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

[DynamicDennis]

Social media like tik tac and fakebook, are the end of humanity. This forum is as far as I go anymore. Got off the book when Trump "lost" the last election. My kids used to have tic tac and snapcrap as well, cut that off about the same time.

 

[Partapradip]

I'm new here and I wanna add that as for whether or not this trend will slow down or end, it's tough to say for sure. It could be a combination of factors, including the social media craze and the state of the economy. However, I wouldn't count on the demand for hunting to disappear entirely. It's been a popular activity for centuries and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Also, if you're interested in investing in social media platforms like TikTok, you might want to buy shares in tiktok. It will help you promote anything you want online and gain a lot of views and shares.

 

[Mike 65]

^^^Strange first post.

 

[LonePine]

^^^Strange first post.

Yep. Sounds like the AI bots may have invaded the GON Forum

 

[Throwback]

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

They finding out where the big bucks are on the Down low

 

[bfriendly]

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?

IMHO the social media craze is s simply a part of EVERYTHING. Almost any activity you can imagine has a DIY YouTube type video or podcast readily available. Technological advancements in just the last 10-20 years are why. Just look at the last five! I may be a little paranoid of AI, but I’ve watched all the Terminator movies more than once.
As far as the prices of leases, land etc…ALL the numbers have gon up when it comes to money. I have been a blue collar worker my whole life. Fresh out of high school in he early’90s, I worked my way up to leaderman at Tropicana and made $11.22 an hour! I was making bank! Right now my kid works part time at QT and makes over $18/hr! Back then if you made 30-50k you could live pretty decent and if you made 100k, you were rich! I can live pretty decent on my 100k, but I am far from rich!
It does seem as though everything increasing is doing so at a much faster pace. Except my 401k which is still doing good, just nothing like it was during the last administration.

 

[Jim Boyd]

Back then we hunted lands for free, so in some respect they were right about ruination.

I still have access to hunt land for free.

Several tracts in 3 states.

I have NEVER had a lease in which the original price went up and many of them are now into the 10th + year.

I have had leases in which the prices went down.

All personal leases - no, I don’t think I could pull that off on timber land.

Now, additionally, I own a small farm and provide free access to many friends and relatives. It is the least I can do.

If you could have told me - 40 years ago - this is what ruination would look like, I would have said “I’ll take it”.

I personally think that if you want to find and enjoy the good - you can do it. Conversely, if you want find and be troubled by the bad… we’ll, you can do that also.

I know this is an older thread - I am going to go ahead and wish everyone a GREAT 2023 season!!!!

 

[Big7]

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.

Me too.

Jed Clampet ain't figured out how to cook a billiard and I ain't figured out how to cook a horn.

I hunt for the sole reason that I like to sit in the woods, edge of a field or power line and I eat deer meat. If it's got a nice rack, so be it.

Same as any other game or fish. I don't fish for carp, Bonefish or Tarpon either. I fish because I like to fish and I like to eat fish.

 

[gma1320]

Hunting can be a cheap or expensive as you make it. It gets purdy high dollar when you put money into leases and such. I've got some nice rifles and have leased some good land. Ironically enough, I've killed most of my deer with a $200 mossberg maverick 88 and a 10 dollar box of Winchester slugs. Most of them have came from public land I pay 20 bucks a year to hunt or 17 of the right acres I've hunted for free since 2008.