What are you going to do today to save hunting?? We lose people every day, and something I looked a today reminded me why.

I got a brochure in the mail from Cabela's properties. Lots of dreams in it. The short version is that you,too, for the paltry sum of 500K-6 or 7 Million $$$ can own your own little slice of paradise in...(insert dream area here- MT, ID, CA, IA, TX, WI, etc..) Now let's look at the price of that compared to the price of a hunt out west. Say you get a cheap piece of property- a basic 40 acre parcel that you find for $1000.00/acre. (good luck!) That's 10 good hunts- 1 a year for ten years! Now, figure you pay this property monthly. Call it $300.00/month. That's 3600.00/year, or an African safari with air fare every other year. If the price is 100K? Cape Buffalo in Tanzania. Banteng in Australia. New Zeland multiple specieshunt- E V E R Y  Y E A R! Don't forget, now that you have that slice of heaven you'll need to pay taxes every year. You probably will want to build a cabin, and now that's the only place you go. Eventually, everything around you is parcelled off and your deer stand backs up to your neighbor's and each of you hope the other won't be out that day and maybe a deer will cross your fenceline.

Now, I hunt.   I hunt a lot.    I also spend a serious amount of money to hunt every year. How many other people are like me? How many people just want to get out a few times a year to be able to enjoy the woods and maybe shoot a few birds? Maybe a deer? How many people out there can't afford to travel out of state to hunt, let alone $975.00 for a nonresident Montana elk tag. And they wonder why game ranches are popular! By the time you figure travel, guide, food, etc. you're into it for about 5 grand to maybe not even see an elk-OR you can go to a fenced ranch, pay 4500.00, and be home on Monday. There is something being seriously lost here, and a lot of us are to blame.

  I've got news for you. Every elk is a trophy. Double if you shot it with a bow. As a matter of fact, I would venture to say that I consider every animal that I have ever harvested to be a trophy. I've had fantastic hunts where we didn't get an animal. That's not the point. The point is, we are losing our roots, our children, and our heritage piece by piece. I don't blame the realtors for marketing and selling it, because somebody's buying it. Before you do, though, I have a question. If a kid in his mid teens knocked on the door of your slice of heaven, would you let him hunt? I would, and I have. If everybody does this for one person, we double the amount of hunters with positive experiences. You may convert that kid into a lifelong hunter. So, I ask you. Do you do your part?

Ace

Tags: Hunting Outdoors Real Estate

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