Federal land and State animals

[Dr.Spaniel]

I live in Colorado. It’s brutal that NR, even if it’s youth, are getting first chance on secondary. I’m going to move back to Kansas so I can’t hunt.

 

[87TT]

I'll bet there is way more money and support for the Feds giving control and ownership of Federal land to the States than there is for the Feds to force the States to change their game laws and control over the game in their State.
If the States get control, think about it. When the Federal government gets short of money for it's newest pet project, they just print more. The States can't do that so they can sell "excess" land like the former National Forest or Former BLM land.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

The States ..... can sell "excess" land .....

That's currently a very popular practice of Western state's governments.

 

[bluetick78]

I think most of this never-ending debate comes from real, or perceived, over-crowding. There's not many of us that trust State agencies or federal agencies to manage ANY public resource in the best interests of the people that pay the bills (i.e. taxpayers). In this case, hunters. We've seen gross negligence and mismanagement at times that shattered our trust and made us leery of believing the agencies rhetoric, and rightly so. There's never going to be enough opportunity for everyone to get the chance they want. The resident hunter that has a tough season and happens upon non-res license plates in his/her spot is most likely going to be fired up about non-residents being allowed too much opportunity. Or a state that reduces non-resident tag allocations is going to draw a lot of negative press from out of state hunters whose childhood dreams have been dashed. There's multitudes of electronic tools that have removed much of the mystery from hunting in places that used to only be known to locals. Just look at the hundreds of complaints on this forum of people's honey holes being plastered all over YouTube by someone looking for "likes" and subscribers.
Our industry and favorite pastime is a very cannibalistic beast, and is all based upon a resource that is in limited supply, and that Mother Nature can snatch away with one hard winter, or one new subdivision, or regulation changes, etc. I do believe that most people, resident or non-resident, deserve the chance to enjoy this resource. However, litigation, state agencies, and state constutional ammendments have always leaned towards the residents of said state receiving the lions share of the access towards the wildlife resources in that state. It will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future. Many of the states that hold the prized Western big game resources have seen huge influxes of new residents, and huge influxes in the number of "visitors". Cities haven't responded quickly with new infrastructure leading to congestion and frustration for the people that are long time residents of that city. They hear "I just moved here from (insert Left Coast state)" more times in a week than they used to hear in a year.
My point is...there isn't an answer. Sorry, but that's the truth. I said it. Give more tags to non-residents, the tax-paying, city-supporting residents will come unhinged. Take away non-resident tags, and the State game agencies have to raise tag prices on residents or increase resident tag allocations to satisfy the state bean counters who demand more revenue daily.
Bottom line is, not everyone is going to get the chance they want. In fact, very few are going to get the chance they truly want to hunt bighorn sheep, or rut-crazed mules, ect. The only solution is to lobby whoever or wherever you can to make your hunting experience the best you can. All of us would like to hunt Henry Mountains mulies, or Missouri Breaks bighorns, but most of us will be hunting the equivalent of Colorado OTC in the October pumpkin patch. Be glad these opportunities still exist and that you have the means to enjoy a Western hunt of any sort. The time will come when development, poor management, and unharnessed greed will steal most of those opportunities from normal hunters, and only then will we collectively realize "how good it was".

 

[dirtytough]

I'll bet there is way more money and support for the Feds giving control and ownership of Federal land to the States than there is for the Feds to force the States to change their game laws and control over the game in their State.
If the States get control, think about it. When the Federal government gets short of money for it's newest pet project, they just print more. The States can't do that so they can sell "excess" land like the former National Forest or Former BLM land.

Can we get a blue checkmark by Randy’s name please?

We own the animals!!!! We need everyone else to foot the bill for the land our animals live on though!!! And even if they give us the land, we know that’s a bad idea because we can’t actually afford it.

 

[87TT]

Yep. we can't afford it so we will sell it to some rich guy who can and then we are a^^out.

 

[Tick]

If I can't hunt public land I'm in full support of selling it to individuals. I won't support the idea of public land for only residents to hunt.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

If I can't hunt public land ..... I won't support the idea of public land for only residents to hunt.

Unfortunately, that's already happening in Alaska and has been for a while now.

 

[87TT]

If I can't hunt public land I'm in full support of selling it to individuals. I won't support the idea of public land for only residents to hunt.

Sounds like Texas

 

[MallardSX2]

This thread and others like it make me envy poachers.

No rules, no tags, no fees, no worrying about who is drawing what, no worries about allocations, no worries about LPP tags, no worries about whose land you're on, Secondary draws, leftover days, limited quotas, general tags, no internet bossing, who owns the animals, who owns the land, ect ect....

