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Old September 21, 2000, 01:07 PM   #4
Calif Hunter
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 10, 2000
Location: La Palma, CA, USA
Posts: 165
Robert - The whole subject of private land access and game animals is a very complex one, involving many rights of various factions. I agree, though, that hunting is headed towards becoming a "rich man's sport," just as in the old feudal days in Europe. I don't like that. This is due to many factors: the "family farm" owner trying to hold on in the face of rising taxes and lower prices (combined with the ineritance tax, which means that he can't leave his farm to his children since it's worth millions on paper) and thus trying to make a little extra money, the game depredations on his crops, his private property rights, the damages that have been done in the past to his property by "hunters," (usually unauthorized trespassrs and poachers, but we get lumped together) and the potential liability he faces by letting people with guns onto his property. I'm not in favor of this by any means...I own no land and find my own hunting opportunities diminishing daily. I have no solutions, except to think that we need to find a way to keep our public lands attractive and supportive of wildlife populations. Then perhaps less if the wildlife will gravitate to private land. Better use of our license fee funds? Better management practices? I have no answers, really, not being an expert in the field. Lke you, I recognize the problem, though, and hope something gets done!
PS - another factor, of course, is the buying up of land by anti-hunting rich folks and corporations!

[This message has been edited by Calif Hunter (edited September 21, 2000).]
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