dylanm

been a wma hunter for quite a while and was looking into private land.

from what iv read once you have the right permits/licenses you just need the land owners permission and make sure your game is in season.

well how do you go about this do you look on craigslist for ppl that are willing to sell you some time on there land or what.

daleintampa

Its very difficult to get on private land unless you know the owner. and then its still hard. Not to many land owners just give up access for people to hunt on. Lots of people put adds on Craigslist with a Pipe dream. Dont get your hopes up. I would just keep hunting the WMA's

I would poke around with people you know. You never know when someone owns worthless waistland with game on it.

aluminumshooter

Where I live in Virginia, everything is leased up and you pretty much have to join a hunting club to be on private land. To find one Google hunting club and your city and state. If you don't get anything try online sites such as hightechredneck.com. Check out military bases in your area-- many hold controlled hunts. It's not exactly private land but it's usually productive land.

bushanic

dylanm getting on private land can be the hardest part of hunting. I have found it to be a big part of my hunting experience. I find getting access to private land is just as much of a challenge as a big buck you get one chance to make a good shoot/first impression. You can make it a little easier if a friend owns some land in a area spend a year enjoying it and watching the neighbors to see what is going on in the area..how much gun hunting,how many other hunters, dog running, hunt clubs and if they start to see you always Wave like you just saw a old friend.

If your friend needs help around the house afford to help. I started with 3 6 acre lots a friend owns and started searching the G.I.S in the area. this gives you a lot of info the owners name,acreage and the taxes they pay. At first I afford to pay my friends taxes and then he bought a lot with a old house on it and now we cut he 4 acre of grass. I have also call and stop by with most of the neighbor and cut their grass or do some handy man stuff around the house for them.Most of them are retried folks and dont have family in the area I feel they like to have someone around. When you start knocking on doors you will find NO will be the most likely answer will get. you need a sales approach something to get your foot in the door. try to just get on the property for 2 to 4 hunts if that if you don't gun hunt sale it a lot of people don't want guns shooting around their house. we are a archery only family that by itself got us 60 acres. If they say no ask if you can come back next year to ask again (they might say sure ) then you might have a chance thats when you have to be patience dont be afraid to stop and talk with them in this time this is when they are trying to see who and what you are they are reading you. I could go on and on Just remember its their land and be very polite. Good luck

Terasec

Not easy getting permission,
Most know the land owner some how,
You can try a few things.
First is finding places.
If there are houses/farms with acreage,
Dress in decent clothes,
If there's trash at the roadside, pick it up for them,
Have copies of drivers license, hunting permits, contact info, etc....
Knock on doors, telling people you have an interest in hunting their land, also offer something in return, some of the meat, they may have a fence that needs mending/painting, brush pile cleared, etc...
Also remind them that you are a legal and ethical hunter with utmost respect for the game and their animals.
Most answers will be no, don't be upset, just thank them. Leave copy of your contact info, and move on.
On occassion you may come across a friendly that will grant you such privilage.
Or maybe weeks later may get a call, maybe a door you knocked on has a relative that will grant you such.
just keep trying and keep showing respect

VA5326

This is a quote from an earlier post when someone else asked about obtaining permission to hunt private property. I think I'm going too write a book.

Yes, it is true you may run into a series of "NO's" when knocking on doors. Just two Summer's ago, I got 3 "YES's" in a row, in NOVA of all places. You MUST NOT go knocking on doors during hunting season. That is a sure way to get the feared "NO". Use hunting season (well your out of the woods time anyway) to do your research on where you want to hunt and use Spring and Summer to ask permission and gain the property owner's trust and respect. You will not get any property by posting an add on Craigslist, FB, EBAY, Twitter or whatever else, as said before that's a pipe dream. I just saw something the other day that intrigued me. Have any of you guy's ever watched that tv show American Picker's? Those guys do extremely well at approaching people at their homes. I suggest watching how they operate. Everytime they approach a home owner look at how they do it and look how respectful, etc they are. Just remember to be polite and offer your assistance in any way to the land owner. And last but not least, permission isn't going to fall at your feet. If you're serious about obtaining land to hunt, you have to get out there and do YOUR OWN LEG WORK. Hope this helps.


Admins, anyway we can make this a sticky???


VA

countertop

Just keep asking and sniffing around. Don't get discouraged. I did it for a couple of years when I moved to Virginia, without any hope of ever finding land to hunt on and now I have access to a ton of land throughout the state. Seems like every year i almost double the land I can hunt. As it is, at this point in time, I simply don't have the time to hunt it all - but its there for the taking (and not all is leased) if you just keep asking.

I ask everyone - folks at work, folks at home. They all know I hunt, and am always looking. And since they know me, and trust my judgment and me personally, when someone heres I am looking - if they own land - they let me hunt it.