Hunting Public Land

These days finding public lands to hunt is getting harder than ever but with the right persistence and attitude anyone wanting to go hunting can find some place to hunt. Alot of times all you need is to know one good farmer or rancher that is willing to take a chance that his livestock,fences and property will be protected by you and your in for the long haul of a lifetime. There's alot of public property out there that the government owns that one can hunt but for my preference I choose to hunt property owned by farmers who know what hunting is all about. Don't just go out a couple of weeks before hunting season and expect to find that one great far to hunt or expect that the farmer will even allow you to hunt his farm on such short notice cause most of the time the farmer has already got someone hunting his property or may not even know you. The best thing to do is start early in the year looking for a farm then when you spot the one you would like to hunt go up talk to the owner, explain who you are,where you live, who your parents are, and what your intentions are as far as hunting his farm, protecting his livestock, helping around the farm in anyway possible such as mending fences,helping vaccinate his livestock, hauling hay,cleaning out barn stables or clearing fence rows around the farm for the privilege to hunt the following season. Many of the farmers today have seen what alot of the unethical hunters of our society do to farm property either by first hand experience or by word of mouth and that's the biggest reason it's so hard to find a good farm to hunt these days. With so many farms across this land of ours we need to help our neighbor farmers out as much as we can to help them keep the farmland their fighting so desperately to hold on too. Alittle work never hurt anyone and who knows the farmland you work on may produce a state record or maybe even a world record buck. The main thing to remember is that everyone needs help at sometime in their life and especially as we all grow older. Even if the farmer doesn't allow you to hunt at least offer to give him your help from time to time and maybe one day he'll finally come to see that your not a bad person like every other hunter he's heard about and decide to let you hunt his farm. If not then at least you've made one more friend in your little town of many for future references and believe me word will get out of your hard labor on his farm. Public land is a valuable thing and sometimes can be hard to come by when it comes to hunting the property but there's plenty of farms and ranches out there that can be hunted if you use the right approach with the land owner and keep a code of ethics about yourself when on one of these farms or ranches. I just got 800 acres to hunt through a friend of mine but I still want to talk to the land owner before doing any scouting or hunting on the property mainly to let the owner know who I am, what I look like, what dates I can hunt, and if I can help out around his farm in anyway. This farm has produced some really nice bucks and hopefully with a little pre-season scouting I'll be able to take one for myself as well.