Rich Man's Sport

[schmalzy]

I think part of it is the “Texas” mindset of hunting. Leases, with deer that are approved/not approved by lease management,5-6 year age minimum, feeding, box blinds, etc just push prices up. Subsequently, a lot (not all) Texas hunters think that’s the norm and if you don’t see shooter bucks and a ton of deer every sit it’s tough hunting. I’m not saying everyone is like this but I’d argue it’s pretty standard.

There are plenty of public places in Texas to hunt deer within 3 hours of every major population center in Texas. But like hunting out west, you have to actually hunt and put in work.

Not trying to be a dick but the “woe is me” can’t find a place to hunt threads are getting old. Make more money or get better at researching something you’re “passionate” about and make it happen.

If you’re serious about hunting public land in TX pm me and I’ll give you some broad pointers/steps in the right direction. It’s a hell of a lot more fun when you figure out on your own though.


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[cmahoney]

Guys,

I'm really struggling with where hunting is going. Western Hunting, in particular, is quickly becoming a rich man's game. Do you know that in the state of Texas - you can almost not afford to hunt if you are a low income household. Between the lack of public land, cost of private land, and insane lease prices - it's absolutely a rich man's sport. And im not talking about for places to kill giants. Where I live, 5K/gun will get you a lease where you are allowed one whitetail that will score 135-150. As tag prices across states with public land quickly rise, I fear for my kids opportunities. They shouldn't have to move to a western state to be able to afford to hunt.

Where have gone the days of hunting with brothers and fathers and not having to spend a life savings to do so. Is that not getting ridiculous. To harvest food that is God-given to our society to cherish as nutrition yet is it carries the price tag of a Kings table fare. What are we going to do to slow this madness? What are possible solutions?

Honestly, I don’t have enough time to take advantage of all the hunting opportunities I have. Units with high success and giant critters, yes those don’t come every year but I’m not rich and don’t pay to hunt anywhere other than license and tag fees.


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[*zap*]

lotsa stuff is becoming a rich mans game and scams are all around us. Meanwhile most people at my gym are afraid to look at one another....it is bizarre. I am so glad that I do not live in a major city.

 

[BarCO]

lotsa stuff is becoming a rich mans game and scams are all around us. Meanwhile most people at my gym are afraid to look at one another....it is bizarre. I am so glad that I do not live in a major city.

Having like from rural to urban, you certainly have more community feeling in major cities.

 

[*zap*]

I grew up in the biggest city is the nation..lived there as an adult for a while also. Very happy I am not there today.

 

[william schmaltz]

I’d argue that western states allocating a larger percentage of tags to residents are the only ones sacrificing the rich guy for the average hunter. Out of state hunters coming in and buying a tag at 4x the cost from a low income resident is the definition of hunting turning into a rich man’s game.

I’d personally like to see 10x the non motorized areas in places like Alaska close to the road system. That would remove a very large financial barrier of entry.

I grew up sharing a room in a trailer house with 2 brothers. Worked my tail off for a good career. Left a very high paying oil field job for AK in my late twenties to start over. No family up here. When the kids are sick or when we want to do something, we can’t call grandma; we handle it ourselves. It’s inconvenient as hell. But it’s the trade off for fantastic outdoor opportunities for us and our kids.

All I hear when people get into the “rich man’s sport” or “residents aren’t being fair and hate NRs” is a symphony of tiny violins. Everyone has different priorities. Don’t cry because life isn’t fair when you’ve made different priorities for your life. There is a trade off for everything. You can have it all, just can’t have it all at once.

Last I checked, all states are open to US citizens. Leave the cave, kill something, and drag it home. No one individual or state owes you anything.

I’m always entertained by the irony of these socialist “this land is your land, this land is my land” threads.

 

[awbowhunter]

Supply and demand. Ridiculous population growth, unchecked borders, liberal agendas to slowly chip away at a hunters way of life. Continual Encroachment on and loss of habitat. These will all continue to change where, how, and how often we can hunt. Enjoy every minute you can.....while you can. I genuinely fear for future generations way of life.
I'd like to go back to hunting in the 70's 80's

 

[JStol5]

Buy land.
To be able to afford it:
Drive cheap vehicles
Grow food
Wear cheap/second hand clothes
Quit drinking booze/Starbucks
Quit tobacco
Live in cheap housing
Give up $50 haircuts
Turn thermostat down/up as far as you can stand it
Cut out vacations
Work overtime
Hunt with a cheap rifle and cheap bow
Cancel your internet/TV subscriptions

I'm sure there's plenty more examples.
Bottom line is that most folks would rather live big and complain that life isn't fair because they don't have a great cheap place to hunt.

Really good advice here. Sort of like how in backpacking, you don’t cut pounds out of your pack- you cut a lot of ounces out and it accumulates up to pounds.

Making a lot of little changes consistently, whether it be with diet or finances, is a stellar way to see progress over time.

 

[jjjjeremy]

Say what you want about California, but everyone gets two over-the-counter deer tags plus the chance to draw. If you don't draw your premium unit you can fill your tag with a quota unit and use your second tag in a non-quota unit, or get an OTC archery tag that lets you hunt in many of the premium rifle units during archery season and rifle season.

 

[JStol5]

Say what you want about California, but everyone gets two over-the-counter deer tags plus the chance to draw. If you don't draw your premium unit you can fill your tag with a quota unit and use your second tag in a non-quota unit, or get an OTC archery tag that lets you hunt in many of the premium rifle units during archery season and rifle season.

