"Thank you" for access to land?

TomU

TomU

Active member
In another post A5 Sweet 16 made the comment, "How many times have we heard a 6-pack shows adequate appreciation for an afternoon of hunting?"

I've only hunted public so far but if I did approach a farm and was given permission what would be a adequate "thank you" for that first time contact? (besides a 6 pack of PBR :)
 
In 1994 a western Kansas ag operator gave me permission to hunt and then later in the season suggested I post his land. He did this after my report of a local putting four out-of-state vehicles of hunters on his land, no permission requested nor given. Grateful for such a valuable permission, I volunteered to help him with his wheat harvest, having heard him mention the difficulty of finding help. Starting in the summer of '95 I was his grain cart man for 12 wheat harvests. That first year he tried to pay me. Nope. I take him and his family out to dinner every season. His brother became my regular hunting companion. This fall will be our thirtieth season hunting together on his brother's ever increasing lands.
 
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TennesseeTraveler said:
I will sometimes ask if I can do anything for the land owner or offer them a turkey for the holidays. Sometimes, you have to "read the room". Some people are friendly enough but do not need to spend any needless time with someone they don't really know.
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This. Being low key and polite goes a long way. If you start to use their land more then the relationship will grow organically. I don’t like when people come on to strong, it’s sketchy.

I haven’t knocked on doors for pheasants in an long time but by Our deer property the land owner gets offered big bucks from neighbors to hunt the land, she turns it down and lets us hunt because she likes us. We aren’t trying to get anything from her, we just love to hunt and treat with her respect as a human.
 
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For years my go-to was homemade jams and jelly - muscadine, blackberry, peach, blueberry that mostly came from my property.
Without fail, the next year I would be handed empty jars to be refilled for the next trip.
In some cases, this occurred for decades.
 
dakotasj said:
For years my go-to was homemade jams and jelly - muscadine, blackberry, peach, blueberry that mostly came from my property.
Without fail, the next year I would be handed empty jars to be refilled for the next trip.
In some cases, this occurred for decades.
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i want some!
 
TomU said:
In another post A5 Sweet 16 made the comment, "How many times have we heard a 6-pack shows adequate appreciation for an afternoon of hunting?"

I've only hunted public so far but if I did approach a farm and was given permission what would be a adequate "thank you" for that first time contact? (besides a 6 pack of PBR :)
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if you want to go back, without asking send them a smoked turkey or a ham before thanksgiving or xmas.
 
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TomU said:
In another post A5 Sweet 16 made the comment, "How many times have we heard a 6-pack shows adequate appreciation for an afternoon of hunting?"

I've only hunted public so far but if I did approach a farm and was given permission what would be a adequate "thank you" for that first time contact? (besides a 6 pack of PBR :)
Click to expand...

A good start after getting permission: "If I have any luck, would you like a bird? A cleaned bird?" If they say yes, and even if you only get one, make sure they get it, and cleaned.
 
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I've never given a gift for getting permission, it's always been after the season. I do like to stop in and chat before or after a hunt, then drop off a gift after the season. The landowners seem to appreciate hearing about how I did, bird numbers, etc.
If you want to give a gift upon getting permission, I would lean towards a gift card to a local establishment.
 
I have been hunting on the same landowners in Iowa for over 35 years.

I always give them items from my local area in SE Ohio. Ski pop, Amish made cheese, and chocolate from a wonderful local chocolatier.

I’m fixing to give one farmer some good old WV moonshine. His wife makes wonderful apple pie. I figure that the real deal will be better than everclear.
 
I've never really done the gift thing, but I do send handwritten thank you notes after hunting.

Way back in the day we had a local contact who was a friend of my dad who hosted a group of 10-15 for the opener. The local and his son hunted with us and sometimes a few of his friends (who were also friends of my dad). Saturday evening was most often a meal at Cowtown in Dodge City or someplace similar. The guests bought, so I guess that could be considered a gift.

My dad used to send some holiday gifts to a handful of landowners, including maybe the one mentioned above. These days I think he only does it for the people that let him shoot prairie dogs.
 
I have always given a landowners that has given me permission a $20 gift card to local diner in town. This sure to be appreciated. I try to come back later that afternoon or the next day. Do that and the next time you ask them you will get another yes.
 
This thread reminded me of one of my best memories in pursuit of pheasants in SD.

When growing up in East Tn in the 60s, 70s, we chased quail, grouse and rabbits. At that time there were not huntable deer or turkey populations, so we were into birds and bird dogs. Quail population took a dive and we decided to try pheasants in KS.

That decision has cost me lots of money.

KS started the addiction and we quickly set our sights on SD in a couple of years.

We had no connections in SD. Hit the public and knocked on doors. Probably mid 90's.

First or second year, knocked on a door, modest 2 story house, long ways from town, did our pitch to an older gentleman - "from TN looking for place to hunt."

Never will forget this -- He looked at me for what seemed way to long of a pause and said, "Have you got a guide?"

No sir I replied.

Another long pause and he said, "Well you do now, let me get my shotgun."

He owned 3 sections and got us access to at least 2 more.

The lady of the house after a couple of years asked what we were paying for our motel in town. The new deal was we gave them was the same as we would have paid for the motel, she cooked for us and cleaned the birds. We stayed in their home for a lot of years until they moved into a senior facility.

Keeping with the tread subject, usually 3 or 4 of us went and we always took products from our home turf, including some of that clear liquid the hills of East TN are famous for...

Lots of great memories made there. Spending time with that family was a blessing. Some of the best people on the planet!
 
I think you need to read the crowd, like somebody said. I gave a guy a gift card to a steak house at the end of the season. He was kind of mad saying, you don't have to do that. He does have a ton of money. So we decided the next year I would give a donation to pheasants forever. I have done that for

Another guy up north who was one of my old students from 7th grade was adement to get him nothing. So we did, but got his 2 kids a christmas present. 😃 He just shook his head and laughed.Farmers up north really love a bottle of crown. One of them said we always were so generous. Crown and a gift card, he said some guys come one year then next year think they own the place. Show up without asking , etc. We have hunted his place for 20 years, and I consider him a friend.
 
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