Big Money will hurt Hunting

[35 Whelen]

On a hunt to Kansas recently I was hunting around a lot of leases owned by " Midwest Hunting Adventures" and a kid that has guided for them ran some prices by me for a buck with 160" up to
And over 200". They sell them like you buy a car, so extras cost slot more! Basic 160" around 4 grand. Heavy bases 5.5" plus $1000, brow tines over 6" $1000, drop tine $1000, double drops ( "both earrings": in guides talk) $2000 etc. :shock: Extra 10" of score $1000.
Most of us that hunt wild deer; will never get to see a buck in a lifetime: that will remotely approach
the size of these special bred super bucks, that have been supplemented special foods to promote massive antler growth! Here are what 3 1/2 year olds look like when everything is done that can be
to get super bucks! One on the right will fetch $10,000 and the one on left, "discount special" because he is narrow $7500.
At one time in America, there were know hunters that always shot the monster bucks, and it was known far n wide who they were. But in today's world, any horses a*s that has $10K is easily going
to be able to shoot a once in a lifetime buck, the first hour of the first day of his " hunt" by shooting
"Bruno" the big buck! Kinda gives a guy the heartburn.......... Because the days of the " best hunter"
Having the best trophys has come and gone........... In the future the guys that will lay down the $$$$$ will have the " big ones" :?

 

[truck driver]

In the Future? It's that way now for the most part isn't it?

 

[ozarkpugs]

We have a deer farm just 20 miles from here and you can actually get out of the car and walk up to huge bucks on the other side of the fence . The last time I watched a hunting show the guest and his guide we're in a blind whispering and concerned the big buck in front of them was getting nervous and looking their way then they went to a commercial break and advertised where they were hunting ,yep the tame deer , I have not watched a hunting show since .

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[c. schutte]

You're right,

Anyone can buy a big buck if they have the money. Still can't buy the skills & experience that makes a seasoned hunter.................... that comes in small pieces over a long period of time.

 

[Polaris]

I would add the word "trophy" to your title. There always has been a pay to play game in hunting. No doubt it has escalated in recent decades with advances in breeding and feeding technology and land ownership/lease trends. Used to be who could afford the best travel, guide and outfitter/leases, now it has become somewhat "buy a buck" on many of these leases.

I've never been a trophy hunter, and never will be. I may stumble on a biggie on a large tract of remote public land someday, but it's not my goal going out. If life really does well by me, I may one day own enough private land to effectively manage larger bucks, but I'll never own it in the whitetail trophy hotspots, so it's all relative. I've long quit watching hunting shows. Once in a blue moon I'll stumble on one that is a real fair chase hunt for Western game, but they usually seem to be set on a large lease "down south" with relatively tame deer. Money hunts, doesn't do anything for me.

 

[Europe]

Earle, excellent post and I agree with you. Polaris also makes a good point about adding "trophy" to the thread title.

I will give you an even better --or worse--one Earle. We once ran into a fellow that had several mounts in his home and we ask him where he hunted and about his rifles. He stated "oh I dont have any rifles, I calculated the cost and found it was cheaper and easier to just buy the mounts"

The world is going to he$$ in a hand basket

 

[drakehammer]

Pen raised...let them do it. It ain’t for me and I don’t have that kind of disposable $$$ for that anyway. At least thats not where I choose to spend what I do have. But really who cares? The city slicker wants to kill a bigun’ with no effort in a single hunt and it keeps his non-hunting, potentially dangerous ass out of our way. Problem solved. Its not a race. Its not a competition. What he does isn’t our concern.

I shoot pheasant tower shoots a couple times a year and I love it. But I don’t call it a hunt. Its a shoot...a slaughter if you will. And there’s nothing trophy about it to me but it’s hella fun. Honing wing-shooting skills a little. Helping local farmers make some $$$. It is what it is. I would do the same from time to time with ducks if it were readily available. But I wouldn’t call it a trophy duck hunt. I hunt planted pheasant too with bird dogs because I love to watch my buddy’s Gordon setters work. Its is what it is.

But for me, my deer, ducks, and turkey hunts are all done the old fashioned way. Earned.


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[Anonymous]

I've never been terribly interested in "trophy hunting" for the very reasons you state- these days it's largely a money game.

I do focus on "trophy country"... pulling a nice animal off public land DIY style these days says more about the hunter than inches of antler.

 

[truck driver]

Earle, excellent post and I agree with you. Polaris also makes a good point about adding "trophy" to the thread title.

I will give you an even better --or worse--one Earle. We once ran into a fellow that had several mounts in his home and we ask him where he hunted and about his rifles. He stated "oh I dont have any rifles, I calculated the cost and found it was cheaper and easier to just buy the mounts"

The world is going to he$$ in a hand basket

Glad to see you posting again. >)
Some like to buy them already mounted and then some like to buy the privilege to shoot them.

 

[35 Whelen]

April having hunted Whitetails in Me, Vt, NH, Ny, Ma, Mt, Wy, Ok, I can tell you the bucks I saw in Kansas that were on private leases posted by this Midwest Hunting Adventures, simply blew my mind how massive the antlers
were on some of their 'high dollar' bucks! I run with a bunch of "Whitetail Freaks" that have hunted all over the USA, and to including all the Canadian Province's that have huge bucks, and I have personally Shot some beauty's in both Manitoba and Northern Ontario, but NONE
of us have ever shot a 200" deer in the wild! Lets say the avg is 40 years of hunting and there is 10 of us, thats 400
Years of stalking Whitetail combined, and no one has ever
Done it..............
But one trip to Kansas to the "Horn Factory" on a private lease and $10 grand will take care of that in short order.
400 years on public land cant equal 10 mins for someone
that has never ever hunted in his life.
Pretty sad really, but Hey; welcome to America! Where all the" big racks" on the deer (and alot of the ladies) are all fake in one way or the other....... :wink:

 

[gbflyer]

I was trapped in Texas a couple of years ago in the Hill County visiting relatives. There were deer everywhere, in town, out of town, on the road, etc. Checked on a hunt as the season was on. $900 for a doe, plus the tag. No thanks. $700 to go shoot a hog! Are you kidding me?

