the "European Model"

It is said that there are two schools of thought on hunting - the American model and the European model.  In the American model, the public owns the wildlife, land is readily (moreso) accessible, the government manages game populations and habitat, and essentially anyone can buy a license and hunt, for a reasonable cost.  In European model, land is essentially controlled by the wealthy landowners, access is tightly controlled, game belongs to those who own the land, hunting is pretty much out of reach for all but a privileged few, and it is very expensive.  I may have oversimplified, but the general points are valid, I believe.

So, my question is:  Do you think we are headed toward the European model, and, if so, how far along do you think we are?

Personally, I believe we are progressing on a rapid course in that direction, although our large tracts of public lands in places of low population density provides us a cushion that Europe never provided for.  However, in more populated areas, we do not seem far away.  As fewer people hunt in the future, I predict management agency budgets will shrink rapidly, and that will only accelerate the pace of change.

What say you?

A few thoughts..... first, I don't view some of these things as that bad. For instance, leasing is a poor man's game for hunting private property as it allows someone to hunt private land at a fraction of the cost of buying and owning. Unless the private property you hunt is owned by someone you know very well, why do we expect a free ride on someone's property that they own and pay taxes on? We should pay or do something in else in return for having access to private property. Second thought,  there is a lot of public land but it is increasingly hard to have a quality hunt on those lands due to hunter pressure.  Maybe a solution is an application system instead of over the counter tags for public land and having it zone specific? I'd rather draw tags less often but have a higher quality hunt when I do. I'm not discouraging from introducing new people to hunting, but we can't ignore the consequences of this either and need to find ways to spread out the hunting pressure for those who can't, for whatever reason, hunt on private property. Maybe applying something similar to the turkey season structure to public land deer is another idea, where licenses are split into time periods?

I don't see us ever being the European model,  but things are definitely changing, some for the better, some for the worse. There is just now a bigger spread between the "haves" and "have nots" than ever before, and I think the only way to remedy this is to start having the public lands have a different application/license system (for buck tags) and season structure aimed at spreading out the pressure. Remember, one of the biggest reasons people stop hunting is not having a quality hunt,  so I think not having as much opportunity on public land, but having a far greater chance at success when you do, would keep far more people engaged and purchasing licenses. For those who do lease, own, or hunt private,  these are truly great times to be a hunter.