DDwhitetails I have to disagree with your following statement
"we need to weed out all of the People who do not care about the Whitetails and or are market by running illegal operations (and if there not they need to be) All preserves should need to follow certian guide lines in order to be considered a qualified High Fence Hunt under our Indusrty"
Weed out?? I am all for following the laws, but making a set of guidelines to determine what qualifies for a hunting preserve in your opinion and what doesn't, stinks to high heaven of monopolizing. Lets say you pass your guidelines and eliminate 3/4 the unworthy preserves in the states. They are all 1200 acres+ and 5 star accomendations! Do you really think that is going to help the market?? That is going to back log shooter bucks like you would not believe. Even if you happen to be a lucky one that has an "IN" with one of these preserves do you think this "better image" is going to help the industry?? Fewer preserves mean fewer hunts..fewer hunts mean fewer people hunting on preserves..guess what you are right back to the place you are now..a declining hunting population.
Yes, I definately believe the best preserves should lead the way..have the spotlight and draw the public scrutiny, but the lower end preserves should have a chance as well. The public will sort out the good ones from the bad and eliminate the worse ones through sales. And more preserves mean more people exposed to them.
I imagine you think you can control bad press by getting rid of the bad examples of the industry, but if the press wants to find something bad on you they will! We all know every hunt doesn't go as planned, there are bad shots made every year. The film from just one of those, edited cruelly could set public opinion against us no matter how many acres or how good the lodging is. The only way to get on the good side of the public is to expose the majority to high fenced hunts and to do that you need more hunting preserves not less.
More regulations, guidelines and laws is what got this country into the mess it is in now. It's not going to help our industry either!