What Unlce Buck mentioned seems to be happening more and more.
My personal experience by state since the USAF has given me multiple states to hunt in thus far:
Florida (home state): Don't bother asking to hunt private property. You will be told no. Learn to hunt WMAs very well and be willing to walk farther, wade through more mud, and generally take more abuse than anyone else to get to good areas.
Washington (East side of Cascades): Talk about friendly folks! 9/10 doors I knocked on gave me permission to hunt. Several landowners even recommended certain sections where they had seen birds, deer, etc. One particular landowner had a good size parcel that not only included wheat, but a 3 acre lake surrounded by cattails. We archery hunted for deer and duck/goose hunted as well, spending most of our season there. Every Christmas, both the couple guys I hunted with and myself dropped off several bags of game as well as walleye, rainbow trout, crappie, and the wives (all of ours collectively, I only have 1
) kicked in with baked goods as a "thank you". We always stopped out on the farm to chat and they were genuinely good folks. Every year we got invited back. I miss that family! If you live West of Spokane and this description fits you, PM me, I'd love to hear from you!
New Jersey: I had so much great hunting on Ft Dix, then became the "Deer Depredation Program Manager" for McGuire, I really didn't have any need to go anywhere else. However, several of my C-141 Flight Engineers and Loadmasters were bowhunting off base as well as on post. They reported it was pretty easy to gain permission to hunt. Deer were really becoming a nuisance at that time in NJ, with as many deer dead on the side of the road as armadillos in Texas!
Oklahoma: Hit/Miss. There were a lot of farmers screaming about feral pig damage to their crops, but when I tried calling them, none were interested in a USAF guy and his kids coming out to hunt. That being said, I did get permission from a farmer I met through some meetings with the local township. The farmer was very kind and the kids loved running into him on the property where they could get tractor rides on his John Deer! Talking with him was like opening a chapter in a history book. I meet with him and his friends for breakfast (they did B-Fast every morning at a local diner), and loved being present with so much history (almost all of them had WWII time). We trapped hogs and hunted for deer on his property.
Illinois: More to follow. A fellow desk jockey who owns some land gained permission for me to hunt a neighbors property for geese last year and this year. I have not had nearly the time to knock on doors as in years past. I think this has something to do with an inverse relationship to the number of kids you have and increases in rank. I was expecting under the current economy to get into a lease this year, but after thorough searching through the internet and local rags, came up empty. Seems the local population is content paying their lease fees rather than buying food
(I'd do the same thing!).
Respect and responsibility. As guests, you have to treat the land and the landowner with respect. Pack out your trash and any other trash you find. Leave the property in better condition than you found it if you can.
And be willing to shoulder responsibility. Ask questions up front about the rules of the farm and make sure you understand the landowners expectations, then live to that standard. Be willing to help out, expecially during tough times of the year (like harvest). Lastly, sometimes things might go wrong where you damage something you didn't intend through no act of negligence (genuine accident). Fess up early and take whatever means to fix it. Bad news does not get better with age.
On property where I've been invited, this has always served me well.
