money and hunting

[quail hunter]

So while I was out mulching 2 years of mesquite limbs and a 400 room nest for pack rats I was thinking about this annual coyote hunt my friends and I used to have when I was working at the gold mines in Elko.
every winter we would get together ,4 teams and go our seperate ways and see who could call the most coyotes.
At the end of the day ,count up dogs and losers bought the winning team dinner at the local basque resturant.
pure fun, then word started getting around the mine and more teams wanted in so one guy in our group decided to turn it into a money deal where every team put in money winner take all.
We were against it at it was all about fun and storys at dinner, now no dinner just money,so we all took off and that night waited for one of the new teams to finally check in, of course they had more dogs so they took the pot, well my brother always took all the dogs to skin and sell so the next day he called and said the new teams dogs were green, and one had trap marks on his legs! sheeesh....when confronted of course they denied it....so there went our fun coyote hunt,all because of money.
I used to see guys with boards wedged in between there deer horns trying to gett'im wider to win a big buck contest, seems like when theres money involved things tend to get a little outta hand, anyone else had any similar things like that?

 

[SONG DOG]

As much as we love and what money. It always ends up being the root of all evil.
It's like the oldest proffesion- they will screw ya just to get the money.

SONG DOG

 

[Dick Reece]

It will all be that way before it's over QH.Someday it will all be private land and guided hunting only,bad as we may not want it to be,that day will probably come.Money makes the world go round.It is a sad commentary,but it's true.Used to be you couldn't tree a coon at night in this area,because the hides brought top dollar so the trappers kept them trapped out.Now they are everywhere,because they don't bring enough for the trouble on the fur market.

I'm sure you've seen people do worse than that.I've been ripped off a couple of times when buying hunting dogs.All I can do is make sure I don't do likewise,and try to be more careful when buying in the future.

People will do just about anything for a buck,integrity and character goes out the window.

 

[brad h]

Just from the pricks that keep using an airplane to win the coyote calling contest here.
Oh yeah, they only do it every other year. So they wont get caught, you know.
kinda funny when 2nd place has 3 coyotes and 1st has 7 or 8.
Only happens when these guys participate though.
Sorry, that just brought back a bad thought. I do believe theyre banned now.

Brad

 

[varmit hunter]

Seldom, Texas would make you sick at your stomic. The land is 98% private. There is a price on everthing.

Duck leases are going at $4,000. Some ranches price Does by the pound. Bucks by the point. The game is supposed to belong to the people of the State. We are paying a tresspass fee.

Sometimes I wonder what they will cheat for fist. Money are Glory?.

 

[Dick Reece]

I think they cheat for both,VH.I have heard before about the land in Texas.We have politicians here who lobby to shut down huge tracts of land to public hunting.What they want to do is put in a resort and charge huge fees, and guided hunts on imports,etc.So far we have beat them.

I think/hope I'll be dead and gone or too old and crippled up to hunt when it finally happens,but I know someday the politicians will win.It makes me sick.Look at what happened to Bass fishing.It used to be fun,now it's a regular professional sport.I mean no disparagement to those who like to participate,but our hunting and fishing was meant to be for fun,to reconnect with God and nature and get some honestly earned meat for the table,not turn into a billion dollar buisness and pollute all the lakes with 100's of high speed bass boats hauling ass to the next brush pile.

I think a lot of the sportsmen are to blame,for allowing too much competitive spirit to enter into it.I used to bowhunt with a bunch of guys who had a season long big buck contest.At the end of the season,there was a dinner at someone's home,and the winner made a funny speech and passed out gag gifts to all the losers,like crying towels,etc.It was fun and no money changed hands,They still do that.But if someone ever brings money into it,it'll be ruined.

Those coyote calling/killing contests,are a bad thing in the long run.

 

[Maineiac the original]

I feel very fortunate, there is a few timber companys here in Maine that own a total of 2.5 million acres. That property has public access for recreation and hunting.

 

[ColdNosed]

There used to be a small contest in Central Utah, put on by a local merchant. I attended the second annual hunt; and every other after that except one year I had to go watch the Celtics get whooped by the Jazz because the tickets I received as a gift conflicted with the hunt. (I probably wouldn’t remember who was playing if I hadn’t missed the hunt.) It was a lot of fun. I met interesting people with like interests from all over the state. As the event got more and more popular the pot got larger. The last year the merchant put the hunt on, there was a dispute about some of the coyotes not looking as fresh as they should. Needles to say the merchant didn’t host the hunt the next year. It was sad because that hunt was kind of like visiting this message board.

There are things in a competitive situation that will force you to improve. For example you are in the field with 0 coyotes in the bed of your truck and it is already noon. Suddenly, you remember a tip posted here and have opened your mind to try it out of pure desperation. Or you suddenly get an idea and are willing to try it for the same reason. Someone always gets skunked on those things but you don’t want it to be you.

I attended one contest last year and enjoyed myself. I met new people shook a few hands bought a beer or two. I visited with people about theory, told stories of how I thought the tail was a vital area that day. We laughed and had a lot of fun. Besides it was a good excuse to hunt from sun up ‘til sun down. That is why I plan to attend again this year. If I happened to win I wouldn’t care if they gave me a paper certificate that said “This Certificate is to certify that Bryan was the luckiest SOB of the bunch on such and such date.” I have always believed that what goes around comes around and if money is important enough to make someone cheat it will catch up to them someday.

 

[Crow Woman]

I think back here in Pennsylvania we are a little and I say a "little" more fortunate. By this, I mean, our contests are not how many your bring in, although you usually do get somewhere between $100-200 per dog, they go by the biggest coyote in weight. So although you may get those groups who pay outragious prices to rent a pack of dogs for the weekend, and possibly bring in the most, they still go by the heaviest weighed dog. They are getting bigger with the purse going from $15,000 on up for top dog.

But one thing here also is, they have biologist involved at check in, to sort out the occasional dogs that are brought out of peoples freezers and defrosted just in time for weigh in (for that they look at the color of the eyes) and you get those occasional dogs that are brought in from out west. I guess they can tell by their stomach content also. I don't really have any knowledge just how they weed out the legitimate ones but thankfully they do.

Before I continue to ramble, like always, I guess it is better the way the contests are back here and more fair for the true sportsman.

Crow Woman