Decline of hunting opportunities (onx articles)

[idaho guy]

Invest in dirt and hunt your own critters. The south figured that out years ago with the lack of quality public land. It just takes a focused goal and a budget.

While I agree that buying property is always a good thing I PRAY we in the NW ever have to move to the leased land system like they do in the South. I’ve lived in the south (Arkansas/Alabama/Texas) for 11 out of the last 18 years and I can tell you personally that leases and hunting clubs SUCK. You have to follow the clubs”rules” and then designate which stand or area you plan to hunt blah blah blah. It’s not real hunting. Like others posted above, I could care less to harvest an animal, I just enjoy family, friends, guns and beer. Not necessarily in that order. As I’ve gotten older I mainly hunt on my property or families property but the option to hunt on vast swathes of public land is a unique thing to the west and we should fight to keep it! I will say the only thing that annoys me out here is people with OnX who make it their lives work to access land locked public ground. Let the land owners enjoy their fruits.

You had me until your last sentence, the ability to buy some dirt should not entitle you or anyone else to dirt that is owned by the public trust any more than the rest of us. Allowing the landowners to enjoy “their fruits” as you say is a long ways from what you seem to be implying in that elitist statement.


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Agreed everything made sense till disliking people finding access to public ground with on x? Kinda backwards if you love the ability to freely roam public land out west, one of the biggest issues to maintaining that freedom is unlocking public land cut off by private. Confused

[follow maggie]

Invest in dirt and hunt your own critters. The south figured that out years ago with the lack of quality public land. It just takes a focused goal and a budget.

While I agree that buying property is always a good thing I PRAY we in the NW ever have to move to the leased land system like they do in the South. I’ve lived in the south (Arkansas/Alabama/Texas) for 11 out of the last 18 years and I can tell you personally that leases and hunting clubs SUCK. You have to follow the clubs”rules” and then designate which stand or area you plan to hunt blah blah blah. It’s not real hunting. Like others posted above, I could care less to harvest an animal, I just enjoy family, friends, guns and beer. Not necessarily in that order. As I’ve gotten older I mainly hunt on my property or families property but the option to hunt on vast swathes of public land is a unique thing to the west and we should fight to keep it! I will say the only thing that annoys me out here is people with OnX who make it their lives work to access land locked public ground. Let the land owners enjoy their fruits.

You had me until your last sentence, the ability to buy some dirt should not entitle you or anyone else to dirt that is owned by the public trust any more than the rest of us. Allowing the landowners to enjoy “their fruits” as you say is a long ways from what you seem to be implying in that elitist statement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

   

Agreed everything made sense till disliking people finding access to public ground with on x? Kinda backwards if you love the ability to freely roam public land out west, one of the biggest issues to maintaining that freedom is unlocking public land cut off by private. Confused

 

[HooknoseHunter]

My comments were very elitist. That’s not who I am and I regret them. Good luck and God bless to everyone on the site.

[Wphunt]

This goes back to some stuff Matt Rinella talked about. I don’t agree with everything he had to say but a lot of it I did. There probably aren’t more hunters than there have been historically. There are way more hunters going farther and hunting more though. There are more guys coming from the east but there are also a bunch of guys with YouTube channels getting 3+ elk tags per year, plus deer antelope etc. That makes more people from the east travel west to hunt and more people try to be influencers, eating up all of the tags. I have no problem with people hunting out of state or coming from the east or guiding/outfitting. A bunch of people trying to make a living by killing more than they  need of a very limited resource is what I do have an issue with. Some “influencers” do a better job than others. The content focused more on instruction is good and a few do a good job with the “why” of hunting. A lot of others are just about kill shots every week. I go back and forth on this, but it for sure eats up tags.

