Landowner Relations
Tips for finding and keeping your hunting hotspot

The Age Old Problem!

What you and I alike have experienced is the age-old problem of “getting a foot in the door”. I make my living in sales and marketing. This is the most difficult part of any sale, and believe me, getting permission to hunt someone’s property is good old fashion salesmanship. Getting signed permission to hunt is no different than getting a signed purchase order for goods or services and the sooner you take a salesman’s approach, the sooner you will see success. You MUST learn to sell yourself. Sell yourself, and the rest comes easy. What you learn will help you the rest of your life. We are all salesman. Even if it’s selling your friend on which movie you will see on Friday night or your brother on which program you will watch on the TV. I’m beginning to sell my wife on my “need” for a bigger ATV. It’s all selling, just on different scales. In a free society people have many choices. Influencing this choice is salesmanship. Here are some basics that will help.

Affiliation

You can’t change where you were born. Being a neighbor is just affiliation. There are other ways to overcome this hurtle. There are always local chapters of Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, Wild Turkey Federation, etc. Join; show up for work parties; become a familiar face in the hunting community. Join the local Trap and Skeet club. There are always 5 or 6 local old timers who hang out around gun clubs, telling stories, and killing time. Hang with them, shoot some, rake hulls, cut the grass, load trap houses, pull targets, be there when the truck full of targets is delivered and help store them away. It’s fun and you will make contacts and develop local references. Be known as one of the 10% that does 90% of the work. You need a reputation.

Be Different

Land owners are approached hundreds of times each year regarding hunting rights. I’ve witnessed it myself, while helping out around a farm, (hint, hint). The big 4X4 comes roaring up the lane, in a cloud of dust, four guys pile out and charge the land owner. The answer becomes obvious, and you can hear the snide comments, as they load up, then they roar out the lane. DON’T DO THIS.

Demonstrate respect for the land and the owner, from the moment you set foot on his property. Remember “yessir”, “nosir”, “yesmaam”, “nomaam”. I was 12 before I knew these were two separate words, and to this day, I’m thankful. Treat the land owner like you are asking to date his daughter. Use the phone only to make an appointment to meet. Call at dark, or no later than 8:00pm.

Bring something to the table

Ask about crop damage, quail populations, etc. Talk about the crows and specifically what you plan to do. Make it clear that you are ONLY interested in crows. Many farmers lease the bird, waterfowl, and deer rights to their property. Address this and show how you can work around this. Highlight the benefits of what you want to do. Offer to work. You never know…I once solved a small computer issue for a landowner\farmer and this began a long relationship I still enjoy.

Manage the relationship; never loose “a customer”

Treat the property like the landowner’s living room. Clean up; leave it cleaner than it was before. Don’t drive if there is even a remote possibility of leaving ruts. Walk, if need be. Park out of the way; leave your keys in the truck. Ask him to join you. He probably won’t, but ask anyway. Send Christmas cards. Treat his wife like a queen. Look for ways to be helpful and generous. Remember, you are his guest…act like it. Stop by and visit with him when you aren’t hunting. Help out, if you can. If he is digging a hole, pick up a shovel, without being asked. Country folk don’t stand around and watch others work. If a predator is giving him a fit, take care of it for him. This is all common sense but you’d be surprised how often hunting rights are lost over the little things. Be respectful. Loosing a place through your actions, or lack of, is a major set back. Remember there are both good and bad reputations. Word travels fast and landowners do talk to each other. Have them speaking favorably about you.

Don’t Give Up

Giving up is not an option. Don’t burn any bridges. If your attempts to gain access fail, be as courteous as possible. Things change, and as you build a reputation in an area, you will be amazed, how attitudes can change. If you are met with hostility, remember there is a host of reasons for this, and none of them involve you, so be thick skinned; say, “thank you for your time”, and walk away. His attitude might change by the time you get to your truck, or it might take years. Look at it as a personal challenge, if the property is important to you. Plan your approach. Get the rights to the adjoining property. Work at it. Go out of your way to be around the landowner. Build your local references and affiliations. Find out his interests. Familiarity cures fears.

All of this takes work. There is no free lunch. With the right approach and mindset, the yes’s will soon make the no’s worth the effort. Remember, 3 for 10 is a major league batting average and you’re a rookie.

Special thanks to Crow Busters member Ed Davis of Cambridge, MD for the information in this section.