But hunting on public lands is by no means your only option. A great deal of privately owned land can be available for you to hunt, if you will only take the time to seek it out and to build mutually beneficial and trusting relationships with the landowners (typically, farmers or ranchers). Not everyone you approach will permit you to hunt on their land - they may have had bad experiences with hunters who came before you, or there may be other reasons why hunting is inadvisable on their lands (such as fire danger, or crop planting or harvesting in process, or livestock bearing young). But if you are persistent and don't quit looking just because a few landowners may have turned you down, you'll get to know some very fine people and experience some exceptional hunting. Some rules to follow:

Ask Before You Hunt - Always. Don't ever assume that private land is open to hunting just because it is not explicitly posted to prohibit it. That's not how it works. If it's privately owned land, you need to ask permission to hunt there, period.

Be Courteous And Friendly. As the saying goes: you only get one chance to make a first impression. So when you contact a landowner to ask permission to hunt there, be courteous, and make an effort to steer clear of inconvenient times. Introduce yourself and your young huntin' buddy, say where you're from and how you come to know about this place, and ask respectfully whether it might be possible to hunt there. And if the answer is no, accept that gracefully. If you can do so without seeming insistent, try to find out why the answer is no. You may learn something that can help you in your next contact.

Ask Well Before Hunting Season. No matter how courteous and friendly your approach is, you can't help but get under a landowner's skin if you are the eighty-seventh person that day to interrupt him or her with a request to hunt their land tomorrow morning when hunting season opens. Contact them well before you hope to hunt there.

Build Relationships. Be of a mindset to give something in return for what you are asking. Ideally, give it irrespective of whether the answer is yes or no. Remember that a landowner who opens his or her property to hunters is giving you something of real value - and usually not without cost to themselves. Allowing hunters on their land means gates left open or fences damaged, allowing livestock to escape; it means wear on dirt roads that are costly to maintain; it means littering; it means increased fire hazard; and sometimes it means livestock or pets injured or killed by foolish hunters. You may not be guilty of any of these thoughtless acts yourselves; but allowing hunters onto the land means that over time these things do occur.

So make a genuine effort to look for ways to give something of value in return for the gift of permission to hunt on someone's private land. Bring a thank-you gift (perhaps something that is harder to find there than where you live - Martin and I often bring along fresh seafood from the coast). Ask whether the landowner needs anything - equipment or supplies - purchased and brought out from where you live. Offer to pitch in with some manual labor on the farm or ranch - repair fences, dig ditches, split firewood, whatever you can do that will be useful.

Respect The Land. And for goodness' sake, be the hunters who do not leave gates open, throw lighted cigarettes out of car windows, leave litter on the ground, tear up roads and take irresponsible shots. Follow the landowner's restrictions and requests to the letter - stay clear of areas you are asked to avoid, such as crop fields or areas where livestock are bearing young. Try to leave no trace - unless it is to remove litter or damage left by someone who came before you. Do the right thing - it's always obvious what that is. You'll find you are allowed back, and made welcome too. You just might make lifelong friends. We have - and that has been the best part of the whole experience for us.

Be Careful About Spreading The Word. If you are fortunate enough to find private land on which you are permitted to hunt, don't be too eager to publish the news! The last thing the landowner wants is to be inundated by requests from lots of others who feel somehow entitled to hunt the land too, because you were allowed to. You did some things right to earn that permission: you did some looking and asking before you found the situation; you made a courteous approach; you made friends with the landowner and worked to build a relationship of trust and mutual benefit; and you were respectful of the land and the landowner's wishes. Let others who hope to find such hunting opportunities pay the same dues. Ultimately, it's to everyone's benefit.