uncballers45

i also posted this in the deer hunting section but i was wondering what you guys give to property owners in return for hunting their land...Money? Meat? or what? im trying to get some ideas because i will have to ask this year..

ILbowhunter88

they don't make me give anything but i like to give some deer salami and strawberries from our garden. I also offer a hand every now and then.

huntingson

It depends. If it is a farmer's land I would just ask him. I lease land from a corporation and that is $/acre. Some farmers around here just want you to get rid of deer for them, but some, like my family, just flat out don't allow anyone onthe farms.Just ask and see, but don't expect someone to give you something for nothing. I hate when people do that. It is like they expect you to let them use your land and do nothing in return. Nothing annoys me more than that.

Cougar Mag

I have not had to lease yet and don't plan on it but its sure getting tougher and in the next couple of years it may be lease land for hunting or get left out if Illinois lawmakers finally get their way. If property taxes for wooded or recreational land take a big hike as expected in a couple of years, certainly most landowners are going to do what they can to help pay the higher taxes for the non-productive farmland.

As for now, just be polite, honest and ask. A guy I know told me he has more land to hunt now than ever. Says he just went door to door and asked, even got permission from people he never expected............but it doesn't hurt that he is a local taxadermist.

Trembow

It depends, but we often like to give landowners a gift certificate to a restaurant that we know they or their wives like.

There's one guy who I'm considering making a proposition to about perhaps planting some apple trees and doing some additional clearing on a piece of his land. I'd buy and plant and tend the trees, and he can have the apples (or at least those that the deer don't eat!)

None of them are leases, just folks that have land and give us permission to hunt on or access through.

Pass_Thru

I also give a nice gift certificate around Christams time to landowners who wont take anything when I offer. They cant refuse a certificate in a Christmas card. I usually make it like $100 so they can take some family members out with them or if not atleast get a couple of meals out of it. Another thing landowners like is for you to come around in the off season and just chat with them from time to time. Just let them know you have time for them. Some of these owners are older men and women and just like someone to listen to them and take time out for them. That way you also build a stronger relationship with them and they are less likely to allow someone else to either hunt it or lease it out from under you or they will offer a lease to you first. All in all just be their friend.


Jason

chaselton

Sometimes you don't have to give a thing. Some of the best land I have to hunt has come from seeing deer on the side of the road during the off season and then stopping and asking the landowner to hunt. Volunteering labor or meat usually works too!!

Cougar Mag

Very good advice.