Permissions Follow Up

With the new 2018 big game hunting season approaching, scouting should start increasing for early season bow hunting.  Of course, scouting or hunting can't occur on private land that you don't own unless permission has been granted to do so.

Late last year my permission letter was shared on The MeatEater Podcast by Steven Rinella, Ryan Callahan, Janis Putelis and Mark Kenyon.  After it was shared I posted a link to the letter and a bunch of helpful hints to make it your own. Read it here.

What I am curious about now is this:  The Permissions Letter page was viewed almost 40,000 times, so, of those 40,000 views, did it actually help any one?

I received a number of messages and emails thanking me for sharing it but now I want to know, did anyone achieve success, make positive or negative contact, get complete rejection or anything at all?

Beyond the cold call letters what else have you done in the last off season for accessing private property?

What I am hoping is that for a small group of you it was successful in establishing contact to gain permission to hunt private land.  For the other LARGE group that it didn't work for what I hope is that it helped you get a conversation going with people you hunt with, bump into in the hunting section or are complete strangers with about places to hunt that are not publicly accessible.  This would be through word of mouth, photos, hunting seminars, social media and any other method that you employed before, during or after your permission letter attempts.

BE SELECTIVE AND PATIENT (an increasingly scarce quality)

I hope you did as I do and refrain from sending letter after letter and that an extensive amount of research is done before a cold call letter is sent to a property owner.  The other reason I try to be restrained when sending letters is because if I were to gain access to hunt property after property, between what I already have permission to hunt and public land that I have available to me, I could not possibly hunt them effectively if I started adding more private land.  The point being that you could gain access to fifty 100 or 200 acre parcels but can you really scout and hunt those parcels properly if they are not contiguous?

Maybe if you don't function in the normal everyday family economy that requires a job, supporting your spouse and children, maintaining a house and paying bills, this would be possible. Settle for what you can get, hunt and scout it thoroughly and try not to be land hungry just to gain access.  Plus, if a property isn't being hunted it can become a sanctuary for future hunting seasons should you come up empty handed on land you already have access to hunt, then its time to seek permissions for those properties.

Now I know you may be saying, the more I have the more I can jump around if one parcel isn't producing.  True, you can jump from one parcel to another but you may be succumbing to impatience and thinking that you only need to find giant antlers. If that what you are after, then yes, maybe you need as many parcels as possible and a horde of game cameras working for you so you can locate the buck of your dreams.  I view it a bit different.  If a large antlered buck walks in front of me where I have proven to have deer activity on a property that I feel I have legitimately scouted with woodsmanship rather than technology, then great, but, if a good meat buck or large doe during either sex season walked in front of me, I have meat in the freezer and a satisfying story to tell

QUALITY HUNTING FRIENDS (and the land that may come with it)

The technology of today brings us photos from around the country of so many people killing big giant elk, whitetails, moose and other big game.  All that is great but most of us don't do that, we admire it, but we don't get those opportunities.  Finding quality hunting friends that share your passion for hunting but are humble in their hunting achievements and willing to both learn and share knowledge is priceless.  These are the types of friends that you can take with you on hunts and who will take you with them, expanding your hunting areas.  Finding easy going non-abrasive hunting friends who are willing to accept your learning curve (and the reverse) and share your hunting ethics is a great tool for expanding hunting grounds.  So, be receptive to others when discussing hunting achievements and don't try to just tell a better, bigger story, it may lead to more opportunities.

SHARE

I process my own meat from field to freezer.  This makes the meat especially valuable to me.  So, when I share it, I want it to be truly appreciated.  In the Retaining Permissions article, I mention presenting some of your bounty to the land owners that have already given you permissions, but here, if you share a little of your finished product to friends and general acquaintances, it brings up the conversation of hunting that you can steer towards hunting land.  This can lead to creating connections to people who have land that may permit hunting or being invited to hunt by another hunter.  It can also spark the interest of a non-hunter (don't confuse this from an anti-hunter) to become a hunter, adding both a hunting friend who can aid you in gaining access to properties through their connection.

ENDLESS

There are endless ways to attempt adding land to your available hunting grounds.  If you want more, and KNOW you can effectively hunt it, keep pressing for it and you will find it. If you always keep it in your conversations, at some point, you will gain access.  At the moment, if you have no land to hunt, get on your state wildlife agency website and find the closest public land you where your can begin to scout (or maybe the furthest and deepest if you desire that).

Keep the hunting conversation going and it will attract those of similar desires and you may find yourself hunting new grounds and making new adventures.

Let me know if you used the letter and what the outcomes were by commenting below.