Just close the lid on the old laptop and go hunting for whatever and wherever a guys wants.

That must be the life. No wonder people do it. lol

 

[wapitibob]

This thread and others like it make me envy poachers.

No rules, no tags, no fees, no worrying about who is drawing what, no worries about allocations, no worries about LPP tags, no worries about whose land you're on, Secondary draws, leftover days, limited quotas, general tags, no internet bossing, who owns the animals, who owns the land, ect ect....

Just close the lid on the old laptop and go hunting for whatever and wherever a guys wants.

That must be the life. No wonder people do it. lol

And the only downside, they won’t let you buy a license in the future that you wouldn’t buy anyway.

 

[Bubblehide]

This thread and others like it make me envy poachers.

No rules, no tags, no fees, no worrying about who is drawing what, no worries about allocations, no worries about LPP tags, no worries about whose land you're on, Secondary draws, leftover days, limited quotas, general tags, no internet bossing, who owns the animals, who owns the land, ect ect....

Just close the lid on the old laptop and go hunting for whatever and wherever a guys wants.

That must be the life. No wonder people do it. lol

You forgot no worries about the animal being in season.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

If I can't hunt public land I'm in full support of selling it to individuals. I won't support the idea of public land for only residents to hunt.

It goes beyond just hunting that land. I’ve lived in Texas and won’t ever go back specifically because of the limited public land. Want to take the family camping this weekend? Better have a reservation at the state park. Fishing? Hope the parks aren’t too full otherwise get your checkbook out to pay the landowner a trespass fee. Just want to go take a hike? We’ll see you and the other 300 people at the state park trail head cause those are your only options.

 

[5MilesBack]

And stay off my lawn!

That goes without saying. Trespassing will not be tolerated.

 

[5MilesBack]

I don’t think most NR’s are asking to hunt as cheap and/or as much as residents. We simply want the chance to do it.

Get used to getting shut out. Western hunting has and still is growing exponentially. There just isn't enough room or tags for every hunter in the country to hunt out here every year. Heck, I doubt there will be enough tags for all the residents to hunt here every year. That's just the way it's going.

 

[def90]

I think hunting in general would lose a lot of appeal if game agencies posted the real harvest results. In Colorado they may say a certain unit has a 29% success rate but what they don't tell you is that 90% of those harvested were taken by guided hunters on private land. I think the real world success rates are far lower than anyone wants to think, especially in OTC units. Perhaps CPW should just post the caveat on their OTC tags that the odds of a successful hunt are about the same as winning the state lottery and then have you sign it that you understand that you are likely just throwing your money away.

 

[Tick]

It goes beyond just hunting that land. I’ve lived in Texas and won’t ever go back specifically because of the limited public land. Want to take the family camping this weekend? Better have a reservation at the state park. Fishing? Hope the parks aren’t too full otherwise get your checkbook out to pay the landowner a trespass fee. Just want to go take a hike? We’ll see you and the other 300 people at the state park trail head cause those are your only options.

Hunting is my only interest in western public land. I'm hopeful to acquire nonres tags as long as possible. I expect everyone else to also have an opinion that benefits their own interests.

Great thing about fishing, I've never been at a public boat ramp on public water that residency limited the access to launch. Maybe that happens somewhere.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I think hunting in general would lose a lot of appeal if game agencies posted the real harvest results. In Colorado they may say a certain unit has a 29% success rate but what they don't tell you is that 90% of those harvested were taken by guided hunters on private land. I think the real world success rates are far lower than anyone wants to think, especially in OTC units. Perhaps CPW should just post the caveat on their OTC tags that the odds of a successful hunt are about the same as winning the state lottery and then have you sign it that you understand that you are likely just throwing your money away.

I’ve heard from enough people that don’t even see an animal all season (and can’t wait to go back) to know it doesn’t matter. I think half of those hunters are just trying to get away from their old ladies for a week so they can drink and stay up late without getting yelled at.

 

[TSAMP]

I’ve heard from enough people that don’t even see an animal all season (and can’t wait to go back) to know it doesn’t matter. I think half of those hunters are just trying to get away from their old ladies for a week so they can drink and stay up late without getting yelled at.

That's called ice fishing in my neck of the woods

 

[Marbles]

Common man, everyone knows animals should belong to the person who owns the land. If an animal walks into my yard it should fall under my own regulations, not the state's. After all, I payed more for that land than most Americans will pay in taxes over 20 years.