My son watches tik tok on his ipod from time to time and I try to monitor his use

[rstallings1979]

of it. One thing I have noticed over the last 12-24 months is the number of younger males/teens making hunting tic toks and facebook videos. I have also noticed an increase in podcasts, hunting youtube channels, hunting instagram posts and it has actually started to depress me a little at how "cool" or "popular" hunting has become or is becoming due to social media. There are numerous podcasts out there operated by some mid 20 somethings that I can pull up right now detailing all they have learned about hunting and how to hunt this place or that place etc. I believe all of this attention is making it harder on the regular hunter who doesn't own his own land as well and its going to continually drive up the cost to be a hunter. Classic example...I graduated from UGA in 2001 and my roommates my senior year were all Atlanta city boys for the most part. I don't even think a couple of them had ridden down a dirt road before in their life. I spoke with two the other day and they decided to start bow hunting two years ago and are leasing land in the Midwest with a group for $35 an acre. That's a ridiculous price to pay but people are paying it.

I started visiting the Midwest in 2008 and you could find Kansas land for lease in the 5-8.00 an acre range, you could buy Iowa land in the $1200-$1800, and good Kansas hunting land was around $1000 an acre or even less. Of course I kick myself for not jumping on some property then considering I was single with minimal debt but I never imagined it would come to this and why would I buy when we could lease so cheap on land that was 12 hours plus in distance from where I resided. I wonder where does it end. I have been blessed in being able to accumulate some Georgia property over the last 10 years so my boys will never have to worry about a situation where they have no place to hunt but I worry about other longtime hunters who do not own their own land and where this is all headed.

For the last 6 or 7 years I have had a lease in the Midwest that started around $10-12 an acre and I had a feeling it would eventually hit a point where the price just wasn't worth the property. It is avg land with lots of neighboring pressure and likely some fence crossing taking place when we weren't there. In those 7 years I had only pulled back my bow 3 times on what I would call a shooter so there weren't mature bucks bouncing around often. EHD had hit the area pretty hard as well in the past. I have gotten word 2023's price was going to essentially end up at $30 an acre and I just couldn't see paying it but I know someone will. I was able to develop a local friendship in the area so I do have land to continue hunting so that is a blessing but that family is definitely a unicorn when it comes to money. The only thing they accept from me is my family Christmas cards and pecans from our pecan orchard. The problem is I refer to them as unicorns because they are definitely rare these days.

I also know hunters are now paying $25 and $30 an acre or even more here in Georgia as for some areas. Does this eventually slow down or end? Is this a result of the social media craze I am seeing on my sons phone or the cheap money/economy or a combination of both. We are likely looking at a pretty good decline in the economy next year with the amount of supply I am hearing that's stored up and not sold. There will be more layoffs and construction has drastically slowed due to the interest rate bumps. I am curious to see if this affects the demand out there when it comes to hunting and hopefully things get back to some normalcy but I am not hopeful.

What are your thoughts?

 

[BeerThirty]

As much as I don't like social media or increased competition on hunting lands, we need to swallow our pride pills and realize that more people getting into the outdoors is a good thing.

 

[JustUs4All]

Exactly what is going to happen in the future is hard to predict but a couple of things are certain. God isn't making any more land around here but the population is growing and they all need places to live, work, and shop. That alone should cause the cost of leases to increase.

 

[BWill]

Georgias problem is metro Atlanta and Florida is in a war over hunting leases. Central and South Georgia is caught up in the middle of it. That’s why it’s going up here. when You have money people going into a high dollar bidding war this is what you get. The reality of it is, sure a few good deer are taken in Georgia every year, but they’re still not up to what is harvested in other states and regions. Before I will EVER pay $20 a acre here, I’ll go somewhere else with less pressure and fewer morons in the woods where management is better.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I bought land that I could shoot deer on and have venison every year that was completely obtained by me from taking the game to putting it on my table. I am a hunter not just a shooter. I tend to think a lot of the more recent social media upstarts are the latter.

I bought land to fill the freezer each year. Not land to wait for the biggest buck. Not to put out two dozen trail cameras and post pictures asking about age and size. Not to post my kills to the “look at me look at me” social medias.

I bought my own partially because of a lot of restricted access to hunting. Any hunting. Not just big buck land. Also, land ownership was instilled into me very young growing up on a family farm and a part of me became complete once I had it.

I too am dismayed at the state of hunting and land access. The rich are getting richer and becoming ever more rich in land as well as pure money. They have the means to manipulate land to produce ever yet more wealth. Us plebes are trying to claw just to get 30 acres (which is how much I have).

I targeted land to buy in an area not known for frequent buck sightings but had a large deer population. The price was, not coincidentally, more affordable and I have been able to keep my freezer full year after year.

