Written permission only question

[SpokaneSlayer]

There is a lot of land that say "Hunting by Written Permission Only" and was curious on the procedures on that.  The signs have the phone number of the landowner and I know there are cards you fill out.  Do I just call the landowner and does he/she have the cards?  Or do I get those from the WDFW?  I want to bow hunt mulies on some of these properties.

[ThePascoKid]

Contact the landowner they have the slips, I hope you have better luck than I do with the written permission only program, very rarely do they say yes.

[SpokaneSlayer]

Cool, that's all I needed to know.  Hopefully it'll work out.  If not, no big deal as it's not my main plan but it couldn't hurt to try.

[ThePascoKid]

Yeah by all means give it a shot I didn't mean to sound negative, I've just had some bad experiences trying to get written permission. That's kind of always been my attitude also, I don't rely on it as a first option but if I do get permission it's just one more place to check for deer.  The farmers might be harvesting right now depending on what area your talking about and they really don't like to be bothered during harvest.

[SpokaneSlayer]

I'll see if they are harvesting when I go down to get the phone numbers off the signs.

[rosscrazyelk]

I have called those numbers hundreds  of times and have never had luck, That program is a joke. Good luck thou

[BLKBEARKLR]

I contacted them and they said I could only shoot a doe.....

[SHANE(WA)]

+1 To a stupid program

[jjhunter]

Our Snake River place is in the program.  They did away with funding last year but we are still enrolled in the program so the game warden can give tickets to anyone without a card (trespassing is bad).  Although we did not allow deer hunting, we did open access to excellent bird hunting to people who we would have never let hunt otherwise.   The trick to access is to ask early as the phone rings off the hook starting mid-August.   Remember that many landowners and their friends hunt as well - just because you can't deer hunt doesn't mean that they won't allow bird hunting or visa versa......

It is a good program - although I have been turned down myself on numerous occasions, I have gotten awesome access during "off times" like mid-week during the rifle season or alternative seasons like archery/muzzleloader.   Study the regs and try different weapons....if you are trying to gain access during the "peak" times, you probably won't have success.  Try early/late archery, early/late muzzleloader, or mid-week rifle and you will have a lot more success.  Also, be specific as to season and time-frame you are looking to hunt.   Ask about property boundaries/ landmarks........This will help as well.....  I can't stand it when someone asks to hunt and doesn't ask about boundaries/off-limit areas/ fencerows, etc..... all they are going to do is piss off my neighbors by walking around aimlessly and probably trespassing on my neighbor's ground.   Hope this helps. 

[SpokaneSlayer]

Thanks for the advice.  I plan on hunting early archery and have taken the entire first week off from work.  I could probably work with the landowner and be flexible on taking another day off specically to hunt there.

[Straight Shooter]

There is a lot of land that say "Hunting by Written Permission Only" and was curious on the procedures on that.  The signs have the phone number of the landowner and I know there are cards you fill out.  Do I just call the landowner and does he/she have the cards?  Or do I get those from the WDFW?  I want to bow hunt mulies on some of these properties.

This is how me and my hunting buddies got free unlimited access to 500+ acres.  One of the guys went to the house, and introduced himself.  Once the land owners found out that we were active/retired miltary, they considered it a honor for us to hunt on thier property.  We make sure that we bring gifts and offer to help with farm work.  I had an American flag flown for them (on several different aircraft) when I was deployed to Iraq... which they fly over their property.  They even attended my Air Force retirement ceremony... a real cool couple.

[ThePascoKid]

Ask about property boundaries/ landmarks........This will help as well.....  I can't stand it when someone asks to hunt and doesn't ask about boundaries/off-limit areas/ fencerows, etc.....

If you have some specific areas you don't want people to go wouldn't it be easier just to tell them rather than get pissed they didn't ask?  By the way the way you described the program is exactly how most people view it, the land owner gets free "No Hunting" signs and then only lets his family and friends hunt.  Having grown up on a farm I can totally relate to hunting your own property and not letting others on at premium times, but those signs just give people a false sense of hope most of the time.  I've actually had guys act like they were annoyed that I was calling, if you don't want to be bothered don't enroll in the frickin' program, by the way I'm not saying that you and your family are like this, this is just from past experience.  Some of the big ranches on the Snake get hit hard by Tresspasser/poachers and this is one tool they can use to identify who is and who isn't supposed to be on their property.  So in that respect I can see how it could be a good thing.
 

[Machias]

I've asked once for some turkey hunting property and was allowed on.  I have also asked and been turned down and then asked about coyote hunting.  Hunted it for a year for yotes and made contact with the landowener a few times and showed them some of the songdogs I was removing.  Got permission the next year, no problem.  It's easier when you get a foot in the door and then get to know them a little.

[yelp]

If you are having a problem with landowner consistently not giving you permission you should call WDFW and complain.  I have a friend that is a landowner in this program and he allows as many hunters as he can each year.  Last year he had over 100 hunters call him.  He only has 1000 acres and so many deer.  From a safety stand point he spreads out the hunters on the farm  on different parts and dates.  He told me that the WDFW collects all of the slips annually to see if they are allowing the public to hunt and not abusing the program.  He said once he gets to know certain hunters he likes he will give them permission if they ask, but he also lets a few new ones on every year.

My friend likes the permission program because it gives him some control and he can say no to the occasional slob hunter.  He told me about a father who had two daughters who just passed hunters education.  My friend was out plowing on a tractor in a wheat field when he saw a pickup drive up and three people got out and shot off of the county road towards the tractor.  He made a note on the make of vehicle and happened to run into it later that evening.  He recognized it to be the father and two daughters.  He asked them what they were doing shooting off the road towards his tractor..the father he said was white as a ghost..he said we were shooting at a coyote..he said he didn't think it was a big deal.
My friend chewed him out. The father didn't get permission the next year.  I have personally been denied  but have been given permission more times than not. 

[andrew_12gauge]

i had good experiences with the program out around washtucna most of the landowners i spole with gave a buddy and me permission for archery season, that being said if you want permission for rifle you need to be very early calling them up but i think for archery most are willing to allow you to hunt