GMMAT

I approached my next door neighbor…..just today…about the possibility of hunting on his land. He’s a good man….and he owns some prime deer and turkey land that’s right beside our house (He owns the land on either side of us). We have 3 acres that are tucked into his 50+. He started out telling me an apologetic “no”. He acted like he felt bad in doing so…and even told me so. It seems others before me had ruined it for everyone. He also found a deer dead on his property, last week…..with an arrow in it.

We talked for more than 30 minutes, and we talked about life….growing up….neighbors…and wildlife. I learned a LOT about him in those 30+ minutes. He’s never killed an animal. He LOVES wildlife (We learned that both our families LOVE hearing the owls in our hollow…we have 2)…and we share that. We learned we both respect other people, nature and animals TREMENDOUSLY. We learned we both grew up farming (though we’re a generation apart). He also understands that the animals are in abundance, right now....and the need to be able to control the population.

I left there with a renewed respect for my neighbor…..and a renewed distaste for some who consider themselves hunters. By the time I left….he’d told me 2 times that he’d think about it some more and get back with me. I believe him. I think he respected the fact that I ONLY bowhunt. I got back to my office and hand-wrote him a letter thanking him for his time…and for the great conversation. Whether I get to hunt or not….I know I did everything right.

I’m going to talk to another neighbor with 70 acres, tonight. If I gain access to these two areas….I’ll not need to even crank the truck to deer hunt (I saw 8 a couple mornings ago (twice) on one tract….and I see them on the other tract all the time). I also see turkeys on both, regularly.

Wish me luck….and let’s do EACH OTHER a favor and be good stewards of our environment….and respect the land and landowners.

Jeff

s. il. hntr

Sounds like me and my neighbor. I've lived here for 3 years and never really talked to him then all of a sudden we're beer drinking buddies. I asked for permission to bowhunt his land and got the same response, but after many beers this summer he told me to go ahead and hunt and that was with no further asking from me. Its not a very big plot of land but hell its right out my backdoor and is a great alternative to driving an hour to my usual spot, And I have a new friend, we found out we have many similarities.

GMMAT

My neighbor drove to my house, yesterday, and gave me permission to hunt his land. I guess I did it right. He LOVED the fact that I only bow hunt.

Jeff

silentassassin

Good luck! I had a similar conversation with a neighbor this weekend and though I didn't get permission to hunt I found out the he was an extremely nice guy.

cyberg

Nice gobblers. Hopefully you can change his mind about hunters.
Actually sounds like you already did.

CYberg

cardeer

Good luck

muzzyman88

Thats awesome. By the sounds of things, you did do everything right. Show him the same respect now that you have permission. Offer him some of your harvest and share with him your experiences while hunting his property. I'm sure he'll enjoy it as much as you enjoy the hunting.

NorthernHunter

You handled it well and we can all learn from your conversation! It would not surprise me to hear in the next few weeks that you received persmission from your neighbor.

Perhaps he wanted to get to know you as a person and not a hunter. basically, he wants to know you are ethical, decent guy and not some yahoo out there.

You did all you could and I bet you left him with an excellent perception of you.