Landowners, Why Not More Cut-Rate Doe/Cull Hunts?

[M16]

It's the same with javelina or hog hunts. I have to laugh when I see an add looking for a cheap javelina or hog hunt. They are the same people who will spend $300 a night on a hotel. But want to hunt five days for that same money. Ain't happening.

[txtrophy85]

Thanks TBH for all the comments. I am not a native Texan nor did I grow up as an outdoorsman. I have enjoyed my time outdoors since moving to Texas over 20 years ago.

Think about some of the fastest-growing activities in the U.S. today (pickleball, etc.) and think about hunting/conservation. There is a huge gap, as I see it, in Trophy Texas... the state is trying to address this by starting first-time hunter programs, etc. but I am so curious how we can take the huge deer numbers you see in some parts of the state and pair them up with responsible, novice hunters. How many more people would embrace the activity we all appreciate if the bar was not $1,000 but $200? Or even $100? Imagine if the number of hunters/conservationists increased by 15% over the next decade... how much stronger would our position be?

The concern over irresponsible hunters is what I hear loud and clear in the comments above. Do you hate the way that truck drives on the freeway?!? That same guy is showing up, drinking beer on your land and taking bad shots on the wrong kind of deer. I get it. I wouldn't want him on my land or lease either.

Just my two cents... thanks for all your input, keep the conversation going...

I make it a point to invite new hunters, mainly youth hunters that are my sons friends. We need does and culls shot so I’m happy to let them have at it.

I’ve invited neighbors and friends from church.

But here is a good example of what goes wrong:

I took a neighbor and good buddy out one day a couple of years back. He took me on a work invite deer hunt so I felt good returning the favor. His family owns a farm in the Midwest and he grew up hunting ( their deer season is only like 9 days long) but they arnt into it like we are here….it’s more like a fun activity to partake in a couple weekends a year.

Anyway, I take him one morning out to a place I had leased close to my house and put him in a blind. I go off to another blind and get in my bow stand. Minutes after legal shooting light I hear a shot. He sends me a text that he shot at a nice buck. I ask him the usual “ did it go down, which way did he go” and tell him just to chill in the blind for a bit. After my feeder went off I had a shooter come into my set and after a few min of him running does I was able to slip and arrow in behind his shoulder. While I’m letting things settle down I hear another shot….I check my phone and my buddy had been texting me the whole time I was getting ready to shoot my deer, saying another deer had come into the set up, could he shoot, etc…he just made a judgement call and ended up shooting this deer after I failed to respond.

Well I answer back and asked if he got this one. He said yes, It fell down at the shot.

I tell him what happened on my end and I met with him before i looked for my deer. Upon inspection, he did not hit the first buck he shot at, in large part due to poor light combined with buck fever. County limit is 2 bucks so he wouldn’t have been illegal. And he did kill a great hill country buck and I was happy for him. However…..if the same scenario has played out on a typical deer lease im sure it could lead to a case of butthurt real quick. Especially if he had hit buck no.1 and now had two deer laying dead with permission to only take one. Loads of stories out there of people getting an invite to hunt does or spikes and end up shooting nice bucks and then getting the boot for it, not to mention squashing the opportunity for any future guests.

It’s not all cut and dry and being a private land state, hunter recruitment and hunter opportunity looks much different here than it does in other states with large amounts of public land.

[Huntingfool]

a common theme in most of these answers. In general strangers on a ranch are not a good idea. Placing folks in a stand by themselves with a rifle most times is not a good idea. Way too many "mistakes" -

[Gladesgator]

I'll address this.

I would have loved to sell doe hunts. LOVED it. Problem is, we have big deer, and the amount I could sell the 20 or so doe hunts a year for wouldn't cover the cost of the guide that it would take to make sure that someone wasn't going to poach.

So what I do is invite organizations down to help me take care of the same number with volunteer guides.

2 people have a whole lot more of a conscience than one most of the time.


As it is, I get more enjoyment out of giving those types of hunts away to Texas Youth Hunting Program Kids and First Time Adult Hunters than I would making a couple hundred bucks a pop off of a bunch of people that aren't as grateful to be there.

There is no more slimy feeling as a landowner than being treated like you should be grateful that someone is on your place when you don't need them there in the first place.

Counterintuitively the lower the cost of the hunt, the more presumptuously entitled the hunter.

Exact same thing I do. At one time did WT, Axis doe and red hind hunts, just isn’t worth it for all the above.