Where is the sport headed?

[KYBOY]

Heres my take...
I think the sport is headed towards a more *public land sport*..
Kentucky is rural with a relatively low cost of living. We have more privately owned property than the vast majority of states. Per capita we have a very,very high number of land owners..
Our situation is not typical of many states.. As more and more hunters come into the sport most of them will not be landowners and most will not have the money to lease and own. Most will have to hunt public land.
You even see this now in the popularity of hunting shows. Many of the shows like "Lee&Tiffany"and the "Drury's" are not as popular as they were. People, many hunters get tired of seeing farm managers shooting target bucks that they have been watching grow for 4 years, out of a stand or $10K box blind...They get tired of seeing guys pass 15 bucks that they would be ecstatic to kill.. They now want to see hunters more like themselves.. Guys that hunt their sack off on public ground to kill any decent, mature buck..
You see it now with the major popularity of hunting shows based on hunting public ground.. More and more hunters are hunting public land and in different ways than your traditional landowner hunts.
I think social media shows this and the change in hunting show popularity also shows it..Face it, there is only so much huntable privaye property to go around while there are millions of acres of public land to hunt..

 

[woodsman92]

If the farm had enough crop land and you bought it really cheap.
Lets say you bought 100 acre at $4500 per acre that is $450,000
Crop land rental at $150 per acre is $15000 Providing the whole 100 acres was crop able.
$20 per acre hunting lease is $2000

That is $17,000 potential income
Take interest, taxes and liability from that
You are looking at 30 years $2650 per month payment and you would have to have 10% down around $45,000 as a down payment.
12 months times $2650 = $31,800 per year.

You’ve got a better idea of the figures than I do. I never give the idea any further thought than my statement, didn’t know what they paid per acre, going rate of tillable ground, and I don’t know current interest rate but assume it’s high lol

 

[WildmanWilson]

If the farm had enough crop land and you bought it really cheap.
Lets say you bought 100 acre at $4500 per acre that is $450,000
Crop land rental at $150 per acre is $15000 Providing the whole 100 acres was crop able.
$20 per acre hunting lease is $2000

That is $17,000 potential income
Take interest, taxes and liability from that
You are looking at 30 years $2650 per month payment and you would have to have 10% down around $45,000 as a down payment.
12 months times $2650 = $31,800 per year.

If it’s all crop land I don’t see anyone wanting to lease it to hunt. Unless it’s lucky to butt up to something great.

 

[FF/EMT516]

I know a guy who owns and farms the majority of 8,000 acres and leases most of it too. So crop land is definitely leasable at least around here.

 

[woodsman92]

I have enough credit to buy anything I want. The way things are right now though I can’t justify going into debt. I’ll just keep

I hear that, I still keep my eye on land from time to time but for the most part with the economy and current interest rates I would be concerned with taking out much of a loan

 

[bigbonner]

Not sure where you are, but you're not going to buy anything around here near that cheap, if it is tillable.

I did say he would have to buy it cheap.
Land here is cheaper than western KY. Farms around here may have half of it as cropland and the rest would only be for pasture.
Sold 95 acre farm for $211,000. Around 30 acres crop land and the rest hillside pasture.
Soil was top of the line but the farm needed a good cleaning up.
It would have brought more but money hungry family would sell their sole for a cheap dollar. I could not tell them anything and I could not come up with the money to buy them out.
There is cheaper land around, but it is straight up and down with maybe a garden spot on it.

 

[xbokilla]

There is a difference in taking a deer. If hunters decide to take any deer they see and over kill, the area population will suffer and then they will start complaining that they have no deer to hunt.
Be sensible and take does if there are plenty.
Would you take a mature doe? I believe I would rather take a yearling doe. If I let the mature doe pass then she will more than likely produce more for next year while a yearling may take another year to breed.

I quit taking big long faced old does where we hunt. We have deer that travel through but the only that appear to be residents are some big old does that raise annually. My perfect table fare is about a 1.5-2.5 year old doe and I’m not beyond taking a big yearling this time of year or late ML if they have strayed from momma and have put on a good 20lbs. That’s just me though. Some people want a big doe to maximize the meat supply. To each his own.

 

[Tankt]

4 big does is less work to process than 8 small ones

 

[xbokilla]

4 big does is less work to process than 8 small ones

True. But if I took 4 big does from our place I’d decimate the population fast. A couple deer due me. A doe and a buck or two young does is usually more than enough at my house. We used to hunt this one place that had some of the biggest does I’d ever seen and plenty of them. Two big nannies from that place would fill a freezer.

 

[Teach Deer]

Envy is not a good thing and it seems very pervasive in the sport of hunting...

