You’ve seen him nearly every night, standing in an alfalfa field just before dark. He’s the buck of your dreams. But how do you get access to hunt him?
First, you need to determine who owns the land. If he’s standing in a crop field, it’s almost certainly privately owned land. The old school way of determining land ownership was to look at your county plat book. This is still a viable method, but these days, many hunters download apps to their phone that give parcel information as well as other useful hunting tools such as game management unit, weather information, habitat type, the ability to add tracks and waypoints and much more.
Once you’ve identified the landowner, you need to get permission. Just showing up and making a cold call can work, but it’s difficult. Think of how effective a cold call works on you when someone wants to sell you something.
A better way is to network. Perhaps you and the landowner have a mutual friend. That friend could put in a good word for you or accompany you to visit the landowner and break the ice. The landowner is much more likely to admit a friend of a friend, rather than a complete stranger.
Or maybe you attend the same church as the landowner, or your kids play sports together. Finding common ground helps forge a relationship that could make the landowner feel more comfortable granting access.
If all else fails, you might have to just drop in. This is a delicate situation. You need to show up when the landowner is around, but not when he’s busy. For example, on a dairy farm, the person probably doesn’t want to talk at milking time. It’s the same at harvest time, when farmers are working around the clock to get their crops in. Try to show up when they’re less busy and have time to talk.
The catch is, often they’re not at home. They may be out in the fields or running to town for supplies. This is especially true on western ranches, which could run for miles. These landowners are notoriously difficult to track down. Showing up just after supper time can work. You don’t want to bother them when they’re trying to eat, but you might be able to catch them when they’re relaxing after dinner. If all else fails, ask around in town at the feed store, grocery store or some other place the landowner is likely to frequent. You may be able to get an idea of the person’s schedule or perhaps even a phone number.
A friend of mine got permission to shed-hunt in Montana by going to a bar on a Friday night, when many of the ranchers would come into town. He’d strike up a conversation, buy a few rounds and the ranchers would look at him incredulous that he had driven all the way from Wisconsin just to “pick up some horns.” This was a couple decades ago before shed-hunting was so popular and before there started to be a market for antlers. Now some of those same ranchers pick up antlers to sell to antler buyers, but they just grab the obvious ones around feed lots to both make some side cash and to keep from running them over with tractor tires. They don’t beat the bushes.
This leads to a good point: there’s a lot of demand to hunt big game these days. But if you start small, you can work your way up. Ask to shed-hunt the property. Or better yet, ask if you could hunt coyotes or raccoons. Often a landowner will jump at that offer. In time, he may be gracious enough to allow you to hunt big game.
Remember, these days, deer hunting is big money. Both outfitters and just regular hunters are paying good money to farmers and ranchers to have exclusive hunting access to their land. Maybe you can’t shell out a few grand to hunt, but you may be able to offer your services. Trading goods and services can sweeten the pot and make the landowner feel he’s getting something in return. And even if you do secure permission, dropping off a little gift now and then goes a long way. My friend from Wisconsin always brings those Montana ranchers some cheese each spring when he comes to shed-hunt. One pair of brothers likes a brand of beer they can’t find out west, so he always brings a couple cases of beer for them too. He used to stay at a hotel in town. Nowadays he stays with them and they consider each other friends.
Above all, be respectful. You don’t have to dress to the nines, but look respectable when you show up and be polite. Make a little conversation before asking to hunt the property. And if the answer is no, be polite and understanding and thank the farmer for his time. Maybe ask if he knows anyone else who would allow hunting (or wants deer thinned out because they’re causing too much crop damage). Keep the door open. Perhaps the landowner will change his mind on a future visit.
These days, when farmers are often just scraping by, when a hunter offers good money to lease hunting rights, it’s hard for them to say no. Free-by-permission hunting access is largely a thing of the past. But it’s still possible to knock on a door and gain hunting access. Be polite, network and you might get more than hunting access; you could gain a friend.
