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Without hunters we all starve! Please comment

How does the future of high fence hunting look?

  • On the up

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  • Stagnent or on the down

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mrwhiteails said:
Here's an idea... We have some 20,000+ farms/ranches in the country why not everyone kick in $200 bucks. You do the math...I ate got enough fingers and toes but that should get us going. What do you think folks??



Don't call me to many names now!



Harry S

That may work. But what would be more fair would be to pay on a flat percentage base. The auctions would be a good place to start. If a person at an auction sold a doe for $20,000, $200 to that person is nothing. But $200 to the person who could not get into the sale and can not sell his deer is alot of money.

It's time the state ***. start acting on promoting hunting instead of just talking about it.
 
Josh said:
There is a flip side to every story, look through the eyes of another...



I think that it is also very important to remember that if we all get what we are asking for, which we will, the nation stage at our fingertips. We need to also be prepared for as much fire power from the anti's as we have place into the education ends of promoting our message. They have almost unlimited resources at there disposal if they feel threatened!!



We must change the mind set of the hunters so much, that they are as excitied to be a part of our vision of the hunting industry, that they are willing to stake it all with us.



Good point, But when we fear something we are already defeated and if we keep quiet we are defeated. The key is not to directly bump heads with them.

If every deer farmer every day just spoke to one hunters concerning HF hunting. We could change hunters minds by the thousands and would not cost a cent. One on one has always been the best seller and always will be. Called word of mouth.

When talking to hunters please do not use the words Hunting preserve. Use the words Hunting Ranch. That way hunters associate us with Texas and western ranches.
 
Word of mouth is the way to go. A person who speaks about some that they truly believe in will deliver a message 10 times better than someone getting paid or has other motives. We can all do it. Most of us already do, or at least I do every chance I get.



As for being afraid or fearing the anti's, not a chance, my point was more to make sure that we, as an industry, are prepared for the extra attention we will receive.$$$$$



When push comes to shove who do you want standing next to?



I think that as the Hunting Ranch Council finalizes the white paper and the code of ethics for hunting ranches we as deer farmers, producers, and other players will have a better understanding of what truly our message needs to be, not what we think it is.
 
Im with ya brother/wisdom or sister........I think I'm gonna start a poll on who everyone thinks wisdom is........I know I had idea a couple years ago for anyone having sale giving .5 percent or something to NADEFA............again on deaf ears.

Cant believe yall didn't like the stimilus package better...............or maybe someone needs to take it to Labama to get a goverment sponsored stimilus package...........I vote for Tim Conduit to sponsor it in DC



Josh now I'm gettin ya .......must be because its morning and my head is clear again:D
 
Putting all joking aside....Josh I completely agree with ya on word of mouth:



"Word of mouth is the way to go. A person who speaks about some that they truly believe in will deliver a message 10 times better than someone getting paid or has other motives. We can all do it. Most of us already do, or at least I do every chance I get."



I suggested earlier that -We as an industry needs to try hunting at the ranches and take our kids, relatives and friends.....then the words of mouth becomes very powerful.....we can all say its so great but really have you tried it?? ask yourself why not?

I believe this can have immediate impact and be more powerful than any ad campaign or what ever campaign is delivered. Kieth Warren is making an impact one show at a time.

We can campaign all ya want but we need to get folks there and understanding it....because they will still have that embedded misconception until they actually experience it.

This year Pa Pac fund fundraiser was gonna not have a hunt on it....George Hazzard and I was traveling to from Ohio discussing how important having that hunt on the ticket was and made the decision to put one on....I can ramble on about it but you get the drift......but does everyone see the importance of it????????



What does everyone think about this type of campaign to get things rolling???
 
Thanks Harry, Every once in awhile something good comes out of my mouth.



My first employer told me this kinda as a joke but the idea is sound.

"You want to be happy for a day, get drunk. You want to be happy for a week, get married. You want to be happy for the rest of your life, take up hunting and fishing."



These last line has fallen by the way side. The youth of america is brainwashed. Why? Because there parents are brainwashed! "Can I play with my gameboy?" No the parent replies "go watch TV!!!!" Give me a break.

Grab a kid(s) and a parent give them a tour of your farm. Educate, Educate, Educate!!



Our message is a postive one, Most people feed off negativity, If you can take that message we have and change ONE mind a day. O MY!!



As for funding a campaign. The money can and will be raised we can spend it all in heartbeat. But we must be orginized to a "T" and hold the course.



Russ Jr. I'm in on a round table discussion!
 
mrwhiteails said:
Cant believe yall didn't like the stimilus package better...............or maybe someone needs to take it to Labama to get a goverment sponsored stimilus package...........





