by wanneroo » 09 Apr 2023, 1:23 am
I'm actually going to do a Youtube video at some point for tips for hunters working with private property owners.
Reading this thread about Tasmania, things are not any different here with property owners these days. Myself I have had to ban various neighbors from hunting as they kept breaking the rules, which were simple to follow. I have narrowed it down to three different parties of older more mature people I can count on who do not make it an ass pain for me to have them hunt here.
My advice off the top of my head from a property owners perspective is this:
1. Identify a private property you want to hunt on.
2. Contact the property owner, identify yourself and your interest in hunting, find out what their needs are and what you can do to help them.
3. Emphasize you will work with the property owner on hunting on where you can hunt on the property safely, communicating and coordinating with the property owner as to when you can hunt, etc. I ask hunters for instance to give me 24 hours notice and if I give them the ok, text me when they arrive on the property and when they leave. I also want to know what part of the property they want to hunt on.
4. Offer something up in return for hunting on the property, part of the meat, property upkeep, etc.
My experience with a lot of hunters is they want to enjoy the property at will, hunt all they want and seemingly forget the property owner owns the place for their own enjoyment and has to pay upkeep, taxes, repairs, etc. People want all the benefits with none of the costs or work involved.
Other issues I have run into is hunters giving me guff when I deny them access at times due to things I want or need to do on the property, safety issues, leaving their trash behind, etc.
So in the end, there are property owners out there who will let people hunt but you need to find an upside for them to have you on their property enjoying all the benefit of it they have paid for.
You might have to knock on some doors for a while, but building up a relationship with a property owner for mutual benefit can have long lasting positive benefits for all.