[idaho guy]

This goes back to some stuff Matt Rinella talked about. I don’t agree with everything he had to say but a lot of it I did. There probably aren’t more hunters than there have been historically. There are way more hunters going farther and hunting more though. There are more guys coming from the east but there are also a bunch of guys with YouTube channels getting 3+ elk tags per year, plus deer antelope etc. That makes more people from the east travel west to hunt and more people try to be influencers, eating up all of the tags. I have no problem with people hunting out of state or coming from the east or guiding/outfitting. A bunch of people trying to make a living by killing more than they  need of a very limited resource is what I do have an issue with. Some “influencers” do a better job than others. The content focused more on instruction is good and a few do a good job with the “why” of hunting. A lot of others are just about kill shots every week. I go back and forth on this, but it for sure eats up tags.
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[highcountry_hunter]

I've pretty much decided to give up on hunting in 2022 due to declining opportunities and less enjoyment. I only plan on going after whitetail deer in Illinois and that's it. I'd rather spend my time fishing. I hate the point schemes (they are not systems), declining numbers of places to hunt, units, limited seasons, too many rules, and excessive fees. I'll go buy beef in the store.

Nothing against you personally, but these are the kinds of comments I love to see. One less person in the already overcrowded woods.

[huntnnw]

I've pretty much decided to give up on hunting in 2022 due to declining opportunities and less enjoyment. I only plan on going after whitetail deer in Illinois and that's it. I'd rather spend my time fishing. I hate the point schemes (they are not systems), declining numbers of places to hunt, units, limited seasons, too many rules, and excessive fees. I'll go buy beef in the store.

Nothing against you personally, but these are the kinds of comments I love to see. One less person in the already overcrowded woods.

yup! thats someone who doesnt live for it. Thats something Id never say or do.

[pickardjw]

It's a bit ironic to me that OnX are writing these types of articles. IMO mapping software like OnX is a significant factor in the increasing number of hunters out West. Really makes its own gravy as Steve Rinella would say.

Create software that makes it easier for people to hunt public land out West -> write articles about how many new hunters are doing DIY public land hunting out West.

[Wphunt]

Something I am going to try one of these years is hunting east. I have some family in Tennessee and they seem to have a deer problem. A non resident license is 305$. That gets you 2 bucks and 4+ does as well as turkey, small game etc. Their deer season is almost 100 days long too. I could probably fly there and harvest several deer for less than an Idaho deer tag.

[Special T]

Something I am going to try one of these years is hunting east. I have some family in Tennessee and they seem to have a deer problem. A non resident license is 305$. That gets you 2 bucks and 4+ does as well as turkey, small game etc. Their deer season is almost 100 days long too. I could probably fly there and harvest several deer for less than an Idaho deer tag.

I hunted Arkansas and had a great time. A friend secured several pieces for us to hunt and if your shooting does I would think permission would be easier

[Sundance]

I'm just happy that I rarely hear people say "going out of state this year to Washington". I'm not saying we have a great state for hunting, but poor statistics definitely keeps new hunters from exploring our opportunities.

[Stein]

Something I am going to try one of these years is hunting east. I have some family in Tennessee and they seem to have a deer problem. A non resident license is 305$. That gets you 2 bucks and 4+ does as well as turkey, small game etc. Their deer season is almost 100 days long too. I could probably fly there and harvest several deer for less than an Idaho deer tag.

Me too, Virginia in the fall.  Tags OTC, you can buy more than you want for a reasonable cost and tons of deer.  My brother has permission all around, many people seem happy to allow hunting on their property.  Little to no public, but I look forward to a totally different style of hunting.

[WSU]

I did my first out of state hunt last year in Montana.  I've been meaning to for years but didn't for a number of reasons.  It didn't seem all that crowded to me unless you were on the road.  Anything that couldn't be driven to was basically devoid of people.

[Ironhead]

I'm just happy that I rarely hear people say "going out of state this year to Washington". I'm not saying we have a great state for hunting, but poor statistics definitely keeps new hunters from exploring our opportunities.

This statement cracked me up.
 

[Sundance]

I'm just happy that I rarely hear people say "going out of state this year to Washington". I'm not saying we have a great state for hunting, but poor statistics definitely keeps new hunters from exploring our opportunities.

This statement cracked me up.

It sounds silly, but then name a state where you can buy an OTC tag and hunt whitetail, mule deer, or blacktail over a 3-1/2 week period with a rifle with that single tag.