I was the early 90s, poor ground and part of bankruptcy sale. We treated the locals as best we could when we came out. Brought smoked salmon, took their kids out hunting, took them out hunting when they didn't have gas money, etc. so we may have been getting an insider deal. Didn't matter as we never had a lot extra then. My dad would do things like harvest wild rice out of local rivers to get gas money to get to Lake Superior during the smelt run and bring them back to town to sell at work to get enough money to make a SD hunting trip. So yeah, we passed on it and yes we regret it now but there was no good options then.
The OP's suggestions to new hunters for finding and taking on public land reminded me how we struggled at first with where to hunt. Back then there wasn't enough public ground for everyone, lots of competition and it was no where near the quality of private plots. Thirty years later we are still talking about how to walk a WIA that's been hit 3 times that day before you. So I ask why and how will we ever change it. It's in the same spirit of helping the next guy out that the OP is showing with his effort, IMHO. The discussion is getting a little far from the OP and is wading into politics a bit which I know the admins frown on so I'll get off this rant. I've got other things to attend to- Cabelas here finally has Federal in stock but I think I'll have to get back in that river and start the next generation of ricing to pay off my shell debt.
The OP's suggestions to new hunters for finding and taking on public land reminded me how we struggled at first with where to hunt. Back then there wasn't enough public ground for everyone, lots of competition and it was no where near the quality of private plots. Thirty years later we are still talking about how to walk a WIA that's been hit 3 times that day before you. So I ask why and how will we ever change it. It's in the same spirit of helping the next guy out that the OP is showing with his effort, IMHO. The discussion is getting a little far from the OP and is wading into politics a bit which I know the admins frown on so I'll get off this rant. I've got other things to attend to- Cabelas here finally has Federal in stock but I think I'll have to get back in that river and start the next generation of ricing to pay off my shell debt.
