Cost..... the term "casual" doesn't matter. I grew up poor but my dad took me hunting and fishing even though he wasn't real big into hunting. In high school I loved hunting and fishing and trapping. I had some property do do it on and I could ask the local land owners if I could hunt or trap their property and they were more than happy to let me because I asked. A few years later I went back to some of those land owners and asked them if I could hunt....with a sad look they said no, they had the place leased out for hunting. As a twenty year old, you don't have money to pay for a hunting lease so its off to public land for you.
There are a lot of you fellas on here who think your money should buy you your hunt when and where you want it and if you can't afford that then you must not be someone that should be allowed to hunt. That makes you the kind of person that should go live in a land of aristocracy and not in the land of the free (sorry, speaking to fellow Americans here). I grew up running around in the woods with a .22 in my hand following rabbit trails. It wasn't money that taught me how to hunt, it was experience. I didn't grow up in the shadow of Wall Street and the shade of buildings, large and small, and then expect my money to disrepute all those who don't have it and certainly tell that poor kid running around in the back woods that when he's an adult he can't hunt because he doesn't have any money.
As a some of you have posted you've went to Alaska for better opportunities because of leased land and overrun public land. I ended up in Montana with hunting as a second concern. Here, as in other places, the public lands have become overrun with the "casual" hunter and along with that the idiots. Population increase has its huge problems.
It wasn't until some recent years back that I actually bought some hunting specific pants and not my old faded Wranglers to hunt in. It certainly never seemed to mind to the deer or antelope I shot then.
Yes, trust me. There are tons of idiots out there that pile out of the cities and towns to go in search of that game animal every year because they are a "hunter". There's way too many of them around my country and yes there are a bunch who carry a lack of respect for others, the sport, and the land owner. But within the midst there are a few, whether young or old, who carry a passion for what they are doing.
If you are one of those that thinks money entitles you to hunt and no one else should have access, then you don't belong in this game. We need people to pass this along to the younger generation. As many problems that public hunting brings (a large portion of my hunting has been on public land), along with all those "casual" hunters and the idiots who mix in that bunch, come out, it is still hunting and there are those who have a natural passion for it, and that should never be discouraged.
As the article states, I think we need those "casual" hunters.
As with all my discombobulated posts, your opinion my vary.
www.outdoorlife.com
Same with driven hunts..great fun too..
