Mike,
Having resigned myself to public land & walk-ins years ago, & having never paid to shoot a bird, this is WAY far from my area of expertise, but……I suppose you at least investigate the advice above. Seems reasonable. I’d think, however, that if a landowner is a CoC member, then Jackrabbit’s probably right that they’ll want more than $100/day. That said, if you can get $100-ish/day later in the season, bear in mind that people had been paying a higher rate the entire prior part of the season. My guess would be that such a landowner would have birds just as wild/spooky as the public ones you’re used to. And maybe similar concentrations/populations. Private land does not equal skies black w/ pheasants.
I wonder if you don’t just come out late this summer & do your scouting. Find some places of interest & start knocking on doors. I’m roughly familiar w/ the areas you hunt & I think the majority of landowners around there DON’T permanently lease their land to hunters. Most of them just want the land & birds to themselves (or as is so often the story….their son-in-law). They post it & that discourages a lot of people from even asking. But if you were to ignore “posted” signs & just ask around, I think you might be able to arrange a day or 2 worth of hunting, probably a little later in the season. You’d probably have better luck asking about smaller pieces of cover – small sloughs, draws up through corn or bean fields, & little pieces of CRP. The bigger stuff is more likely to be leased to the highest bidder or owned by somebody hell & gone from here who comes out & hunts it a couple times a year & doesn’t let anyone else on it.
I’ve done very little asking in the last 15 years or so. Not because I never had success. It just took so much time simply to find out who owns stuff. But here’s what I learned back when I asked a lot. Honesty is obviously the best policy. They want to know who you are, where you’re from & when & how many guys & dogs are going to be hunting. You need to know exactly what they own & what they don’t own. Know precisely where you can & can’t hunt. Most landowners don’t want you near their house or livestock. You’ll still find the occasional person who’s NOT a landowner, but thinks he can speak for the guy up the road who’s in town for the day but owns a really nice little draw full of roosters. No. Way. If I don’t have permission directly from the landowner, I don’t so much as touch his fence. In short, try to give them as much info about you, & try to get as much info from them as possible. They may know a neighbor who lets people hunt (for free or not). If you have some success, don’t leave the farm yard without exchanging names & phone numbers on paper. Also.....you stand a better chance getting permission after rifle deer season.
Maybe this is the avenue to follow. Might find some land to hunt for less $$ & that’s had less pressure. Maybe???