I dont think to many like the stimulus package or the health care proposal.



After all, it's just Obama Rigged...... :D





I am all in on helping to promote the hunting industry. Just got off the phone last night with a preserve owner that moves a good many deer each year. He was in agreement to only buy from deer farmers that participated in a promotional program. As he stated, it would be foolish to not support the people that are helping to support him.



Maybe that would be a great start. Contact the preserve owners and suggest the promotional package idea to them. Just as the breeders directory each year, a copy of participating deer farmers would be sent to all the participating preserves. Then the preserves have a "list" of folks that are donating and helping to promote (financially) the hunting industry.



As I said early on, I dont feel the big guys should be the only contributors, if a % is taken from the auctions. I have never, nor probably never will, consign an animal in an auction. Most of my deer are shooters and used for urine collection. A $10,000 deer pee's just as much as a $50 deer. However, as the buck mature, I too utilize the hunting industry as an outlet and feel I need to contribute just the same as a high end breeder.



I do like Harry's, or um I mean mrwhitetais, idea of a yearly membership. That to me seems like the fairest idea yet. Both the preserve and farmers alike share the same costs and benefits, big or small.



This is a great topic and it sure feels good to put our heads together rather than butting them...







John







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I think at the very least every breeding farm and every hunt ranch needs to donate to the cause. Yes, if someone sold a $20,000 doe they can/should be able to afford $200. But every producer will/should benefit by this campaign.

How about a fee based on each farms annual herd census with the state. For example if you have 20 animals on the farm you maybe pay $10 each for a total of $200. If you have say 200 animals you pay $10 each for a total of $2,000.

Each and every farm will benefit from an increase in hunters at the ranches. Big and small alike. Then above that collection of funds there can be a collection that is connected to the auctions. And then of course each farm can donate above and beyond for the effort.
 
A positive PR campaign targeting hunters is extremely important and need not be put on the back burner. However, in my opinion our efforts in educating our legislators needs to be ranked as 'just as important'.



No matter how hard we try to convince certain individuals of the public that what we do needs no defending, there are always going to be groups that disagree! Where do all these groups head you ask? They head to their capitols and seek out sponsors for bills to put us under. By getting to our legislators first, we not only introduce them to constituents of theirs that do what we do to earn a living but we arm that with all of the education and tools they need as amunition to shoot down those trying to harm us. I like to approach it from the 'family agricultural side'. What we do is preserving agriculture and the family farm that is suffering so much in these times we are facing. We take marginal land that can be used for no other agricultural purpose and turn it into a lucrative business that supports 1,000's of families.



So now, when the state hunting associations (or numerous other groups) come to them and ask them to sign on as a sponsor to the bill they want to introduce to put hunting ranches out of business..... don't think for a second that Holly Johnson (or any of you who form a relationship with your legislators) doesn't cross his or her mind! I watched the power of these very suggestions in MN as a group tried with all they had to shut us down. It takes trips upon trips, meeting upon meetings and putting your heart and sole on the table, BUT IT WORKS!



If you can't make it to your capitol, send an email or letter! NADeFA has a great flier that shows the Economic Impact our industry has on the nation and it is powerful! NADeFA and many state organizations have been working on this diligently but they all need our help.



Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for any of these comments, ideas or suggestions. Please direct all questions, snotty comments and concerns to mrwhiteails aka tumorhead!
 
Why not invite your legislator on a hunt. The experience would put them in our corner. If each preserve took one legislator hunting we could run the nay saying clowns out of town. Can you imagine a legislators views if he brought his son or daughter and they killed a nice buck. The whining of the nay sayers would fall on deaf ears.
 
Deerchaser said:
Why not invite your legislator on a hunt. The experience would put them in our corner. If each preserve took one legislator hunting we could run the nay saying clowns out of town. Can you imagine a legislators views if he brought his son or daughter and they killed a nice buck. The whining of the nay sayers would fall on deaf ears.





I think that would be a great idea. We could use the funds that are raised to pay the participating preserves for the hunts.





A lot of great ideas are being tossed out and shared, now lets move to forming a plan of implementation and a organization.





LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED....



