Don't Be a Welfare Hunter

 By Jennifer Hill

For many, hunting season is the grown man’s Christmas, truly the most wonderful time of the year. For western ranchers it’s a mixed bag. The extra income is great, but the pain and suffering is sizeable as well. For years most of us western ranchers have been told we are “welfare ranchers” because we lease lands owned by the federal government. Perhaps it’s time to point out that if I’m a welfare rancher, then Public Lands hunters are welfare hunters and sometimes they act an awful lot like the entitled welfare queens they normally despise.

Something amazing happens to many hunting enthusiasts the moment they feel the first slight breeze of fall. They magically transform from typically conservative, law abiding, honorable men into communistic heathens. The same guys who fly Trump flags whine that nobody should be allowed to own so much private land and find ways to cut their way into it. In the same breathe they will complain that the Democrats are all a bunch of commies, then waltz their way across “their public lands” to go push the private land boundary without any sense of irony. The same way a Welfare Queen goes viral on TikTok for complaining about the line at the food stamp office, these men will throw temper tantrums that your fall gathering operations got in the way of their hunt.

In many of the small western towns these ranches are the backbone of the community. We are here, year-round, trying to eek out a living while feeding a growing world. Before hunting season started we were managing the forage and water, providing for your future kill. After hunting season is over we will still be here, picking up the garbage left behind. Instead of acting like entitled public leeches, hunters should be working with ranchers to improve the public lands they hunt. If they want access to the private, pay for it, otherwise they should sure as hell respect it. Having a moral compass and conservative beliefs shouldn’t go away the moment you bust out the camo.