From what I read on this forum ya'll must not have much to report about hunting in your state or am I mislead by the triumvirate we have representing your respective states in this forum?

Pardon me for butting in Muygrande as I have never deer hunted in Montana or South Carolina, although of course that shouldn't matter. There are some tremendous bucks taken each year in S. Carolina for sure. The hard way. The Barta way. Here is a picture of a monster SC buck.

One down, two to go!

M16 you have made my day. I had the Big Boss come runnin to see what was wrong with me when I came out with the big belly LMAO!

Way cool!

alright, i'll bite. i'll even delete my smartass reply above.....

standby....

no feeders...



no supplements or genetic manipulations...



no fences....



no phony "hunt" against tame livestock....



no thousands spent just for the opportunity to see an animal....



no greedy landowners...



true family traditions that mean something, rather than artificial bullshit....

Bowhunting using a GDamn dog and a compound bow? That ain't the Barta way.

That is great, now that didn't hurt so much?

Would have to ask if not our own Uncle Sam, your landowner, is not greedy?

by the way - any of y'all have an open invitation to come up here and give real hunting a try. i'd be more than happy to help a fellow hunter discover what it is REALLY about.

quote:

Would have to ask if not our own Uncle Sam, your landowner, is not greedy?

when it comes to hunting, i'd have to say no.

I would say otherwise. My bank account tells me we all pay rather handsomely for that benefit and much more than any landowner hijacks from my pocket for leasing land to hunt in the Golden Triangle of Texas.

i can pay less than 20$ each for a pronghorn tag, an elk tag and a deer "a" tag (either sex, either species) with the option to buy quite a few "b" (antlerless) tags for around 10$ each. 10 or 15$ in gass on top of that plus the cost of ammunition (not much at all when reloaded) and my freezer is so full i am begging my parents for freezer space.

that's not expensive at all.

I was of course relating to federal income tax that most of us pay. This is of course federal land you are hunting is it not?

Yeah, our tag cost is only $65 annually for five deer in most counties. Also includes fishing license, and other required stamps.

very little (if any) land hunted by me is federal. i do hunt some state land that is adjacent to private (school sections etc.). the lion's share (well over 90%) of my hunting is done on private land. knocking on a door and asking permission does wonders.

i remember one old fellow who lived on a farm near a town i lived in a few years ago. i drove by his palce every time i went to hunt public land, and would always see deer on his fields. i knew that opportunities must be even better away from the roads. i stopped and knocked on his door and he invited me in. over coffee, he not only gave permission, but asked me to make sure i brought my kids out. he said that he'd been hunting all his life and had passed the tradition on to his children, and would be more than happy to help another family preserve the tradition. i offered to bring the kids by in the spring, summer and fall to assist with any chores, and he wouldn't hear any of it, though he appreciated the offer.

the important thing is that when you combine federal, state and private land available to hunters, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of acres are available without paying a single red cent. as for taxes and public land, everyone pays them.

quote:

Originally posted by tasunkawitko:

the important thing is that when you combine federal, state and private land available to hunters, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of acres are available without paying a single red cent. as for taxes and public land, everyone pays them.

so is it the mony that bothers you how much it costs to hunt here?

i didn't say that.

personally, i feel that hunting is in danger of becoming a "rich man only" sport, but that is not solely a problem of texas.

im not rich not even close and I dont hunt in any way I think you would find objectionable if you tried it. I dont care how you hunt if its legal it is to a standard set by your comunity. I guess if you had the same attitude there would be no rub here. maybe you should come down here and try it.

crusher - if i were in texas, i'd give it a try; and i am sure that on a one-to-one basis, any of us would get along very well out on the field or at a campfire over a beer.

but legal isn't always ethical and ethical isn't always legal. we all have very specific and fundamental ideas about what hunting is, and just as importantly, what it isn't. obviously, much of what is going on down there (and elsewhere, i am sure) is not seen as hunting by others.

it may be the legal, but we all know that politicians who make the laws are either subject to the influence of the wealthy or outright crooks and on top of that, state wildlife agencies will do whatever can be done to squeeze an extra dollar.

when you take all that away, you are left with a hunter carrying a weapon and a game animal. the definition of hunting begins there, not ends.

a simple internet search yield thousands of results for minnesota.If I wasnt home with the flu Id find many more.Go to google .com and type in
" minnesota biggest bucks".here is but one.You may have to look around ,but that is the essence of hunting,rather than everything coming to
the feeder to you http://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/trophybucks/naw_aa901minnesotamonarch/

