Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Methods to gain access to private land to hunt on thread. I have one that works here, use it, ad to?

The thread about deer camp being near and upon us reminded me of what I and my huting friends do to keep, and sometimes gain for the first time, access to private land to hunt upon.

Maybe these will assist some of you, and if YOU have ideas or tactics that have worked for you, gaining hunting access where you live, PLEASE add them here!

Out here in SE Washingtons arid Mule Deer country, one needs to have access to many hundred of acres of land (thousands of acres is better) to have a place to hunt. Most of the land owned around here is measured in hundreds of acres or more so buying a hunting camp plot is out of the question for us middle class folks.

My methods HAVE, however, worked to get us a couple of smaller plots to hunt ducks and pheasant on in the rare wet spots near here. I absolutely LOVE having small farm ponds and creeks to hunt on. Or at least I did when I was more able to utilize them.

These ideas possibly would be less effective in highly populated areas, or areas with great demand for highly sought after animals, but out here in rural SouthEastern WA this method has worked pretty well for us. I am putting it here in case it helps a member or two to gain access to some good places to hunt.

If you live in WA state or wish to hunt here, please be a good sportsman and do not copycat my idea for trying to gain access on the land in between (North of) Clyde and the Snake River as this is the stomping grounds I and my family and buddies have hunted for 31 years now. Bad manners to use my method to try to bump me/us out of our long hunted area. If you want to hunt in this region, I am most happy to help you find some other good spots nearby, and, being retired, I can even look up and send you some landowners names and addresses. Happy to do it and help you out, no cost of course.

We in our small band of hunters take up a collection between ourselves each late summer, and I handle the details from there. We set aside some of the moeny for buying steel T Posts, cement, gate building posts and chains and no tresspassing signs, 2x4 and 4x4 treated wood posts for building or repairing water guzzlers, salt and mineral blocks etc but MOST of the money is used to purchase generous gift cards and or gifts for the landowners who have allowed us access in the past, and smaller gifts and gift cards for propery owners who have not allowed permission in the past, YET! grin

Here is the rest of my plan, in case my ideas help someone else here gain access to a piece of land to hunt on.....

Most of the CRP and wheat land around here is owned by folks several states away or at least on the wet opposite and populated side of the state.

I contact these folks by looking them up in the county records, and in my letter (sent priority mail in a large flat envelope to look and feel more important) I offer in writing that my hunting group will 1) post - at our expense- and patrol the land, keeping large vehicles from driving cross country right across everything 2) build and or keep in good repair the water guzzlers (needed out in this arid region) that all of the wildlife uses or any other habitat improvement the landowner would like to see done and 3) treat the land with great care. This year, we included a couple of small gifts with the permission request letters for the first time, so I am hoping for a little bit better response. The only letter I was able to deliver in person to a landowner who lives in town here was well recieved, and permission was granted. My buddies and I are having a work day on Tuesday to post up this new to us property and look it over a little.

I hope my idea is found useful to someone here. It has kept our little band of brothers in great deer hunting territory for the past several decades. Good luck and good hunting! MARK

PS: Please post up your thoughts here, and more importantly, YOUR ideas that have worked to gain you access to places to hunt or fish.