Problems with permission clash with property damage

I am always happy to hear from my friends and people who follow my “Outdoors with Bud” articles and podcasts here at the Kokomo Lantern. I am proud and honored to be associated with such a fine group of people and to have the opportunity to share my love and admiration for the outdoors. I also enjoy the requests for different topics people would like to have covered. I admit, sometimes it is difficult to come up with topics of interest.

I received a message recently, and I was asked if I could come up a solution for a problem that has become a major problem for not only deer hunters, but also for those who like to hunt rabbit, squirrel, and waterfowl. This gentleman was concerned about deer hunting access to private property.

He mentioned so many landowners complain about crop depredation and how the deer are eating their corn, beans, trees, bushes, and flowers, and deer-auto accidents are also increasing. But they won’t allow access to deer hunting their property. Sadly, I can say I also have had that situation.

I had a relative who had known me my entire life. He and my aunt knew I was an avid deer hunter. Several years ago, we were having a family Thanksgiving dinner, and my uncle stated he was very upset about the deer tearing up his corn fields, bean fields, and his wife’s bushes and flowers around the house. I told him I would gladly help him with his problem by hunting and taking a couple of the deer.

You would have thought I had asked him to donate a kidney. He had known me since birth, and he knew I had never been arrested. I was not a smoker, never did drugs, never was a drinker, and that I was an honest and dedicated hunter who respected the hunting rules and regulation. But, no, I could not hunt deer on his property.

He always claimed the deer moved in on his property. I tried to convince him the deer were there before he bought his farm. He actually moved in on the deer. But he was very opinionated and refused my offer of assistance.

I was asked if I had any suggestions for obtaining hunting permission. It is extremely difficult. When I started deer hunting in 1964, gaining hunting access to hunt private property was not too difficult. You had to knock on a lot of doors and hope the landowner would be receptive and had time to talk with you.

Back in those days, I had access to private property in several counties in Northern Indiana, Central Indiana and Southern Indiana. It was almost impossible to hunt them all. But in today’s world of changes, gaining access to private property takes a lot of door-knocking, and sadly, a lot of money.

Many farmers are now offering access to their property on a leasing agreement, and it is making it difficult for the “poor man” hunter. I realize the landowner has to pay taxes, spend time working and developing his farmland and maintaining his fences, plow the fields, and invest a lot of money in supplies and equipment. But I personally dislike hunting on public land. So, what is the hunter to do?

Several years ago, I talked to a personal friend of mine who was a conservation officer. He is now retired, but he shared some information with me that may very well be a possible solution for gaining access to hunting on private property. He stated he was well aware of the situation and had often been contacted by landowners about trespassers. He had to intervene several times.

The landowner owns the property and legally could not be made to allow hunting access. He also heard countless complaints from farmers about deer destroying their crops and property, but they would not allow anyone to hunt.

There had been a huge increase in landowners complaining about the damage and wanted to know what the DNR could do to assist them. The landowners suffering damage to crops due to the over-population of deer could apply for special tags they could offer to hunters to alleviate a certain number of deer. But they had to allow hunter access to obtain these permits.

As I understand it, the landowner had to fill out information, and the DNR sent a team of qualified people out to determine how many acres of property was owned, how many acres of crops were being damaged, and approximately how many deer were inhabiting the area. They would then issue a certain amount of hunting permits, and this would assist the landowner with controlling the number of deer and also help alleviate the damage being done.

I was also told the DNR had the contact information for every landowner complaining about crop damage. Hunters could contact the landowner and oftentimes be greeted with open arms to assist the landowner. I don’t know for sure if this is still the case, but it could be an inside track for gaining access to private property, helping the landowner and the hunter.

My friend told me he personally was told by a couple landowners in northern Indiana that if the officer personally knew a couple of honest, trustworthy, respectful deer hunters he could recommend, they would allow the hunters to hunt the property.

This conservation officer knew me. I had assisted him many times, conducting the Indiana Hunter Safety Education classes in schools and other locations. He contacted me, and I, in turn, called the landowner, made the trip to his property, and introduced myself. I was granted permission to hunt his property, and I ended up taking a nice buck and a fat, mature doe without a lot of effort.

The landowner was grateful, and after I had the deer processed, I took him and his family some freshly processed venison for allowing me to hunt. The landowner was thankful for me driving all the way to his property to hunt and help him and also thanked me for the venison.

He told me I was the first hunter he had ever allowed to hunt his property, and for the next 12 years, I was allowed access to his land. Sadly, he passed away, but I found a new friend and took several deer off his property.

If you, like many of us deer hunters, are struggling to gain access to private property, you might contact the Indiana Department of Natural Resources or a local conservation officer to see if they still have the information available for landowners obtaining deer depredation permits. It certainly assisted me several years ago.