Okay, what's the strangest, or oddest, or maybe out of the ordinary thing you've ever done to get permission to hunt a particular piece of property. I imagine that a lot of us have pulled some stunts in order to get to hunt a good spot. From the 1980's until about 2000, I farmed fulltime. I also was obsessed with deer hunting, and when deer season was in, that was my main priority. I rented several small farms, and tracts of land supposedly for farming, but in reality just to get the deer hunting rights. I didn't keep track of the money, but I'm sure I lost big time on them, as they were, for the most part, not good crop land. I also once quit a good paying job, in part because it interfered with my hunting.

There was a local farm that everybody wanted to be able to hunt, but the owners wouldn't give permission. It was owned by an old woman and her daughter. One year my brother told me that he'd gotten permission to hunt there, and I could go with him. I asked him how he did it, and he said he'd tell me sometimes. Years later, he confessed that he had slept with the daughter, and she had in turn let him hunt. The daughter was not pretty at all, and I asked him how it was. He said better than he expected, but he wouldn't do it again for a lifetime of hunting.

That's what he was tellin',....but he was probably over there wearing it out on a regular basis.

I thought the same thing myself, but she soon married our cousin, and got caught with another man real soon. I think that pretty much put a stop to my brother wanting it anymore.

He may have been wearing out Granny.

That was my thought.

Around here, landowners who don't hunt lease their property, so about the only thing I have ever done is open my wallet. Can't even imagine the days of knocking on a stranger's door somewhere in the country and getting permission to hunt.

I had business cards printed specifically for hunting. I hand one over the instant I arrive and allow the landowner the time to look at it. They all like the card and although I don't get on everywhere I ask, I am still getting free access to some properties.

looks vs sex.... never figured out that connection for some reason... but then I guess I"m different.

Can't say that Ive done anything otehr than ask or pay to hunt. Wouldn't lease land for other uses just to hunt, most folks around here would lease for farming but tell you u can't fish or hunt, our lease contract says the same with the guy that has the cattle on our place.

Gave a landowner a Patrick McManus book. "They shoot canoes don't they?"

300 acres with a 6 acre lake. Had it for roughly 10 years and his next door neighbor was my best friend, owning an adjoining 1600 acres. Deer, turkey, dove, quail and ducks, and an amazing fishing hole where all three of my daughter's caught at least one 8-10 lb bass. 50 minutes from my front door.







Also home to several "Indian Princess" camp outs, (like cub scouts only for little girls), and "Perch-offs", a local fly fishing club competition and fish fry.


DMc

To get permission to hunt on one farm I had to agree to come back during the summer and winter off season and shoot coyotes and fox.
It took me all of 2 seconds to agree to his terms.

I have an acquaintance that controls access to a good chunk of public land. He lives at the bottom of a box canyon. They don't have any money and need alot, so to gain access I do something for him each year, usually outdoors. It was an unspoken contract that until this year we had never even discussed. Yesterday I trailered his truck 30 miles to the shop for repair. When we got back home I ran the excavator on his property for 4 hours.building a retaining wall, moving dirt, removing stumps, recutting grades for a shop pad.

In the past I rebuilt his kitchen floor, (they'd been walking around a 12" hole in the floor for 7 years), installed irrigation lines in his pasture, graded his yard, brought him gravel, moved rocks with the Bobcat, brought him firewood others had cut and cut firewood for him myself.

Oregon has an unlimited amount of public land so I don't need to do this to hunt, but it's an encouragement for he and his wife to get the help, and it helps keep me a little more grounded. I get pissy about it sometimes because while he's 71 and has bad legs, his biggest problem is he's lazy. I.E. he waits until October/November to cut any wood, and then it's all soaking wet and won't burn. I figure if a guy hasn't figured out to cut wood early and let it dry by the time he's 71 years old he's got bigger problems. Every year I tell myself that's it, I'm done screwing around with this, but by next fall I soften up and cave in again. It doesn't hurt that he's got record book bucks up that canyon either! I've taken some dandy bucks up there over the years, and a really good black bear he was having trouble with. Called that one in with a fawn bleat, that was a heck of a hunt. I don't hunt there every year but I do something for him each season anyway. If I don't hunt it myself, I take a lot of inexperienced guys or people that want to get a good blacktail up there.

I don't mind giving my time and a little fuel, but I don't think I could bring myself to pay thousands of dollars to access a few hundred acres. Living out west we have access to millions of acres of mountain country we can hunt for free. "welfare hunting" you guys call it. That's ok, it's a way of life in the west with all the govt land available.

There are those that think the only real elk hunting is by packing several miles into the wilderness with a 65 pound pack. Then packing the meat out on top of all the weight brought in with the back pack.

More than once, I have helped a rancher out with some manner of labor or trade to get access. Work is work, backpacking or building fence it all takes time and energy. The older I get, the easier it is to build fence than pack into the wilderness...

A lot of the hunters around here are quite grateful to have somewhere to hunt.

There is a lot of Block Management land around....so access is pretty good.

Quite often people send wine or jelly or jerky or something, even if they dont need to. Its a nice gesture.


