The pheasant hunting season is under way and reports have been pretty good.
I had an incident happen to me the other day that has never happened to me before in all of my years as an avid hunter. What follows is a summary of this encounter and my recommendations to you if it were ever to happen to you.
I have never been written a citation for any game or fish violations in my entire life and I don’t intend to ever get one. The most egregious of these is trespassing. I can find no explanation that will ever satisfy my disdain for this behavior. How a person thinks they can enter other people’s property without permission is beyond me.
The aspect of this I find most perplexing is that when a landowner catches someone on their land without permission, how seldom they actually press charges. I would do so every time if I were them.
My landowner encounter situation is different in that I had permission to hunt on the parcel I was about to enter.
Permission to hunt is not a one and done effort. You need to ask the property owner every year. This keeps everyone on the same page.
In my case, a neighbor came screaming up to me in his truck and told me to get the heck out of there. I very calmly explained that I knew the owner and their names were (example, Mr. and Mrs. Smith) and that I had permission to hunt on this spot. I was leading a film crew of three on this day and had specifically called the landowner to explain what I intended to do and to make sure he was OK with it. He then specifically gave me permission for that day for me and the other members of my intended party.
If you have permission to hunt a parcel, you need to be very clear how many people might be with you. Getting permission for you and your son and then bringing a group of 10 guys is certainly a hunting permission party foul.
I explained to my irate neighboring landowner that I had specifically cleared my intentions with the landowner. It really didn’t matter to this guy. He was just going to make my life miserable and finally drove off. We did our thing and ended the day with five roosters sighted, three shot at and one in the bag. Only one member of our party was carrying a gun, and he certainly was not a dead-eye marksman.
I would like to share my thoughts and best practices when hunting on another person’s private land.
1. Have solid permission before you ever enter someone else’s property.
2. Renew this permission every year to keep things clear. Offer a day of labor or other considerations for the property owner’s generosity in allowing you access.
3. Never take more members of your party than originally agreed upon unless specific arrangements have been made for that visit.
4. Leave the spot better than you found it. Pick up any trash or litter and dispose of it properly.
5. Don’t clean birds where you hunt. I hate it when I show up after some group cleaned birds (on private or public land), and my dogs then try to eat every little scrap of remains left on the ground.
6. Offer to share any game that was harvested on the landowner’s property. They don’t often accept, but some landowners like a pheasant or two from time to time.
7. Be certain where you can and cannot drive and where only foot traffic is allowed. Rutting up a 2-track leaves a bad taste in landowners’ mouths.
8. Follow all required setbacks for firearms discharge from occupied buildings and livestock and for good measure double the required distances to ensure everyone feels safe.
I felt bad that the film crew I was helping out that day had to see this irate neighbor sounding off. Things like this can happen, but they certainly don’t happen very often if you never trespass and always have proper permission to be where you’re at.
No matter the situation, always remain calm and respectful. Raising the decibel level of you voice doesn’t make the person hear you better. As sportsmen and women, we need to totally respect landowner rights and set an example for others to follow.
I called my landowner later that night and shared with him the events of the day. This way he knows the facts if that person were to call him with a differing story.
It has only happened once in my life and I was totally in the clear, but I really hope it never happens again. It is as simple as doing the right thing and doing it each and every time.
Scott Rall, Worthington, is a habitat conservationist, avid hunting and fishing enthusiast and is president of Nobles County Pheasants Forever. He can be reached at scottarall@gmail.com. or on Twitter @habitat champion.