 

[Europe]

Earle, your correct on both your points--pun intended.

gbflyer, check out the hunts in Hunt Texas, they go up to 20000.00

Thank you Rodger. Unfortunately it is the lull before the storm. But I am taking advantage of the opportunity and trying to decide whether or not I want to purchase a Merwin & Hulbert 44-40 manufactured in 1887. It still works and is at approx 80% cosmetic wise. Keeps my mind occupied

 

[ShadeTree]

The "real hunters" are still known. The big money hunters and the people leasing up farms to manage deer for hunters are shooting themselves in the foot if they're trying to be impressive. Somebody spends $200,000 or more leasing and managing a farm, somebody else spends $10K on a hunt for a big buck and NOBODY cares anymore what they shoot for exactly the reasons Earle listed in his first post. The gig is up and everybody knows it. So you can sit in a box stand and pull a trigger. Big whup. Might be entertaining but it's not hunting.

There are extenuating circumstances but short of a disabled person or some city kid that wouldn't get the chance otherwise, it's nothing more than paid entertainment.

There's a lot of things I'm not, but I am a hunter. There's been a few years along the way that my empty freezer reminded me of why it's called hunting, and not killing.

 

[tecumseh]

It’s already hurting the hunting industry! Back in 09 I was hunting with two other guys in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and had a run in with an outfitter who demanded to know where we were hiking into hunt because he had clients who paid big money to come hunt and it wasn’t fair to them that we were were on our own and tried telling us where we could and couldn’t go back there. I told him that we’re on public land and had just as much right to be there as they did and we’d go where we damn well pleased!

 

[ethmoid1999]

It's a pretty rampant problem in Texas. I have some acquaintances with large wheat pastures near a canyon. People pay $5-10,000.00 to shoot a big mule deer. I don't blame the rancher. He buys his herd bulls for his ranching operation with deer money. I know the meat was bad. A deer feeding on green wheat will have yellow fat and it won't taste good! I, personally, haven't shot a deer in years. I take my granddaughter and nephews and it's a thrill for them. I love shooting hogs and haven't even shot a coyote or bobcat in years. I think the trophy mount is a status symbol for lots of people. Like several said, skill and hunting ability is not a factor many times. I take friends and their kids every year to shoot meat deer. One horned, etc. They have meat and a nice experience. Same for turkeys. I'm not mad at them anymore.

 

[Europe]

This was mentioned to me and I will "clean up the comment that was made to me a bit" and include it in the discussion here, with of course my opinion and response

Yes, Aleena did hunt the Marco Polo and yes that is an expensive hunt and a trophy hunt, but it is faaaaar from a pen raised hunt. Yes, several members here have hunted Africa and those could be considered trophy hunts, and yes thy can be very expensive. Polar Bear hunts are expensive and would possibly be a trophy hunt, but they are not "pen raised" and anything but an easy hunt.

Are some of us ( me ) being hypocrites ---In my opinion NO, as there is a world of difference between what Earle is talking about in his thread and hunting the thousands of miles of ice looking for a Polar Bear, or hunting the mountains in Asia looking for a Marco Polo, or the plains of Africa looking for a Kudu or Buffalo.

But this is just one old woman's opinion and as I have said before my opinion and a nickel will buy you absolutely nothing

 

[c. schutte]

April,

Spot on as usual. There are different hunts for different folks. I'm pretty sure Aleena did the marco polo because it is a huge challenge and she was up for it. That's all that matters.............


Hope all is well with you........

chs

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting commentary-

I think there's pretty big difference between paying a guide to take you on a wilderness hunt for a free ranging animal and paying to shoot a farmed deer aside from the fact both can be very expensive. Of course, I say this a someone who's never done either.

I've seen a Marco Polo that an acquaintance of an acquaintance shot... pretty neat mount that cost a fortune to hunt. He reckoned it the adventure of a lifetime but the sheep itself was pretty typical of the species. A very ho-hum critter hunted in a very exotic circumstance.

A 200" whitetail isn't typical of the species- even as a "freak of nature"....it's an engineered animal, bred and fed to become that way for one specific purpose- to sell. Quite the opposite of a Marco Polo- it's a spectacular animal hunted under some very "ho-hum" circumstances.

I know what I'd if I had $25k to drop on a hunt and had to pick one of those...

 

[c. schutte]

"if" I had the disposable income to drop $20K on a hunt it sure would not be a whitetail............ and I crave the huge whitetail like nothing else.................. Just not interested in a breeding farm or pen shot. Nothing about that appeals to me. Getting one that is a natural 150" or so would be fantastic.

However, for the big money I would drop it on something special like a moose/bear in Alaska. That would be worth it..................hope to prove it someday. :>)

 

[hunternyny]

Charles and Hodgeman are spot on !

Personally I think it is absurd to compare a free range Marco Polo, Polar Bear, Elephant hunt to a penned up and genetically enhanced Whitetail hunt.

Charles, just south of you are some beautiful Whitetails and beautiful Whitetail country. Texas landscape is so diverse. The difference in the landscape where you live and where Sean use to live is a world apart