Obtaining Hunting Permission in SW ON: A Comprehensive Study.

Interesting topic- just to add to the Conservation areas comments.
I do hunt few of them(pay for use or free to access)up to an hour ,hour and a change drive from Guelph.

My experience is such-come deer season, there WILL BE enough pressure, for the deer to be educated.
This is amplified with the fact that many areas have good portion of them hard to access(swampy,wet or bad low brush).Think-why no one farms/farmed them ......because mostly they are hard to farm(badlands for farming...or sort of)

Some have the easier ,accessible areas (higher ground)planted with Spruce ,cedar or pine trees.
Which will make the forested area featureless.
If there is any reasonable feature-every hunter will know about it already.
Which will make hunters congregate in certain areas=hunter density increased.

You will have quite a few hunters in any gun season,to boot.Some areas are literally cramped.

So-if You are willing to take all that, or have no other choice :try them out.
Good luck

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gbk

Interesting topic- just to add to the Conservation areas comments.
I do hunt few of them(pay for use or free to access)up to an hour ,hour and a change drive from Guelph.

My experience is such-come deer season, there WILL BE enough pressure, for the deer to be educated.
This is amplified with the fact that many areas have good portion of them hard to access(swampy,wet or bad low brush).Think-why no one farms/farmed them ......because mostly they are hard to farm(badlands for farming...or sort of)

Some have the easier ,accessible areas (higher ground)planted with Spruce ,cedar or pine trees.
Which will make the forested area featureless.
If there is any reasonable feature-every hunter will know about it already.
Which will make hunters congregate in certain areas=hunter density increased.

You will have quite a few hunters in any gun season,to boot.Some areas are literally cramped.

So-if You are willing to take all that, or have no other choice :try them out.
Good luck

---

Just got caught up with this post again. I actually never knew there was a method in which you could pay to hunt on conservation lands?! Would you be able to give me a quick summary on the processes involved in obtaining this? Thanks everyone again!! That seems like a neat option.

Interesting read....

My buddies from different walks of life and I have experienced a combination of reports from users who commented on this thread
I started looking for properties and I found out that:

1) non locals - less chances (you don't understand the local culture and lay of the land) - I agree 80%
2) slightest accent - denied permission
3) Non white or non "Canadian" looking - denied (politely)
4) Non Canadian farm owners - more open, but will lean towards their heritage
5) Older farmers (close to retirement) care less than younger farmers who hunt themselves

These are obviously not the norm, just what we all defined as conclusive for our group

I have extremely quickly given up on asking for permission for the below reasons (not extensive)
1) I hate the rejection not as concept but rather as a failure on my part to properly show my qualities and abilities of respect for the owner and their land so that I can receive permission to hunt their land
2) I'd hate to have shared access to a private property - I know it will lead to encounters
3) I am extremely happy with the public land, and I am willing to drive 4-5h and scout and enjoy my time in the woods without constraints
If I do meet hunters, at least I know and it is expected. I simply change the spot
4) The hunt on public lands could be more difficult, therefore more rewarding (my views will change with age I am sure)
5) One buddy of mine has given me access to his farm , but deer and turkeys are so patterned to human activity, it is almost impossible to hunt them. I only hunt his property for geese and ducks
6) I hate to have that constant feeling of owing them something

For me is all about PL, and I could not be happier about it.
For new hunters, I strongly advise to get your boots on public land first, learn proper conduct, respect the land, learn to hunt/read the lands then start looking at properties

If you cannot grab a Tim coffee cup or an empty shell from the woods and drop it at the garbage bin at home or at the trail head, then you probably won't respect an owner's land, and you'll eventually lose permission anyway.

Be a good hunter/citizen and a steward of our passion, and it will show in discussions with landowners down the road

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mikedinoro

Interesting read....

My buddies from different walks of life and I have experienced a combination of reports from users who commented on this thread
I started looking for properties and I found out that:

1) non locals - less chances (you don't understand the local culture and lay of the land) - I agree 80%
2) slightest accent - denied permission
3) Non white or non "Canadian" looking - denied (politely)
4) Non Canadian farm owners - more open, but will lean towards their heritage
5) Older farmers (close to retirement) care less than younger farmers who hunt themselves

These are obviously not the norm, just what we all defined as conclusive for our group

