Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Thanks Randy, Jay Scott, Meateater, HUSH, etc. etc.

In my opinion, some of the blame needs to be put at the feet of the Realtree, Mossy Oak, Primos, Drury's, etc. They were the ones who really pioneered what I call "whitetail TV" and really ushered in the "Horn Porn" era we currently live in. I believe that they are partially responsible for the decline in hunter numbers, specifically in the Southeast and Midwest. Everyone now wants to kill a giant whitetail and have pushed out a lot of "casual" or meat hunters due to lack of opportunity caused by the privatization of a lot of land or pricing them out of the game for leased land.

When I was a kid, I could go around, knock on a few doors and within a week have permission to hunt a portion of 5-6 farms (I grew up in south-central MN). Now, either the land is being leased to some hunter willing to pay $15/acre, it has been turned into a subdivision, or the owners won't let you hunt it because either 1) they are morally opposed to hunting (Thanks Disney!), or they are "managing the herd" for themselves.

Same thing in the Southeast. When I got out of the Navy and moved to GA, the only way to get on good deer property was to pay upwards of $1000 to get on a lease that would only let you shoot one buck (many have size restrictions way beyond the state's) and a doe or two. Pretty much the same in TX. Here in MO, there are some solid public land opportunities, but most farmers won't just let you hunt their land. Almost all of them want $8-15 an acre to lease all of their property.

So, that leaves guys like me a dilemma. Do I limit myself to archery and hunt mostly public land? Do I spend $2500 on a lease? Or, do I take half of that $2500 and do a public land elk hunt out west? Yes, there is a bit more travel involved, but the scenery is unmatched, there is a ton of open space and public land, and if I get lucky and shoot an elk (even if it is cow or rag-horn), I end up with as much meat as killing three whitetails. And if I am going to do that I might as well apply for a deer tag and antelope tag and make the most of it.

As for the people listed in the title, I have watched some of them, but I do it for the entertainment value and because some of them actually do offer up some good tips and tricks sometimes. For guys like me who grew up hunting the Midwest and Southeast, anything that can improve my learning curve is appreciated. As for hunting in the same locations, I am smart enough to know that is a stupid idea. I may look at the same units they are hunting, but there are a lot of other resources out there that I used to base my decisions on what states, units and hunts to apply for. If I do get drawn, I will damn sure take a trip out there before the season to put the time in to scout, just like I do to hunt public land here, but I will also use any other means available to me such as online maps and even YouTube videos. I want my hunt to be successful, and I want to learn, so I will use everything at my disposal to ensure I do both.