This will be my 46 th year of deer hunting and I am lucky to be able to hunt with a couple of the same people from my initial deer camp. Back then we had access to 200 acres of prime oak forest South of Rochester. We also had permission to camp. Our deer camp consisted of 6 to 8 hunters. We had this arrangement because we offered to work a couple of days during the summer for the landowner. We cut firewood, cleaned his heating system, painted and did general maintenance. He usually provided meals. We became good friends over the years and it was a great relationship. We lost the right to hunt that property after he passed.
After that experience my uncle bought a small property that bordered state land. As I became older I made it a priority to purchase hunting land by borrowing for a down payment on a small property that the owner was willing to hold the mortgage on. It made things extremely tight at the time but I am very happy that I did so. I have had many people ask permission to hunt but never once has anyone offered to give a hand. Of course there has been the usual problems with trespassers and poachers, even timber theft. My advice for obtaining permission to hunt is to politely approach the landowner, acknowledge that hunting on his/her property is valuable to you and offer compensation in the form of elbow grease. This worked for me on another farm property where previously no hunting of any kind was allowed.