Land owner conundrum
Wisconsin
We still pretty much have private land ownership, disregard having to pay rent as tax and existing regulations on land use.
I can't really see bashing land owners for anything. Sure they have an advantage, like the guy in his salmon boat out on Lake Michigan v the pier fisherman. If he takes you out in the boat, great! Or you can charter a boat. His ability to have a boat and his decision to do so does not diminish me.
I believe I don't covet other peoples possession. Sure that guy over there has a nice fancy truck, or whatever. But it doesn't harm me or reduce my situation in any way. I just can't have what he has, simple reality.
Who lets everyone come into their home, grab a beer and sammich from the fridge and sit on the couch watching TV while eating and drinking? I have yet to meet them, please hook me up!
The one thing that bothers me is the non hunters who have no desire whatsoever to harvest the resource who sanctuary the deer. If they made this decision because of past abuse then it is the slobs fault, and hard to blame the owner. I am not aware of any reasonable sized parcel anywhere near me that doesn't get hunted, even if only very little.
Then we have public land. Suppose a guy moves to WI and sets up residence. He notices that there is a big national forest near by that if he desires he can hunt for deer.
He decides to hunt, or not, based on what that opportunity is ( likely hood of success, difficulty, herd structure, metrics, whatever) having made himself fully informed by seeking out the available information, scouting himself and so on. It is a choice.
If he hunts he also has the freedom to undertake any legal choice in how he goes about it. He gets what is there. It is what it is.
I don't understand where the idea comes from that there has to be (or should be) more opportunity simply because it is desired. That is where buying land and creating/owning that opportunity comes in. It is not a birth right nor is it attached to a license.
Notwithstanding all that ^ I am not aware of anyone around here at least (who behaves respectable and doesn't have some other disqualifying issue) who can't find a place to hunt.
When I was 18 or 19 I went door to door for a few weeks asking permission to hunt on people's land in western Racine county. I struck out at every single door. Some people just flat out said no, others would give some sort of explanation (not that they needed to). So I just hunted the very small parcels of public land there after work. I wasn't alone...there were plenty of other guys in there hammering it to so it wasn't long before it felt like it was busted up.
I slowly fell away from hunting but started to do more fishing (pier) even though I enjoyed hunting more. Once or twice I'd get invited to go to the UP to hunt which was fun but that was it. It wasn't until a couple years ago I decided I was going to make a more concerted effort to hunt again. I had a different mindset to...I just wanted to be out there. So...because of the longer season I picked up archery something I told myself years ago I would never do.
I wonder how many other guys grew up hunting up north but lived in the urban areas of the state that once the former deer camps of their father's and grandfathers were no more couldn't find a place to hunt and have never returned.
I don't know what private land cost (as a percentage of your salary) back in the 60's but I honestly can't see myself taking out a $200k mortgage to have my own hunting land. Eventually the land prices might fall again as less people hunt I suppose. Instead I have just a "foothold" 5 acres a few miles down the road from public forest.
I don't really blame landowners not wanting strangers hunting on their property though, times are different...its 2018 and not 1968. Plenty of solid people out there but just enough yahoos to make it tough for others.
Tweed . To answer one of your questions . In 1970 4 of us bought a 40 with a house & barn 1\2 wooded in Shawno county for $ 1700 . we sold it in 1975 for 9000 & thought we made a killing . With we still had it .
No that I sold the farm I hunt public mostly . Good spots out their but yea gotta work for them .
Oh my wages as a pipe fitter in 1970 were 3.68 an hour as a union apprentice.
So you bought a 40 for a quarter of your annual salary (assuming no OT). Man....that sounds sweet!
Had lots of OT . The brewery's were exploding. Bought a 1968 Z28 for 3800 . Payments were 85 a month .
I remember when I hunted one of the western states I needed a "stamp" to hunt public land. Wasn't much, if I remember right, but still needed. Perhaps Wisconsin needs something of the sort. In Pierce County we have little if no "public" land. Wondering where the guys are that oppose the government providing anything on the public dole
I'm not saying this is you but I read something on the Illinois thread complaining about private landowners and CRP. Bear with me as I'm going to rant for a minute.
I deer hunted at a hunt club where it was decent but there would be 5-7 guys hunting a 40 acre lot of land. In my opinion this was not safe so we my dad and I hunted a tree row on a corn field. It was not too bad and we killed a few deer but I always wanted my own spot.
For a few years I saved my butt off and decided to hunt public land. During the peak of the recession in 2009 I finally found a piece of land I wanted. It's in central Illinois (where I'm from) so I took a loan out and bought 45 acres for 103K. I continued to save my money and a couple years ago I bought 15 more acres for roughly 55k. So now I have 60 acres for my dad, brother, and I to hunt on. My plan is to buy 10 more acres next year but we'll see.
This was my goal, what I wanted to do. I set my goal to do this and stuck to it because I love hunting and this way nobody can take it away from me. It is one of the best choices I have ever made. I make money on the CRP and tillable ground which is nice.
I told my wife the farm will be worth just as much as the house so when we die we will leave one child the house and one the farm and they can do whatever they would like.
I don't like to hear how you have to be rich or how lucky I am because I'm a landowner. I work/ed hard to have what I have. This is something a lot of people can do if they put there mind to it and stick to the goal.
Would I let other people hunt my property, kinda. On a different site I offered my land for anyone to take their child out for the youth gun season. One person expressed interest but that was it.
When it's all said and done I spent my hard earned money on my farm so I can do whatever I'd like with it.
Sorry for the but I had to.
Getting access to private land in Wisc. is like pulling teeth. Far harder than other states...every family has hunters in their family somewhere or hunt themselves....not so much in other states. They take their hunting land SERIOUSLY in Wisc.
