Born and raised in so.illinois

[BHT]

Is it just me or is there beginning to be nowhere left to hunt!!!! This sounds bad but all the good places are getting leased out by big outfits from other states,and for a guy like me who has spent his whole life hunting here it really stinks. I guess I never realized how good we had it in so.ill but now it's becoming very clear that this is one of the better spots in the country. Hunting whitetail is getting more popular every year and their is allways gonna be someone willing to pay to hunt. I can't blaim the farmer's for leasing the land because right now many people need the extra money,but I can't afford to pay to hunt so it just leaves me with almost nowhere to go now.I'm not saying that I don't want people from other states to experience so.ill whitetail but it just stinks that people who spend their whole life here have to pay for it.

[bowhuntdeer79]

im not gonna start a argument on here but i have been on both sides of the fence on this issue. I had a family farm that we used to hold 30 hunters had an old house to lodge and everything. when i ended up at the end of the year i had to do most of the work and everyone else got to hunt. I have since sold it and lease the land back for my family to hunt on. Ask yourself what you have done for the landowners? just my 2 cents

[backwoodsman]

Well I cant speak for everyone on here but on our free farms and the ones we had years ago before leasing came into being here, we traded work, baling hay, harvest help etc. We alway shared our catch/kill, if they liked jerky, summer sausage etc we always made sure they got some, we sent Christmas presents and cards. We've always treated the landowner right. It all boils down to money and greed. I know several farmers that will never lease. On the other side of the coin I know a few that are always lookin for someone that'll pay more then the current one's. Got into a deal like that today, 110 acres we lease. Outfitter flopped down $5,000 cash, owner wanted to know if we'd pay more, before we knew it was $5,000 we bumped ours up, twice. But for 110 acres and less then half is huntable wasnt worth it to us. Outfitter will make that back with 3 bowhunters opening week. Oh trust me we've talked about selling our souls to the devil and outfitting. I know the driving force behind why they do it, money. 6 figure sums are quite common. I know one that made over $200,000 in '06 and only claimed $45,000.<<<thats for working September to mid December.