To answer your question: The deer hunting is awesome in general. However, if you want a big buck you've got to pay or work your tail off. Very few hunters take really big bucks either regularly or ever. Lots and lots of decent sized bucks to be had, though. I've been at it fairly hard for over 20 years and have one very nice mule deer and a few nice 5x5 white tails that aren't too bad. I take decent antelope almost every year but walk in several miles, bone them out and pack them out (8 miles total on a nice 14 1/2 incher last weekend, worth every step). The guy in the office next to me takes big elk, deer and antelope every year. He works his arse off, travels all over the state scouting most weekends, isn't married anymore and pays FAR more in gear, hotels, gas and maintenance than flying to Texas and wacking a big one on a hunting ranch. He just likes to be outside; who can blame him?

Sunday (opening day) was crawling with hunters all over the public land around here. Dangerous, crowded, etc. unless you were way out of town and way off the road. Other federal/state lands in remote parts of the state are almost empty and great to hunt on.

Tas and Texans:

Tas:
"no greedy landowners" Tas, what the?? I know you've got it good up on the High Line but around Bozeman and all the way East and West on I90 that's about all there is; greedy landowners from the Silicon Valley. It was good 10 years ago, it sucks now and its getting worse. Get ready up there. You need tons of money to hunt private land around here. I agree with the rest of your comments, this is an awesome place to live and hunt. Block management is awesome.

Texans:
I've hunted around the Hill Country for pigs. Very reasonable cost, awesome country, no regrets other than I didn't come home with a pig. I'd do it again in a second. Gotta get me a pig!

The amount we all pay towards the feds for everything (land, defense, medicare/medicade (the biggest portion!) subsidies for oil companies (in fees not paid), defense contractors, agricultural income (about 1/3 of ag income is federal subsidies)) is big, but the portion we all pay for Fed lands is relatively small. Also, it's offset by logging, grazing and use fees and the RELATIVE overall budget's small. The game management fees associated with federal lands are paid by each state (feds gave the state's the responsibility for game management).

So...from a Montana perspective the fed lands are great to hunt on as long as you get away from the crowds which isn't too aweful hard if you can drive a few hours and hike way off the road.

My opinions only.

quote:

around Bozeman and all the way East and West on I90 that's about all there is;

certainly true, al - i guess i forgot about that as i'm a few hundred miles away from i-90. in spite of that, however, i'd say that the uncounted acres of public land (and BMA) more than makes up for it.

even when i had the misfortune to live near great falls (stockett/sand coulee area), there were hundreds of opportunities for very nice deer on thousands of acres of land. i saw many just driving home from work, and pictured below is one that a friend took in 2004. he lives on i-15 between great falls and helena, which is certainly full of bozeman/red lodge types. cost that he paid to hunt on this land: zero....



as for big bucks, they can be found if one is will ing to hunt for them, as you know. the decent buck in the back of the truck in my first post is my #2 son's first deer, taken on land that cost us nothing to hunt and less than 5 miles from home. it can only get better from there!

And a big Texas welcome to my post and number two has surfaced albeit with some reservations. Actually, I am looking for internet users on this forum to rescue you not google up a bunch of internet BS, but I appreciate your pointing me in that direction.

Flu is rampant even in Texas. Get well soon so that you can participate on equal footing with the rest of us. I truly detest shooting the wounded!

quote:

as for big bucks, they can be found if one is will ing to hunt for them, as you know

Or use a parachute to find them.

quote:

I truly detest shooting the wounded!

muygrande -

past disagreements aside, i entered this conversation openly and in good faith in an effort to bridge the gap between our two philosophies. if you're up to mischief, consider me out of it.

quote:

Or use a parachute to find them.

none of the bad boys pictured above required a parachute, m16.

mt Al, thanks for joining the discussion as I was beginning to think the great state of Montana was more short of people than it is.

Glad you have had the opportunity to visit and hunt in Texas. The Hill Country is truly overrun with hogs and smallish whitetails. As I type I look out my back windows and see a few beginning to mill about. Trips into the office around 5ish are getting tricky as the guys are getting into that "who cares, I am on a mission" mentality. We have many run into cars each week/day this time of year.

Did you hunt feral hogs or Russians on your visit? Best of luck on your hunts and thanks for sharing your local knowledge.

quote:

none of the bad boys pictured above required a parachute, m16.

