Would you ever pay an access fee?

[spook12]

You bet.

 

[dustinf]

Does an animal have any idea if it's on public or private? Is a 5,000 foot hill on public taller than a 5,000 foot hill on private? Does the wind always blow at your back on public, and in your face on private?

 

[bobbydean]

Yes.

When I was younger, I lived in San Antonio for 3 years. I absolutely refused to pay for a lease or day lease. Do you know how much hunting (deer, exotics, turkey) are within a days drive of San Antonio? I have since, moved back to New Mexico and have felt foolish for never hunting in Texas, I wish I could go back and do it again!

 

[birddog32]

Yes I would and I have.

 

[jabber]

Yep, just part of the trip cost, or as mentioned earlier the cost of hunting in Texas.

 

[idnative1948]

Nope! And hope I never have to.
Enough friends over the years and relatives (helping with docking lambs and branding calves, fixing fence, plus giving intel on critters holed up in the bottoms). Just not that important to begin with though.We know who runs cattle bordering where we hunt and have their phone numbers. Always good intel from a rancher when you tell him where a few are holding out.Willing to give you info if it is going to save him/them some $$$$. But what do I know, I am old school.

 

[Big Fin]

I have, both directly and indirectly, prior to starting this TV show. Two instances directly, and many instances indirectly.

First time directly, while first learning Wyoming pronghorn units, I paid a $200 trespass fee for a leftover tag near Gillette. Learned I didn't need to do that, especially for pronghorn in Wyoming of all places. Big waste of money for below average antelope hunting.

Paid a cash trespass fee for deer and antelope in Montana. Never saw an antelope buck worth shooting and the guy in charge of the land let his buddies come and shoot the hell out of it. The mule deer hunting was pretty marginal and the whitetail hunting was not as good as what I had access to from other relationships. Again, expensive way to find out that paying access fees was not necessary in Montana to find quality hunting.

I used to trade a lot of CPA services for hunting permission, rather than getting paid. I used to do a lot of beaver trapping for hunting permission, rather than getting paid. Never saw those as being too much different than paying cash, but I know some people would disagree, and disagree strongly.

Will I ever pay for access again? Unlikely, given what I have learned about places and ways to find good animals on public, but wouldn't say "never," given what age and health may someday to do my ability to reach those places where I currently can find good public hunting.

I can comfortably say "Never," as it relates to hunts for the TV show.

 

[spook12]

I have hunted Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, New York, Florida, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska...and all had ample publicland to hunt. Eastern hunters seem even lazier than the average Western hunter, so hikes were shortened to 1/4 mile to escape the majority of hunters. That said...Texas is a pain in the butt to hunt without cash, but then again it doesn't exactly fit the North American Model.

I still wouldn't pay one. The satisfaction of public harvests are much more gratifying for ME than horn porn. Hunt the interfaces and you will find stud animals! Elk and deer don't abide to property boundaries and four-strand fences.

Do you think that if every tag holder in OH,PA,WV,MD,NY,FL,MO, who did not own property all hunted only public ground they would have 5 acres apiece?

It's really easy to answer no to the OP when you have the option of millions of acres of federally funded land out your backdoor, but I suspect that some of you might feel differently if that option didn't exist.

 

[Hem]

I wouldn't pay for elk,muledeer,antelope,turkeys,upland,or anything else EXCEPT whitetails.If I could find a good whitetail ranch where I could have dibs on archery/rifle hunting without a bunch of yahoos tromping through the woods i would do it in a heart beat(if I could afford it).

 

[2rocky]

Now that I think about it, I have.
Growing up we were a member of a club of 20 individuals where we hunted blacktails in the Most Liberal county in the USA. Now we could have Driven 5 hours to some National forest land and spent the weekend dodging pot plantations and Hmong party hunters.

I think being able to play a football game Friday night and drive 25 minutes to do a morning hunt on Saturday and get home in time to milk that afternoon was worth the $500 bucks a year my Dad spent on me. I don't think I would have developed the yearning I had for distant exotic places like Nevada and Wyoming if I hadn't gotten to hone my skills chasing blacktail bucks on ridges where I could see the Golden Gate Bridge on a clear day.

If I had to travel 10 hours round trip to public land, I don't think I would have appreciated the HUNT as much as I did in those 8 weeks of our local OTC deer season. I would have missed out on a lot of other things that contributed to my maturity.

 

[[email protected]]

no but I would marry a girl whose father owned a ranch!

 

[blb078]

Out west I would, probably only a couple hundred bucks at most. Here in MO I do pay for a lease. It's either that or hunt w/thousands of other guys on public land. MO has a decent amount of public land compared to a lot of midwest and eastern states but we have a lot of hunters, both in/out of state. If I lived out west and I could get out and look at the millions of acres of public land every weekend or so then no I probably wouldn't. That seems to be the thing in this thread, you live out west, the most common answer is "no", you live in the midwest/east the most common answer is "yes", but those of us who live in the midwest/east are use to it though. It's also a safety issue for those of use who live in the midwest/east. Out west it seems if you have an area that has 5-10 hunters per sq mile that's over crowded, here in MO(and many midwest/eastern states) you can have 5-10 hunters just in talking range on some of the rifle hunts in public land and that's a bit scary.

 

[Shotgun1]

yes, but $100 a day would be my max budget

 

[LopeHunter]

Yes. I prefer to draw tags in higher quality units with low tag numbers that have good access to ample public land. Some tags come with high tag numbers, though, and I will pay access to not trip over other hunters and the conflicts with ATVs or other things that annoy me. I hunt to have a challenging experience balanced with some peaceful moments.

 

[jlmatthew]

Yep! but only so much. I could see paying $1000 for a good deer/elk combo place, but not more like hoards of other hunters are all to willing to pay

But other than hog & goose hunts down in Texas, I have yet to do it. As of right now, I've been lucky and gained access to a lot of private land through building relationships.

 

[Art Vandeley]

I never have, but would definitely do it if a good opportunity came up. Vacation time is limited, so paying a reasonable access fee seams minimal if it allows for a quality hunt. The only thing I would pay for is archery elk.. Sometimes they hold up on a neighboring ranch and all I can do is watch them from a mile away. I've always wondered what it would take to get permission.

 

[noharleyyet]

It's really easy to answer no to the OP when you have the option of millions of acres of federally funded land out your backdoor, but I suspect that some of you might feel differently if that option didn't exist.

Exactly...ample free opportunity doesn't transmogrify the adamant not never me'r's into the righteous noble savage.

 

[mtlion]

I don't know how "free" my access is. Both my wife and I could make over three times as much as we do now if we chose to live in Bethesda, Maryland or DC. We choose lower incomes to live where we do. I'd say we pay plenty. Noble savage Harley?

 

[Trailboss208]

no way

 

[npaden]

Yep. Although I never have that I know of.

Although to add a twist to it, I did buy 160 acres of land here in Texas pretty much for the sole purpose of having a place to hunt. Does that count as paying for access?