How come more people in US aren't into small game eradication hunt (rats etc).

[Slingworks]

I would disagree with several of your points, there's more game now than I've ever seen, more elk, deer, mountain lion and bobcats where I live and hunt than in the last 45yrs. Now that being said they're all on private land that's either been bought up by city people who don't want anything hunted or bought by people who have wanted their own little hunting paradise their entire life and just like you or I have no intentions of letting anyone else in on the deal except relatives and close friends. There are a few non-hunting ranchers and farmers around who are not opposed to hunting, most of them have discovered that the hunting rights to their property could possibly help pay the land taxes. You can't hardly blame them for using good economic sense by leasing out their property to a hunting club.
Full disclosure, I've run a hunting club for 33yrs, 2-3 different properties most of the time, 5500 to 8k acres, I have a waiting list but nobody's dropped out of the club in over 10yrs. I constantly have people approaching me wanting to hunt for free, letting them would be difficult to explain to a club member who pays 2500. a year to hunt.

You're in CO. I'm in Ohio Appalachia. CO is still somewhat of an "empty" state. CO is over 2x the size of Ohio and your population is less than half of ours. I guess the next reply will be a forum member in Nunavut who will inform me that the seal hunting is better than it's ever been and I'll have to eat crow...??

Only wildlife on the upswing here are Bobcat, Hawks, Eagles, Bear and Coyotes. I actually saw a Mt Lion in 2019, so even those are apparently on the rise. Now, when it comes to true game animals such as Rabbits, Grouse, Quail, Pheasants, Woodcock and unfortunately even groundhogs we're talking endangered species list.

I retired both my Grouse shotgun and Groundhog Rifle 20 years ago. I'm 45.

I don't know the definition of "Game" in CO but here Game is generally referring to an animal that is legal to hunt and is generally hunted for the meat. Bear could qualify, although we don't have a legal Bear season.

Deer seem to vary allot by county around here. The County I grew up in used to set all the records and you felt like you were in a war zone during season. Nowadays you rarely encounter a hunter and I can count the shots I hear in a week over there on both hands. This county where I live nowdays still has a deer herd unchanged for now. 40% of the land is owned by Energy Companies that lease most of it out to "hunt clubs".

I don't blame anyone for leasing ground in hopes of covering taxes, that's at least one way to skin a cat.
The result is the same in the end though. Each farm or tract of woodland leased to a club is another off limits to a commoner that wants to hunt like it's still 1950.

 

[Kevinbear]

My response to that is a question, do the golf courses where you live let people play for free who ask nicely? 1950 was 73yrs ago,the world is a very different place now, accept that fact.
Game, anything that can be hunted legally is the definition by the state here, that includes mountain lion, bobcat and coyote from your list.
The guys that belong to my club love to hunt and they pretty much use the properties year round including what people on this forum call "pesting" there's no rats but plenty of starlings to shoot around the barns. They use inexpensive break barrels, they work just fine out to 20-25yds, would they pay to hunt starlings, of course not but the access to the properties is there so it's taken advantage of as recreation.
Name one outdoor recreational activity in this country anywhere{excepting your own property} that doesn't have some sort of an access fee.......I'll wait.

 

[Slingworks]

My response to that is a question, do the golf courses where you live let people play for free who ask nicely? 1950 was 73yrs ago,the world is a very different place now, accept that fact.
Game, anything that can be hunted legally is the definition by the state here, that includes mountain lion, bobcat and coyote from your list.
The guys that belong to my club love to hunt and they pretty much use the properties year round including what people on this forum call "pesting" there's no rats but plenty of starlings to shoot around the barns. They use inexpensive break barrels, they work just fine out to 20-25yds, would they pay to hunt starlings, of course not but the access to the properties is there so it's taken advantage of as recreation.
Name one outdoor recreational activity in this country anywhere{excepting your own property} that doesn't have some sort of an access fee.......I'll wait.

Well I think you're a little biased in this conversation, considering you're in the hunting club/land leasing business...Some might even say you're a minor part of the problem?

The world has changed, and somewhat for the worse. If you had read my posts you would have seen that I was pointing that out, right?

Golfing? Well maybe someday when I'm older and cant do much else I'll look into it. There could be some courses that allow public access days and/or free games, membership/charity, I have no idea. Golf courses are no different now than they were in 1950 so you've chosen a pretty poorly there. I'd even say that there is a little "better" access to Golf Courses. in 1950 people of color were often not permitted on such places.

There's 60k acres of strip land bordering me. Belonged to an Energy Corp since the 1950s and they allowed access for outdoor recreational use for free.
Done plenty of hiking, biking, fishing and canoeing, etc. Even camping at the campsites is still free. I say it in a past tense as the State bought most of it and made a public wildlife area a couple years ago, ownership changed but nothing else.

I've never paid and access fee for anything other than a $40 membership for a rifle range (they have some nice KD targets I like to use).

Yeah, I'm still lucky to a fair degree, but most others aren't. The world is changing, and for the worse overall. It's definitely NOT 1950 any longer. It's not "1984" either, but probably where we're headed.

This is an Airgun forum, so I think I'll refrain from posting further in this section and just stick to conversations on "Airguns" for a while.

 

[Kevinbear]

I'll comment once more then drop it as well, maybe things are different out here in Colorado because pretty much all public lands require a permit to hunt on , if they don't they still require you to have a license to hunt anything and it's ridiculous but I really mean anything including starlings. Regardless there all fees, you pay the state to hunt with the hordes of other hunters or you can go the private route and almost assuredly have a much better hunting experience.
Is it free, no, nothing in 2023 is for the most part.
That includes airgunning albeit not the main focus of private clubs here but it's certainly a nice off season activity.