From the Kentucky Hunting Forums

(The issues were: 1) Should KY limit non-resident deer hunting 2) Is non-resident deer hunting effecting small game hunting 3) Should private land be opened to public hunting)

Here is my response:

You missed a couple of points on comparing this to the Europeans. Take Germany for instance: You have a 11 year education process before you can become hunt master or “hunt-gentleman.” Then you are given by the state a set of private and state-owned plots to manage. The landowner has nothing to do with it. Everyone who the hunt master allows to hunt must have gone through a rigorous vetting process as well. The game meat taken in the hunt belongs to the hunt master, who gives a portion to the landowner. The hunter may get the antlers and hooves.

At least here in the States, we as landowners have some control over who comes on our land. The last thing I’d want is all the goofballs who hunt the surrounding hills adjacent to my 200 acre plot thinking they could come back on and blast away. I was talking to the neighbors after bagging mine on Saturday. In one case, 4 hunters took shots in turn at 1 doe. The last one tracked the beast for hours Saturday afternoon, but never found her. That’s the kind of hunters that I don’t want on the place.

Overall, having read through all this so far, let me give you my perspective as a Buckeye who comes to KY to hunt.

1) I dump a lot of money into the local economy all year round, because my family owns a plot in KY. Deer hunting is a year-round pursuit for me.

2) I came from hunting in OH. If you want bow-hunting action in the rut, come to OH. The November action is fast and furious, but I’ll still take KY.

3) If you want more gun season, cross the river to OH. Shotgun is not so bad. Sometimes, I carry my 1100 down here in KY. If you gun hunt like a bow hunter in tight venues, a slug gun takes them just fine.

4) In Zone 1, the doe population is out of control. You guys need all the Buckeyes and Hoosiers you can muster. When the doe/buck ratio gets back down where it should be, Zone 1 will be crawling with B&C bucks.

5) If you really wanted to take care of the problem, do like the states in the South do– gun season from Labor Day to MLK Day. Keep it one-buck-per-season. That way, the rifle hunters will space out their activity throughout the season, and you won’t see that big push during the rut– at least not as much.

6) Small game? Come on up to OH. Or better yet, buy a plot in KY and get it enrolled in HIP. You can manage it for whatever game you want, and the state will reimburse you for your trouble.

One thing I hear from a lot of you is the expectation that KY resident hunting should be free and open experience. It isn’t. Somebody has to pay to keep the WMA’s open. On private land, somebody has to go buy land, manage the land, and defend it against poaching. All this costs money. The German model I outlined at the outset is based on an extreme lack of good hunting land that has to be protected. Most folks from KY have no concept of the population densities the Germans and other Europeans have to contend with. Yes, KY is heading that way, albeit slowly.

I would like to see a future where every father can hop in the car and take his son hunting. However, one of these days, that father may have to have paid hundreds of dollars a year in leases or rents or fees to make that happen. That money will go towards keeping the land from being converted to something else.

My family opted to make that investment in a private plot, and put me there to manage it as best I could. I cannot do that without restricting access. If we can’t do it that way, we will undoubtedly sell out. When we go, it will either be because property taxes have made it prohibitively expensive or poaching and encroachment have made the plot unproductive or dangerous. When we do sell out, we’ll probably sell out to developers that will carve it up and put houses on it– that’s where the top dollar will be. When we do, we’ll take the money and move out further and repeat the process.

My solution to all this: Start thinking like an old Kraut. We’re not so bad, really. Think of us as “The Other Hillbilly.” Having come from a bunch of Bavarian ex-pats who settled in Cincinnati, and having married into family that came from the hollers, I can truthfully say that the main difference is the spice y’all put in your sausage. It’s still hawg and it’s still sausage.

Here’s my plan for y’all:

Get a bunch of y’all together and plunk down money on a plot either as an outright buy, a land contract, or a long-term lease. Form an association and manage the land to your tastes. Figure you need about 20 acres per member to make it worthwhile. Make a few rules, collect a few dues, and start building for your future. Find someone in real-estate to join, find yourself a lawyer to join. Find a few guys with money to join. Invite the State Biologist in to give you some good advice. Pretty soon, you’ll be your own Jagermeisters.

Whatever you do, don’t expect the State of KY to do things to your tastes. Take it from the grandson of a Bavarian Ex-pat: when you trust the state to do things for you . . . well, you saw what happened with our experiment. Just don’t. Poor ol’ Uncle Reinhardt had to go hide out in the Black Forest for 13 years for telling a young Adolf Hitler that he was nutcase and then flipping off a bunch of Brown Shirts.

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