Originally Posted By: canislatrans54...So, that means over a third of the country is against hunting...
Keep in mind, that the New York City Metro Area consists of 10x the population of the entire state of KS (knowing canislatrans54 is a Kansan). Just because 1/3 of the country doesn't support hunting, that doesn't necessarily mean anything as to the proportion of rural land-owners that support hunting, or give permission on their land. Most of that 1/3 of the country has absolutely no control over the hunting of ANY land, let alone rural property that is actually a prime hunting spot.
There are a million reasons why a land-owner might not give YOU, or any other given hunter permission to hunt their land, I would say that it's incredibly rare that a land-owner (in the mid-west) that owns any substantial amount of huntable ground is actually against hunting, but I'd say it's very common that they might not let anyone hunt their ground. Whether they hunt it themselves, have one selected person that hunts it, don't want the liability of someone else on their property, or just flat don't want people on their property, take your pick. Sure, a few might be against sport hunting, but I'd definitely say that hasn't been my experience when I have been denied access in the past. Usually, it's either because of the presence of cattle, or because another hunter already has "dibs". Or more and more common these days, farmers/ranchers want to sell you a hunting lease, at which time I smile and say, "thanks for your offer, but I'll get back to you on that", and then I go snatch up permission on all of the neighboring property and hunt the daylights out of it, whether I really want it or not.
I have a lot of tricks for how I approach new properties. I like to scout around, find good spots, then figure out who owns what (county property ownership "plat books"), and then ask around from other locals and see what they're like. Sometimes I'll go into the local co-op and say "I'm looking for So and So's farm, I had called him about going out to call some coyotes..." If the co-op manager's response is "really? wow, he doesn't let ANYONE hunt out there", then I know that guy is a hard-sell. In that case, I might then stop by his farm and ask him for directions to one of his other neighbors farms, saying I was headed out there because I had called HIM about calling some coyotes and I was headed there to have that farmer show me around, then I'd casually ask if he had been seeing/hearing many on his own property, or having any getting after his cows. More often than not, that has worked (i.e. he thinks I have permission on one of his neighbors already). Sometimes guys are just cranks, or sometimes they say "oh, no, my son hunts deer out there and doesn't want anyone out there" or some other excuse, so I'll take what I can get, but by and large, I have found that if you use a little salesmanship, you can find a way to get SOME level of access into most places in the mid-west, at least that aren't getting hunted/leased already.