 

[rstallings1979]

As much as I don't like social media or increased competition on hunting lands, we need to swallow our pride pills and realize that more people getting into the outdoors is a good thing.

Yeah I agree to that statement. I think the outdoors can keep a kid from falling into bad habits in other places. That is one reason I want my own boys to fall in love with the outdoors. I wonder with the huge social media glut of material if they are getting into it for the right reason or because it is a new "cool" hobby and they can profit from the material they put out. Are they actually consuming what they kill, learning how to gut and quarter a deer on the ground when no one is around to help, etc. I notice there is a crazy idea with teenagers these days that they too can generate enormous wealth as a social media influencer but to be honest the odds are probably like making it to the NFL or MLB.

 

[buckpasser]

I don’t see any scenario being a great one with the rise in human population. We have 2 basic options:

1) maintain a high enough percentage of the population to keep hunting a legal thing. This will result in worse and more expensive hunting options for all hunters.

2) fail to maintain a high enough percentage of people (voters) in the population and lose hunting as a thing.

Option 2 results in the rise of the world’s most successful poachers.

 

[BeerThirty]

Yeah I agree to that statement. I think the outdoors can keep a kid from falling into bad habits in other places. That is one reason I want my own boys to fall in love with the outdoors. I wonder with the huge social media glut of material if they are getting into it for the right reason or because it is a new "cool" hobby and they can profit from the material they put out. Are they actually consuming what they kill, learning how to gut and quarter a deer on the ground when no one is around to help, etc. I notice there is a crazy idea with teenagers these days that they too can generate enormous wealth as a social media influencer but to be honest the odds are probably like making it to the NFL or MLB.

Hard to say. I tend to think that people get into hunting for the right reasons because the cost of entry, both time and money are extremely high, not to mention all the other knowledge necessary to be successful at it. In other words, there's quite an investment getting into hunting and I think that would be a barrier to anyone getting into it for the wrong reasons. Let's face it though, I think we could agree there are adults today who hunt for the wrong reasons as well. So I don't think it's a stigma that's ever going to change.

 

[tree cutter 08]

It's definitely put more people in the woods. What has taken alot of folks a lifetime of learning land, deer and how everything comes together now only takes a few years. I'm talking about public land. Honey holes are no longer since onxmaps became a thing. It use to be boots on the ground with old paper maps. It would take time and lots of it to scout a place. Now you can do it with your phone in about as much time as it has taken me to type this out.

 

[JustUs4All]

Georgias problem is metro Atlanta and Florida is in a war over hunting leases. Central and South Georgia is caught up in the middle of it. That’s why it’s going up here. when You have money people going into a high dollar bidding war this is what you get.

This is simple supply and demand with Atlanta and Florida having nothing to do with it. When the demand for hunting land goes up either by the number of folks doing the demanding or by there being less land available a "high dollar bidding war" will ensue. It has always been thus. The folk with big bucks don't look at it as particularly high dollar while the folk without them do. Money will chase whatever pleasure suits it and this has always been the case.

The reality of it is, sure a few good deer are taken in Georgia every year, but they’re still not up to what is harvested in other states and regions. Before I will EVER pay $20 a acre here, I’ll go somewhere else with less pressure and fewer morons in the woods where management is better.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy yourself. Fewer morons is always a good thing. Most of the folks on leases who have been hunting GA for a while probably didn't think they would ever pay $10 an acre or $15. I never thought I would pay $40,000 for a motor vehicle. My first house didn't cost that. LOL

 

[Big7]

On FOX right now.

 

[Jim Boyd]

You guys crack me up.

I will be dead but come back in 30 - 40 years and I promise you - there will be folks crowing about how great it was back in 2020.

Happens every generation or three.

My uncles rode us “hippies” mercilessly in the 70’s and 80’s and though they loved us well - said we were the ruination of river and swamp.

Time is a wheel.

 

[rstallings1979]

You guys crack me up.

I will be dead but come back in 30 - 40 years and I promise you - there will be folks crowing about how great it was back in 2020.

Happens every generation or three.

My uncles rode us “hippies” mercilessly in the 70’s and 80’s and though they loved us well - said we were the ruination of river and swamp.

Time is a wheel.

So in your opinion the price increases we have seen in the last 5 years with leases/equipment/bullets/guns etc should be the norm and expected? I wasn't around hunting in the 70s and very little in the 80s but from about the 90s up until maybe 2010 lease prices appeared to be stable with maybe a minor increase (as well as bullet prices/arrow prices etc). Since that time I see the pleasure/hobby of hunting become a much more expensive undertaking. Was it the TV shows that started it over the last 20 years? Is it the social media presence we have now that's expanding it even more? What would cause my roommates from Alpharetta Ga who never saw a dirt road prior to meeting me want to enter the world of hunting in the last 5 years? I never have asked them but maybe I should.

