Learning from What is Happening in Indiana

[hunterconservationist]

And across the midwest and eastern US.

One Indiana Boy's Cautionary Tale to Hunters

Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear feedback.

 

[elkyinzer]

I feel for you personally, what I experienced growing up in the outer suburbs of Pittsburgh was really similar. I never had one of my spots developed like you, but the side effect I experienced was that all the surrounding development pushed a ton of hunters onto the limited land that is still open. Additionally, hundreds of acres of freshly posted ground every year due to myriad issues force more and more people to the limited space remaining.

There’s a PA State Game Lands of over 1,000 acres that I grew up hunting (Pennsylvania, despite its many faults, does have a model system with the SGLs). It used to be the entire 6 week archery season you would see the same 3 or 4 trucks in our little area (I’m not talking way back in the black and white days, only like 10-15 years ago; I’m only 28, and the hunting was wonderful). Last year, I counted 17 (!!!) cars on the first Saturday in November, this is a little tract that’s about 400 acres. I sat in my treestand that day and heard four different guys rattling their arms off within a few hundred yards of me. So many more hunters, and most of them idiots who learned from the bigger idiots on outdoor TV. I have heard many stories from guys that hunt similar areas both public and private. The growing popularity of archery and legalization of crossbows feeds that also.

Honestly, I understand trying to tie these things together at a personal, relatable level, which is hard from afar, but I think it is quite a stretch to connect urban/suburban sprawl to the land grab movements out West. Two entirely separate issues. Suburbanization is an inevitable result of population growth and our land use policy and societal habits. The forces at play out West are an apples to oranges comparison in my opinion.

I’d be willing to bet that you don’t live in a high-rise apartment, am I right? I don’t either; I want my house and half acre yard, just like countless other Americans. That is fundamentally what drives sprawl. The only way to reverse it would be to legislate land use policies that force people to live in dense urban areas, while protecting the green space (I've been told that some Euro countries do this). Or a fundamental shift in society such that significantly all people would do that willingly. I don’t see either happening, so quite frankly sprawl is not going to be remedied on a macro scale in yours or my lifetime.

On a micro scale, sure, land trusts and conservation easements help, but you’re never going to see Indiana’s public land % materially change as a result of these programs, that I can pretty much guarantee. If you want access to public land out your back door, you should move somewhere with public land and focus on protecting it. You can’t live in high population areas and expect to create a public or quasi-public game refuge out your back door for your own personal enjoyment.

Just last month, my wife and I relocated a couple hours away to Central PA and really enjoy the vast amounts of public land within reach in the mountains. Of course, hunting was not our primary motivation for moving out here, but it helped seal the deal for me. Frankly, the deer population sucks, but I value the solitude and vast wilderness more than jockeying to find decent private land to hunt close to the city.

Gov. Pence and the legislature are idiots for allowing the legalization game farms, I’ve been following that also, and what you’re seeing there is the result of a broken political system. He’s got lobbyists and honchos in his pockets, the same dark forces that are working to steal our public land out West. Just this past weekend I wrote an article about the land grabs in relation to the political system that’s going up on a blog tomorrow. The spins these people throw on absolutely unjustifiable positions are astounding. It feels pretty helpless trying to be an informed citizen, which is exactly what they want. We argue amongst ourselves, eventually get frustrated, tune out, and they can run amok pushing their buddies’ personal agendas.

I also agree that if hunting culture dies around Eastern population centers, it is a major hit to hunting’s future throughout the country. I think the media actually drives this more than the politicians, though. In this regard I am quite encouraged by what has transpired over the past decade. Sure, there is an occasional uproar over African trophy hunting, but I think spokespeople such as Steve Rinella and many others have done a wonderful job in demonstrating that hunting truly represents a deep connection to our humanity through pursuit of meat and adventure, above hanging trophies on the wall.

We can’t apologize for what we do, but we have to represent it in the best light possible, and I see more and more people that do so well compared to bumblefocks on TV carrying on like they just won the World Series, screaming in joy about a half-tame food plot buck “taking a dirt nap”. Assuming we can keep this positive narrative going and do our part to pass on the true hunting heritage through raising our children properly and occasionally infusing some new blood from the “outside” (see people like Joe Rogan, Hank Shaw, sensible adults that got into hunting, these are TREMENDOUS hunting allies), hunting is not going away. In that regard, the general public remains for, or at least neutral to hunting, and we can justify our pro-public land stances, as well as teaming up with other conservation organizations to protect public land without them thinking we are a bunch of selfish hillbillies. I think anything that drives this discussion forward is productive, and I really enjoy your writing style. You are good at visually putting the reader there.

