Free hunting, so to speak?

[bigbore442001]

How many people here hunt on property that is free from any sort of club fee or lease? Do you hunt public land? Your own land? Land owned by someone else who allows you to hunt without paying a fee? Just curious.

 

[RC]

i hunt public land in the adirondacks, i hunt my property in the "southern zone" of n.y. and two nieghbors land which adjoin it.. fee?, just bein a good neighbor.but have noticed last two years ALOT of newly posted lands..by clubs..must be they lease it...and 2 clubs i belong to have land 0ne 20 acres, the other 62..both in northern zone that i can hunt..lucky me! (course i[url] remember...growin[/url] up ya could huntin anywhere..so guess thatchanges my feelins somehow..

 

[sundowner]

There are some public areas near to me but if I want a no crowds then I hunt deer up on that a friend owns land near Antigo , WI. I also have 180 acres of land that my cousin owns around Greenbush , WI . He has turkeys , waterfowl and deer .
Charlie

 

[roundball]

I'm lucky to have built a good relationship with two farmers, and have been able to hunt their farms for free since about 1990...they are both posted and they both let me hunt but nobody else.

Now free is a relative term...I don't pay a lease but I do things for them 3-4 times throughout the year, every year...probably spend $300-$400 on each one...a big Honey Baked Christmas Ham plus Christmas gifts for the family...deliver flats of fresh straberries to them in the spring from a big strawberry farm...$50 gift certificates to a good steak house in the summer...the occasional pocket knife, etc, etc...but dirt cheap for what all I have at my disposal.

Both farms have strong deer populatons and resident flocks of turkeys...am very lucky to pretty much count on filling my deer tags, and this spring shot my first two Flintlock turkeys on one of the farms...very, very lucky guy.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I get 'free' hunting for wild hog on 1400 acre plot in S Calinky and deer in W Virginia and turkey on my sis's place under the Blue
Ridge Parkway. Hope to get me a nice hog this fall/winter.

 

[MikeChapin]

Most of Wyoming is either state or federal land in the western part of the state. All of it contains a lot of game so I don't worry much having to get permission.

On the eastern third of the state there is less public land but still enough that you don't have to hunt on it if you don't want to. When I lived there I hunted antelope on ranches that I knew the owners. I did not want to take the trouble to find public land just to shoot an antelope.

 

[fliowa]

I pay to hunt on a lease in Florida but I also have permission to hunt free on private land in Florida. I also have land in Iowa and Georgia I can hunt on for free. I have never had a problem of asking for permission to hunt on someones land.You would be suprised how many people say yes. I was once bird hunting in Iowa and we saw a field with a little corn left standing (pheasant magnet). We knocked on the farmers door and asked to hunt it. "She" said yes and also said we could hunt the other 1500 acres she owned. We hunt it,along with eight other properties, for deer and pheasants every year. One of the properties in Florida I got on was because I chased a cow back through the broken fence wire. I did a temporary fix on the fence and contacted the land owner. I have been hunting on that land for the last five years. I offer every land owner part of the harvest. Some take back straps , some take pheasants, some like wild rabbits. If they do not eat wild game I give them something else. Hunt ethically and tread lightly on their land and chances are you will be invited back year after year.

 

[Vaino]

I hunt grouse, woodcock, squirrel and deer on public county and federal forest lands and also on corporate tax shelter properties which always allow hunting. A plat book of the county I hunt has maps that show ownership of each parcel and it's surprizing how much of this available land is around. Stopped hunting private land many years ago....too much wasted time driving around asking farmers for permission. Prior to this, the older farmers just about always gave permission but when the farms were run by a son or were sold outside the original family, permission was rarely granted. Most said that hunters misused the privilege but that was just an excuse. Out west I hunt elk on federal forest land because the ranchers charge exorbitant fees and besides "ranch" elk don't offer a wild animal hunt. Thank heavens for the public lands....w/o them we'd be in the same boat as the hunters in Europe.......Fred

 

[rabjr]

I hunt private property, the land owner is a frisky 98 years old and I make sure she gets some venison every year for letting me hunt her property.

 

[Osprey]

I hunt my own place for whitetails, turkeys, geese, ducks, quail, rabbits, squirrels. Public state land for turkeys, whitetail and sika deer, ducks. Some public Federal land that requires a $10-50 permit for sika and whitetail. When I've been out west the past few years I've bowhunted on a private ranch with an outfitter for mulies and turkeys, but I've been his cook and traded that for staying 5-7 weeks and hunting most of it.

 

[longfowler]

I'm lucky, I live in New Hampshire which is pretty much open to any recrational use of private or public land, unless it is posted. I don't even know the owners of most of the land I hunt on - I assume it's whoever lives in the closest house, but unless someone comes out to check on you there's no way to tell! I've never been asked to leave by anyone when I'm hunting(and only once or twice when fishing). I'ts too bad that tradition is fadding up here in the northeast and we see more posted land evey year. It should be this way all over! as long as your'e not breaking any laws, why can't we all share the land and resources?
most you guys would love to hunt up here. you just park your car on the side of the highway and walk into the woods!!

 

[Kentuckywindage]

state land, blm, ntl forest. You name it. I wont pay to hunt on someones land.

 

[brubincam]

HOW FRISKY IS SHE????? :hatsoff: :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[Robert Egler]

I hunt a smallish area of State Game Land. There's a big area of game land around a large lake about 30 minutes from my house. There is also a narrow strip of State Park Land (no hunting) that cuts off a smallish, maybe 1 mile by 1 mile, area from the rest of the game land. I've hunted and fished there for about 20 years, and in all that time I have only once met or seen another person in that little area. Everyone hunts the bigger game land. So I have the little piece as essentually my own private hunting/fishing area. Since no one else hunts there, and it borders a state park, there is no shortage of game. I think that maybe the hunting pressure in the bigger game land forces deer over to my area. Anyway, there are lots of deer, squirrels, and some beaver, and red fox.

 

[bob1961]

i hunt all public game lands or get perrmission to hunt private land fer free :v ...........bob

 

[biliff]

As far as "free" land goes, I duck, mountain quail, snipe and grouse hunt on public land. Mostly because it has the best hunting for those species.

 

[mart]

Most of the land in Alaska is public so I guess I hunt free land. However, I imagine I pay as much in travel getting to my favorite haunts as I would for a club membership on good whitetail ground in the northeast. Alaska ain't cheap but it is worth it.

 

[Hoyt]

I do all my deer hunting on public lands in Fla., Kentucky and Illinois.
All my gobbler hunting is on public land in Fla.

 

[JCW]

I do all of my hunting on public land here in Washington.

 

[Robbo]

I hunt my own land for wild goat, wild pig, fallow deer, rabbit, fox, kangaroo, quail and wild duck. I also have access to a much larger adjoining property that also has Sambar deer so I am pretty wel taken care of hunting-wise, here in Australia.

But I sure do enjoy hunting whitetail deer with a flinter in SW Pennsylvania in knee deep snow :grin: .

Cheers

Robbo