Yeah I could knock on every door asking for permission. Spending days driving miles around the county.
Is sense a trend here .... I have done all these things ....long term.
I was knocking on doors in 1995 and on ..... I got turned down sometimes, but I was Sociable and persistent ....sometimes folks died* .... but I knew their kids and grandkids because in some cases, the kid answered the door and a dozen years later I was askin' him for permission, b'cause dad and mom had passed on....
I could pay a couple hundred dollars for a lease.
.
I won't. It supports an arms race I cannot win. "The want of money is the root of all Evil" .... I had a distant relative pass away and the land fell to an unlikely aquaintance of hers .... I had hunted that ground since I was totin' a capgun ..... I knocked and asked and he said it was leased .... going rate for next year was $1250 for 3 months .... this was 160 acres .... I said, "How nice, love to chat, but I have to find a place for the kids to hunt ..... have a nice day." He squandered his newfound wealth, apparently. and the land went up for auction 4 years later ....bought by the kid that met me at the door I'd mentioned before .... My daughter killed a nice buck ther the next afternoon..... we take them sausage and jerky every year ...... nice people ....
It is really hard to justify such expense on top of days scouting and equipment expenses when I can buy beef for less money and not spend all the time. My wife is a pretty reasonable woman IMO, but telling her I took ten days, which even at a crap part time job near mnimum wage would be close to $1000 lost earnings, to hunt, , scout, and get permission; then spent a couple hundred dollars driving around(gas+depreciation), fifty more on equipment and supplies. $100 for butcher or half a day of us working together to process
again, I sense a trend here ...... and I think that trend is short term thinking....
"equipment expenses"? A gun and a knife ....and if you are on this forum, it's likely you have a selection of those .... everybody needs a break .... mine is Firearm Deer Season ....and if you are telling me that you work even 300 days a year, I'm callin' BS. I make time ..... but you do what you want ... as for "a couple hundred dollars driving around" ..... stop road hunting and stay on stand ...... you couldn't find enough ground to hunt on and now that you found some, you are driving around aimlessly?
as for depreciation ...... the newest vehicle in this household is a 2010 .... there ain't no appreciable depreciation .... the rig I took hunting this year was my 1996 F150 extended cab ..... it's the same thing I've been driving down there since 1998 .... everybody has their priorities, I guess ....
*my dad called me and told me he bought a house in a town right close to where I hunt, and asked if I'd come out and help him move..... I said, "Great!" and he proceeded to tell me all about it ...... when we rolled up in th U-Haul I realized I had been there before... knocked on the door to ask an elderly lady for permission to hunt .... she owned the place I wanted to go alright ....but leased it to a local farmer and directed me to him for permission .....