I have extremely quickly given up on asking for permission for the below reasons (not extensive)
1) I hate the rejection not as concept but rather as a failure on my part to properly show my qualities and abilities of respect for the owner and their land so that I can receive permission to hunt their land
2) I'd hate to have shared access to a private property - I know it will lead to encounters
3) I am extremely happy with the public land, and I am willing to drive 4-5h and scout and enjoy my time in the woods without constraints
If I do meet hunters, at least I know and it is expected. I simply change the spot
4) The hunt on public lands could be more difficult, therefore more rewarding (my views will change with age I am sure)
5) One buddy of mine has given me access to his farm , but deer and turkeys are so patterned to human activity, it is almost impossible to hunt them. I only hunt his property for geese and ducks
6) I hate to have that constant feeling of owing them something

For me is all about PL, and I could not be happier about it.
For new hunters, I strongly advise to get your boots on public land first, learn proper conduct, respect the land, learn to hunt/read the lands then start looking at properties

If you cannot grab a Tim coffee cup or an empty shell from the woods and drop it at the garbage bin at home or at the trail head, then you probably won't respect an owner's land, and you'll eventually lose permission anyway.

Be a good hunter/citizen and a steward of our passion, and it will show in discussions with landowners down the road

---

very well said, especially the picking up after yourself.

that was one of the first things my father taught me about hunting or even going onto other peoples properties.

every time we go hunting or sighting in, pick up all your shells, you better have 2 water bottles too, drink the first one and then use it as a ashtray. ive picked up countless random plastic bags, water bottles, even glass bottles in the middle of the bush.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bowjob

very well said, especially the picking up after yourself.

that was one of the first things my father taught me about hunting or even going onto other peoples properties.

every time we go hunting or sighting in, pick up all your shells, you better have 2 water bottles too, drink the first one and then use it as a ashtray. ive picked up countless random plastic bags, water bottles, even glass bottles in the middle of the bush.

---

Awesome, that's good parenting and you're following suit!
My family packs more crap out of the woods than what we went in with. Non hunters judge all hunters, not just the bad ones...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MihajloSimsic

Just got caught up with this post again. I actually never knew there was a method in which you could pay to hunt on conservation lands?! Would you be able to give me a quick summary on the processes involved in obtaining this? Thanks everyone again!! That seems like a neat option.

---

There are many CA-s in Souther Ontario.
You would need to find the ones You are interest in(location)
Nowadays, with all of them having websites,it is a snap to see what are their rules for hunting.
Some do not offer hunting-some do on all of their proeprties,some just on few.
Some allow all week hunt-some only on certain dates.
Some allow free acess,some ask for yearly fee-some ask even to go in a draw for limited access permits.
Some do not allow all species to be hunted,regardless of the open season,some do allow only archery hunt.

You see-there is no simple answer to your question.

But-there is a simple way to find out.


Good luck and let us know how you made out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gbk

There are many CA-s in Souther Ontario.
You would need to find the ones You are interest in(location)
Nowadays, with all of them having websites,it is a snap to see what are their rules for hunting.
Some do not offer hunting-some do on all of their proeprties,some just on few.
Some allow all week hunt-some only on certain dates.
Some allow free acess,some ask for yearly fee-some ask even to go in a draw for limited access permits.
Some do not allow all species to be hunted,regardless of the open season,some do allow only archery hunt.

You see-there is no simple answer to your question.

But-there is a simple way to find out.


Good luck and let us know how you made out.

---

X2
there are quite a few conservation areas that during the archery hunt arent overly crowded, regardless of what people say.
and for the price you pay, spread over as much as you can hunt, is quite minimal.

All of the farms I have permission on I gained because I met the land owner doing other things or were introduced by someone they knew and trusted

Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk

OP-any update on this thread?How did you make out ?

Finding places to hunt can be very discouraging. When I first started deer hunting around the Rainy River, it wasn’t all that hard to find somewhere to go because leasing access to private land was virtually unheard of. Also, in the early 1980’s, there were few doe tags available so there were fewers hunters to compete with. As the deer herd grew, more antlerless tags were issued, success rates climbed and big bucks came out of the woodwork! Hunters flocked to the area from all over. Some guys were driving 15 hours to hunt. Being adjacent to the US border, many Americans discovered the benefits of hunting in the area. Many bought property at fractions at what it would cost in Minnesota. Then, in the 1990’s, new outfitters sprung up. Then they, and the non-residents, started leasing hunting rights from local farmers.

To complicate matters, many farmers and landowners started clearing and logging off their land. Logging on Crown accelerated and the end result was a tremendous loss of good habitat. Finding large tracts (100 acres+) of forests to hunt is getting tough to find and even harder to get permission to hunt. Nothing lasts forever!