Land Access Cited as Top Problem

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: msbadger
...Lord help me if I ever have to hear "we hunted that land for years ...who the hell do they think they are?"...I'll tell ya ...the ones that got off their a$$es and worked for it ...thats who!

 
Amen!

[Knockdown]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of public hunting land, but I don't believe that it should be overlooked. If you are willing to put in the extra time and effort to do your homework you can almost always find a secluded pocket to hunt or pin down a whitetails habits, the results = success, or at least a chance of it, better odds than you will get from complaining and expecting things to change as a result thereof. Yes a mid-week hunt can be heavenly, and yes public hunting areas are very dangerous, but as they say "you have to take the good with the bad".
 
scotman makes an excellent point: If we are to ensure the co-operation of landowners then we should make every effort to keep in good standings with them.(tresspasing on others land to hunt is equall to poaching in my book) You never know, you might change an anti-hunters view of the hunters image, and with the growing number of anti-hunters we need all the support we can get.

[peepsight]

Here in PA, we have had this problem for years, but it has recently gotten worse.  I, for one, have almost given up rifle hunting, because of the crowds, and the lack of respect for people on stand, when other's want to drive on through, without any sort of I am so sorry, to ruin your hunt, or chance at seeing any deer.
         Last year, for example, I did not tag out during bow season, and so had to go to the rifle, and the very thing, I mentionned in the first paragraph happened to me.  A huge drive was put on, and though they could see where I was standing, nobody considered that I had any right to hunt in the way I was hunting.  6 guys came through the woods above me and below me, and when they were done they moved to the next field.
          I eventually moved on too, because with the amount of noise that they made, nobody was going to see a deer in that area for the rest of the day.
         Then I met the owner, and thanked him for having an open area for anyone to hunt, and I mentionned that I thought I could help him with culling his groundhog population, and perhaps keep an eye on the place when I came out for bow season.
          This year he posted the ground against bowhunting.  So I have to find new ground to hunt, but I knew of it earlier than some who have written in this column.
          

[fasteddie]

My oldest son kinda looked at it like msbadger . He bought 16 acres in a hilly wooded area . When you step off the East side of his property , you are on about 1800 acres of State Public hunting land . He had the property logged and we put up a cabin , treehouse , outhouse , food plot etc .. It is his and he will have a place to hunt for a long time . Matt has put a lot of time and hard work into making the place livable and a place to hunt . My youngest son and i have put in many hours working on the property . He had offered a couple guys an opportunity to hunt if they came up and helped with some of the work . Both refused . Apparently they are hunting elsewhere !

[ranwin33]

One of the smartest things I've ever done is purchase the 100 acres we bought back in 2002.  One of the dumbest things I've ever done is not purchase the 240 acres off our north boundary when it came up for sale 4 years later.  Still kicking myself over that one.
 
 

[fasteddie]

I know that some farmers let hunters on their propery to take deer that have been eating their crops . Many of them will request that a hunter take a doe before shooting a buck . One farmer said he didn't let a couple guys come back because they wouldn't shoot does . That's what the farmer told me anyway . I wonder how many landowners also feel that way ........

[Knockdown]

Once again, I say:
 

If we are to ensure the co-operation of landowners then we should make every effort to keep in good standings with them

[Smoothbore]

No offense but you guys are kind of whining. I guarentee if you get in your truck and go to the country and hit about 20 farms or homeowners you'll pick up a couple new places to hunt. You just have to put forth a little effort and not get discouraged at hearing "no" a lot. I know this from personal experience I do it every year. Each year I lose one or two spots and each year get one or two new spots. it's actually kind of fun because I like hunting new tracks of land.

[shaman]

Land access was always my top problem.

It took me 20 years of trying, and I'd almost given up the sport entirely, but I finally was able to arrange purchase of 200 acres of my own.  I guard it as my dearest posession.

I hear a lot of resentment when I get on forums with other Kentucky hunters.  They are honked off at Buckeyes (Out-of-Staters) coming across the river and tying up their ancestral hunting grounds. I'm sorry, I'm not all that sorry, but I am sorry.   This is one Buckeye that is very glad and very thankful he has a plot to hunt in Kentucky.  I hear ideas floated that non-residents be barred from rifle season, harvesting bucks, owning hunting land . . . please!

There are all kinds of problems hunting public land.  There is all sorts of problems hunting private land. It is becoming a crowded world out there. 

I was just about to chuck it all in.  I'd had "exclusive" access to my last remaining Ohio hunting plot. Then the owner gave out permission to at least two other hunters, forgetting his promise to me.  Now I was competing with at least 2 other hunting parties on 40 acres.  I'd also been shot at by the neighbors during shotgun season-- they were camped out on the property line and their stray shots came over.

I'd tried public hunting for a few years.  I'd have a nice spots staked out only to find wall to wall trucks in the aprons on Opening Day. For a guy who worked a hard 40+hours a week and had a family, all the advice of a midweek bonanza were pretty well useless.  After a time, driving 5 hours, sleeping in the truck and being frustrated were wearing thin.

I differ with those who say it is easy to find a farmer willing to give permission to hunt.  Maybe I looked really shady, but it was always a problem to find good hunting land, and once I had it there was always some reason why the deal fell through within a few seasons.   Most of the reasons related to the land being sold for development. A good deal of my off-season weekends were spent cruising for new land to hunt.

For a dashing suburbanite such as myself, I could see the world closing in on me. When I got the chance to get 200 acres of my own, I went for it!

Times are changing.  Land is getting scarce.  If you can, buy a piece of it before it's too late.  It took me 20 years to get there, but it was worth it.  The change in my own life has been tremendous.  The change in my son's lives have been tremendous.  All of it has been for the good.

If you can't buy, think seriously about joining with like-minded folks, forming an association and buying property together.  All you need is a lawyer in the bunch to handle the intricacies.   For what some of y'all pay for a lease, you could be buying with just a few other guys. 

If you have property, think seriously of forming an association so that your children will be able to keep it.  I've watched deer camps get destroyed, because one guy's wife forced the sale in a divorce. Most recently, I saw a 4 generation camp on an island in Canada go that way.  If the kids lose interest and decide to sell, it will have to be a unanimous decision. Death, taxes, divorce and apathy do not have to close deer camps forever.  Planning ahead can save them.

The future of hunting is probably more this way than other.  One way or the other you are going to have to pay to hunt. I do not see the state and federal governments buying the kind of land necessary to continue the health of the sport on a free basis.  I also do not see anti-hunting sentiment turning around.  All the while we're whining about it, tree huggers and PETA members are getting the same idea and doing their best to keep hunters off what remains of available land.  I was on a farm this summer that had been bought by the state as and turned into a state sactuary-- crawling with deer and turkey.  Absolutely no hunting-- probably forever.

[mnmaverick]

Count me among the disgruntled landowners who have people walk onto my land to hunt all the time. I spend a huge amount of time preparing food plots, scouting, cutting trails, hanging stands, etc, only to have a few @#!@#!@ come in and ruin it for me, even when they've been told not to. A few bad hunters can ruin the reputation of ALL hunters, so make sure to ask for permission at all times! I had a friend who had the buck of a lifetime 20 yds in front of him but on the other side of the property line and he passed on the shot. That is an ethical hunter.