Trad Gang

How do you guys go about obtaining permission to hunt or leasing land to hunt?

Thanks,
Kyle

Don't know if anyone else has tried this but if you see a "For Sale" sign on some land that looks like a potential hunting spot write down the company name and go to their website. Once on the site you can pull up the "listing" and find out all sorts of details: # acres, overhead map, tax map etc. You can also look through their "other listings" to see if any other potential spots. Once identified send the broker or listing agent an email asking about hunting. Really helps if you know somebody in the real estate business.

I actually did this this past year and picked up a new farm to lease. Unless you know somebody who owns land this is another way to find some spots.

Good idea. Thanks, Kyle

Out west the best way is to find a ranch that isn't leased and show up in the spring with a pair of fencing pliers and run a few miles for the rancher.  Brandings, etc. are other good ideas.

I have an outdoor resume I put together.  Lists hunter safety, years experience and anything else I think will help convince the landowner I am trustworthy.

I always present a "win-win" proposal. Few will say yes to a stranger on their land, and few will say no to an offer of help on the land, sharing the meat, etc.

an offer of some free labor goes along way especially if you volunteer for a job like unloading a truck of hay or straw or running fence. these are jobs that eat up a lot of hours from other jobs the farmer/ rancher could be doing. it also helps to remember them after the seaon with some venison or a smoked ham.

Hook up with the landowners sister.It got me an awesome spread that I still hunt after having gone our separate ways 15 years ago.Then I really went and did it,I married the landowners niece on another big spread.Not just for hunting rights of course.   :rolleyes:

I often hunt properity owned by parents of past students I've taught. I also offer free labor throughout the year.

I follow jcar315 around; and tell everyone I am with him.    :D  

I once went from one field full of quail to another- looking for something other than 'no hunting' signs.
I finally went to a promising looking farm and knocked on the door; and told him the quail were getting 'mad quail disease'; and were ripping people down to the bone 'like piranhas'.  
I told the farmer I was willing to try and kill the quail before they found him.
He laughed and let me hunt his property.    :bigsmyl:

I just ask, lol.  No harm in asking, but one thing I would say before you ask, is to not plan things in your mind.  I have dont that a few times before, and then heard the infamous no, and was diappointed.  Just remember no means no.  I live in a heavy menonite community.  And my neighbor, who is menonite, is a great guy.  He lets me hunt his property.  But I think it might be because his father in law while he still was the farmer(he has moved), but he was the origional one to say sure you can hunt.  I still dont like it though.  I hate fences, and there are no thousand acre farms around here, the animals are either there or not.  And with a farmer trying to limit trees and gain rows of crop, out of the 190 acres, about 5 of them are woods, lol.  But good brushy fencerows for wabbits

OOO, I just realized where you are from, are in you wine country?  I have heard that they dont care for hunters very much down there???

I fish and fish allot. I took a customer fishing and he has given me the right to hunt 3700 acres. He can't handle fishing anymore (pain from injuries) but I still bring him fish a couple of times a year. I can't hunt anything but hogs. He loves his quail and there are very few deer. If I draw a Tule Elk Tag LOL he said I can take one.

Most of the private land I hunt came from customers in my business but I also hunt a place that where I got permission by knocking on the door and asking.

What has worked well for me is to:

1. Always show the landowner respect
2. Don't ask to bring other people
3. Look respectable - when I interact with my landowners I wear my work clothes (khakis and button up shirt) - NO CAMO
4. I drive non-threatening vehicles. No monster truck, no deer skull stickers in the window

In short I try to differentiate myself from the herd of hunters.  I don't think like them, I don't hunt like them, so I don't want to give the impression I'm one of them.

MOST IMPORTANT- remember, the landowner gives you permission, but his wife can get you kicked off.  At the end of the season I bring them something that BOTH will enjoy (last year big basket of home made goodies).

Works for me, in an area that it is tough to get permission to hunt I have more hunting than I can get to every year.

R

Ryan has got it right.Act and look professional.Not sum Outdoor channel wantabe.
The realestate pitch above,dosen't work very well in my area.Brokers don't want camo clad,weapon carrying hunters on property they are showing to clients.

Many hosts will value a responsible hunter on their property. It gives them another set of eyes so to speak.
I agree with Ryan and will add to time your visit when he's is not busy.. Possibly mid Sunday afternoon or early evening, not during the busy time of the year.
My standard Christmas gift is a smoked turkey and a bottle of good but not over the top expensive wine, about a week before Christmas. I'll go so far as to give the Missus a little something special for herself if I know what she like. Maybe a coffee cup, that fits her personality or some other not too personal gift.
She can kick you off and she can save your butt too.

If you talk about traditional archery to enough people, you find some who are interested. They really seem to love the idea diy primitive bows and arrows. The idea of hunting them is a mind blowing novelty. The places I've picked up in the past couple years happened "organically" like this, without me having to ask an awkward question. It also helps to have job that gets you out in the community.

Bottom line... If you are enthusiastic about archery, and do good in your community, places to hunt will naturally follow.

Like he said i have a couple of places to hunt because i hunt archery and they don't want gun crazy hunters in there so i am the only one who gets it.

Sometimes it's good to start out by asking to hunt small game after deer season.When they see you small game hunting with trad equipment you will see a magic glow in there face.

