Favors of the Royal Court

           Deer Hunters

Favors of the Royal Court

Fences

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

            Well, deer season has arrived.

            The spectacle of the deer camps has sprouted up across the fruited plane like throbbing beacons. There are huge differences, however, between today’s version of a grand American pastime and those of bygone days. Gone are the 8X10 wall tents, the 1944 surplus Jeep, the Coleman lanterns, and at least one Model 94 Winchester leaning against the gun pole. In their place are investments of splendor that would give Ghengis Khan pause.

            Holy Cow!

            There is one camp in the middle of the Burris Pasture that might have a quarter of a million dollars of total investment. The new fifth wheels, the new lifted four-wheel drive pickups, the utility trailers with a mix of four wheelers, generators, sun awnings, and miscellaneous and sundry versions of modern hoodlum wagons would be judged by a bunch of old time hunters as a bit ostentatious. Not one of the Realtree® bedecked nimrods has stopped by the ranch headquarters to ask a thing much less if it was okay to park where they did. On the other hand, maybe they did, but they were too concealed to be seen.

            That is just the way it is. Too many folks have been led to believe they don’t have to act in any manner courteous out in the wilds amid the near wilderness experience. It is their right. They have become convinced of that. It is their land even though it is checkerboarded land of three major ownership categories … federal, state trust land, and private.

            Fences

            We have been working on fences too long.

            From the heat of late June until now we have reworked our eastern fence line. Three or four days a week from sunup until just after noon when we break to go do ranch work. About 12 miles of the 18, the worst of the nearly century old fence, is now done. It had to be done for a number of reasons. The most basic is the need for secure administrative and biosecurity boundaries. We must manage our operations, or at least those components we have some degree of control over.

            The approach has been consistent.

            We have laid out iron in the form of T-posts in intervals, pounded them, lifted and retied at least the existing top two wires, clipped everything back together and installed wire staves in the open panels. There has been occasional need to repair broken wire, but it wasn’t widespread. The Little Cowboy carried all the hardware, the drinking water, and the tools and never once complained although the creosote and mesquite have contributed to trips to the examination tent two or three times.

            The need for gates has not been without consideration.

            The problem is where gates could be used they can also be left open and the entire need for positive control of the movement of cattle is lost. We worry about gates, but when and where they exist they become points of conflict with the public. If there is a gate, there is an access point added to the perceived right of passage by association. It is a huge point of contention in the management of public lands ranches. As a consequence, we leave fewer and fewer gates that would make our life easier.

            Favors of the Royal Court

            This year over 15.6 million hunting licenses have been purchased across this nation. Texas leads the cavalcade with 1,157,779 licenses (remember, it is essentially all private land and we in the West are reminded constantly that public lands must be added to the holdings of the federal government to allow access for all things outdoor recreation).

            Texas is followed by four other private lands states in both license sales and hunting success. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, and Georgia fill out the big five with the contribution of another 3.034 million licenses.

            All in all, nearly a billion dollars of license sales are collected.

            And, that is a drop in the bucket in terms of the investment in the various accoutrements including clothing, footwear, optics, sizzling new long range arms, ELD-X® bullets, ATV options and aftermarket fancies, gripper tires, range finders, infrared detectors, two way radios, food, rehydration beverages, layered underwear, masking scent, lift kits, satellite phones, flashlights, hydration and day packs, sizzle sticks, whiskey, protein bars, drones, electronic apps of every persuasion, and camouflage that have become the investment goal of a whole generation of hunters.

In fact, a full blown camouflage ensemble from a Kuiu Nation devoté can run as high as $10,000! A day pack compartment of Swarovski optics alone can run in excess of $7,500 just to have the comfort of that name brand attached to your body and your viewing experience. If there are any deer in the country, they can be pinpointed and ranged out to a mile and beyond.

It is no wonder, therefore, that the two million number decline of overall hunting licenses between 2011 and 2016 was met with a great deal of gnashing of teeth and trepidation. Sales of stuff was being put at risk. Something had to be done to protect and grow the stuff businesses.

Fueled with donation promises, it has become trendy for congressmen and department secretaries to push for more access, more funds to save the future for the children, and more emphasis of outdoor experiences to try to get those children to put their ubiquitous I phone down for the wonders of nature. In the process, they demonstrate their shooting prowess by borrowing the Browning Sweet 16 prop with an adjustable choke and go out to film one scene of them shooting a can.

I don’t know … I guess I just remember a different model that respected the animal.

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “Aldo Leopold and I darn sure agree on one thing … when hunting becomes a commercial enterprise, the essence of the sport is gone.”