When Andrew Sansom was named executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1990, he boldly took on the challenge of uniting conservationists and hunters through a shared interest in the outdoors. “I don’t think there had ever been an attempt to get hunting advocates and birders and backpackers and hikers and rock climbers to work together,” says Sansom from his ranch outside of Johnson City. “But when you get people together, they find out that the others aren’t so bad.” Sansom left that post in 2001. Today he directs the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, but he remains one of the state’s most incisive voices when it comes to the thorniest issues affecting the future of hunting.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/hunting-become-rich-mans-game/

....this oughta run about 10 pages and IMO
YES...

the days of hunting on a home or relatives place disappeared for most every city dwelling hunter I've known in the '60's or early '70's...
Ron

As pappy once said:

Nope it has not. Some people find any reason not to do something. Others find a way to do anything. It's the same mentality you'll find in Dems blame the "rich man".

Not really,if you want to go hunting bad enough it's not that hard to do. However I will say the size/quality of animal you want to kill...buck,ram,goat,bear,whatever,is definitely proportionate to the amount of money you're gonna need to spend. Sure a few big deer are killed on low-cost public hunts in Texas but those make up a tiny,tiny percentage of all deer hunting trips. It's kinda sad to see the enormous "industry" that has built up around deer hunting in Texas. But I suppose it was inevitable,human nature being what it is.

as pappy once said:

Thfs best victim.

Yes trophy hunting is a rich man game. I see no issue with that either.

In order to get a better grasp on what "Hunting" is to be defined by...IMO you need to clarify the kind of hunting is being examined for cost.

I started my hunting career chasing walkin pothole watefowl and small game on public ground and lake access waaay before the $48 Permit was required, 'cause it was the least expensive thing to get me into the field for a day. Didn't own a deer rifle until after I was married at 23 and received one as kinda a late wedding present from my GrandPop, who took me on my 1st Deer Hunt the following Fall at something he called a "Deer Lease" in Mason, from Dallas since my entire family were city dweller's.

Deer lease prices were kinda affordable in the '60's if you planned all year for the Hunt, back when Minimum Wage was $1.25 an hour. Today Deer Lease prices are like buying a 2 year old used Mercedes and out of the reach of $7.25 an hour Minimum Wage earners who comprise the largest segment of the overall population, and still is even at the proposed $15 an hour. Just Sayin' Texas is a Private Property State and always will be, and the Lege is not interested in providing TPW with much of anything for the bottom 60+% of the population. Texas has a population of ?? 18- 23 Million people and TPW's budgets allow for how many Lottery Permits for a Big Game Hunt, and we still solicit Non Resident Hunters by allowing them the same Pricing and Unlimited Access to the Lottery Hunts as Residents. I'm hoping to Hunt on a relative's 17 acre Deer Lease this year, since I've not been able to score a Lottery Permit in some of the regular Categories in 15 or 20 years of Applications. Makes the Rocky Mtn states who operate on a true Preference Point System and a restricted access for Non Residents look very good for their Residents....

If Hunting had been my end all outdoor activity as Freshwater Fishing was for most of my life, I'd of moved to one of the Rocky Mountain States 50 years ago...where most all the Non Resident Texans hunt who can afford it.
JMHO & YMMV
Ron

Not everyone can afford premium hunts, but just about everyone can afford to hunt. A person just has to re-calibrate their expectations according to their budget. Some of my most memorable hunting trips were chasing squirrel and rabbit on public land that anyone can hunt. Back in the "good ole days" when I started hunting the piney woods, you were lucky to even see a deer, much less go after a big one. It was pretty much small game or nothing.

It seems like most hunters I talk to now want to hunt big bucks and are shocked about how much it costs. To hunt big deer has always been expensive with very few exceptions.

How many dollars does it take to be expensive vs. inexpensive?

I used to think so until recently.
But after checking out the Texas Trophy Hunters Extravaganza and seeing many guides & ranches advertise for "hunts starting as low as $4,000-$5,000" and seeing everything they do, I came to this conclusion:

- You're either paying lots of money for someone to do most of the hunting for you, or you're paying little money to do all the hunting yourself.

Since August, I think I spent a total of $250. Half of which are license, tags, & APH permit. The other half was for Draw Hunt permit I won for Bastrop SP in January. Which I think aint bad at all.


The only thing that bothers me is the irony of Hunting in Texas:
Texas being a very hunter friendly state, yet most lands are private and many are out of the reach of your average middle working class hunter.


Michael Waddell did make a stern but honest statement to hunting property owners earlier this year:
- You're pricing yourselves out of the industry.

Hunting is no more or no less expensive than any other hobby. Golf, boating, eating out, vacationing or any thing else a person likes to do can cost you as little or as much as you want it to. You can spend as litle as you want or as much as you want on a lease. You can really jack up the bill by feeding protein year around. You can hunt in a heated weatherproof custom elevated blind or sit against a tree. You can buy yourself a new 4WD truck and a polaris ranger or drive to the lease in the family car and then walk to your blind. The cost of just about anything is the amount you want to put into it. Making it expensive or not is stickly up to you.

