There are a lot of tips out there to increase your odds when asking permission to hunt in private land. Steven Rinella even devotes a section of one of his books on the etiquette of doing so.
Here’s how simple it is: be polite, offer to help around in any way possible, and let anyone who is “on the fence” that you have no problem hearing the word no. If I had to make a guess, I’d say 95% of the doors I’ve knocked on have said “no” when I asked them for permission to hunt. I’ve actually talked people out of giving me permission because I could tell they wanted to be nice, but weren’t actually comfortable. This may sound counter intuitive, but after you have hunted in both scenarios you’ll see it’s really uncomfortable to be on land that you really aren’t wanted on.
There is a property that’s been cut off from me and my brother for about 20 years. This property is next door to my parents small 15 acre farm. Some folks from California bought it when we were kids and weren’t fond of the idea of kids killing ducks on their property. They were always reasonable though and told us if we dropped a duck onto their property, we were welcome to jump the fence and retrieve them.
Fast forward to now: for whatever reason, my parents have been seeing elk for the last 2 years on the back end of their property. What looks like an easy tag to fill has proven to be difficult - I can’t shoot a rifle safely due to the proximity to houses and I haven’t had any luck approaching the elk with a ML or bow. We’ve tried stand hunting them but it just hasn’t panned out yet - either the wind was wrong or they just didn’t show up that day.
The perfect approach has always been obvious - the Californian’s place is very brushy and has a lot of cover. I knocked on their door several times over the last week but didn’t actually catch them until I left a note with my request and phone number last Friday. That night my phone rang. We discussed hunting in general, what my intentions were, etc for about 30 minutes before the owner said this: “Alright Curtis. Here’s what I’ll do: text me anytime you come out and you and anyone who is with you is fine. If you see ANYBODY else back there, just call the police because you are the only one I am giving permission to.” Success!
The next morning, I received a text from my dad telling me the elk were out. With my wife more or less shoving me out of the house, I was on my way. I texted the land owner, approached exactly how I wanted and set up. Within 30 minutes, a large cow gave me a nice 100 yard shot and my Bighorn dropped her where she stood.
I’m still in awe at how smooth that went and I am extremely thankful to the land owner. I stopped in at her place and we talked for about a half hour before I even started cutting the elk.
My freezer is filled and honestly it’s so filled that I ended up giving a large portion to my friend who helped me process. 1 elk equates to two families who don’t have to shop for meat for a long time. Awesome.