Hunting is very individual...based on opportunity, deer availability and personal objectives...as long as you, individually, are satisfied, then the opinions of everyone else are inconsequential...

I, personally, tend to hunt mostly public land (not totally happy with KDFWR management, or lack thereof, on many public areas where having the fewest game animals possible seems to be the objective) and am fairly content with it...deer availability is no where close to prime farm land (not sure why ???) but I know that up front...I tend to let smaller bucks pass, even on public land where there are no guarantees, because it is my choice (and I see trophy class bucks after taking a smaller buck nearly as a rule)...still, if the buck suits me, I harvest it with no regrets...a few years ago, I was delighted to harvest a 3 pt buck with my crossbow because it freed up my weekends for band trips with my son...some things are simply more important...

She should be proud of her accomplishment...one of the bucks on my living room wall is a button that my wife killed with her bow at Grayson Lake WMA...it was her first deer and she did it with only a little help (I carried in and set up her treestand the day before) from me...I am super proud of that little buck...

 

[smokepolehall]

I will drop my nickel here also. To me deer hunting is not a Sport, these money grubbers are certainly making it that way. I am old school freezer meat Hunter, a rack is a bonus n or a dust collector. I like the rest get one Buck tag. I try to fill my freezer with Doe's. Once we get to ML season i take 1st come 1st served. I really like my deer burgers.

 

[standsitten]

Kill what u want,I don't take 2 weeks vacation,to kill the smallest buck I can find,How many people do u think would hunt if deer had no antlers,If your happy that's all that matters,once again congrats to the young lady,I have always looked forward to standsittin pics,as this young i lady s a deer killer,as well as standsittin

Kill what u want,I don't take 2 weeks vacation,to kill the smallest buck I can find,How many people do u think would hunt if deer had no antlers,If your happy that's all that matters,once again congrats to the young lady,I have always looked forward to standsittin pics,as this young i lady s a deer killer,as well as standsittin

Thank you!

 

[1985Burd]

Congratulations on your granddaughter’s deer.

First, the high fence or 40,000 acre ranch operations are expensive and take a lot of work. Far more time and effort than I’m willing to put in. So I’m not going to bash them. If that’s how they make a living, that’s their choice and they earn it. The bucks they produce aren’t necessarily 100% natural, but neither is most of the food we eat. They’re all genetically modified or cultivated to be big and fetch the highest prices.

Now to answer your question: Hope. Hope will keep the sport alive as long as there are humans walking this earth. Hope that the next deer that walks out is that monster that you’ve been waiting for. I know plenty of folks that have some incredible deer on the wall. In the end, be proud of what you harvest. If it’s not the buck you will be proud to drive around town and show off to all your friends, then let him walk. There are plenty of does if you need the meat.

 

[grinder]

I wasn’t going to post this on here but the more I thought about it I believe I will. This is a Facebook post that I posted the day my daughter killed her deer this year. I remember hunting with my dad when I was just a kid and if you even seen a deer, it was an accomplishment see post below and I think it would explain. Good luck to all you!

My daughter was so excited today when she shot her deer! The first thing she did when she seen it was start apologizing for it not being bigger. I told her don’t ever apologize to anyone for something your proud of or accomplishments, exspecialy if you we’re excited! This made me litterly fighting mad. With this being said, what are we as hunters doing to this sport? For the record I will never apologize for any deer I take. I will quit hunting before I do. There are enough red tape policies in everything else! When I step in the woods or my daughter does, I have no boss. And will not except one either! Nothing wrong with it if you live by the measurements set by the FAKE deer hunting shows etc. which are mostly paid hunts by ourselves through their products. I heard that the number of hunters is declining. Well, no wonder. We need to remember what hunting is and get back to the enjoyment and fun of what has been passed down. Believe me the day might come when your just thrilled to be out there. This mentality will be the death of this sport. Like I said I’ll quit first. All the so called professionals who want to be that way fine. But ”Don’t tread on me”! And before some says something, she took her orange off for the pic. View attachment 107102

There aint nothing wrong with that deer ! Congrats to baby girl !
As long as everyone abides by game laws, they can set their own personal limits, be it number killed, size killed, or methods getting it done. No apologies needed. Tell her to keep on keepin’ on !

 

[KYBOY]

As far as killing whatever deer, I personally think it's the height of arrogance to tell someone how to Hunt,Fish or spend their hard earned money...You want to pay for a guide, good luck I say.. You want to kill a yearling with spots? Ill wipe the milk off its lips before I help clean it.. Hold out for a booner, best of luck I say.. I hope you kill a titan.
We have to work together to keep our passion alive and thriving.