Pretty much all the private land around me has people already hunting it - friends and family or leasee's. The days of fixing a fence for permission are in the distant past. If the rare case you do get permission by door knocking, you will be joining a group of others that will make the public land look private as far as pressure. Access is definately a challange.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts. I actually had 2 real estate agents looking for leases for me this past year. I figured with all of the real estate market drying up, that people would be willing to lease. Nothing turned up. (1 guy was a hunter, so he may have found a honey hole and not passed it on?!). I do live in wine country and have approached a couple of vineyards about herd control, but no luck yet. Sounds like, as with most things, hard work and perservance will prevail. Thanks folks for your thoughts!

Kyle

I made up an actual contract form that I present to the landowner stating that I will respect his property completely.  This includes no driving on the property with any kind of motor vehicle.  When they see you're serious they take it serious too.  I have more than 600 acres of private, posted land that my son and I have exclusive permission to hunt.

A lot of good suggestions and methods here and most of them I use myself but you hit the nail on the head with one word...perseverance is key.  I let everyone know I hunt I let them know Im responsible and often that leads to opportunities down the road when I least expect it.  If I happen to encounter a land owner with a promising peice of ground I will compliment them on the habitat, talk about crop damamge, trespassers etc.  Letting them know I understand the problems they face can lead to open gates without me even asking.

yea those vineyards are tough down south there.  As dad says, they are a bunch of "yuppies" that like to avoid using hunting as a managment tool.  And I have to agree, as soon as we go across the bride there are deer EVERYWHERE, and that is simply crazy.  Some really dandy bucks too, just standing on the side of the road.  IDK could just be that the grass is greener on the other side

The migrant field workers in the vineyards of California hunt whenever they want and as much as they want, regardless of permission. I've seen it time and time again and the rangers are spread too thin to do a darned thing about it. I don't ask vineyard owners for permission because generally the hunting is all but wasted near the grapes... It seems the game laws up in my neck of the woods pertain to the law abiding citizens only!  

WHY does that not suprise me . . . I dont think that is a problem in VA, especially since the deer act as though they have never seen a hunter before!

I envy some of y'all. We have to pay for it...And it gets expensive. I can't complain too much b/c we have a lot of targets running around, but it is something I have to consciously budget for.

I work for my hunting.  We have tons of government land with decent to great hunting.  If I find a spot that holds a lot of deer or elk, I stop in an offer to work for hunting rights.  Bucking hay, branding, fence work, put up a shed, you name it.  I always swing by at Christmas with smoked salmon or another nice gift to say thanks.  Hard work opens a lot of doors.

In my situation...MY situation There is a golf course being torn up by hogs. They actually got a helicopter and shot over 160+ in a day....that's a problem. They come in from ranch land from the north and there's NO sign of them quitting. They have done THOUSANDS of dollars worth of damage.

I just got home from hunting tonight. I didn't see a darn thing. Although last weekend I saw a couple of big black ones. I gave a report the next day of that. The whole Idea is to get rid of (or control) them. They appreciate when I go goofing off out there and I let them know. Sure....I would like to kill one, but the bigger picture is to HELP them. They are thankful for my efforts and I can be there any night I want.

4:21 AM......signing out.

ZZZzzzzzzz........

just ask,   if you see land you want to hunt go ask. I passed by a farm every day for a year wishing I would have land like that to hunt.One day they had a yard sale so I stopped  to see whats for sale.the lady an I started to talk.Hunting came up. an she said I could hunt there anytime I want. Nobody hunts here just kill me a deer or two an take care of the place.here I drove by this place a ton of times an never thought to ASK!!! Its the classic case nobody ASK the pretty girl to the dance SHE must have a date. an on dance night there she sits at home.because NOBODY ASKED!!!! dont miss your chance at the pretty girl!!!!!

Others have touched on many key points. Present yourself in a positive light when you go meet the landowner (1st impressions are lasting) Treat his land better than your own (park where they want you to / lock gates etc) always stay in touch and talk to the owner when you see them (emails for owner who doesnt live on the land and  stop by and chat if they do live there) and I have made a habit as others have of offering some sort of gift (my 12 year old daughter makes great zucchinni bread and we always give my on land owner and his wife some and they LOVE it!)

You can't do enough to nurture and build on a relationship with your landowner. I have hunted one farm for nearly 10 years now and the owner and his wife are in their mid 80's and I must say that over that time we have built quite a close relationship and my life is the better for having them in it (all started when I was talking with a client at work about hunting and he said "Go see my Dad he has a farm."

Plumber is spot on: don't even hesitate to ask for permission. The worst thing they can say is no.

Another tip: If you have some land but no house is there and you don't even know who to ask for permission don't let that stop you. Most states have some sort of on-line "tax map" sort of web site that allows you to punch in an address and up pops the tax map for that road with a list of who owns what, how big the piece is, the layout of the property lines, and the address they get their tax bills at. This has helped me too in the past.

Don't wait for hunting season to ask either!

Be persistent but not a pest.  20 years ago a local farmer granted me permission to small game hunt but no deer hunting.  It seems he liked seeing the deer while working the fields.  I respected his request even though I knew some local maggot trespasers deer hunted the property.  I asked again the nest two years while sharing some venison saugage with him with the same result.  Finally while chatting the following year he asked "well are you going to ask me do deer hunt again"  I didn't quite know how to respond and he said let's go out to the barn where he produced a huge shed that he ran over while disking the fields.  The shed curled up and pierced his sidewall on a brand new tractor tire.  I think it cost him about $4oo. The farm has produced a lot of deer and memories over the years.

Do not, repeat, DO NOT stare at the farmers daughter.

I used to go 2 potential land in the spring summer (mostly farm area) and offer to get rid of ground hogs for em.  After seeing my good conduct, I would ask about deer hunting. normally I would get a yes..... But always make sure to give the land owner venision or a part of whatever you hunt....They tend to like that.....