Wapiti Talk | Elk Hunting Forum | Elk Hunting Tips
 

Your Biggest Fear

Moderators: Swede, Tigger, Lefty, Indian Summer, WapitiTalk1

Your Biggest Fear

Postby Swede » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 1]

As far as the future of elk hunting is concerned, what is your greatest fear, and how likely do you think your fear will be realized? Also how soon do you think it will likely happen?

I think about more four legged predators in Oregon. I think it is highly likely, but I doubt it will ever ruin elk hunting.
I also anticipate more restrictions on hunting opportunity. There are a lot of factors contributing to that situation, It is an on going steady process, that will not likely prevent my going out any year, but may limit our younger people.
Swede
Wapiti Hunting - Tree Stand Tactics
 
Posts: 10215
Joined: 06 16, 2012

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby Elkduds » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 2]

Loss of access to public lands, making hunting a pay-to-play sport like in Europe.
User avatar
Elkduds
Rank: An Elk Nut
 
Posts: 1536
Joined: 09 29, 2013
Location: Colorado Springs
First Name: Mark
Last Name: Scott

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby Tigger » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 3]

Elkduds nailed it. Transfer of Federal land to the states that end up selling it (Many western state's land board's are required to sell off land that cannot be demonstrated to return $$ to the state). This is a real issue.
User avatar
Tigger
Rank: An Elk Nut
 
Posts: 2420
Joined: 01 12, 2015
Location: Minnesota

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby Navesgane » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 4]

Reintroducing wolves to Colorado and shutting down those area to hunting. Second would be making big game hunting more expensive for the average American to afford.
Instagram @jeff.reilly1
User avatar
Navesgane
Rank: Satellite Bull
 
Posts: 309
Joined: 08 05, 2013
Location: Telluride CO
First Name: Jeff

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby >>>---WW----> » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 5]

Elkduds wrote:Loss of access to public lands, making hunting a pay-to-play sport like in Europe.


And loss of private lands as well. Ranchers have found that they can lease their land to outfitters and make extra income. Again as Elkbuds stated, pay to play!
User avatar
>>>---WW---->
Wapiti Hunting - Strategy and Tactics
 
Posts: 2351
Joined: 05 27, 2012

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby Indian Summer » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 6]

My biggest fear has already happened. I went from hunting from the beginning of September to the end of November.... down to 2 weeks... and now only one. Terribly depressing. On the bright side I can get the job done in a week. I just can’t be as picky.
User avatar
Indian Summer
Wapiti Hunting Consultant
 
Posts: 5247
Joined: 06 14, 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
First Name: Joe
Last Name: Ferraro

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby Lefty » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 7]

The continued abuse of the legal system using the endangered species act by animal rights activists. It seems PETA has gotten weaker.
Many outdoorsman don't understand the play groups make with the endangered spieces act. The black footed ferret to stop prairie dog shooting , prairie dogs and sage grouse to stop public land mineral oil and general use, Weyrhauser and the spotted owl, turtles and minniow and plants
User avatar
Lefty
Wapiti Hunting - Strategy and Tactics
 
Posts: 6926
Joined: 06 25, 2012
Location: Pocatello Idaho
First Name: Dennis
Last Name: H

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby saddlesore » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 8]

One that is coming up is the bill to permit wheeled vehicles in wilderness areas.

I think my biggest fear has already came about.Hunting has become so crowded that a lot of the fun,solitude etc,has passed. Even wilderness areas are loved to death.Younger guys on here probably don't see it because they never experienced the early years. Its like the people who move to some city of 400,000 - 500,000 from a city of 2 million or so.The natives think the traffic is horrid, but the new comers think it isn't crowded on the roads at all.
User avatar
saddlesore
Wapiti Hunting - Strategy and Tactics
 
Posts: 2162
Joined: 11 07, 2015
Location: Colorado Springs,CO

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby Roosiebull » 03 19, 2018 •  [Post 9]

I'm not looking forward to having to draw tags that are currently otc, that would really suck... I may consider moving out of state, or taking some long vacations in the fall, but I would MUCH prefer being able to continue to hunt my "back yard" that is key to hunt a lot, as well as spending lots of time with my family.
User avatar
Roosiebull
Rank: An Elk Nut
 