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Brett,

You don't even have to take them hunting. Inivite them to your farm. Ask if they have children or grandchildren and tell them to bring them as well. Let the kids name one of your tame does, drive your polaris ranger, take pictures with the deer(be sure to have your own camera) and have someone who cooks as good as Tina bake a pecan or coconut cream pie or two. Give them some pie, frame the picture of them and kids and take it to their office at the state capitol. The more they see you as another family farmer or family business owner, the better off you are. If you have not invited your state representative, your US congressman and your state and national senators out to your farm or to a farm that can represent us all well, you really can't gripe. In Oklahoma we have stayed very proactive and try as we may, many to this day can't tell you who is their state or national representatives. It really should be embarrassing. Get on here or anywhere else and gripe about rules and regulations and don't even address you own representatives with your concerns. Most would rather insinuate that NADeFA or some other group of volunteers should save them from the fire.----Maybe I'm crazy or I have lucky clients, but I haven't seen the decline or problem aquiring hunters. The prices of deer are higher than when I started, so I'm okay with what I am getting. I can't pay 10,000.00 for a 200" buck and make money. I grow most of my own bucks and my customers return year after year. Might be the pie though. Anyway, the sky is not falling, but we need to prop it up before it does. To not take precautionary steps would, well, remind me of the government. Please call your state and national representatives today and invite them to your farm. After you do, or if you already have, please post on here that you did. We will find out who is serious. Yes I have. They been here. They had the pie. They named the doe.(when she died I had to say another one was her) They rode drove the polaris and they got the pics.
 
Wisdom,

Thanks for noticing.........I kind of started to take a back seat as it seemed my posts just got looked over...I even prvt messaged someone to offer my services but must have gotten overlooked.........maybe it's cause I'm not one of the most popular ones yet.........I'm glad that you at least noticed that I truly am motivated.......I may not have the dollars invested that a lot of farmers on here do......But i do have LOT's invested and my Heart couldn't be more close to what i'm doing. I am willing to give anything I have to offer to see this succeed.......... I want more than anything to see this Industry and not only the Industry but HUNTING all together thrive the way iot once did.

Back when i was a child (and I'm certian most of you on here have experienced this too) it was cool to hunt.......and a lot of fun too......i couldn't wait to be able to go with my father or brothers out in God's great outdoors and experience nature and all that comes with it.....the bonding i did with my family memebers is priceless not to mention the Bonding i did with my Great Maker! There is something about the outdoors that just brings you closer to God........for me I look around and know without a doubt no one else could have created such awesome beauty and then leave it for me to use.....what an awesome God we have!

I said it before....my son was 10 and was falling into todays view of hunting (that it's not cool)........Here is where i will agree some on the "word of Mouth" and spreading the word......I decided to sit him down and tell him some of my early hunting stories and he could see how much it meant to me and how much fun it sounded ......so he gave it a try and we have shared some of the most precious times in the woods together ever since and I wouldn't give up one of those minutes EVER!....(this is what we need to sell).......now i know just winning his heart over to hunting has brought in with it two of his friends and eventually my sons children will hunt and his buddies kids will hunt and so on...........We need to bring back and sell the "whole experience" of hunting to the world and sell our high fence hunting as the new way to experince it!!.........once we have them and they try it the experince should sell itself!!

I don't agree that we can rely on word of mouth alone......we do need to have the advertising campaign as it works to......heck I'll be watching tv and on comes the commercial of some irresistable food and soon there i am standing in front of the fridge looking for something to shove down my throat. Now I know our campaign will take a little more work than that to get them in the woods/preserves but i was just making the point that advertising does work and will work if done right. Again, we need to sell "the whole experience" not just the hunt itself.



I do like the idea of the 20,000 farms all paying $200.00 to get this campaign up and running.......I actually love the idea......now the problem is i just don't see it happening.......unfortunately, a lot of farmers are not as motivated as the ones are that are talking on this thread.......heck look at just the group that talks on these forums and we know everyone has been reading this.....i can't believe we don't have 100% of everyone chiming in about this campaign.......we can't even get the 100% support from this gang so I can't see all 20,000 farmers making the $200.00 payment....to be honest I can't see 1/3 of the 20,000 farmers making the payment.......now if it is set-up like Don H. said with a (I forget exactly what he called it) but works like a tax and people if they want to sell in the auctions or advertise in the magazines will have no choice but to contribute to the campaign that will benefit everyone.....I see that as the best and only way to have a constant stream of revenue being put back towards our advertising campaign. I also do believe having a 100% auction going towards the start up of the campaign as a no brainer for raising funds. There is no doubt, with the preserve hunt bookings being down that we are going to have a flooded market and lots of people are going to have animals that they need to get rid of.........Heck i'd rather donate a nice buck towards something that i know is going to boost our Industry, than watch the buck grow old and die in my pen.........this is where I think we will be able to easily get the animals needed for the Auction............I'm ready to get started folks and determined to see it work........I'm offering my services if you feel I can be a help....please let me know!!
 
