NRA Says We Must Stop the Decline of Hunting

[thallub]

You can blame $$ for ruining hunting, but should also blame a lot of the hunters who have ruined it for the rest of us by not being good borrowers of other peoples' lands.

This ^^^^^^

i'm on both sides of this thing. i own hunting land that is unfortunately too far away (75 or more miles) from home for casual hunting. Several folks have permission to hunt my properties outside of deer gun season but very few do that.

i have permission to hunt a few large tracts of ranch land. Also have permission to bring along my son and grand kids a couple times each year; but mostly i hunt alone.

Here are some of my self imposed rules:

1. If it's worth doing its worth asking. Always inform the land owner that you intend to hunt his property on a certain date. Let the land owner know if you are bringing members of your family.

2. Unless you have cleared it with the landowner, never, ever invite someone outside your family to hunt with you. i'm privy to numerous horror stories involving friends who invited other friends to hunt on private land. One friend got kicked off the best deer lease by inviting a guy who later came back with his buds.

3. If the gates are locked, re-lock them after entering the property.

4. Ask the landowner what you can do to help him out.

Many of my friends stopped hunting because they got lazy. It's really easy for an old guy to laze around eating, craping and waiting to die. At age 78 i'm not there yet.

Expand your hunting opportunities to game birds, squirrels and rabbits. Get out and kill some predators.