Posts: 1125
Joined: 02 27, 2017

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby Indian Summer » 03 20, 2018 •  [Post 10]

I hear that Roosie. I used to be able to draw a Wyoming general license not only with zero points but also as my second choice which meant I gained a preference point and hunted every year. Now I can’t draw it as my first choice even with a point. So I guess my other biggest fear is already happening as well. I can’t imagine what the future holds. I’m hoping maybe senior citizen elk tags!
User avatar
Indian Summer
Wapiti Hunting Consultant
 
Posts: 5247
Joined: 06 14, 2012
Location: Pennsylvania
First Name: Joe
Last Name: Ferraro

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby scubohuntr » 03 20, 2018 •  [Post 11]

Public land access is probably my biggest fear right now. I lived in Arizona for several years. They are selling off state land as fast as they can. I get that the feds don't do the best job managing their holdings sometimes. Neither do states and private landowners. Living in North Dakota, I could always tell the State sections while driving by- they were either grazed down to the roots or mostly thistles (because of chronic overgrazing). The thing is, apart from any management issues, it is very, very hard to sell off federal land. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, environmental impact statements, stakeholder meetings, and other pitfalls. Throw enough money at any state government, and a lot of those things just go away. There are landowners in the west, and elsewhere, that are snapping up property anywhere they can. Anything they get ahold of is immediately off limits to the public. Many of these operations are out of state billionaires, with no qualms about pressuring the states to make "land exchanges" or other "no net loss" deals. Of course, the land they are offering is wasteland, and what they want is prime elk habitat. The other thing that I see a lot of is the same operators just buying a small parcel that straddles a road, and then closing the road. Even if it's a public road, they can tie it up in court for years, which keeps the road closed until the case and all the appeals are over. By doing this, they can effectively close thousands of acres of public land because there is no longer a road to it. They don't need to own the land, just the access to it.

The biggest long-term problem is going to be hunter recruitment. Not that there aren't young hunters coming up, but that they are being taught that buying up land for private hunting reserves is the best way to provide for the future, that the only value a game animal has is its B&C score, and that success is strictly measured by bag limits and filled tags. I know it's not a popular viewpoint, and I don't take it lightly, but I think kids are going hunting too young these days. Hunting involves killing, and I don't believe an eight-year-old has the emotional maturity to fully understand that. There's nothing wrong with waiting and looking forward to being old enough to go hunting. Maybe wait until a kid is old enough to read and comprehend Jose Ortega y Gassett's Meditations on Hunting. I don't have television at home, but when I'm on the road I generally end up watching some outdoors channel or other. The advertising is mind-numbing, and sponsorship presence is worse than NASCAR. It's all about score and competition, just an endless series of kill shots and grip-n-grins strung together with a bare minimum of hunt footage, every show trying to out-Duck-Dynasty the next one. The majority of people in this country have no other exposure to hunting. When a young person sees that as what hunting is, provided it doesn't turn him off entirely, how likely is he to stick with it when he gets out in the real world and it doesn't live up to his edited-down-to-sixteen minutes, high-fenced, baited, fully guided expectations? I grew up watching Fred Bear. Old Fred came back empty handed fairly often, but the show was about the hunt, not the kill. I don't recall a single animal he killed, but the sense of wonder and the incredible beauty of the places he hunted will always be with me. Those are the things that made me a lifelong hunter. Not watching some bozo shoot his fortieth 200-inch whitetail on private land.
scubohuntr
Rank: Spike
 
Posts: 111
Joined: 04 26, 2017
Location: Montana

Re: Your Biggest Fear

Postby elkstalker » 03 20, 2018 •  [Post 12]

1) The move by politicians to manage game herds instead of leaving it up to biologists and fish and game commissions (this has been happening in Montana for quite some time and has recently become a huge issue in Idaho)
2) Loss of access to public lands
3) The two states that I hunt, Idaho and Montana, moving to a more exclusive model like Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, where the ability to hunt every year would be diminished. However, these state both boast robust elk and deer numbers currently so I don't think this one is in the cards in the near future.
4) Chronic Wasting Disease and it's slow but inevitable march westward (first cases in Montana recently occurred, it is found throughout Wyoming currently)
User avatar
elkstalker
Rank: Satellite Bull
 
Posts: 305
Joined: 04 16, 2015
Location: Montana