Different take on Public/Private land
General Topic
So here’s a different take on the Public/Private debate...
According to this article, there are farmers & ranchers who are not really allowing hunting on their property, and who are complaining about having to support overgrown herds of big game on their land.
So Private landowners are creating a problem by turning their land into sanctuaries and now they’re not happy with the consequences.
And even less happy with their neighbors who allow no hunting at all.
Do they think that carnivores are going to follow the food supply, move into their holdings and eat Fast Elk instead of Slow?
Funny that ranchers used to want predator control; now they need prey base control; and if they won’t let Hunters do it, they’re going to need predator control again.
Is it just me, or is the future looking a lot more S. African than N. American?
Where I live I had several farms that allowed hunting and allowed access to hunt coyotes in the winter. Gradually the old farmers passed and their kids sold out to rich city people that want the country life. They don't farm but lease out to big outfits that farm numerous properties and the new owners are dead set against hunting of any kind. I am now down to one farm I can hunt and even he gets grief from his neighbours for allowing hunting. Now I see more coyotes than ever and some complain about how bold they are. Still a lady told me she would rather have coyote get her precious fee fee than allow me to shoot the poor coyotes that are only natural in nature unlike me lol Weird way of thinking to me but their all millionaires so they must know something I don't !
Timber hunter. Canada still allows millionaires?
Most of the ranchers in the article seemed to allow hunting although many had neighbors that did not. Many people that don't farm cannot understand the damage that certain wildlife can cause. Here in Arkansas until the Game and Fish finally gave in and opened a season on their pet elk, we were getting one hay crop where we used to get two. Gardens were being destroyed and many of our older people were depending on those gardens. I can only imagine the problem in Montana and places where there are many times the number of elk.
Next problem is when you allow hunting, there are liabilities that go along with that. Someone gets hurt, they can sue - and win. There have even been cases where trespassers won the liability lawsuit. It doesn't take very many slob hunters to cost money from leaving gates open, tearing up fields etc with vehicles, leaving fires unattended and burning acres of vegetation, and yes, even shooting livestock.
There is not an easy fix to the problem, I can see both sides very well.
One thing’s for dead certain, and that’s that nobody EVER solved a problem by refusing to look at ALL sides of it.
Like the guy who slaughtered off the hundred-odd deer on his property; the people who turned him in are probably the same people who helped create the problem by not allowing anyone to hunt on THEIR property, and how much you wanna bet that they aren’t farming for a living on that posted land?
@Timberhunter - Don’t worry, just give it time. Once your neighbor lady has seen the bill for the unsuccessful attemp to stitch Fifi back together and she has been through the trauma of seeing her torn apart, she’ll likely have a flash of insight into the matter.
It’s just like with the wolves in that piece by Val Geist; if we would choose to only kill off the bold & the curious, the rest of them would be a lot better behaved. Trap lines and predator calling kill more of them, but it’s more effective to shoot/shoot AT the troublemakers whenever they turn up where they don’t belong.
They have ways of marking their territory and we need to mark our own.
I know a rancher/outfitter who tried to sue his new next door neighbor for not allowing rifle elk hunting. The new neighbor allows bowhunting only, and the outfitter claimed he was hoarding elk during rifle season. Which he was, sort of. But strangely enough, it isn't against the law to "not" hunt.
When you own land you own all the risks and problems associated with it. You're responsible for such things as taxes, insurance, signs, pollutants (such as chemicals that wash downstream), and invasives. I spend a great deal of time and money fighting sericea and Johnson grass. Some counties mandate control of these plants (on your own land), and sometimes you take measures to control it just because it's the responsible thing to do. The right of ownership affords you many controls over the land but in my opinion complaining about something you purchased is ridiculous. If I have a deer problem... I either purchased the wrong land, or I should look at options to fix it. Pick the options that fit me and my situation best noting that it may not be perfect but it might work. Complaining is never the solution, and asking the government or the neighbors to fix my problems isn't right.
"asking the government or the neighbors to fix my problems isn't right." Have you lost your mind Catscratch? {sarcasm} Shamefully, that's not how far too many Americans think these days.
Crazy... isn't it Bow Bullet!?! Yet I see it all the time where people want to fix their problems by controlling another person, or just plain old asking for a handout. Personal responsibility for your situation is becoming somewhat rare, while shifting blame to someone else is becoming more common. See it all the time. :(
Gets awfully tangled, doesn’t it?
Here in CT, I have taken some heat for suggesting that suburban homeowners on 2-acre lots have no public duty to harbor a huntable deer population - which is an idea that even an Anti can get behind, after he has re-landscaped the whole property a time or two...
But suggest to them that the way to keep the herd down to “unhuntable” levels is to ALLOW HUNTING on THEIR place... yeah, sure.
Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of the New People out west have no clue about being a good neighbor and - as is so manifestly The Thing To Do these days - rather than trading mocassins for a few miles, they just (gleefully, it seems) write off any/everyone who disagrees with them as an irrational,unreasoning Idiot... never once checking the mirror for a resemblance.
And I’m sitting here 2000 miles away looking at that guy who only allows Bowhunting and is (clearly) hoarding Elk on his place during Rifle... and if he wants my tax dollars to pay for the hay those Elk are eating, he can take that depredation claim and STUFF IT!
