Bye bye property.

Yes I lost a spot this year after 15 years. A local hunter had been pressuring this landowner (friend) for many years to allow him on the property. I live farther away and I'm not using the property as much as I'd like so the local hunter won. Lost landowner permission and a friend! The pressures on these landowners to allow others on to hunt must be intense at times.

The part that annoyed me was timing of the decision. I find out in Sept she wants to allow this other guy on, even though I'd touched with base with her in the summer. My doe tag was in the wrong WMU because of the change of heart. :madman:

Having to find a new place to hunt can be depressing, especially if the old property provided good hunting opportunities. The situation can be more difficult if you are restricted to hunting private land or heavily hunted Crown land.

For several reasons, it seems like I’m always looking for a new spot to hunt. One of the main reasons is loss of forest cover on Crown land due to logging. Every time I find a big patch of upland mixed wood forest, it gets cut a few years later :(.

On the plus side, after 5 years, our group got permission again to hunt 160 acres of farm land with a river running through it. It’s right next to the camp, so super convenient. As much as I like hunting the big woods, the deer numbers have plummeted there so if I want a deer then I have to hunt field deer.

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Originally Posted by MihajloSimsic

They're good spots for a reason. Because nobody else hunts them LOL

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I really feel your pain. Many moons ago,I had permission on 4 farms that were back to back between two concessions in Otonabee -South Monaghan Township southeast of Peterborough that totalled over 400 acres. Like dominoes,they sold one by one within 3 years of each other when farmers decided to retire and sell. I was never able to get permission from new owners for various reasons mostly because they were hunters themselves or had family members who were. You can't fault people for that,it's just the way it is. Since then, I've managed to gain permission from a sheep operation and a dairy farm that continually have issues with Coyotes. As bleek as it once seemed,all wasn't lost. Leg work and contacts are invaluable.

Look at this as a challenge and an opportunity to prove to yourself-success can be achieved not just on exclusive properties, but anywhere else. Public land including.

Like the Old Timer told me; "Buy land son... they ain't makin anymore of it."

If you loose permission in essex County your pretty much screwed. I have spent many days asking for permission in essex County and it's the same old story. Thanks for asking but the answer is NO!!! :(

I live in Lakeshore and hunt in Elgin County... lol

I learned a long time ago good spots come and go. You have enjoy them while you have them and not look back.

Welcome to the dark side, where u see more hunters and hikers than game.

Agreed fully.
I have only hunted farms maybe handful of times, mostly geese.. but I personally prefer the "Big woods" which are public/crown land as well.
for me its fun to first track other hunters and boundry lines, and then move on to tracking the game im after, so I agree with you on that fully.

different story up north, but in southern ontario, it is alot more work, have to first think like different styles of hunters. from what I found out, we got 2 active types in the wood, first group prefers established trails, they stop when they reach crown, and go off from there. These guys usually dont cross creeks or thick bush.
second type is just the opposite, will go as far as the car could go ...and then they cross every creek or .... and try to get away from others as much as possible. this was me at first, but after a while I realized alot of hunters think the same, and we ended up ruining each other spots.
so now I realized there is a huge area in between those two groups that can be hunted with alot less pressure.

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Originally Posted by MihajloSimsic

They're good spots for a reason. Because nobody else hunts them LOL

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This is not always the case. I hunt a few private spots, but also some crown locations that are lousy with game and have a few other hunters kicking around also. If the habitat is good, the hunting can be great, even with some other hunters around. If you roll up to a pine plantation county forest and think it’s going to be awesome, probably not. There is plenty of public bush out there with a good mix of cover and transitions that some very good hunting can occur!