I am, It'll just be me, the wife, the 12 kids, and my two brother in laws most weekends unless all my other buddies from work are able to come up with us.
I did forget to add that he's got to have at least 257 premium cable channels, not let the AC get no higher than 63 degrees, and be no more than 10 minutes from any restaurants I can think of.
We don't usually start drinking until 6:30 or so, and while we're management minded and will leave the place better than we find it I can't be held responsible for leaving mud tracks on the carpet as that stuff happens or responsible if one of the brother in laws gets liquored up and starts shouting or revving his truck in the driveway at 3am, shooting his gun off in the yard or acts inappropriate towards Zen Master's female relatives as the rest of us are really good guys that just want to fulfill our God given heritage of spending our 30 free weekends a year in Cedar Creek.

Do any of you have an argument for why the idea is bad - without resorting to name-calling?

As said in the book The Godfather. "Nothing personal. It's just business." To those who want to lease. If you owned land, how much $ would it take to get you to lease it? Most landowners enjoy their privacy and would only do it if the needed the $. It's kinda like having a spare bedroom in your home. How much would it take for you to rent it out?

From talking to those who do lease their land, they are more reluctant to raise prices to the guys who show up and help him mend fences and work around the place. I've raised a lot of kids on my place and taught them to hunt and fish. Some have moved away but still come from other places to help the old goat fill feeders. Those guys are now grown and are still underfoot.

It’s a bad idea because it gets Big Brother’s nose into what is strictly the business of private property owners.

Owning property doesn’t mean much if someone else can tell you what you can and can’t do with it.

All of that’s kind of elementary.

Zen, I have zero interest in having the government in any of my business. About like letting them pick a Wife for me.

For one your idea requiring all leasing be done through the state is most likely an illegal restraint on trade so it will never happen. Second it’s private property rights. A landowner has as much right to decide who comes into their place and on what conditions as you do to decide who stays in your house. If you want to air bnb out your guest room that’s your business. But do you really think that the government should run that for you and decide who your boarder is going to be if you decide to rent an extra room?

OK next question - sincerely, what do you tell all the poor folks, working for lower minimum wages than I made on my first job, 44-years ago (a direct result of all the low wage illegal alien labor that wont talk back - who, by the way, WILL vote democrat the instant that the folks in Austin make it so - that someone in Texas must be hiring because there are lots of them here), that would like to hunt, but have no family with land nor can afford $6K for a deer - IF they are lucky enough to find an honest guide or lease that actually has game?

I hunt 100% public every year I shoot ducks deer hogs squirrels rabbits there's no reason anyone in Texas cannot do the same you are a crybaby get over it

Name calling only make me think you are an emotional adolescent. Fair is fair.

Fair is a an adolescent dream.

It was a response to your name-calling - I'm not surprised you missed that...

I call it like I see it. Keep playing the victim card it fits you.

Self portrait?

Was it the low wage illegal alien employee thing I mentioned that set you off?

Honestly?

I tell them about all the public land and excellent draw hunts available.
I also tell them networking with other hunters usually leads to some good opportunities if you are a good guy willing to help out others.
Finally, I tell them that the harder you work the more opportunities you will get - in deer hunting and everything else.

As much as we love it, deer hunting is a privilege-not a right.

Thank you! I am glad there are still a few genuine gentlemen-Americans left in this country!

No it's the communism.

I'd say ---> TPWD public lands
---> TPWD

Also, there are many leases available for less than $6000 per season or year, much less for a deer, many outfitters that offer doe & cull hunts for considerably less, several that offer reduced cost youth opportunities.

You have to decide on priorities in life.
Drive $50,000 vehicle but can't afford a place to hunt, have grown up toys but can't afford to hunt, have 3 kids but can only afford to support 1 so you can't afford to hunt.
Have money for beer/alcohol & tobacco, cable/satellite Tv, cell phones ipads, video games, etc... basically anything that isn't a necessity, but you can't afford to hunt.
Stay at a dead end job or stuck in an area with no job growth potential, never trying to improve yourself, can't afford to hunt.
Make generally poor life decisions then blame everyone but the one that made them, you can't afford to hunt.

Seriously if you whine about or focus on what you don't have, instead of the blessings you do have, you'll never be happy, no matter whether you can afford to hunt or not.

Every country on Earth that lives under communism was once ruled by people like you.

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.

There's not a person living in Texas who can't afford to deer hunt if they really want to.

Serious question...do you own anything? Land, house, property, business, etc...anything?

Zen:

I think the difference in your thinking and my thinking is that you look at it as paying to shoot a deer. To me what you're paying for is the habitat, and the improvements to that habitat, that the land owner made. You can find leases in just about every area of Texas for a lot less than $6000 but you aren't going to find a place that has a great deal of investment in the habitat improvement and management plans that it takes to grow huge deer for that price.

Obviously, he wasn't talking about you specifically. He was giving examples...

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