using the meat. ”

My season of trophy hunting thus far has yielded a Kansas archery 148” buck, three hogs and four does. The meat will be used. That Kansas buck had to be around 300 pounds. That’s a lot of meat.

 

[3855WIN]

Wide open

I get that, but private used to be a whole lot more acessible. The majority of people whitetail hunting at least in our state hunted private, you've got more farms being hunted now than ever before and less people doing the hunting. So many farms that didn't allow hunting do now mainly because they won't/can't turn down the money from a lease. The properties who used to let quite a few guys hunt now have a couple people hunting it also mainly due to leasing. More acres less people. Its pretty easy to see that when dnr says hunter numbers are down yet brag about deer harvest numbers being up or at least maintained. Doesn't take a mathematician. Not familiar with Michigan, maybe the majority of hunting has always been on public there?

Wide open public access to private whitetail land was a very small window. Deer didn’t exist in many places and hunters had free access on private to small game hunt. The deer made a comeback and hunters wanted free access to shoot slugs and high powered rifles. That’s a whole different ball game than bird shot. If the hunters were local and trusted, not a big deal. But do you really want strangers having free rein on your property with a high powered rifle?

 

[Steiny77]

Really depends upon where you live. In pretty rural areas it's still a rather easy matter to get permission to hunt a property. More is leased now than ever, but I'll bet 50% of hunters around here are still hunting for free via permission.

 

[Nick87]

Wide open


Wide open public access to private whitetail land was a very small window. Deer didn’t exist in many places and hunters had free access on private to small game hunt. The deer made a comeback and hunters wanted free access to shoot slugs and high powered rifles. That’s a whole different ball game than bird shot. If the hunters were local and trusted, not a big deal. But do you really want strangers having free rein on your property with a high powered rifle?

Im not sure what you mean by "wide open" access. We never have had a "high power" rifle season here either. Straight walled started a few years ago here.

 

[3855WIN]

Im not sure what you mean by "wide open" access. We never have had a "high power" rifle season here either. Straight walled started a few years ago here.

Slugs covered your area.

 

[Nick87]

Slugs covered your area.

The entire state up until a couple years ago.

 

[3855WIN]

The entire state up until a couple years ago.

Yes. I was speaking to more than just your state.

 

[Nick87]

I was just referring to the general area. I believe Indiana, Iowa and certian parts of wisconsin were all the same up until just recently. Are you saying that if rifles weren't allowed access would become easier on private?

 

[Wind Gypsy]

When the technology, information, and season structures continuously tilt the odds more against the deer were going to continue to push people who want to see a deer older than 2 YO to lock up more land and manage it tightly. It sucks but I don’t have much of a solution. Crossbows sept-January, firearms all rut, cell cams, bait, etc make it awful hard for a buck to survive unless there is access or trigger restraint to some degree. Some areas have habitat that still allows deer a fighting chance but some areas don’t.

If I’m so lucky as to have my daughters want to hunt with dad when they’re of age, they’ll have green light to shoot whatever they want.

 

[Nick87]

When the technology, information, and season structures continuously tilt the odds more against the deer were going to continue to push people who want to see a deer older than 2 YO to lock up more land and manage it tightly. It sucks but I don’t have much of a solution. Crossbows sept-January, firearms all rut, cell cams, bait, etc make it awful hard for a buck to survive unless there is access or trigger restraint to some degree. Some areas have habitat that still allows deer a fighting chance but some areas don’t.

If I’m so lucky as to have my daughters want to hunt with dad when they’re of age, they’ll have green light to shoot whatever they want.

Lot of truth in all that. We stack the odds against them a little more every year and set 3xoevtations higher. They're running out of evolution a lot faster than we are creating technology thats for sure. I'd sure kill to have some of those 90's deer hunting days back. Golden.