Zen Master:

Not trying to be a name caller, but here's my 2 cents:

First, Why is it anyone's problem that someone else doesn't make enough to support their hobbies? When I was younger I really liked fast cars, but made minimum wage. I was lucky to have been able to work enough overtime to make the note on a truck that Sanford & Sons would've been embarrased to drive. Should someone with a corvette have let me use their's for free or for reduced price? At the end of the day for the vast majority of people, hunting is a hobby. It's a traditional and very enjoyable hobby but it's still just a hobby.

Second, Texas has over a million acres of public land open to hunting. It may not always be easy or convenient to hunt, but anyone that wants to hunt just about any native game in Texas can for less than $100 in licenses and permits, and yes I hunt public land every year. Too often people that complain about lack of access don't want just hunting, but very very good hunting. Big deer, lots of turkeys, etc. don't happen without a lot of time and money invested in habitat improvement and work. They may be the state's deer but given the time and money myself and other landowners invest each year in planting food plots, timber stand improvements, reseeding native grasses, etc. I think the landowner has a vested right in saying what happens on their property. I know personally if the state were to mandate that I had to open my place up to anyone and everyone I most likely wouldn't invest in that stuff.

Third it's about priorities. I was lucky enough to have inherited some land and to have added a little to it, but there's still sacrifices that have been made over the years to keep it. Money that was saved to take a family vacation to Disney or something went to fix fence or replace washed out roads, etc. on at least a couple occasions. I don't spend nearly as much to hunt as some folks do but manage to make at least two outfitted hunts a year. I've got friends who constantly point out how they wish they had the money to blow like that, but then get real defensive when I point out that they all drive trucks less than 3 years old, have 4 wheelers, the latest electronics and usually buy several guns a year. I drive a 15 year old dodge with 250,000 miles on it that I bought used, have never owned a 4 wheeler, don't have cable tv, eat out maybe once every two months, still used a flip phone until recently and haven't bought a gun probably at least 5 years. They prefer to spend their money on things and I prefer to spend my money on hunting. To each their own.

My Honda is fully paid for.
I CAN afford to hunt but I will never pay anyone $6K for a deer that belongs to The People of The State.
I do not drink, smoke, or do any drugs not prescribed by an MD.
I do not have CATV because stupidity bores me - same for video games - I do have an iPhone that I pay for - on time, every month!
I am self-employed I make $114K working from home.
I blame no one for my place in life - I have a very easy life.

I was just wanting to know how folks treat the po!

You are mighty presumptuous - seen lots of that round here.

My Honda is fully paid for.
I CAN afford to hunt but I will never pay anyone $6K for a deer that belongs to The People of The State.
I do not drink, smoke, or do any drugs not prescribed by an MD.
I do not have CATV because stupidity bores me - same for video games - I do have an iPhone that I pay for - on time, every month!
I am self-employed I make $114K working from home.
I blame no one for my place in life - I have a very easy life.

I was just wanting to know how folks treat the po!

You are mighty presumptuous - seen lots of that round here.

You must have missed this part? "Seriously if you whine about or focus on what you don't have"

There are hundreds of thousands of acres of private land in Texas where you can hunt your deer until your heart is content. It’s called PACKAGED HUNTS; less expensive than most leases. What more could you want.

In my humble opinion, leasing land for hunting should only be legal if the land is leased to the State and hunting is open to any Citizen of the State on a draw system.

Not the first supposed Buddhist I've seen that's argumentative as hell and is positive he's the smartest guy in the room. I'm no Buddhist, but I'm pretty sure The Buddha would not be impressed, particularly with a "Master".

Given the cost of land, IMO very few people could afford what it should cost to lease. In most business deals your 'lease' is more than paid for by the primary business-nobody is making land payments at $10-25/acre.

Zen doesn't have a bad idea but I just don't see it working. Also, you'd get a lot of under-the-table deals. Instead of officially leasing with the state, many people would just have their 'friends' come hunt on a cash-only basis. Another problem is that all land is not created equal, even within the same county. Then you get undesirables who come out and trash your place while shooting everything in sight.

OK next question - sincerely, what do you tell all the poor folks

I tell them tough [censored]. The same thing that I get told when I can’t afford what I want.

my buddy lost his cattle lease the 300 acres sold, the new owner pd 12 million, you guessed it from Ca. , Mike had it for over 20yrs.

Don't worry, land access will be AirBnB soon...

https://outdooraccess.com/#/

So, it is greed that is killing hunting? Interesting...

Do you think those "Kalifornians" are going to honor Texas traditions?

Are the Kalifornians bad for bringing their nutty ideas to Texas, or is Mike bad for selling out to them and putting his own self-interest ahead of his fellow Texicans?

I'm asking for a friend.

What's the matter, cowboy - questions too hard for you to answer?

I find it hard to believe it is so tough to find a place to hunt. My landlord, who could probably afford to hunt wherever he wants, hunts davy crockett national forest and not because it's free. Apparently the hunting there is just that good and the woods are loaded with deer.

On top of that, members of this forum have been very generous to me. The only reason I haven't hunted here yet is because I don't have the time. I'm pretty swamped.

That said, I have some relatives that pay a handsome sum every year just in property tax for just a couple of acres. A whole lot more than most people are spending for their deer lease.javascript:quickReply(7438241,1,0)

If I had land I can't imagine I'd lease it to anyone for any sum, but might have to in order to cover the taxes if I ever retired. Think about that! Makes you wonder how many people lease just to cover the damn property taxes.

If you want to hunt for free, drive to a place where you can. If it's too far to make a day of it, go camping and make a weekend out of it. It's not rocket surgery. Good habitat is available damn near for free, you can still hunt for less than the cost of meat in the store if you do a little homework. Although to be fair, others did the homework for me and pointed me in the right direction.