Yeah, and like Steve said- then go to the State for reimbursement for the "damage" they caused.
Baiting or normal ranching practice?
- Thread starter MtPockets
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The Nature Conservancy plays a form of this game in a few places in Oregon.
Sorghum can be dangerous for grazing after a frost. Prussic acid and cyanide are released as the plants cell walls break down, the worst is between the first light frost and a killing frost when the plants get wilted. I don't know for sure but my guess is the game will figure this out when they suffer bloat after grazing and stop using it until at least a couple weeks after a killing frost. This might be a window of time that works in your favor.
That's exactly what's happening in areas where I hunt.
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
The outfitter will be booked by out of state hunters and they will have a great hunt seeing lots of elk. Others on nearby public land will see barely any.
This is very common for whitetail and yea it's frustrating trying to hunt public land when most deer are on private property with all the food and barely any pressure.
Whitetail hunters kill deer on public land even with deer utopia nearby. You will need to adjust your hunting style to be successful. Not all of the animals will stay entirely on private land 100% of the time.
If planting this was legal you will need to adjust or move on.
Hoss Smith
Well-Known Member
i don't know anything about this situation, but have a fair amount of experience taking folks hunting and ranching. First question is was this a cultivated field in past years? If so, sorghum or maize is a good crop when it's a dry year and the price of sorghum is good. Also, as another stated is the field large, not food plot size of 10 acres or so. Folks regularly comment on the price we are getting for beef. I don't hear them comment on the cost of inputs. Sorghum can be fed to cattle and stubble grazed. Diesel, protein supplements, cubes, are all almost double in cost if not doubled. Our profit - income over expense is lower than before. Sorghum is a good crop for a farm / ranch operation.
Thank you for the reply. I was hoping to get responses from our farming/ranching friends.
The property is owned by an out of stater and really wasnt farmed for years. In fact, for several years the whole place was a BMA.
Once this guy bought it, he brought in heavy equipment and cleared out huge patches of ground. I'm not sure when he started planting the sorgum, but this is the first year it has had such a devastating effect on hunting for the surrounding area.
Also, he doesnt even attempt to harvest it. Strictly grazes it.
Aoudad 101
Well-Known Member
Can you use a drone to push elk... asking for a friend
I wanted to buy a drone with saddle tanks full of Roundup and spray a big FU in the middle of his "field".
azsugarbear
Well-Known Member
I've been saying it for years.......hunting is becoming big business. People are expanding faster than our natural resources, which ultimately dives up demand/value of what they are wanting. There are only a couple of ways to combat this and one of them is law and enforcement. We have to be proactive in getting laws on the books. Now I have never been a big fan of more laws and regulations, but where big money is concerned, it is the only thing that gets their attention.
I have found that when it comes to making money, a lot of people will push the limits on what is legal, with morals or a sense of fair play going out the window completely. Their thinking is: "I just play the same game better than you do". We had a similar problem with game cameras up on the legendary "strip" in AZ where some of the biggest mule deer are. Outfitters were running hundreds of game cameras all over the unit. By the time their hunters arrived, they knew exactly what was available in terms of inventory and the general area and time that certain places were frequented. How does the average hunter, who can't afford $6k-$8k for a guided hunt, compete in such an environment? Our state resource was being used primarily by outfitters who played the game better. Now with the ban of cameras, the playing field has been leveled a little more.
I have found that when it comes to making money, a lot of people will push the limits on what is legal, with morals or a sense of fair play going out the window completely. Their thinking is: "I just play the same game better than you do". We had a similar problem with game cameras up on the legendary "strip" in AZ where some of the biggest mule deer are. Outfitters were running hundreds of game cameras all over the unit. By the time their hunters arrived, they knew exactly what was available in terms of inventory and the general area and time that certain places were frequented. How does the average hunter, who can't afford $6k-$8k for a guided hunt, compete in such an environment? Our state resource was being used primarily by outfitters who played the game better. Now with the ban of cameras, the playing field has been leveled a little more.
The playing fields have really never been level. It is simply the "haves and have nots". If it is legal, it does not do any good to whine about it. I don't like it as I am not a member of the "haves", but that is reality. Maybe you will get lucky and catch one roaming out past their property lines.
Àhhhhhhhhh....but I bet the outfitter published success rate.....looks real good! How did he know the crop wouldn't be harvested anyway?
Not his job!
RockyMtnMT
Official LRH Sponsor
I understand landowners leasing the hunting rights. Bummer for me, but not out of line. Problem is intentionally using poor ranching practices to attract game animals. Like planting crops and not harvesting them. Or running a few cattle on thousands of acres and feeding them tons (literally) of hay daily. Then getting crop damage compensation because the elk ate the crop. Then worse yet is when a ranch uses the excuse of patrolling the boundaries to keep unwanted hunters out, when they are in fact keeping the elk in. Then there are the properties that will haze animals, on land around theirs, into their property.
This goes on here at a level with elk that is hard for most to comprehend. We are talking about elk herds that would normally cover hundreds of square miles being congregated into a few thousand acres. These are herds of hundreds even thousands of elk. The fish and game is then unable to manage the numbers of elk through hunting. The only answer they come up with is to extend the season almost into calving. These shoulder seasons are only good on private land, making hunters think that the land owners in the area want them there. In fact it just puts pressure on ranchers that don't want three more months of hunters knocking on their doors. To my thinking this is causing more ranchers to just say no to any hunting. Just too much hassle to deal with.
This goes on here at a level with elk that is hard for most to comprehend. We are talking about elk herds that would normally cover hundreds of square miles being congregated into a few thousand acres. These are herds of hundreds even thousands of elk. The fish and game is then unable to manage the numbers of elk through hunting. The only answer they come up with is to extend the season almost into calving. These shoulder seasons are only good on private land, making hunters think that the land owners in the area want them there. In fact it just puts pressure on ranchers that don't want three more months of hunters knocking on their doors. To my thinking this is causing more ranchers to just say no to any hunting. Just too much hassle to deal with.