To clear things up I didn't mean to imply that you used a parachute. Although I have never hunted deer in Montana it appears to be a common practice on public land no fences country. Quite shocking to those of us who would never use a parachute to locate and kill an animal.

m16 - a word of advice:

drugs are bad for the brain....

Now TAS don't be going getting defensive on me just when others are beginning to shed a little light on these subjects.

I don't believe jb's first post, at which I reacted, was in a "share the truth" theme.

alright, MG -

i'll keep the marshmallow in my mouth a little longer, but there's something that definitely tastes like BRONZE under there.....

You're right of course. It's not fair for me to condemn everybody in the good state of Montana for the use of parachutes. But on the other hand it seems to be a common practice here to chastise everybody in the state of Texas for the actions of a few.

m16 - please tell me taht you're drunk. if you are, it would excuse this extremely feeble attempt at drawing a moral parallel.

quote:

m16 - please tell me taht you're drunk.

No I'm not drunk. Looks like you got bit in the ass though.

A little off topic but it is my thread so give me a little space.

Some geography lesson on "high fence" in Texas. A great majority of the high fence operations in Texas range from Hwy 90 west out of San Antonio to Mexico. It then extends to the south and east from Hwy 90 acroos IH 35 from Dilly to Mexico and then further South and east along Hwy 83 to Hwy 281, roughly covering a total of less than 1/8 of the state in total coverage or about 30,000 square miles. Certainly all of this is not high fence. In total this is about 19,000,000 acres, yeah a lot of acres but not much of Texas. Of these acres probably less than 10% if high fenced or say 1,900,000 acres. Yeah still a lot of land but at least it is in some form of perception for you when those who choose to put ALL Texas hunting inside a "high fence". Perhaps someone in the business is able to better define the situation.

No not a defense but perspective.

MG
i talked with a state biologist... less than .1% of the land area of texas is high fenced...

Thanks, but do you have the decimal correct? With 250,000 sq mi that would be only 250 sq mi or 160,000 ac. Is my math correct? Sounds pretty low to me.

is the parachute in case they fall off their soap box

Let's see, if we use the standards set by KSTEPHENS, then what follows mus be how hunting is done in ALL of South Carolina:

From D. Petzal/written for Field & Stream:

As it turned out, South Carolina was the ideal place to build such a rifle because it’s the home of hunters who shoot whitetails over beanfields and make a specialty of long, long shots from tower blinds.
---

Down In Smoke
By Kevin Brunstein

I had just put my binoculars down when I noticed movement across the beanfield.
---

From Craig Boddington/Petersen's Hunting:
I found myself on a whitetail stand at Kenny's Cowden Plantation. South Carolina has plenty of deer but isn't known for huge bucks. So while I had no expectations of a monster, I did hope to wring out a Jarrett rifle on a respectable buck--or two or three, South Carolina having no limit on the number of deer you can kill.
On Cowden Plantation a buck must have a 16-inch outside spread before you can kill it. I didn't plan to be picky beyond that, so I expected success. On the other hand, we're dealing with whitetails, and the cover is incredibly thick, the swamps nearly impenetrable. If the deer aren't moving, there isn't much you can do about it.


I sat in the woods, and I sat over soybean fields. There was plenty of sign, and I saw a few does, but I didn't have to worry about that 16-inch spread rule because I never saw a buck to shoot.


-----------------------------------

And for Montana, using Tasunkawitko's similar standards, this is how it happens there:

from Realtree: At the Milk River, you hunt over these giant alfalfa fields that can span more than 100 acres.

from Huntingnet.com: Taylor had estimated one of the bucks to be around 150 or so inches, as he walked past and then back through well before light. As the early morning sun started to shed some shooting light on the alfalfa field, Taylor began to see several deer and a few bucks. About a half hour after shooting light, Taylor noticed a shooter about 60 or more yards out in the field from his setup.

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quote:

Originally posted by muygrande:
Thanks, but do you have the decimal correct? With 250,000 sq mi that would be only 250 sq mi or 160,000 ac. Is my math correct? Sounds pretty low to me.

you are right.. .01, or 1%

Without leaving out jb and Minnesota:

Check out the MANY hunting "preserves" that Minnesota offers...

The link is on the right-center of the page.

With jb's own logic about Texas, I guess it would be fair to say that jb MUST hunt on a preserve, right jb???