DS, I didn't mean a slam by it, I'm trying to get a view of Cajun hunters, they really like to cook at hunt camp, as far as I can tell. That's neat, no slam intended.
WH, How do I think game ranches fit into these 5 things?
Wildlife is owned in law and in fact by the public, with the private ownership of wildlife severely restricted.
No problem, an example here is the state owns the whitetail deer on a high fence place, they still control the game limits, the liscenses, etc. The landowner controls the access. The two systems of private ownership of land and of exotics and public animals owned by none of us or all of us is alive and working very well here and elsewhere.
Most markets in dead wildlife have been abolished, removing an enormous incentive to turn illegally killed wildlife into cash in hidden markets.
Thats good. Paperwork with private high fence places is easy to make sure those animals are not poached animals when processed. Its the tag system, isn't it?, we tag our animals, then everyone knows its pretty legal. If you want to tag the high fence animals too, good idea, go for it. Geiss says its a good system, right? Any tagged animal can't be sole etc., well tagged high fence ones could be, or it could be very restricted if abused, no problem.
Wildlife surplus is allocated by law, not by the pocketbook, social status or land ownership.
This doesn't seem clear to me. Like, I could buy a guaranteed tag for an elk, if I own land and live in Montana or if I pay lots of money and don't live in Montana. Its true elsewhere also. Its allocated by law, I see that, but by pocketbook, social status and land ownership also, big time, lots of places. That seems to be an erroneous statement or at least unclear because there is a lot of pocketbook and landownership involved in quality hunts and in land access. Remember the hunter Greenhorn guided this year, he paid $12,500 or something and got to see like 50 big bulls on private land. Geiss's statement is real weird here when you think about things like that. I think game ranches help reduce the pressure on public hunts. A private enterprising person can compete in the hunting market and provide a service to those who want it, then more people could get tags on public hunts that those who go to the private source don't take. There's some thoughts on it.
Wildlife can only be killed for cause such as for food, fur or protection of life and property by those carrying licenses, and
Wildlife is managed using the best available information, based on sound, scientific knowledge and research, with input from the public (often referred to as "the Roosevelt Doctrine")
Game ranches fit right in with this, the owners I know advance knowledge and management practices based on sound scientific knowledge and research, etc.
That's some response for you to consider.
Here's some more comments on the giraffe and the elephant and the rams as a high fence hunt.
When I was at the YO Ranch, they had a male and female giraffe for sale, $30,000 for the pair. I think the idea was to have some giraffes oun on hour back yard to view from the house and pool at the top of the hill. Kind of like looking out on the plains of Africa. If a person paid them, I suppose they would have let them shoot them as it is not against the law. They would not have liked it, I don't think though.
They don't have elephants as far as I know, but they may be able to ship you one in, if you talk to them and have lots of money. I'd rather go to Africa myself.
On the ram hunt DS keeps referring too above. Some people just want to go there and shoot the first nice thing they see with a big gun. Some people go there and hunt the place and try to find a big one that they like that doesn't cost too much and they are less likely to use a big gun. We had people that did it both ways last March, everybody hunted the way they wanted to hunt and everybody got what they wanted or didn't get anything but the fun of it all. It was like a hunt when I describe it that way. There were lots of animals there because of the system the owner has worked out over 25 years in this business. If you want a place with less animals and more hunting before you even see one, there are places like that too, they cost more. If you don't get what you want out of one of these places, its because you didn't work at finding what you wanted. Its like a hunt in that sense too, there's a different sort of work to get animals like you want on these type places.
Some of you guys say there is not a good game ranch for elk for you, that's fine, let someone else who thinks it is good for them go to the place. It won't hurt you. If no one thinks its good for them, if the place doesn't control disease, or escapes, the place will go out of business, that's the American way. The public wild elk won't be hurt, they are still there, up in the mountains doing just fine provided the ranches are run right. That should be the issue, what does it take to run them right?
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 03-07-2003 10:29: Message edited by: Tom ]</font>