I think of it as expensive but sometimes it's worth it to keep from going crazy! All I have invested this year (poor investment but has dividends in long run) was dove lease for my son and I. Poor investment due to fact it's spending money, great dividends because time spent with son and memories are priceless! Dove lease for 2/$550, gas in trucks est. $250 through season, shotgun shells est. $250, drinks snacks $100, not going into adding cost of guns cause have had them and most folks would loose their minds me using Winchester Pigeon Grade and my son caring a Winchester Mdl 21 2 barrel set to hunt dove! We would have to kill 550 dove to scratch the surface of expense alone and 1 dollar a bird is high cost. So imagine the trophy hunts and taxidermist bill or long distance travel, prep time and extra stuff the tv shows tell you you need. Yes it can be very expensive! But when I'm on my deathbed and my son visits me we will relive the dove hunts one last time! Have many conversations with my father doing the same thing often!

I dont think it has. We live in a great state with public opportunities for all who are willing. I feel like its all about priorities. Hunting definitely isnt a passive activity as it may have once been. I feel like maybe in the past opportunity by invites may have come easier. Now if you aren't actively pursuing even the chance to hunt. .. it could pass you by. Just my thoughts.

Yes and No...but then again it has been for at least the last 35 years. When I was a kid, we were not rich. My dad and I had multiple properties that friends owned that we were allowed to hunt. In my twenties and thirties, I had some friends that let me hunt their properties, I had a few leases that were cheap, but the hunting wasn't that great, and I hunted some public lands. Now I hunt a piece of property owned by a family friend in OK, and I hunt my Father-in-Law's property in Texas. The best hunting for me has always been on properties owned by "rich men", or at least properties that I could not afford.
All the above relates to Deer hunting specifically. Many times, I have gone public for very cheap to hunt squirrel, rabbit, dove, and duck. So, Yes, good quality deer hunting costs a lot of $...but then, it has been that way for a very, very long time.

Oklahoma hunting license are not very cheap either.

No, they are not...but when the property owner is your Dad's best friend from HS, the lease fees total zero, it is worth it.

I do think at first thought it is expensive to hunt deer in Texas. The better the lease the higher the cost then you bring in the facts mentioned by don k and it can be very expensive.

The latest issue of Texas Monthly has a piece on this very subject. Have not read it yet should be interesting.

As with any question about what hunting is or what it has become...hunting is merely what you make it. It is as hard or as easy as you want it to be, it is as cheap or expensive as you want it to be, a trophy is as big or as small as you want it to be, etc. Hunting isn’t anything until you make it something. That’s one thing I love about it...I can make it whatever I want it to be

I can’t take anyone seriously who says hunting is too expensive but spent hundreds on the newest cell phone.

I think hunting in Texas can cost as much as you want it to. I spent a large chunk of my life wanting to get into hunting, but didn't a mentor and was under the impression that it was too expensive. 7 or 8 years ago i found out about land that the state leased for public use dove hunting, so for about a hundred bux I dove hunted a dozen or so times that year. I only got one dove my in all those trips, but i was finally hunting. I did that for a couple of years and then found out about some of the WMA's that were accessible for deer, hog, and small game hunting. So again, for about a hundred bux I began squirrel hunting, scouting for deer, and hog hunting. Not having a mentor i was only successful bagging some squirrels, but i still got to spend a bunch of days, outside in solitude, hunting. This year will be my 2nd year on a lease in west Texas, which costs less up front than some of my gun purchases. I am also applying for just about every gun draw hunt Texas has to offer, as well as hunts in Wyoming and Montana now. For me, hunting is more about my enjoyment of being outdoors in solitude than shooting a big buck, and that can be had, again, for about 100 dollars.

Oh we've started to leave the "hundreds" range... I think that last iPhone that came out cost a cool $1,000

I find that everyone tends to think everything cost to much and that they don't earn what they "deserve". We kind of live in an age where everyone feels entitled to "luxury items" and they actually believe if they aren't making six figures they're underpaid.

If you live in the great state of Texas, yes it is a rich man’s sport. Especially if you live in the cities and have to travel. Look at how much you city folks spend on gas alone for a weekend trip. If you sleep in your truck and eat pimento cheese sandwiches the price is still high. I’m fortunate and have never had to pay to deer hunt and never will.
Quail hunting is another ballgame. I can’t believe what I pay for a lease 45 minutes away from the house. Luckily I can bring two guests and split it 3 ways with guys that go two or three times a year, so it’s not near as bad as what people pay for deer leases in the area. Something I used to do as a kid for the price of gas and dog food every day is now expensive. If I still lived in Odessa it would still only be the price of gas and dog food. You can kid yourselves all you want but hunting these days is a rich man’s sport.

If you have the time, knowledge, know the right people, you can guide a few trips and pay for your season. However for the average man living in a metro area hunting is a rich man’s game.

If you think leasing is expensive, try being a landowner. Taxes are outrageous. Machinery is expensive. Feed is expensive. Nothing worthwhile in lfe comes cheap. I wouldn't have it any other way though. Luckily we bought back in '99. Land in our area was around $500 an acre. Now it's around $3500-$4000 an acre. This may sound like a windfall, but not when you would like to keep it in the family for perpetuity. It is what it is. Nothing like hunting your own place.