As we wind down the season I hope we will all remember to show our appreciation to our farmer/landowner hosts. A "thank you", card, phone call, short visit doesn't cost a thing. If you are able send them a gift. Or go by and help out if you live in the neighborhood.
I have been chasing birds for almost 65 years. When I started I could go to the city limits and hunt as far as I wanted on just about anybody. That is gone forever. I didn't believe the forecast when it said that we would become a cashless society, and free hunting would gradually disappear. But, I was wrong. Both are coming true.
Kansas is a breath of fresh air to hunting. If you behave and ask permission you can still find space to hunt. But, if we, as a group, don't show our appreciation we will pay the consequences. I wouldn't blame a farmer for charging us a trespass fee. Have you noticed you are starting to pay for air at the gas station? The grocer doesn't offer you free bubble gum. It is all becoming part of the "bottom line."
As the generation of older farmers fades out what will the heirs do with their property? They are of a different era and it is not the same. With that in mind I think those who have any voting power and influence should think seriously about WIHA. It is a two sided coin. True, the more you have the more it may invite "foreigners" to come up and hunt. Conversely, if the private land starts to disappear where are those who are privileged now going to hunt? DO NOT take it for granted that you will always have a place to hunt unless you own the property. And where I hunt most of the property owners don't seem to hunt themselves.
Being able to hunt is a right, having a place to do it is a privilege. People drive thousands of miles to hunt. It is expensive and time consuming. But, as I kid my wife, still cheaper than a nervous breakdown. To which she replies, yes, but not as a divorce. If you have it in your blood, there is only one way to get it out. Pen raised, preserves, field trials, all fun but still not quite the same as matching wits against a rooster with a dog you trained from a pup. Going out against the elements and coming in dead tired seems crazy to some but if you got it in your blood it doesn;t matter.
Good hunting and remember your actions represent all of us.
I have been chasing birds for almost 65 years. When I started I could go to the city limits and hunt as far as I wanted on just about anybody. That is gone forever. I didn't believe the forecast when it said that we would become a cashless society, and free hunting would gradually disappear. But, I was wrong. Both are coming true.
Kansas is a breath of fresh air to hunting. If you behave and ask permission you can still find space to hunt. But, if we, as a group, don't show our appreciation we will pay the consequences. I wouldn't blame a farmer for charging us a trespass fee. Have you noticed you are starting to pay for air at the gas station? The grocer doesn't offer you free bubble gum. It is all becoming part of the "bottom line."
As the generation of older farmers fades out what will the heirs do with their property? They are of a different era and it is not the same. With that in mind I think those who have any voting power and influence should think seriously about WIHA. It is a two sided coin. True, the more you have the more it may invite "foreigners" to come up and hunt. Conversely, if the private land starts to disappear where are those who are privileged now going to hunt? DO NOT take it for granted that you will always have a place to hunt unless you own the property. And where I hunt most of the property owners don't seem to hunt themselves.
Being able to hunt is a right, having a place to do it is a privilege. People drive thousands of miles to hunt. It is expensive and time consuming. But, as I kid my wife, still cheaper than a nervous breakdown. To which she replies, yes, but not as a divorce. If you have it in your blood, there is only one way to get it out. Pen raised, preserves, field trials, all fun but still not quite the same as matching wits against a rooster with a dog you trained from a pup. Going out against the elements and coming in dead tired seems crazy to some but if you got it in your blood it doesn;t matter.
Good hunting and remember your actions represent all of us.
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