It may be illegal but most certainly the RIGHT thing to do in order to give back to the animals which we harvest when they need it the most!

A Place where just trying to decipher our many game laws requires a lawyers advice so that you may not inadvertantly commit a tort against these overburdening D.F.G. regulations.

I have done everything from market hunting to personal pleasure hunting and everything in between. Also hunted B.L.M., National Forests as well as private land and now own several thousand acres of my own land.
The main thing to remember is that if you are not spending your own money to feed these animals which you harvest, Someone Else Is!
It takes a lot of feed to keep a healthy animal herd and more so when someone is constantly harvesting them as their sole food source.

The availability of a natural food source (the mast crops)runs out very quickly in a certain area and then the animals move on to where the next food source is. And if you want them to stay in your area so that you can continue to harvest them you must begin to feed these animals out for them to remain healthy and disease free.
It takes money to do this and as I have stated before, If you are not feeding the animals which you are harvesting, then someone else is! Be it the farmers crops next door or the little old lady up the hill who hates to see the poor creatures go hungry!

It ain’t no free ride if you do things legal and right!

Tom, I think it may also be a function of where you live – the places where you can hunt for free, truly free, are definitely dwindling. I have to drive minimum 30-90 minutes to any duck or turkey hunting, and it’s often more. I’m about to drop $250 on duck hunting – reservation applications and refuge passes for the season. I have two friends who let me hunt for free on their land – one is 60 min away (and I usually come home empty-handed), the other 4 hours away. I can’t hunt on my land – I have a quarter acre in the suburbs (or rather, my bank has). The wildlife-laden river/lake region nearby is a state park – no hunting there either. There are probably places where I could hunt without paying, but I need gas to get there, and there’s less game, so I’ll need to make more trips to bring home the same food. I could move to the country (and would like to, once my house is worth enough to actually sell it), but then I’ll have to pay to commute to my job.

That’s my hunting experience!

Like Phillip, I’m afraid to add up what it costs. I know I could do it cheaper. I could probably fish with minimum gas output. But there’s no way I can hunt for free.

I guess it is much of the culture we grow up in that makes us into what we think hunting and fishing is.

Also, since I am talking about England did you all know that it was illegal in the 15th through 17th centuries there for any peasant to own a dog any larger than 15 lbs.
The reasoning was that a small peasant’s dog would keep the rodents and rabbits from multiplying too much. And, any dog larger than that was obviously used by it’s owner for taking down large game, ie: The Kings Deer!

We have come a long way since President Theodore Roosevelt enacted our game laws and set aside land for preserving our wild game but, the real truth here is that unless you are a “Market Hunter” and/or “Poaching” for your family’s direct food or selling the meat for money to buy food, then it cost’s quite a bit of money to “legally” hunt wild game!

In good economic times some of us are privy to the extra money we have which will allow us to spend a few days a year out in the field to enjoy the sport.
But the sad reality is that a “Lot” of individuals will “never” have the kind of disposable income that it takes to hunt and fish in our great nation or abroad and stay “Legal” doing it!

Second, I’m guessing a lot of people are tightening their belts and cutting expenses right now. I know I am, and thus getting into hunting is not something I’m considering right now. It’s money I just can’t justify spending.

I do hope that hunting does not become a “rich person’s sport” but I can see how it might trend that way. It would be unfortunate if it did.

I am now in the plans of finding better opportunities locally to put meat on the table.

I think what is being somewhat missed in this discussion is that there are millions of hunters who have opportunities right out their back door to hunt and have to spend very little to get meat. I grew up one of those people and I still have friends and family who live this way. I can’t emphasize enough that these people NEED that meat. I believe they will hunt more and well……I’ll leave it at that.

If you choose not to think that this “economic crisis” is serious, that’s fine and with that I would tend to agree that overall, it will have very little noticeable affect on hunting and license sales etc.

If you choose to think this is a very serious situation, that will result in the loss of millions of jobs, loss of homes, etc., I don’t think too many people will be concerned about hunting and who’s doing it and who isn’t.

I know my plans have changed and I’m not alone.

Go question! Good discussion!

Even so, if I did the math for what I’ve spent to put that meat in my freezer… well, I made the mistake of doing that once several years ago. Suffice it to say that I just don’t want to think about it again. It shouldn’t be about the money anyway, and for some of us, we’d do it any cost. Just thankful that I can afford it.

That said, I agree – we’re more likely to see an uptick in poaching.

Hank and I eat almost nothing but wild game, but we spend a lot on it – I’m sure more than we’d spend at the store. We think it’s worth it for the quality of food and the experience. But it ain’t subsistence hunting.