I did something new this year, paid a large rancher for access, his family had 20k acres or so. The cost was $100 per shooter, I thought that was reasonable. That’s per day, we only did one. It’s a middle ground between a guide or sniffing around for access.
He showed us some towns then left, said shut gates & fences on the way out. At first it was so-so shooting. We took a rain/lunch break then moved locations, red hot there, lots of pups, never shot at. I shot several at 20 yards, most 50-100 yards. The hit ratio & carnage was very high. I think one could go the next day & still have great shooting.
I got a few numbers from a waitress at a small cafe. I also cold called a few large ranch owners from info gleaned from the OnX Hunt app. I had more contacts that I never mined, like the one lady that said her BIL likely had options too. It’s small communities, they know others that have opportunities. Even if I’m offered ‘free’ shooting, I try to bring something, could be as simple as a few cases of bottled water, up from there.