I can attest to this as a resident, it’s pretty nice. Some pretty good either sex tags too that give you a good window for hunting.

 

[cmahoney]

Say what you want about California, but everyone gets two over-the-counter deer tags plus the chance to draw. If you don't draw your premium unit you can fill your tag with a quota unit and use your second tag in a non-quota unit, or get an OTC archery tag that lets you hunt in many of the premium rifle units during archery season and rifle season.

In my opinion that’s a negative about CA. That D habitat is premium but big bucks are few and far between. 30,000 or so tags for one of those unit groups is nuts. I think they just want the revenue. You go right over the state line and hunt a desert unit with some similar habitat and see way more deer.

CA doesn’t want to give up the revenue for all those tags to help the deer herds. I do appreciate the opportunity and get one of those tags some years but I’d like to see them manage for higher numbers.


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[Cant hit em]

In my opinion that’s a negative about CA. That D habitat is premium but big bucks are few and far between. 30,000 or so tags for one of those unit groups is nuts. I think they just want the revenue. You go right over the state line and hunt a desert unit with some similar habitat and see way more deer.

CA doesn’t want to give up the revenue for all those tags to help the deer herds. I do appreciate the opportunity and get one of those tags some years but I’d like to see them manage for higher numbers.


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I agree 30k is nuts and a revenue grab but the tag that has 30k is valid in 3 different units and covers a ton of ground. Lack of Predator control is a big issue that is decimating the herds , limiting tag numbers could help, but you would have to severely cut them if no means of controlling the predators is allowed.

 

[cmahoney]

I agree 30k is nuts and a revenue grab but the tag that has 30k is valid in 3 different units and covers a ton of ground. Lack of Predator control is a big issue that is decimating the herds , limiting tag numbers could help, but you would have to severely cut them if no means of controlling the predators is allowed.

100% agree, if they sold me a bear tag at a resident cost I’d buy one every year but, $350 is pushing it for me. I feel totally comfortable saying you are more likely to see bears in that country than deer, at least on the east slope.


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[Cant hit em]

100% agree, if they sold me a bear tag at a resident cost I’d buy one every year but, $350 is pushing it for me. I feel totally comfortable saying you are more likely to see bears in that country than deer, at least on the east slope.


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Westside also , we need dogs back. We use to barely hit the quota for bears each season , without dogs it hasn’t even been close.

 

[cmahoney]

Westside also , we need dogs back. We use to barely hit the quota for bears each season , without dogs it hasn’t even been close.

And the quota has been the same for years.


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[MattB]

Guys,

I'm really struggling with where hunting is going. Western Hunting, in particular, is quickly becoming a rich man's game. Do you know that in the state of Texas - you can almost not afford to hunt if you are a low income household. Between the lack of public land, cost of private land, and insane lease prices - it's absolutely a rich man's sport. And im not talking about for places to kill giants. Where I live, 5K/gun will get you a lease where you are allowed one whitetail that will score 135-150. As tag prices across states with public land quickly rise, I fear for my kids opportunities. They shouldn't have to move to a western state to be able to afford to hunt.

Where have gone the days of hunting with brothers and fathers and not having to spend a life savings to do so. Is that not getting ridiculous. To harvest food that is God-given to our society to cherish as nutrition yet is it carries the price tag of a Kings table fare. What are we going to do to slow this madness? What are possible solutions?

If you really wanted to hunt, bet you could kill all the does and wild hogs you wanted in Texas for a very reasonable sum.

But what it sounds like is you really want to kill deer bigger than 150" on the cheap, which is a whole other discussion altogether.

If you want to hunt other states on the cheap, become a resident of one.

 

[bigbassin]

I do know a guy who makes $40k a year who hunts a $5k lease. Its all about priorities. Myself, i quit going out of state for whitetails when lease plus travel went over $3500.

I was going to comment I could never picture paying 5k for a lease when public is free…but I bet if you added it up over a season a lot of us aren’t far off even if we hunt public.

By the end of this hunting season (deer, duck, turkey) I’ll have easily spent 2k on fuel (truck and boat), 1k on licenses in 3 states, couple hundred at the range, hunting north of Florida I needed an actual winter jacket. So probably $3500 all in, not counting the boat I picked up for duck hunting and that opens up additional public for deer and turkey.

Boils down to $700/lb of meat for me this year so far (again, not counting boat). Hopefully number is a little better after turkey season.

I’d say it already is a rich man’s game.

I know a lot of broke guys that hunt, but I don’t know any making small paychecks.

 

[cmahoney]

Westside also , we need dogs back. We use to barely hit the quota for bears each season , without dogs it hasn’t even been close.

I might pay $350 if I could hunt them in the spring but I don’t see that ever happening. Too much going on for me in the fall to dedicate a $350 tags worth of time to a bear.


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[jjjjeremy]

big bucks are few and far between.

I think that's the point. CA manages for opportunity, which is what OP is complaining about. If OP just wants venison for cheap, without western style hunting, try archery in suburban New Jersey.

You also need to compare like-for-like. There are plenty of residents taking home forkie mule deer in the mountain states that we just never hear about, but are comparable to what we hear lots of guys taking in CA. That being said, all my buddies who put in the time scouting and do week-long backcountry hunts are rewarded with quality deer in OTC units, and carry and fill bear tags, too.

 

[jjjjeremy]

I can attest to this as a resident, it’s pretty nice. Some pretty good either sex tags too that give you a good window for hunting.

Plus bears, pigs, plus lots of OTC opportunities in neighboring states, OTC elk in WA, etc...