How Do You Ask for Permission to Hunt?

From Quora

I am not going to put myself forward as an expert. However, I am a guy who spent 20 years asking for permission before getting my own land. I’m now on the other side of the deal. Let me tell you, it changes your perspective.

Our family bought 200 acres of prime deer and turkey territory in SW Bracken County, KY about 20 years ago. At the time, I had just about given up on hunting. Public land was getting way too crowded, and I had lost my last good private plot due to the landowner’s death the year before.

The place I got had become everybody’s go-to spot. I spent the first year chasing poachers. I tried to be nice about it, but folks gave me a lot of lip and a lot of attitude, and one fellow leveled his barrel at me. Another threatened to burn down my barn. I wasn’t there to run an ersatz WMA. I was there to make a place where it was safe for my family to hunt. It took about 3 years to get things to even out. At the same time, I was doing this, several of my neighbors started cracking down as well.

I became the guy sitting on the front porch when you drive up.

With the exception of 2 fellows, every last one of the blokes I gave permission to hunt my land gave me cause to ban them from the property.
I always give out written permission and the permission slips are explicit. If I write down “DEER SEASON ONLY” I don’t want to see you sneaking onto the property hunting turkeys in the spring. I also don’t want to see that letter of permission Xeroxed and handed to all your friends.
If I give you permission to hunt or camp, I specify that I don’t want smoking within 50 yards of the barns. I don’t want to find you inside my best barn with a campfire.
Just one poacher on the property can cause havoc. We went 2 years barely seeing a deer or a turkey before I found out my neighbor had invited himself in, and was filling the freezers of all his friends. His excuse: “I just love to hunt!”

I could go on. However, this is what I have rolling around in my mind when y’all ride up in your camo-clad air-conditioned truck and jump out and give me the long-lost relative treatment.

I’m a sociable guy. I enjoy jawing, so I’ll invite you up on the porch to talk. I hate seeing folks, hat in hand, begging me from the lawn. I’ll probably offer you some lemonade. The thing of it is, I know that what I’ve got is precious. It is the most precious material thing I own. I’m doing my utmost to keep it safe and productive for my family and keep it for my future generations.

To date, I have extended permission to two guys I don’t regret. One is my old boss from the college. He came to me when he retired and asked if I could teach him to hunt. I became his mentor. When we aren’t hunting, we sit on the porch and talk about obscure operating systems and programming languages.

The other guy was a long-time friend of my sons. They’re all grown. I figured it was time to start letting the next generation start getting a feel for this. My sons saw how problematic hunting permissions were for me, and they were wary. They spent the better part of a decade looking for the right guy to invite down. They had a miserable time; most young guys want to stay on the couch. Their first pick has become a real addition to camp. It is great to see him blossom as a hunter.

Advice? First off, were I inclined to give you permission in the first place, I would not want to hear what a big-time hunter you are. You’d be surprised how many “big-time” hunters I get coming down the road. No, I am not impressed with your Youtube Channel. Next, I am really put off by guys who talk about all the deer they’ve blown away with their 300 WIN MAGs. Size and quantity do not enter into this. Other turn-offs include:

Don’t pop out of your cab and offer me a beer or a joint.“
Don’t tell me how your semi-famous relatives are coming up from Nashville
Don’t immediately start negotiating quid pro quo deals. I don’t need you for chores, and I know you ain’t going show when I need you anyway
Especially don’t tell me there’s money in it for me. Leasing (official or otherwise) opens up way too many liabilities. I ain’t going there.
Don’t talk about bagging the big buck, or a limit of squirrels.

I’ll give you another piece of advice. If you roll up in your truck and the landowner greets you and writes you permission without much trouble, watch out.

You’re probably sharing this land with the whole rest of the county. I’ve talked to guys 250 miles away that knew my property from the days before I bought it.
Being indiscriminate like this should set off alarms in your head. If it’s too easy, there is a reason. I’ve run into some dark situations.
Expect disappointment. I’ve gotten a written letter in June and was chased off by another relative in October. The easier that permission is given the more likely it is to be revoked.

I’m not blue-skying you on this. In 40 years of hunting and 20 years as a hunting landowner, I’ve had all this happen. The system is broken for the normal schmo hunter like you and me. That’s why I bought land.

Before he died, my buddy O.T. and I were talking on his porch. He had finally called it quits on 70 years of bird hunting; he was going blind.

“I used to be able to take off from here in the morning,” he said. “I’d hunt all the way to Brooksville (about 10 miles distant). My daddy had better lungs; he could get further. We could hunt all the way and when we got tired, we would just knock on the first door we found, and it was always a relative and they’d either ride us home or let us spend the night. There weren’t such things as No Tresspassing signs, and nobody cared. Nowadays, your place is about the last spot where I have permission to hunt.”

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