How many can remember

[Mike Javi Cooper]

How many of you remember the days when you could take your bow and go hunting pretty much anywhere there was pasture, river bottoms, or woods. Before I could legally drive an automobile I had a bicycle or my feet and always had permission to hunt or fish the neighbors places. There is no telling how many rabbits, squirrels and other small game I brought home for the table. Later when I got my driver's license at 14, my realm of mayhem expanded a lot. I don't believe I was ever turned down when I stopped by a farm or ranch house and asked permission to hunt, even after I was in college. Later when I move to other parts of the state for work it was still easy to find places to hunt, if the offer to help fix fence didn't work the offer of a few dollars often brought a yes and most of the time an invite to hunt for free.. Corp land was free and open around the lakes, all you had to do was go.. Paper mill land was open or at worse cost you a $5 permit..

After I married and moved to Colorado for a few years, I lost touch with folks and when I moved back to Texas it seemed like everyone had gotten on the pay to hunt wagon.. and now finding a place was all about how much were you willing to pay. Corp land was closed or hunted by permit only and permits were limited..

I miss those days...

[Bisch]

I do not remember those days! I can remember when lease fees were WAY less that what I am paying now for WAY more land though. Between lease fees, the price of corn, and the price of gas, it is getting to where the average Joe may not be able to do much hunting anymore..........and that is a VERY sad thing!

Bisch

[Johnny Dangerr]

I remember getting checked by wardens when i was on a bicycle on somebody's property with a pile of doves and quail. Never a question about having the right to be there.

My first 200 acre lease was 300.00 a year and I split it with a friend. It was off FM1960

[Txbhunter1]

The same lands I used to hunt as a kid and young adult for free, now the lanowner puts his hand out and asked how much it's worth to me. Ahhhhhhhhhh, nada!!!!!!!

[RickBarbee]

There never were to many places around here where you could go hunting large game for free.

There were a few farmers & ranchers who would let me trap, and varmint hunt their places without charging me, but most all of them made sure to emphasize they did not want me to shoot the deer.

Fishing was a different story. I had access to private land fishing all over the place.
No more.

Those days are gone.

With the economy the way it is, most land owners are going to take every advantage they can to make their property generate some sort of income, and in many cases/areas that income is merely to pay the astronomical property tax they have placed on them.

Rick

[Mike Javi Cooper]

Rick, most of the places around here didn't have deer and those that did it was usually not legal to kill them anyway. The places I hunted that allowed deer hunting were usually free until the mid to late 70's then the lease thing started hittting hard.. That was about the time I moved back from Colorado.. 1977

[meangene1969]

I grew up in a small town outside of Wichita Falls and even when I was young (not that long ago haha), we hunted everywhere. Most farmers would allow us have free range of the place. My cousins and I would ride our bicycles with our guns or fishing poles strapped to the handle bars. I miss those days and im saddened that my kiddos have not been able and wont be able to have those GOOD OL DAYS!

[RickBarbee]

I hear ya Mike.

I'm not as old as you. My "own my own" hunting, camping, trapping, and fishing experiences didn't start until I was about 10, so 1967.
Even at that time around here, and lots of other places deer leases were a big deal.

I killed my first deer at age 5 (1962) on a lease in Mason county.
It was a company lease, so leasing is really an old concept,
but the lease values have increased by 10 fold or more.

Like Bisch said -

the average Joe may not be able to do much hunting anymore..........and that is a VERY sad thing!

Bisch

Rick

[Ron]

I didn't start hunting deer till the late 70's, so I've always had to pay. Quail and pheasant were always open invites though. You could just knock on the door and folks would allow you to go hunt.

[DFWPI]

I grew up in Louisiana and it was, drive down the road until you find a patch of woods, park and start hunting as soon as you walk into the woods. We didn't see many deer as a young teenager, but we still had a few, and a doe was a trophy during those times.

Many a squirrel or rabbit fell to the old .410 and later the .12 gauge.

[dmaxshawn]

I dont remember those days. I guess I'm a young whipper snapper


Shawn

[TWP]

Ok, I just turned 29 and I was very very fortunate to grow up on a ranch and I hunted all day every day with little brother and dog in tow. With that said, I can still find LOTS of places to hunt for free or dang near. All it takes is you wanting to go hunting bad enough, but then again I'm a natural born salesman. ha ha ha If you want it bad enough, you can find it.

Always remember, Deer=Cash here in Texas. Many ranchers would not be able to make any profit if not for lease rights. Believe me, nobody wants folks acting like fools and driving their atvs and such everywhere.

The best way I have ever heard it put, is an old rancher that has a TON of country. "Deer hunters are like drugs, you never want them or need them until you don't have their checks." Plain and simple.

[HEADHUNTER71]

i do not remember those days! I can remember when lease fees were way less that what i am paying now for way more land though. Between lease fees, the price of corn, and the price of gas, it is getting to where the average joe may not be able to do much hunting anymore..........and that is a very sad thing!

Bisch

sad!!!!!

[jerp]

Not far outside of Tulsa where I grew up were hundreds of acres that had been strip mined in the 1930's and 40's then abandoned. In the subsequent decades it had all grown back over - big trees and thick underbrush. We never knew who owned it - it wasn't posted and just partially fenced. In high school we'd drive out there and spend the day shooting rabbits and squirrels or just plinking. Some of those strip pits had filled up with water - we'd fish, swim and shoot turtles. It was like having a little chunk of wilderness right outside of town.

[fletcherfor2]

I remember hunting rabbits in the as-yet-undeveloped field next to our residential development in Arlington in 62-64. All I had to hunt with was my crappy kid's fiberglass bow (I was like 11-13).

I don't know if it was legal or not. It probably didn't matter since I never actually shot anything but sparrows anyway. The fact I never shot a rabbit didn't matter. I was "hunting" and I taught myself to stalk like an injun.

That as-yet-undeveloped field is now Lamar Highschool.