The Missouri Department of Conservation may not accomplish much, but you have to hand it to them…they know how to make money. In talking with a retired MDC employee I learned more about that. Take the great black bear and elk fiasco. They inflated the number of bears in Missouri to 1200 or so.
“In reality” my friend told me, “there are between 6 and 8 hundred. But if you want to make some big money out of bears through deceiving some really gullible hunters, you tell them that there are oodles of them out there!”
Then you tell those gullible hunters that they can apply for a bear tag by sending in 10 dollars that is non-refundable. When they first offered this, 7800 of those would-be bear hunters sent in their ten bucks… and bingo, the MDC has pocketed 78,000 dollars. Next came the big drawing for a tag. They decide to draw, from those 7800 applicants some of whom might not know a bear from a ground hog, 400 tags. Each of those tags would cost 25-dollars. Hose tag -holders consist of hunters who do not know that you only even see a bear by baiting them… which is made illegal before the hunting begins.
So now the MDC has made another 10 thousand from those tags issued to 400 ‘bear-hunters’. Now they have pocketed 88 thousand dollars by flim-flamming 7800 people who think this is all on the level. That first year, there are eight hunters who know how to bait bears… thus eight bears killed over popcorn or day-old donuts. So eight black bears bite the dust.
All of a sudden they have made 11 thousand dollars per each dead bear. And they found out that one of those bear killers was a twelve-year-old boy. They confiscate that big male bear and charge his dad with creating some illegal opportunity.
This year hunters wised up some. The applications drop from 7800 to 6000 and more hunters find out how easy it is to bait bears and get away with it. Fifteen are killed, but the MDC profit has dropped some but it is still 70 thousand dollars. That comes to $4,666 dollars per bear.
I have shot several black bear in Canada… with my trusty 35 mm Nikon over bait. Shot one in Arkansas the same way I would be ashamed to shoot one with a gun.
The MDC does the same thing with elk. They gain about 100 thousand dollars with the same scheme. Then they give out five tags. One of those five is given to an adjacent landowner at the ‘conservation’ area who is always the owner of Bass Pro shops. He can then sell his tag or give it away to one of his friends.
If you own a lot of land, say 200 to 1,000 acres, you can get very wealthy by doing the same scheme. Build a herd of buffalo, maybe 15 or 20! Do that before the MDC thinks of it! Charge 10 non-refundable dollars to get in the drawing and 100 dollars to get a tag. Then guide the hunter yourself, so he or she can get a chance to shoot a wild buffalo. You can even lie all you want here, like the MDC does by telling folks we have 1200 black bear.
Here is a sample of your public deception…
--- “Come hunt wild buffalo in the Ozarks… we have determined that there are a few bull bison on our land with the DNA of the original wild ‘woods-bison’ known to have roamed the Ozarks 250 years ago. Outdoorsman Larry Dablemont will guide you on your hunt. Caution… these bull buffalo are very dangerous. While only 100 applicants for tags will be accepted, if you are one of the hunters accepted you can get a wild buffalo bull to have its head mounted and great-tasting buffalo meat for your freezer!”
Well it might work. I know a lady who has more than a hundred buffalo on 3000 acres. Heck she could be a millionaire too, kinda like the MDC has done it… by making it the greatest goal of her existence.
I don’t have that many acres but you know…I think I have a white turkey roosting in the back of it with 3-inch spurs and a 15-inch beard! If you’d like to hunt him send me ten dollars…
Contact me on lightninridge47@gmail.com
