I give the landowners sausage, a Christmas gift and offer to help do chores. To be honest I've found that the landowners I hunt want to be visited more than anything else. But I don't have it exclusively to myself any longer.....a guy started renting a house from the one a few years ago and hunts too.

You are right about it not being easy finding new land and sometimes keeping what you have to hunt. Land changing hands, daughters getting married to a hunter, etc. is making it tough.

we give people i dotn know how many pounds of sausage and money for exclusive hunting rights here but you better believe that no one and i mean no one else will go in there

Everything I can or anything they ask. It's important.

I always offer my help, I send Christmas Cards and sometimes I'll send a giftcard for the family for dinner or something similar. I usually take out some sausage and maybe tomatoes and cucumbersduring the summer..

Around here there is a MAJOR problem with too many deer; especially in the suburbs. I see so many of my fellow hunters and my customers who are strickly "buck hunters". With the situation that exists here, that is usually NOT the way to approach the problem.

As a matter of fact, several of my landowners have noticed that I hunt to the end of January and continue to take deer - mostly does. One landowner challenged the other hunters last year to shoot more deer. If they don't change their approach, they may loose favor with the landowner.

On the properties that I hunt (4 of them), they are all wealthy landowners and don't want anything but the deer population reduced. Shrubbery alone for these people runs into the tens of thousands of dollars. Crop damage is valued at $400-500 per deer per year. At that rate I personally saved the farmer over $5000 last year.

I know that this is a unique situation, but it is very real. And, I just thought I'd share this approach for those who may have similar 'problems'. I know many hunters in this area who have lost their properties because they were spotted giving does a 'pass.' Some property owners will warn you, others will just tell you to take a walk if you're just a buck hunter. This doesn't mean you can't take a nice buck, it's just that they won't put up with you not taking does.

You are right Len. This landowner wants some does shot so I buy doe tags for his county and take 4-6 every year off of his place. We like the huge deer pop on our land so we don't shoot does very often but with this guy we do. He also likes the fact that weare a husband /wife hunt team and that we don't hunt big game or deer with firearms.

Absolutely LEN, and a great point. People frown more on trophy hunters then they do on hunters who will help their situation.

Funny this was brought up about trophy hunters. I didn't want to start a big debate on here, but the land I hunt, the owner and I just had this conversation.

I took a nice buck off of his property last week. He came over to look at it and commented how nice it was. He knows I take whatever deer is legal, does ,buttons or bucks. He told me that he hates trophy hunters. He feels that hunters should take what deer they get a chance at and not hunt antlers. He felt hunters should be concerned with filling the freezer not bragging about big antlers. He gave me the impresion, that he would refuse trophy hunters permission to hunt.

I think many landowners feel this way.

Ive always given a couple sticks of salami from the deer i take on their land they like thator bale hay this year i ran combine i grew up on the farm so i was use to it the land owner got sick and i always offer to come help so i got a call one night and its the landowners brother(they farm together) so i ran combine for a couple days they basicly said no matter what i can hunt their ground forever

The first year that I hunted on the spot that I hunt now, I bought the landowners a $50 gift certificate for his favorite restaurant, for Christmas. My wife works with the landowners wife, and this is how I got permission to hunt there. I mailed the gift certificate to them with a very nice Christmas card, (I mailed it because I know that they would not take it if I gave it to them in person, thats just the way they are) When they got it iin the mail, his wife came to work the next day, and was very angry at us for thinking that I had to give them something for letting me hunt on their land. She told my wife that they would not take it and that if we didnt take it back, that that would be the last year that I would be hunting on their land. This brings up a question, what would you have done if you were in my shoes?? I tookk it back, against my will, but I know that this woman was very adament, and she meant it. The only thing that they ask of me, is that I hunt the gun season with the landowner. He had given it up, becouse he didnt have anyone to go with, and he didnt like the iodea of going by himself. If we dont get anything durring gun season, I make sure to get them a deer with my bow. That tickles them to death.