LAST EDITED ON Sep-05-07 AT 10:21AM (MST)[p]Ooo, I may not want to step in to this, but I will....
Several years ago, I shot a tremendous buck on a CWMU.I did buy the landowner tag, normally out of my consideration, but the guy made me an offer I could both afford and not refuse. The story was featured in Eastman's. I took a lot of heat from some strangers that had seen the buck in the magazine. The heat came in the form of 'you are less of a hunter because it was private land, that buck was practically tame'. Nevermind the fact that the area wasn't fenced (albeit a few pastures with three-strand), and that the buck was probably from Colorado and had fled the open bowhunt there to rest on this land, and I just plain got lucky. He died within sight of the border, as a matter of fact. Despite all that, and the fact that I did my time scouting, did my public service by helping the landowner post the checkerboard nightmare this CWMU was, that buck is still thought of as 'easy' and I am considered somehow less of a hunter. A friend of mine stalked a bull moose that spent his day eating the local golf course back to his bed and shot him in his bed on public land, and you should have seen the uproar about the 'tame moose'.
Fast forward a bit. Antelope tag in a unit with mixed private and BLM. Did my research again and found landlocked BLM within the private. Did my public service again and obtained permission to trespass through. Killed the buck on BLM, but within private (again, open range with 3-strand). Am I again somehow less of a hunter? Was that buck somehow less of a challenge? I can tell you he was not, it took me 3 stalks over 3 days to finally put a hole in him.
While I agree that taking an animal on high-fence is not hunting in my book, and having 12 sub-guides sleep on a buck or bull somehow diminishes the experience, these are my own opinions. Wildlife has fueled a new economy, one that eventually the average Joe like me and you will not be able to afford. There will always be those who can buy tags, and those who cannot, but the gap seems to be growing, just as we are, and the land adjacent to public land keeps shrinking while trophy homes park smack dab on winter range. How do we stop it? No idea, wish TR was here to help us out on this one. I do know that if we continue to bash each other, we only give fuel to those who wish to outlaw our passion all together.
Should the magazines become editorial police or should we expect the hunter to come clean? I dunno for sure. I just enjoy sharing the stories, and sharing the WORK that I put into each hunt, public or private, I don't expect it to be handed to me. I think a majority of trophy hunters would do the same, and if given a chance to hunt a choice piece of private, they would, just as I did.
This whole idea that private land animals are less challenging than public land animals merely because they receive less pressure is akin to a bowhunter telling a riflehunter that they are better hunters because of their short-range weapons. The Wasatch Front receives TREMENDOUS pressure, and yet gigantic bucks are still pulled from the mountains every year, some from people's backyards, some from chest deep snow (which would disqualify them from the record book). Do we call these hunters lazy?
We are incredibly lucky to have millions of acres of public land at our disposal! Go much east of Colorado, and the norm is private, because most of those states are OWNED by private parties. I sincerely doubt you'd find this argument in the Eastern states, and I guarantee you that whitebutt hunters believe that muleyear hunters have it easy.
My response to that usually is-who says I can't shoot an animal under 30 yards with a rifle??? (I have, and have missed a ton more, perhaps I should stick with the bow).
It's all about perception. Even with the truth, the perception will remain until we band together as hunters, public and private, and do something about it.
Let the bashing begin, I'm headed to listen to elk singing amongst freshly rained upon pine......and perhaps catch a wapiti in his bed where I can turn him into breakfast backstrap.
Pred
Ok, on second read, I got carried away. I was attempting to emphasize that once can DIY on private just as much as public, so a blanket statement about private vs. public may not be warranted.
Perhaps I should have just said that! Forgive me, for I am blonde, and I get blonder in the fall when my mind wanders to what I might be missing in the hills when I'm stuck in front of my puter!!