Poachers.... Grrrr....

[joebill]

I know a couple......wel., half a couple now since she passed away, who have a business that makes me slap my head every time I think about it. They have feeders all over some midwestern states, they can locate each one by GPS, and they go around several times a year keeping the feeders full of some minerals or something that is reputed to make the deer grow bigger racks, be more attractive to hunters, make the "guides" more popular and financially improved.

I asked him once if he couldn't just figure out how to clone the racks and grow them in labs and sell them, but he said most of HIS hunters ( he also brings in hunters to his land and puts them up, feeds them, etc. for huge fees) His hunters also want the time away from family, drinking with his buds, shooting something easy to hit, etc.

The big ranch Ted and Hanoi Jane own out of Raton NM...maybe 300K acres..... offers guided hunts and fishing, too. Wen we lived up North I knew most of the guides and heard the weekly rundowns on the deer and elk hunts. They would take the dudes, singles usually, out in 4WD pickups and suburbans, drive him around until he saw one he liked or one they could talk him in to, get him out of the truck, tow him off the road a few feet and find him a good place to sit down and something to prop the rifle on. Load the gun and hand it to him, stand behind him until he either hit it or it ran off....and if the guy hit it, he usually had his own knife he wanted them to cut it's throat with so he could take a bloody knife home.

Then, the guide would get on the radio, call the winch truck to come and collect the carcass and take it to the on-ranch processing plant. Get some instructions for the taxidermist, go pour some Beefeater martinis and watch TV. Often the guys were not interested in the meat from a HUGE elk and gave it to the guide.

The VAST majority of the guide's wages were his tips, so if they wanted to earn a living at it they had to be good at making the hunters think they were Daniel Boone reincarnated, and the faster they could do that and still get the elk or deer in the freezer the more of the dudes they could run through in a season. Once in a while a guide would wind up spending 4 days with one because they guy couldn't hit his own foot with a rifle, all at minimum wage, then get a "thanks a lot" for a tip. RAGE!.....Joe

[joebill]

In the mountains Turner had the game but on the plains he had a LOT of buffalo that kept the grass stripped so he had to feed them from pickups, too. They had broken off or pulled about 1000 miles of cedar posts taking out the interior fencing and I was slowly buying up those posts for years, making little touristy sliding drawer boxes out of them.

As soon as we started following a fence row and throwing on the posts, those buffalo would start drifting in, wanting food, and before long the truck would be surrounded. They would stay about 5 feet from the truck on all sides but they are TALL and I couldn't see where I was going through them. Sometimes one of us had to stand in the bed shouting directions to the other person driving until we got clear of them The herd carries a big cloud of bugs with it, too, and that many of them together stink to high heaven.....Joe

[Ozarks Tom]

DEKE, I've got a hunch the locals would have reduced your deer population considerably. My step-son until recently managed a 750 acre ranch in East Texas owned by a guy who "imported" deer. Like you say, 10ft fencing, feed bunkers, the whole shooting match. The owner would spend big bucks bringing in fancy deer, and the locals would cut through the fencing and help themselves. The place is for sale now.

[DEKE]

Tom, funny you should say that. On the drive to the hunt club, I noticed a nearby home that had a cop car parked in front. On the tour of the property, I made some off hand comment about it being nice that a cop (county deputy) lived close. Turns out the hunt club owner had to call the cops on that cop.

The neighbor cop kept using a small row boat to drift down stream from his property to the hunt club. The hunt club kept their pond stocked and fed, so the fishing was pretty good. Hunt club told the cop no trespassing and the cop said it was a "navigable waterway" even though the stream ended into a swamp. Had it been a truly navigable waterway, the cop would have been correct. Bad cop threatened to arrest the hunt club owner if they stopped him from fishing. Bad cop also told hunt club that he was coming hunting because that couldn't be closed to the public either. Bad cop had rewritten all the trespass laws and ignored the hunt clubs licenses and permits in order to suit his desires. A call to the sheriff fixed stopped bad cop.


I'm not sure why the hunt club owner told me all that because it did nothing to increase the likelihood I would purchase the place.

[joebill]

When we had the wolf rescue foundation down the valley, he got in a donation of a BIG HORSE TRAILER FULL of shot deer for wolf food. Air force base in Sierra Vista AZ had a big herd on the bombing range that kept growing because nobody could hunt there and they sent in troops with military rifles to eliminate them. Easier than dealing with the peta folks, but it was hush hush back then. It never came out and that was nearly 20 years ago, so I guess all secrets expire sooner or later.....Joe

[gob]

DEKE, much like your story of the hunt club, I bought a hunting lodge and 66 acres about 6 years ago. The hunting lodge had about 450 acres with it when it was operational, but had since been split up. The lodge has 7 bed rooms and 6 baths, we use for a barn. Anyway, I was out going over the place after I had bought it and found a big horn sheep skull....it was tattered to a telephone pole with a collar and horse lead.

[gob]

Nov 26, 2018 13:51:54 GMT joebill said:

When we had the wolf rescue foundation down the valley, he got in a donation of a BIG HORSE TRAILER FULL of shot deer for wolf food. Air force base in Sierra Vista AZ had a big herd on the bombing range that kept growing because nobody could hunt there and they sent in troops with military rifles to eliminate them. Easier than dealing with the peta folks, but it was hush hush back then. It never came out and that was nearly 20 years ago, so I guess all secrets expire sooner or later.....Joe

When I was at basic on Ft. Knox when we would see a deer on the range they would announce the deer was there before they called the cease fire. As long as the deer was alive on the range, the firing had to stop. Needless to say, we didn't stop for long.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2018 17:25:19 GMT gob said:

DEKE , much like your story of the hunt club, I bought a hunting lodge and 66 acres about 6 years ago. The hunting lodge had about 450 acres with it when it was operational, but had since been split up. The lodge has 7 bed rooms and 6 baths, we use for a barn. Anyway, I was out going over the place after I had bought it and found a big horn sheep skull....it was tattered to a telephone pole with a collar and horse lead.

Stoopid humans...

[Deleted]

Hunted many High Fenced places never for Deer but other stuff during off season. Went mainly to hang out with friends a few days and most time came home empty handed but still had to pay thousands.

Use to Road Hunt but not for Deer because there was none around. Plenty of Rabbits and Quail.

rebelman

[ceresone]

CC is restocking elk in our part of No. In the last few months they have had 2 big bull elk shot and left lying. One bull one of the original stocking herd, the other one born there.

[Ozarks Tom]

ceresone, I'd bet a deer hunter shot them by mistake, and not having a tag ran off and left them. Darn shame.

[ceresone]

Should have been MO!
There was complaints ranging from them tearing down fences, to what if they were on the road at night. From there being 2, I m betting some disgruntled area farmer

[joebill]

Farmers get compensated here when the government's elk eat their hay. The idea that a government can own an elk that it had nothing to do with siring, birthing, feeding or breeding and has lived on private land it's whole life seems a bit of a fairy tale to me, but then what do I know?…..Joe

[obsrvr]

Feb 19, 2019 16:34:03 GMT joebill said:

Farmers get compensated here when the government's elk eat their hay. The idea that a government can own an elk that it had nothing to do with siring, birthing, feeding or breeding and has lived on private land it's whole life seems a bit of a fairy tale to me, but then what do I know?…..Joe

Wild animals are considered PUBLIC property because they roam. Problem is that GOVT.property is GOVT.property not PUBLIC property!!!

[Deleted]

My Niece has Elk on her place in Central Missouri. Thing is they are dealing with CWD now.

rebelman