jimbo&rooster wrote:[quote="Vision
Private landowners are compensated with subsidies, price supports, land bank payments, lower green belt taxes, grazing allotments on state and federal lands, etc all paid for by the taxpayer. What the farmer needs is a good dose of reality on who actually pays his way.
^^^YES^^^
In addition, to the fact that every acre of CRP of government set aside is a cash rent payment by the federal govt. That certainly isnt coming out of the piggy banks of any senators. Sure its compensation for taking land out of production, but our CRP ground makes as much or more than some of our crop land. We sure as heck know who pays our bills, or in the case of the govt shut down, we knew who wasn't.
I would say that any farmer/land owner who is charging someone to hunt by the day or season should be required to pay an income tax on what they make. further more if they are charging me to hunt than they should also by law be required to carry proof of some form of LLC as well as Insurance to cover any injuries I may incure while on their land.
Jim[/quote]
Wow, lots of animosity towards landowners. Regarding your demand for insurance coverage, I doubt there are many access-charging landowners who don't carry liability insurance. Some rancher asks you for a hundred bucks to spend a day hunting a couple million dollars' worth of his land, on which he's paying many thousands of dollars in property taxes each year, and you'd hold him responsible if you stepped in a badger hole and broke your ankle, or shot yourself while crawling over a fence with gun in hand? Landowners actually need liability coverage even if they don't charge for hunting access, because someone with an attitude like that might still believe the landowner, in spite of his hospitality, is responsible for "any injuries incurred while on their land". Some of these posts actually make a great case for not allowing any type of access, or at the very least to charge more than enough to cover insurance costs along with any potential litigation.
I sure don't expect anyone else to pay today's land prices, provide the habitat, pay the taxes, and then roll out the red carpet and let me hunt for free.