I guess its maybe because more and more land gets leased up or posted.

The out of towners are generally very courteous.....its the local guys you have to watch out for.

If my truck gets stolen while hunting out of state, they will get a few handles of whiskey. I always carry a few bottles in case I need to ask a favor and need a "thank you"gift. Used it more than once. Use to carry a carton of Marlboros too but that seems to have fallen out of favor.

We used to pheasant hunt a farm in SD and they would let us stay in a trailer on the property while hunting it. All we had to bring them was 2 bottles of jack daniels. We usually threw in a few homemade pies or something from mama.

I always send a Christmas gift of some sort. Flowers, steaks, or a ham.

I have a rarely used lane to into my section of the farm. About ten years ago, I was dragging mud out on the main road as I left the farm. I asked her if it would be OK if I put down stone at the entrance. She said no problem, so I did. She called me up and asked if I would do that to the other entrances to the farm. She wanted to pay me for it, but no way. I went down there and spread about 20 tons at the other entrances. She was so happy.

A couple of months ago when I called her to make sure I was good to go, she made mention that she needed to get some decorative gravel for a spot at her business warehouse and offered to pay me for it. There was no way I was taking her money. I sent one of my trucks other there with a couple of tons of what she wanted and dropped it off. No skin off of my back. It's not too much to do for a person who will gladly let me hunt.

I, being already married, tried to get my best friend to marry my wife's distant cousin. Her parent's own over 30k acres in Texas Hill Country. He was very open to the idea until he met the COEXIST, Greenpeace, global warming supporting hag. Plus, she looked kinda like Hulk Hogan in drag. He said no amount of land in the world was worth it, ha. Fortunately, her parents were great and let me come hunt all I wanted for a while.

Just bought my own ranch, ended all access problems

That's my ultimate game plan.

This.....

just be a good guy.

This conversation put me in mind of a fellow student' dad who used to travel out here to Montana to hunt every year.

My buddy arranged access as he worked with ranchers all over the state. But his dad always made sure he brought along plenty of gifts for those who's land he hunted on.

See, Frank owned a liquor store in the upper Midwest so he would load up a 12' trailer full of beer and liquor. A lot of premium regional stuff not readily available out in our neck of the woods. While driving out here, Frank would stop at every little bar he came across. Would sit in the bar and visit as long as someone would chat with him. After a while, he'd excuse himself and come back in with a 12-pack of this and a bottle of that. A case of something else and give something to most everyone. Bartender, customers, owner, it didn't matter.

He would do this all the way across during an 800+ mile, one-way trip. He obviously liked his drink and enjoyed sharing booze with anyone and everyone. He would always have some special things for who ever owned the places they were hunting on. One year, Frank had just gotten into Montana and was pretty well out of booze. Called one of his boys back home and they showed up a day later with a pickup bed FULL of booze.

Pecans have always been good trade material for folks north of here with too many pheasants.

A neighbor of mine once "leased" the hunting rights on a neighboring piece of property that was owned by an old Black man for a bushel of sweet potatoes.....at least that's what he bragged about. Then came the day that he caught a man hunting on the land, and tried to run him off. The man told him that the old Black fellow gave him permission. So, they went to the old man, and he verified that he told the guy he could hunt. "But I have the hunting rights, and I gave you a bushel of sweet taters for them" said my neighbor. The old Black man said....."I said you could hunt, I never said you had all the rights". Come to find out, the other fellow had given him a pint of whiskey for letting him hunt.

Just between us, I hate to admit it but my throat never recovered from what I had to do to gain access....

Lets just say he had "access" so I could get access.

I am not proud and wouldn't do it again but .... YES


I chugged my moonshine with the land owner and after that it was all mine.


What were you thinking you pervs?????

Have a place in Wyoming to trout fish and shoot gophers that we drop off 30lbs of Flathead belly meat to every year. Don't need to but the rancher loves catfish

1) Asked nicely, in person of course.
2) Provided wild game meat.
3) Free arborist work. That one cost me.

When I was in high school, there was this elderly lady that lived about 100yds off the road and had a small front yard. I would drop by a few times each summer and bush hog between her yard and the road. For this they let me hunt on there property. I would also bring her fish and a deer ham or two every year.

I repaired and kept a fellows automatic gates operational for hunting privileges on about 1000 acres, for a few years.

I had to put up a gate on some property one time so others could not access the land. I didn't buy the gate, just installed it. I got to hunt this place until it sold a couple years later.

An elderly lady let me hunt on her place, just to make sure no one else was.

I promised to shoot one of the 'pea eaten does' to hunt on a fellows place one time. First time I hunted on his place, I killed a doe. He let me hunt anytime I wanted to after that.

Gave a rancher a new set of binos once because he allowed me to hunt elk there.
He had already given me permission to hunt. I just liked him and wanted to say thanks.
Later I gave him an antelope roast.

Good Campfire conversation. Sweat equity is all I've had to do. Fence, ditches.

I patted a pair of Dobies on their heads and scratched their ears. That wasn't supposed to happen, but it somehow impressed the owner that he gave me access for that reason. Some of the best private ground I ever got to hunt.