We had Congressman Boren out during the bottle feedng season as well as countless others in the past! Guess his interests lie in helping facilitate a deer farming course at OSU!



You'd be shocked (not as much in OK) at how many of our legislators don't even realize we exhist. As soon as they do, I have yet to find one that doesn't want to help us survive!!!
 
a very interesting issue for sure? I think everyone is in agreement that the ultimate factor in the business is the preserves,...and I know this has been said in a few other posts,.....the breeders want the preserves to support them,..but how many breeders actually support the preserves??? I talk with alot of different growers that hunt all over the country and spend lots of money doing it,...but when I ask them if they would go on a preserve hunt, they just roll their eyes. And this isn't a fluke,....I asked it alot at all of the different venues and shows for alot of years now and the majority of the response is like that. How are you going to tackle that?.....and how many breeders on here do their hunting in a preserve??
 
Josh-

That manager at McDonald's sure was right about the hunting and fishing thing...

Were you the fry man??

DW
 
Tim Condict said:
Anyway, the sky is not falling, but we need to prop it up before it does. To not take precautionary steps would, well, remind me of the government.



Tim,

As always I am with your train of thought. I would just like to run some numbers by you that caught my attention. Maybe this isn't the case in Oklahoma but it is a very real situation here in Pa.



I had my annual Department of Ag inspection and was made aware that there are an estimated 19,000 deer behind fences in Pa. I don't think this is 100% accurate but at any rate it is still alarming. Being there are an estimated 900 deer farms in Pa this would indicate the average number of deer per farm would be close to 22 deer. Seems like some real numbers that make a lot of sense.



If, and I mean if, 900 farms sell only 4 shooter buck each year that would require 3600 hunters just to meet the amount of deer being raised in Pa alone. From what I've been seeing and getting calls on, farms have at the very least, 4 buck ready to sell with the majority of farms having 15 or more.



Now, add in the breeding frenzy of the last few years and the amount of shooter bucks that are going to be hitting the market in the next couple of years, it is staggering. Again, I am just speaking of Pa. I would think Ohio is another large farming state, along with several others. Run comparable numbers for each of these states and add them all together. We as and industry are going to need a LOT of hunters.



So I agree, we need to work now to prop the sky up before it does fall any further. We are hearing of preserves lowering prices to get more hunters. Now the preserves are offering blue light specials on quality hunts at reduced prices. In order for competing preserves to book hunters, they too have to lower prices. Now the trickle effect is set in motion and the guy on the bottom - the deer farmer - is expected to take the blunt of the fall.



Instead of loosing $200 on an animal, I would much sooner make a $200 investment back into the industry to help the preserves promote hunting and in turn help them book more hunters each year.



Congressmen and politicians are one thing, and that is what our state and national organizations as well as lobbyists are for, but we need to target our marketing efforts directly to the end user - the hunters. Yes, educating a 12 year old child is great, but it will take at least another 20 years for that investment to pay off. We need to invest in short term marketing goals that target the age and income specific group of the hunters we need in the next year or two. With the way the sky is starting to fall, we can't afford to invest in a 20 year investment plan, IMHO.



This seems like an overwhelming task ahead of us, but we as an industry have easily tackled much bigger!!!





Regards,

John













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I need to let everyone know that the "$200 stimilus package" was kind of a joke. It's an idea but I don't think it's realistic......I do not see everyone or even 10% of the industry participating. I don't like the tax thing and I'm gonna guess not to many would as well!

Nobody seems to be hearing me say "Take a friend, kid, buddy. etc........... hunting to get people on to ranch hunting" How many of you can agree with me that you have gotten some familar with and on to ranch hunting by either showing or hunting at a ranch which completely changed their minds about it? Think of the trickle effect it will have.....no no I mean down pour effect! I will say it again producers get your butts and friends, family on a ranch.



Someone needs to get one of those polls going to see how many of us have actually hunted a ranch(high fence). I'm to dumb to figure it out...... DD there is a constructive poll you can get started and not worry about getting your head chewed off. It will be interesting outcome but I think if everyone was honest you will find most haven't hunting behind fence....yet we expect John Q to come a calling...



Think about what I am saying or maybe I'm not saying it right.........cuz I cant believe more folks are not jumping on this...........I am by no means saying we do not need to do anything else....this is something that can get things rolling NOW! Not next year.



Feel free to jump in here ....nobody has said Good Idea-Bad Idea



Your Thoughts??????????????

Tim you always have something to say.
 

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