 

[MuleyFever]

I am from WI and this hits home. Growing up we lost hunting areas on a regular basis to many factors including the ones mentioned in the story. When the money started showing up for leases it really changed things. Fragmentation also hurt. That farmer that would let you hunt is back 80 for a weekend of stacking alfalfa was replaced by the 3 city guys that each bought a portion of it for hunting with their family's. Now you had 3 times as many people on the same amount of land too.

I moved out west to ensure that I had all the public land I could handle and it has been great. I just hope the states dont get their hands on it and ruin a good thing.

 

[hunterconservationist]

elkyinzer, thanks for the impassioned reply. I appreciate it. The only thing I would disagree with is the "stretch" of tying urbanization to the land grab movement. I would argue that the primary reason this incarnation of the movement has taken hold better than in the past is because our society is more urban, our lawmakers are more urban, and our society, at a macro level, is far more removed from our food because of their urbanization. Hunters in the east and midwest are also apathetic to what has transpired in their neck of the woods and it's not motivating them (in large numbers) to get involved in protecting our public lands across our great country. They don't have the same sense of ownership of the land in western states but it's just as much theirs as it is mine (living in Arizona). If we don't engage hunters and anglers east of the Mississippi in protecting all public lands, we'll be fighting an uphill battle.

The other point I would note is that many eastern and midwestern hunters mistakenly think that state owned lands are public lands. Those lands very well may be managed that way today, but that does not ensure they will be in perpetuity.

Seeing first hand what happened to my home state is a driving force for me to protect the wild, public places we have left in every state of our country, for future generations to enjoy. You're right that we're not going to stop urban / suburban sprawl but we can help those folks see value in reconnecting with wild places, wild creatures, and their role in the food chain. We see guys like Hank Shaw, Steve Rinella, etc. who have at one point in time, or still do, live in urban environments, and still participate and advocate. People can live in high rises during the week, garden, gather and fish and hunt on the weekends, or at minimum, we can help them understand why we do it.

 

[Dos Perros]

Here in Kansas we have over 1 million acres of private land that is leased by the state for public hunting. And not all of it is complete crap. This in a state that is pretty backwards in a number of political issues and with a sometimes dysfunctional state government. Yet, somehow we did something pretty great (not me, others, in the 90's). I've hunted the WIHA almost exclusively for well over 10 years, harvesting two nice bucks in 4 years (and I could have taken others, and many many does), turkeys, and truck beds full of quail, pheasants, and prairie chickens. The leases aren't even funded by license sales or anything like that, all license proceeds go into the general fund and are then doled out to the various departments for spending. So, even in a messed up situation, someone made it work. It is a model that I am quite surprised hasn't been widely copied. None of our neighbors have comparable programs, for example, and I regularly see license plates from all of them, and of course from places further. My point being that nothing is stopping states east of us from doing the same thing, just takes some organization, grit and determination to see it through. Until then, feel free to head this way, or keep going further west.

 

[LiquidGib]

Makes me sad to think about it. Almost feels inevitable, with the momentum of population growth. But there are most definitely things we can be doing better. Probably can't change much for our lifetime, nor our kids or their kids but small steps taken now can have huge payoffs a few generations down the line. Problem is everybody wants to live for themselves in the now. We need strong responsible leaders to make these decisions for us.

 

[mfolch]

This is one of the great things about living in a progressive state. The loss of public land is not inevitable and it's not driven by population growth. It's made possible by politicians who have public land rezoned and sold off to private developers. New York has a constitutional amendment declaring the Adirondacks and Catskills 'forever wild.' Half of the land in those mountain ranges--over 4 million acres, more than 25% of all the land in the state--is state-owned and open to hunters on numerous occasions throughout the year. The state is in the slow process of buying up the rest, and converting it into public, hunt-able parkland. The result: Hike 6 miles in and step off almost any trail in the Adirondacks, and you'll not see another human being for weeks, if not months in the winter. And because of the constitutional clause, it will remain closed to suburban sprawl, fracking, and other forms of 'pro-business' 'development' and available to hunters, hikers, campers, and the rest until the people of New York decide to alter the constituent--which is basically never. Sure, acquiring a shotgun/rifle license in NYC sucked--took all of 4 hours to fill out the paperwork and collect documentation, and 2 months of waiting for it to be processed--but in exchange you get a guaranteed 4 million acres of undeveloped public land to hunt for the price of an annual permit ($90).