Originally posted by Mojostick:
Find out who the new owner is and offer to pay his property taxes, or a large chunk of them, for exclusive hunting rights. Nobody should expect to be able to hunt private land owned by others, as a stranger basically unknown to the landowner, for free.
Being able to hunt private land is a quid pro quo. The landowner offers the hunter something and the hunter should offer something equal in value to the opportunity to access that land. In todays world, a case of beer, offering a few hours of labor or some venison doesn't cut it because it's not equal to what the landowner offers, when taxes and expenses far outweigh that small benefit to the landowner than many hunters offer.
Sad, but true. I long for the good 'ol days when I could hunt every piece of land for miles around. Everyone knew each other and everyone just hunted.
What is having access to privately owned land worth, in order to make a reasonable offer to someone? I guess its worth whatever the owner decides it is. And that's cool, it's his/her's land, they can do whatever they want. But I guess I'm just not use to the idea of having to get something of equal value (what's sitting in a tree stand from Oct thru Dec -mostly weekends equate to) in order to grant someone permission to hunt.