Landowner permission

[harvey lee]

Now is the time of the year to get out and talk with any potential landowners for permission to hunt deer.

mayn times, a few weeks before the season, one can find out they lost a woods or it got sold over the off season.

Waiting till Sept typically finds most woods filled up and the answer is no.

This past week I stopped by the farmer's place's where I hunt archery, gun, muzzleloader and my granddaughter's woods for the youth season to get permission.

Thankfully, I recieved a yes for all the land we hunt in Mn. Good to know now even though it seem's way early. If one would have sold out or had someone come in and pay, one still has time to get out and find a new woods to hunt.

So, get out, make sure you are good to go before it is too late.

[Wanderer]

Good advice Tom. We've done the same for our southern properties, so to speak. It's a year round relationship thing anyway but it's a good feeling to have already touched base and do some farm cleanup/brush pile burning to help out.

[harvey lee]

Yep, never hurts to help the landowner out any way one can. Helps to keep that relationship in good shape. Nothing worng with doing a few hours work to know one can use thier land again.

[CANOPY SAM]

Couldn't agree more. Those of us who aren't blessed with property of our own gotta go out of our way to help out those who grant us hunting permission.

I have several good friends that allow me and my kids to hunt their land, and I'm more then happy to help them out with stuff they need done. I love doing the work too. Helps me get in shape, helps my kids learn the value of helping others, and helps the landowner get some chores done they otherwise may not have gotten finished.

I also always offer to take them out fishing whenever they can get away. Seems like the least I can do to return their generosity.

[harvey lee]

I give alot of fish to 2 of the people who allow me to hunt. Last year it was my granddaughter's first year hunting.

We took a pic of her and her buck, she wrote a thank you on the card with the picture and said how much she enjoyed hunting on thier land with her Grandpa, I also threw in a gift cert for them to go out and have a nice meal on us.

I have land to hunt in ND but in Mn, but, in Mn, I need to take good care of those who allow me to use thier land.

[archerystud]

I'll add that it's also a good time to work on stands.

I was clearing shooting lanes for some stands on Saturday!!

Cleared out some shooting lanes in a willow thicket for next fall. Give the deer plenty of time to get used to them.

[smsmith]

Its good to hear how some of you guys treat landowners. If more folks were like you, we never would have stopped allowing folks to hunt and fish on our old place....way too many slobs out there who bring other folks along (that were never discussed) and who leave their beer cans and other dump. People need to learn that accessing somebody else's property is a true privilege

[harvey lee]

smsmith, I agree 100%. I am very careful who I allow to hunt on our land in North Dakota, people leave garabge out in the field, leave gates open and simply do not follow a few simple rules.

I remember one time my Dad said the local barber was coming out to hunt and asked if he and his brother could hunt and just them, Dad said sure, hunt the north woods. Well, that next morning, Dad drove by that area they were hunting and 5 pick ups were parked there. Needless to say, they were never allowed to hunt again. Not sure how asking for 2 people to hunt means you can bring in more but, some think just that way.

I gave another who is handicapped and I knew permission to hunt with his brother as he could not load a deer by himself due to his disabillity. He had called me and asked if they could go out on a Tuesday and also wanted to know when I would be back up to the place as it is 250 miles from my home. Well, I said maybe the end of the week, I figured something was up so I called my wife at work and said I am going up to the place to check and see what he was planning on doing as I felt something else was up. I got up to the place about 3 in the aft and knew where they were hunting so I drove out there. We were both suprised as I found 5 guys with 5 bucks just finishing loading up the deer and were ready to leave. Needless to say, we had a chat about how many people means 2 and they were never allowed to come again.

I know what I like when I allow others to hunt so when I use other's land, I try to do what I like when I let others on to hunt.

It's sad that there are those who cannot ask, follow rules for allowing them to hunt your land, a few bad apples as always can ruin it for the others who can and will follow the rules.

I hasve about 10 people who now hunt deer and turkey and I have no plans on letting anyone else in to hunt unless some were to stop hunting.

One group always follows every rule and could not be any better and that is Scoot right here on HSO. Scoot, his son and a couple friends and another son come up and hunt and they are a group of hunters that anyone would be happy to allow to hunt. I said said this many times here on HSO about how well they follow the rules and they are that thoughtfull every time they come out to hunt.

If every group of hunters were as this group, we would not hear as much about people who do things they should not and then have issues getting permission to hunt.

[MUSKY18]

Totally agree! I'm lucky enough to have permission to hunt on 80 acres just out of town. Folks that actually own it live down southern MN. Being as it is hard at times to find some private land to hunt, we try to take care of the land like we own it. Anything we can do for the owners is taken care of for them. Last year we hauled a bunch of garbage off the land that someone dumped, put up NO TRESSPASSING signs and blocked off the land approaches so no one could drive onto the land. There had been problems with people going out there with trucks and ripping the land up while they are "mudding". Not a big deal to make sure the land owners are happy. They don't eat venison, so instead I send them a 50 gift card to Applebee's and a thank you note at the end of the year. They really appreciate the gesture and I think it goes a long ways to let them know how much you appreciate the hunt. During the summer, I send them trail cam pics of the bigger bucks on their land so they can see what is on their property. They are big fans of nature and love seeing those pictures as well. The minute that relationship goes sour, is the minute we lose our private hunting land and that's not good. It just goes to show how a little thoughtfulness and kindness can go a very long ways!

[Swiftswamper]

Im lucky enuf to have a father that owns the land that I hunt and my buddies also hunt with me. We spent the weekend setting up to pour the concrete for a shed my hunting buddies and I built him last fall. It felt great to help out my dad and see my friends ready to help with anything. They are very great guests on our land never forgetting to thank me and my father. Just wanted to share my story of good sportsman go something great to say thank you.

[BLACKJACK]

Speaking of permission, try to get permission on multiple properties, especially if you're a bowhunter. Its very easy to overhunt one piece of property, multiple hunters traipsing around, the deer turn nocturnal, and then you wonder why you're not seeing deer!!!