Public access on private

Butts

Active Member
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I’m from northern Utah. Does anyone else remember the days large chunks of private land could be accessed by us hunter’s, via helping fence, haul water , swath hay, haul rocks, help with docking?
Closing gates, not leaving trash… just respect the private landowner a bit.
Some on this site might think this is foreign.. it was REAL at one point.
What you fellas think?
 
I'll bite. I used to help hay, fence, etc in Idaho and it led to hunting privileges. I now have a small but huntable acreage of my own and I get asked to hunt by "younger" kids all the time. Never an offer to help burn brush or build fence.....
 
Well there is no bite needed, but thanks for the affirmation America is getting week.

I just remember bucking hay bales and fixing fence, before I was granted to hunt.

I’m sure south/central Idaho south was the same.
 
Most of the places you used to be able to do that are no longer owned by people who needed help with that kind of chit. Now they’re owned by people who can hire all that out.
It’s small, but it’s there and it’s the best part of hunting and fishing.
Relationships with good landowners is priceless.
It’s dwelling, but a few of us can still make it happen.
 
Most of the places you used to be able to do that are no longer owned by people who needed help with that kind of chit. Now they’re owned by people who can hire all that out.
There is a lot of truth in this.
I can remember when the place I am part owner of was open to just about everyone for a hand shake and a little work.
Some of the reasons it is not the same now.
Just about every time we restricted access in the past is related to hunters behaving badly. Using our place to access the neighbors, turning the ranch into a motocross track and outright poaching to name a few. If you let strangers on to hunt sooner or later you are going to get burned. The sure way not to get burned is don't let strangers on.
Now days ranching is far more mechanized, very few jobs are done with old fashioned sweat like bucking hay bails. No one is going to put a stranger in a machine that costs better than 100G.
Even if you want to trade labor for hunting the accountant and lawyer are going to say NO. I am not worried about the liability when someone is hunting, but if you put them to work, you had better have insurance and even insurance may not be enough.
You may want to let hunters on for free, but your banker tells you differently. There is good money in hunting now and if you have a loan the banker may be calling the shots.
Our place is still free to hunt, but if we were to open it to everyone we would be over run by hunters in less than a year. Far more people deserve to hunt the ranch than we have room for so we have to be careful on who we let on.
 
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Back in my younger years living on a lake in minnesota I would help my neighbor put his dock out every year and he would give me permission to fish off it whenever. Thought that was the greatest thing. Think nowdays the best to hope for is getting permission to cross to some locked up private land. Nowdays a lot of people are looking for a pay out even if you have the best intensions in mind. They get hurt on your property or blow a tire they might think to sue. If you were to get permission they should know that is "at your own risk" and you might get your new truck muddy in the process.
 
I had a great rancher that gave me and my wife permission to hunt his 18,000 acre Wyoming ranch for over 25 years for elk , WT deer and muleys along with elk and prairie dogs. He and family were great friends to us. Unfortunately the ranch owner died several years ago and it was sold off. As a foot note my access started by seeing this rancher making fence one day and I offered to help him , he declined but I stayed on and helped .I Never asked while working and was about to leave and he said would you like to hunt my ranch, the rest was history , I will miss the hunting , cattle roundups and the comradely, what a great guy he was and is missed to this day.
 
I rememerber asking a rancher in Northern UT. back in 1984, at age 16, what it would take to hunt his property. His reply was a 1000 hours of help on his property. Thats 50 weekends a year at 10 hours a day with 2 weekends left to hunt or my whole summer vacation. Minimum wage was 3.35 an hour for $3,350.00. He could have just told me to get lost.
 

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