The guy who introduced me to hunting in the Midwest and moved to Iowa due to his love of whitetails told me just this week he doesn't know what he will do next year. He is now in his mid 60s but in pretty good shape as far as being able to bow hunt and he had to let his Iowa hunting ground go due to price and the ground he has had access to for free has either sold or the owners started leasing their ground out over the last couple of years. He is on a fixed Social Security income and he cannot afford what the landowner wanted. Those are the guys I am worried about. He has probably killed as many bucks as anyone I know over 170 inches and he is in limbo about a place to go next year.

I can promise you in 25 years when I am approaching 70 I will not look back and say 2020 or anytime around 2020 were the good ole days. I am pretty sure I will be saying thank goodness I bought some ground when I was able and when it was affordable because that is when money started driving the sport/hobby.

 

[Sixes]

As much as I don't like social media or increased competition on hunting lands, we need to swallow our pride pills and realize that more people getting into the outdoors is a good thing.

Why? Can you explain the benefits of increasing pressure, lease rates and the need to increase hunters on an already limited amount of space and game?

I'm the opposite, I wish everyone would stop hunting

 

[westcobbdog]

Regarding tik tok, it's a Chinese platform and you are tracked by the chinaman, period.

 

[antharper]

So in your opinion the price increases we have seen in the last 5 years with leases/equipment/bullets/guns etc should be the norm and expected? I wasn't around hunting in the 70s and very little in the 80s but from about the 90s up until maybe 2010 lease prices appeared to be stable with maybe a minor increase (as well as bullet prices/arrow prices etc). Since that time I see the pleasure/hobby of hunting become a much more expensive undertaking. Was it the TV shows that started it over the last 20 years? Is it the social media presence we have now that's expanding it even more? What would cause my roommates from Alpharetta Ga who never saw a dirt road prior to meeting me want to enter the world of hunting in the last 5 years? I never have asked them but maybe I should.

The guy who introduced me to hunting in the Midwest and moved to Iowa due to his love of whitetails told me just this week he doesn't know what he will do next year. He is now in his mid 60s but in pretty good shape as far as being able to bow hunt and he had to let his Iowa hunting ground go due to price and the ground he has had access to for free has either sold or the owners started leasing their ground out over the last couple of years. He is on a fixed Social Security income and he cannot afford what the landowner wanted. Those are the guys I am worried about. He has probably killed as many bucks as anyone I know over 170 inches and he is in limbo about a place to go next year.

I can promise you in 25 years when I am approaching 70 I will not look back and say 2020 or anytime around 2020 were the good ole days. I am pretty sure I will be saying thank goodness I bought some ground when I was able and when it was affordable because that is when money started driving the sport/hobby.

Would your buddy in Iowa happen to be Chuck ?

 

[BamaGeorgialine]

You guys crack me up.

I will be dead but come back in 30 - 40 years and I promise you - there will be folks crowing about how great it was back in 2020.

Happens every generation or three.

My uncles rode us “hippies” mercilessly in the 70’s and 80’s and though they loved us well - said we were the ruination of river and swamp.

Time is a wheel.

You hit the nail on the head. The only thing constant is change. I don't change, but I dang sure try to pivot regularly and it's not easy. This subject starts out with a child being in a deer stand on his "phone." Now that's different than how I hunted. Way different. Also, please don't think that I'm bashing a kid on a cell phone. Mine had them as well. I'm just stating how different things are and how they will continue to change.

 

[BeerThirty]

Why? Can you explain the benefits of increasing pressure, lease rates and the need to increase hunters on an already limited amount of space and game?

I'm the opposite, I wish everyone would stop hunting

When I think of more hunters, I think of kids. Getting unplugged from their devices, learning and gaining a respect for wildlife and the outdoors in which they inhabit. Learning about where food comes from and understanding the balance of nature with growing world.

Maybe you are bitter about more hunters, but I try to see pros and the cons.

For many, a child's first experience with hunting could be a gateway drug that positively changes their life.

 

[JustUs4All]

If we don't manage to recruit new hunters and fishers the sport will eventually be strangled by those who do not understand it.

 

[rstallings1979]

You hit the nail on the head. The only thing constant is change. I don't change, but I dang sure try to pivot regularly and it's not easy. This subject starts out with a child being in a deer stand on his "phone." Now that's different than how I hunted. Way different. Also, please don't think that I'm bashing a kid on a cell phone. Mine had them as well. I'm just stating how different things are and how they will continue to change.

He’s eating breakfast on his phone. Our farm doesn’t have good enough reception for him to use it much in the stands. Just to clarify I didn’t mean he watched tik tok and YouTube videos constantly while hunting. He’s a pretty serious little hunter so he’s watching for deer probably just as much as I am. Although I myself like to read about the bulldogs or braves sometimes while I am hunting and I have enough reception.