A landowner and his brother I have hunted on for several years, again gave me permission(in an odd way). But this is how its given now..........."you can continue to hunt on us because if we see you we are not going to say anything, but if you get hurt on our land we didn't give you permission." Huh? I didn't say anything because I understood and we continued our conversation. Thats fine by me although I would much rather have written permission. They have told a few others who hunt on some of their land the same thing. The brothers told me they are not a bit worried about me trying to sue them if anything happened, but are afraid my spouse or other relatives might try. No matter what I tell them, they are not impressed with Illinois liability laws. Guess I can't blame them after their insurance agent fills their heads and threatens to raise their insurance rates if they give "permission". My, how times have changed.[>:]

yea times are different but i think this was handled the right way. you have permission to hunt however if you hurt yourself you know it is on your shoulders not the landowners. there is a tree stand at one of my hunting spots where a few people hunt and on the ladder their is a sign that reads "this is my treestand, however i do not mind if you use it. the stand is very sturdy however climb at your own risk. please do not tamper with the stand and i hope you get a big one"

anyhow good luck and hopefully you'll get a big un'

Definitely a reflection of the times. The days when a handshake and a man's word were good enough are long gone. Sounds like nice enough folks though. Good luck on the new/old property.

Here in Indiana, we now have a form right in our reg's that landowner and hunter can sign stating that there is absolutely NO liability on the landowner's part, it's a total sign off of liability, should be able to help with finding land for some folks...

A standard form like that should be offered in all states so that the landowners could rest their minds and not worry about losing the farm if somebody gets hurt.

YUP,...it's thing of the times. In fact, our landlord has had us sign a legal thingy a couple years. This year he didn't, but last year he did. In it were such things as we're responsible for the use/misuse or anyone getting hurt etc using anything we bring into the woods or leave in the woods. They outlined where we were to dress deer etc. It's a result of a lawsuit crazy world.

Yea, everyone is scared of everybody. I have to sign a waiver on the land
I hunt too.

You go Cougar and bring home the big boy!!!!!!!!!

I only once had to sign a waiver years ago in my honey hole. I haven't had to renew it but it does seem silly to me. I guess if your sitting on a pile of money you earned through hard work you want to keep it.

Good luck!

hopefully they'lltrust you but then again they do have a point...hopefully y'all will come up with a nice compromise of some sort...good luck and be safe.

The blame goes to the legal environment and the lack of responsibility people take for their own actions!These things have decent people acting much more defensively than ever.