When I was a teenager i went around and asked to hunt and trap lands. At one time when I was 17 I had access to over 8000 acres. One older landowner looked and smiled. He owned 600 acres for logging. He said no one ever asked me before go right ahead. That was in 1978. By 1984 I and my family were down to 2000 including a 900 acre piece open to all owned by a family forever, that now lived out of town and another Illinois person that owned 330. We shot a big buck on opening morning on the backside of a farm we always had permission to hunt. That ended that piece. 400 acres gone. Our dad worked for the WDNR and seen posted land and access declining down south and moving North. He encouraged (told) us to buy our own land or we would ave no where to hunt someday soon. We started in 1985. We bought up a few pieces one of substantial size. We sold everything for this purchase to make the down payment plus made payments on the down payments for 6 months plus the regular payment at 10% interest. We left it all open to everyone as we had happen for us. Unfortunately many ruined that for us and all others. I cannot begin to tell you the stories of issues, we would need hours and a few beers. So now we have our own piece of paradise. Some day our children and grandchildren may have what my brother and I have we hope. We are very close and will always be, Dad new what he was doing when he led us down this path. It cost us a lot and has cost in ways out side of money. But it worth every cent and everything. We sacrificed a lot of things and have no regrets.
I have suggested a fee for public land use many times. Most people just about come unglued over it. They want to bitch about how poor public land is. But they don't want to make any kind of sacrifices to improve it.
State trails and parks require a sticker....so make needing a sticker extend to any state owned land?
Screwball- you posted pics in the past of your land....what a great thing you have.
The problem is a lot of the people that hunt public land do it because they could never own private. Due to the majority of these people never having earned anything themselves. They treat public land and its other users with no respect.
Awfully broad brush you're painting with.....
Ridiculous last comment, Rut...
I didn't say ALL, so not that broad of a brush.
Rut, that's an interesting opinion you have for most people on public land.
"Rut, that's an interesting opinion you have for most people on public land."
Noc, you should know by now I'm not talking about people that hunt like you or most of the serious guys on the Beast. But you know as well as I do that that is the minority. While I am serious about what public land hunting I do. The majority of my hunting, easily 90% is done on private. That is why I don't include myself in with the serious "Beast" types. Yet I am far from the public land slobs I encounter. People can call it what they want. But it is my experience that if people don't have to work for something. They don't have much respect for it. I just call it like I see it.
RnS--- It's my experience that most rich folk that own all the land n continue to buy more r the slobes. Nobody can b a hunter these days without being MR. SERIOUS/at least to the horn only hunters. Most public land hunters won't own land do to the rich folk buying it all up so they can grow their bucks... I've worked very hard for all I've got and respect others that r less fortunate. Or maybe u have never been in their position and had only public to hunt. Odds say u worked so very hard to buy as much land as possible to keep to urself.. Until we remember how to share lay off the public land guy..... ODDS SAY HE WON'T KILL UR BUCK ANYWAYS// IF U CAN KEEP UM FROM RUNNING OFF THAT IS. LMAO
Fair enough: I believe there are 5 % of people littering the lands. 90% walk over it and 5% that pick it up. Anyone reading this. Where do you fall under? I see trash on public and private. I have spent my fair share cleaning others shit on both sides of the fence.
I would say it's more like 30/60/10.
I also say anyone can buy land. Life is all about choices. If you want land, make it a priority.
I carry 2 contractor bags every time I scout public land. It's rare that I don't at least partially fill one.
"If you want land, make it a priority."
Very well stated.
Well your a good man rut and skook you can group it however you like. The point is, that it's a problem on most public. Some areas it's the locals. Fish the river system by me and it's the FIBS.
Noc, the FIB's are thick up here in the summer/fall and there is a correlation between that and more garbage around the lakes.
I find it interesting that there is a lot of private land bashers on this site that in turn get upset about people bashing public land hunters. I am 31 years old. I bought my first piece of land (50 acres) at age 19, my 2nd piece (40 acres) at 21, my 3rd piece (43 acres) at 27 and now my 4th piece (100 acres) at age 31. I still own all 4 and I don't have a big fancy job (I work in Law Enforcement) but the money I have made has gone to land payments my whole life. I don't drive a big fancy vehicle, or have a snowmobile or a boat or a 200,000 dollar home...but I also didn't make those things a priority in my life. I always wanted to have my own land to hunt and that was what was important to me. I find it absolutely ridiculous that people will then go and talk badly about people who have bought and paid for their own land with their own hard earned money (private land owners don't give anyone access yadda yadda yadda.) I just don't get why we cant just hunt and let people do things the way they do them. If you want land to hunt there is land for sale every day, trust me I check real estate sites religiously. Go out and get some of your own or stop putting people down that have done so.
+1, it is all about priorities.
Grinder-could not agree more. If you want a "quality hunt" (you define that) you need to pony up the cash or hunt the runts on the public stuff. Bowhunting for larger animals is not for everyone both in the effort put forth and the physical limitations. Chances your gramma is not cut for hunting with a bow nor do I know how much longer i'll be able to do it either. If you cannot muster up the ability to pull 35 pounds or so just be content to pull the few pounds that it takes to pull a rifle trigger. It is what it is , again my $.02-LC
I agree with grinder, I did the same thing, but used the money on hunts that needed to be done, while I was young enough to do them,,,,, you don't chase sheep or elk when you retire,,,,,,,,,, I also have a lot of private land,,,,,,,,,,
However, no disrespect to LC, but 2 of my biggest bucks came from public land,,,,, some guys can just shoot, but some guys can just hunt, and it makes no difference how much land you have,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
