Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gaining access to private land to hunt on ideas

Maybe buy them better presents.......

I won.

actually kinda funny cause i spent more time hunting private ground in high school than i have as an adult just cause i found a chunk of public land i really enjoyed hunting on.....but in high school had only a few problems getting on private land.....easiest way to get on was not to bug them in the fall, was to show up in March/April/May and offer to help here and there.....never had much luck waiting till fall to ask.....

Ask to shoot gophers first. They always say yes.

Don't say a thing, just let them see you treat their property as you would treat your own.


Stop and visit before and after a shoot.

ALWAYS call ahead and ask if theres anything they need from town. Unless its exorbitant, its on your dime.

Pitch in with chores if theres something you can help with.

By and by they will usually ask YOU if you'd like to hunt deer etc.

If not, don't broach the issue. They've already offered up fun for you.

Its called courtesy, like Scott spoke of. It still works.

You should have send a slinky and a Arby's gift card.........
Helping them on the ranch won't work........

The guy that owns my fave gopher patch got a gift card for something better than Arbys last Xmas.

if i stick around here im gonna have to figure out something on the gopher end next spring.....damn virus wiped out the ones out at my uncles

Of course.
You are loaded........
We can't compete with tweed.

Wait. You mean having no hidden agenda, having no designs on someone's property or hunting, and simply being personable because you actually like the person involved works?

Who would have ever thought of such a thing?

Why, it harkened back to the day of actually knowing your neighbors and thinking of them, and not about what you can get from them.

I don't wear tweed till October�..

I'll kindly ask you and Scott to refrain from using reason and 'courtesy' upstairs here....it has no place.

You would not believe how courteous Scott is when he's passing a bottle of Boon's Farm Fuzzy Navel around.

Good info there mark..
Here in SE neb we have many farms broken up in 160 and 80 acre plots most farmers are pretty big and farm several thousand and it get hard to control all the hunters and trespass is a problem. Our farm is kind rare as we have 600 acres all joined and another 240 together with a lone 80..
Most of the people here are pretty good about letting people hunt as long as they ask..and are respectful.. Most don't respond to favors as it can be an insult to their hospitality..me included.. If a father and son show up for a weekend stomping around I'm glad to let them do it.. Had some turkey hunters show up last spring. We let the driver hunt last year and he was successful. This year he brings along 2 truck loads of guys and expects to get access. I think not....
Lesson here is keep a low profile. Get permission and try to not let the land owner know you were even there.. Don't take advantage of them.
I have used this method in eastern Oregon and western Montana and North Dakota. Always been successful...always check out when leaving and tell them how great of time you had on their ranch/farm. They really don't want or care if the hunting was any good..
First impressions are important... Flashy lifted trucks don't impress. Nor do full on camo.. Best to drive in with an older simple truck no more than 2 guys wearing every day clothes.. This always was easy for me as I haven't had a new truck since 1993 and have always dressed like a farmer...I kinda just fit in..

Brady would agree...

Thanks. When I went to visit the one landowner who lives around here I drove my bare stock '97 Ford F-250 and wore black wranglers and a plaid shirt with a ball cap. Seemed to work OK.

Also finding out that the gifts are not always the best method, but sometimes they are.

The "Be niehborly" works when the landowners are nearby, but as I stated in the original thread, out here the places are much larger and owned by folks from all over the US, and not usually in the West. Thusly, my methods have had to change. When I first started hunting the properties I am talking about, they were owned and controlled by a local family, but since the old man passed away and his one son killed himself by hitting a tree while high on ______________ the pieces have been sold off to out of staters. I had to adapt to be able to hunt, thought my method might help some others out. Also was hoping others might share some methods they use to obtain permission to hunt.

Would you believe that he's 6ft tall and is pushing 180?
He still doesn't cuss around me but would probably take you up on your F-Bomb for a C-Note offer. And he'll take his turn on passing the Boon's Farm around too.
He grew up too fast.

Mark..
I think the key here is know you hunting area... Our little broken up patches of land are becoming owned by outsiders also but they usually give access control to the tenants..
Neighborly is the key word......
I discovered the dress by accedent. Was asking for permission wearing a dekalb seed corn hat. Which struck a conversation about farming and how I had to leave in the 80 when farming was tough.. And ended up on the west coast. I had full access to 54 section ranch and hunted prarrie dogs there for the next 7 years..
Still have an open invitation..

I have had some great hunting spots via a tenant who had this control before also. You are right, of course, about knowing the area. I have had to adapt to new owners, tenants and methodologies several times, and it is way different way out in the breaks of the Snake river VS the smaller family farms nearby. Those a walk up and talk works well on, usually.

You WERE going to invite your friend Mark to shoot prarie dogs out there, right?

Sure will, if I can ever get time to go again......

Yup. Only way it will work.

This thread is so awesome.