I got into a conversation the other day. The topic was a worn out favorite. It has been discussed and written about countless times and my input will probably not change things. I am willing to bet if you have spent any time outdoors, you have covered this ground. What am I talking about?
The topic is access on private land and trespassing. For many of us, activities in the outdoors are heavily influenced by our ability to have a place to go that is not public ground such as BLM or Forest Service. (Don’t get me wrong, I think these areas are great but they have drawbacks) I can’t tell you how many people I have met that tell me they used to be sportsman or would like to be but they do not have/or lost permission to access private land. With this, we lose another voice for the outdoor pursuits. On the other hand, we have the normally sane people that for some reason get angry over the idea of land ownership and decide that it is easier to trespass. I guess they think it is easier to get forgiveness than it is permission. Trespassing isn’t murder after all. While this may have an element of truth, it is what “Kills” the outdoor experience for the rest of us. It has become so prevalent that many landowners have become irate and aggressive in relation to it. I don’t blame them as it is a crime to trespass not to mention rude. The fact of the matter is we live in a country that has land ownership rules.
For me, the idea of respect for other people’s property is something that I grew up with. I was raised on a 500 plus acre farm in the Midwest. My Dad would let people camp, hunt, fish, or find mushrooms on our land and he really only had one simple rule – Ask!!! He just wanted to know who was out there and what they were doing. (As a side note, let’s add that it was assumed you were not a complete moron. You will close gates, pick up trash, stay on the drive paths, and only shoot what you came for. Unfortunately, I feel that today we may have to add this additional set of rules.) This system albeit very simple, worked. This also yielded the occasional bottle of booze, a pheasant or bag full of mushrooms being returned as a thank you. (My Mom cooked a mean morel mushroom so it was a pretty good deal!) In fairness, Dad insisted we did the same for the neighbors if we were going to be on their land. You ask every time with no exceptions! To this day I still do this. I have been fortunate enough to be granted access on a few places here in the Northstate and I call each time I am going. The owners tell me I don’t have to, but it has become a habit and it keeps the relationship intact.
When people trespass they break a fragile relationship that exists between landowners and sportsman. I have heard that it takes seven positive interactions with someone or something to overcome one negative interaction. If that is true, we are in a serious deficit. So what is an outdoors person to do? Well that brings me to the point of this article. I want to share a recent experience I personally had around this issue. I live on the outskirts of Red Bluff California. There is a large tract of land across the street from me that has tremendous amounts of turkey and deer roaming around and I see them quite often. In fact, as I write this, I can see a Tom in full strut out my window! I have asked some of my neighbors if they know who owns this land and if they will allow access. The general response has been that they know who owns it, they are difficult, and absolutely no access is given. One guy even suggested I just go do what I want because they will never know. I asked him if that would make me part of the problem or part of the solution? He didn’t have an answer.
Anyway, this year the site of those turkeys pushed me over the edge. I went to the county offices and researched who the landowner was and obtained a mailing address. With that in hand I then went to Google Earth and printed an aerial photograph of the land in relation to where my house was. I also copied my hunting license and printed a hunting liability release form I found on the internet. To complete the package, I wrote a letter to introduce myself and explain my request. All of this was sent to the address I had obtained earlier. In short, this was a total and complete shot in the dark and I wanted to be very thorough in my approach.
A week or so later I had not heard anything, so I thought I’d reached a dead end. That was until my office called and said a woman had stopped by to see me about it. Let’s call her “Sue”. Sue indicated that she wanted to see me in person to thank me for asking in the way I did. No one had ever done it this way and she respected that. Sue told me her family had owned this land a very long time - as in Great Grandpa had purchased the land when Mt. Shasta was still just a hill! She told me how they used to graze sheep where my house now was. She told me about how they loved the land and her childhood held many memories connected to it. We talked and shared stories about many other things except the one thing that I wanted – the answer to my question about having permission to hunt. It was coming but she wanted to explain herself first. You see over the many years gone by, they had let people that asked, (please note asked) have access to enjoy the land that they owned, worked hard to maintain, and loved so much. That led to others thinking they had an open door hunting policy so they trespassed – A LOT! They are at a point now that they have to patrol on an ongoing basis to fight this issue and they find violators continuously. With that explanation, I got my answer and it was a very polite no. So now I knew hunting was out, so asked if I could simply go for a walk outside of hunting season armed with nothing more than a camera. When Sue responded she said that she would love to say yes except for an event that had happened that morning. Apparently a family member was out on the land and noticed someone with a gun pointed in their general direction. After a few tense moments contact was made and it was on old man that ironically lives near me. He indicated that he was out shooting his 22 caliber rifle for fun and had done this for years. He had no idea who owned the land and apparently did not care. This event made Sue decide that for my own safety she was going to say no. I understood and, by the way, I want to extend a big thank you to the old man.
In Sue’s defense, I want to impress upon you that throughout these interactions she was not at all a mean, difficult, or a nasty person like the rumors suggested. Sue was in fact, a very kind, warm person that even invited me to visit her at her home. This woman simply had been abused over and over again and was sick of it. I don’t blame her for her decision.
At this point, you may be thinking that the effort I undertook was a failure. Maybe you thought I was going to reveal the magic formula to always get permission. To be fair, I did not achieve my goal, but let’s look at what I did achieve. First, I sleep well at night knowing I did the right thing. I also have a new friend in Sue and know much more about where I live. Most importantly, Sue knows that not all sportsmen are delinquents and maybe a positive chip was deposited with her. It is hard for me to call that a failure.
In the big picture, I don’t care if you are a fisherman, hunter, hiker, photographer or simple nature lover that wants an opportunity to go for a walk, we need good relationships with landowners to make these things possible. If you know someone that shortcuts the process and trespasses – call them on it and help them gain permission the correct way or stay out! Obviously, asking does not always work but you can have success if you try. If you get a “Yes,” respect it! Get to know the landowner and thank them in your own way. Many people think this means money. Gift cards and such are fine, but not always the only answer. As I mentioned, my family was thrilled with a few mushrooms. My parents still hang framed pictures of a couple of does a deer hunter took from a tree stand. They are certainly nothing special but my Dad loves them because the pictures were taken on his land! One ranch I hunt on, the landowner simply loves to hear about how it went, did I get anything, and what did I see? In his younger years he was doing all of these things himself and misses it. The thank you is to relive it with him and that is all he wants. I do that for him and how much money does it cost?
In closing, I deeply believe that we have the ability to change landowner relationships one contact at a time. I mentioned earlier it takes many positives to overcome one negative. It is going to take a massive effort from all of us but it is worth it. Thank you to all of you who make the effort. As for the trespassers, I have a question. If you owned land, who would you want for your neighbor, me or you?
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