You bring up an excellent topic. How do you get permission from someone to hunt thier property?

Living out west we have a ton of public land, however this issue still comes up from time to time. I would like to outline a little experience I had with this where I came from - Illinois.

I started bow hunting with my father in 1981, at the age of 11. We pretty much had the run of whatever woodlot or river bottom we wanted to be on. Over time more bowhunters appeared on the scene, trophy value started to be regulated by international monetary standard (or so it seemed), videoing hunts became popular, and property started to convert to subdivisions, speculation and retirement/trophy homes. The realization that access was becoming limited, and something to really appreciate began to set in. We still had a dozen or so spots we could go without calling for permission first, including one ofmy family farms.

What you have to realize about the midwest, is that most deer hunting is done in small woodlots, windrows andcreek/river bottoms (some of which are no more than 100yds accross on average (you know this, but I mention it for the benefit of others in varied terrain). We considered the "big woods" to be areas of contiguous timber and cover that might be 80-300 acres or so. Certainly there are exceptions to this, but I think that's pretty average. Illinois is only about 7% public land last time I checked, and most of that is in southern tip of Illinois in the Shawnee Nat'l Forest.

So we set ourselves to concreting the relationships we already had with landowners by doing chores/fixing stufffor them, or working for them for a good rate (my dad owns a construction company). Eventually even a couple of those guys capitulated to big money. Nothing we were able to give that didn't cost us a whole lot (in lieu of money) was able to change the trend.

A couple of my uncles actually bought property in Western Illinois during this time. One actually purchased/leased about 17,000 acres during his 6-7 year stint as an outfitter in the Brown, Pikeand Adams county areas. Now you can't find cheap land there either, and there are a ton of outfitters.

When I finally went off to college I found a couple of state parks to hunt on, or went back home on the weekends. I finished college in Oregon, where vast amounts of public land were available (a key factor to why I am still out west - Montana now though).

I guess if I were to give any advise on getting permissionfrom where I sit today, I would say that (like anything) you need to project the, "what, why and how."

Example: Mr. Smith, my name is Joe and I'm originally from Illinois but going to the university here now, and I am looking for someone who allows deer hunting because my freezer is empty. Do you or anyone you know allow hunting on your land? I am willing to come only when it would not conflict with your privacy, and I am willing to work for the privelege.

In that statement, you have told the owner what you want to do and what you are willing to do in return. You have told him why, and that you also respect him and his land (which by the way, he has put his whole life into). You have also left it open for him to say no easily by suggesting you try so and so, and in this case it is probably a better lead anyway since he's not going to send a nuisance over to a valued neighbor.

Also, when selling yourself this way it is important, if at all possible, to have the wife present. She often is the one who will make the final decision. If you get permission anyway and she is not happy about it - it won't last. So, if you get a guy that says, "I'd let you go, but my wife wouldn't like it", you need to leave or get more creative.

Most of the time they will let you go, or have a very good reason not to. In some cases a landowner might say, okay, and here's the rules, which "ouch" includes not harvesting bucks. If you really want to prove that deer hunting/hunting is the end-all reason you are there, you better say, "Yessir,thank you sir, I very much appreciate your granting me access to your land." If you hunt there a year or so, show him you can live up to his expectations, do some chores (whether he agreed to it or not), respect thier privacy, and thank them by bringing by some summer sausage, etc... he will likely tell you that taking "a buck" next year would be alright if you want.

It is natural for people to want others (especially bright young, polite, well spoken, hard workingtypes) to be successful, and they get a measure of happiness seeing you succeed. If the owner says the land is outfitted, you might ask for the outfitter's number. Saying that you don't mind harvesting a doe, and would like to ask the outfitter's permission. I've had great luck in Montana doing that, as whitetails tend to be predominantly on private river bottoms (whichhave a tendencyto be outfitted). In one case, the outfitter said, "Yeah! We need some does taken out, how many tags you got?" He explained right where to go, what time to be there and generally was very excited that he didn't have to look for someone else to do the job.

On the other side, if you drive up in a tricked out truck with a lift kit, a plate reading "buckbuster", speed down their driveway (15mph is max speed on gravel near homes), get out wearing a bow hunters stick em' deeper T-shirt, and say, "Hey, my names Joe. Have seen any big bucks that I could K... harvest?" Don't expect the red carpet to unfurl.

Anyone else have some good experiences/suggestions they could add?