Contacting private land owners

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Bear mears

Tenderfoot
Mar 16, 2017
66
1
Wolverhampton
Hi guys, recently orders a couple of o.s maps of locations in the midlands. There seems to be a whole lot of small private woodlands around but I've searched a few on google and can't seem to find any info on the owners of these places. How do you go about getting in touch with these land owners? Thanks.
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
27,852
2,923
62
~Hemel Hempstead~
Feet on the ground, go to farms and see the farmers.

Also ask friends, work colleagues, the parents of kids friends etc. if they know anyone who might help put you in touch with landowners
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
Farm folks here put some trust in the look in people's eyes. It's human body language.
They don't want to see their own faces reflected in the blank, vacant dark eye holes of a visitor.

I bought a home here in 2000 and hunted out of it for the years before and after I retired.
Going through village and Land Office records is a nightmare. Go and visit.

Then from time to time, toss a couple gutted Canada geese on his porch.
I hunt some fabulous private farm land, some parts all to myself.
 

Bear mears

Tenderfoot
Mar 16, 2017
66
1
Wolverhampton
Very true mate thanks for the advice, how would you advise I approach I was thinking maybe asking to go and just camp now and again to watch wildlife and express strongly I will leave no trace
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,489
2,900
W.Sussex
Hi guys, recently orders a couple of o.s maps of locations in the midlands. There seems to be a whole lot of small private woodlands around but I've searched a few on google and can't seem to find any info on the owners of these places. How do you go about getting in touch with these land owners? Thanks.

As someone who has spent a few years surveying powerlines for tree overgrowth, I can tell you it can be quite difficult to locate the actual owner. Much land is leased, often the owner lives abroad or elsewhere.

Our info came from way leaves. That side of the business dealt with payments for having poles on the owners land, but even this proved a problem as many owners were given a lump sum and the annual payment dropped.

Best way is door knocking, but don't hold your hopes up for permissions. Those patches of woodland often hold pheasant and other hunted species. Most landowners won't be interested in you helping managing the copse as recompense.

Go door knocking, use the local pubs, leads might lead to more leads. Best of luck.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
I'd show up with map in hand. If anything, asking about surrounding properties. Watch for livestock. Ask about local sales and local butchering.
Of course it has little to do with hunting and fishing but that engages their interest.

I tell ya, it takes time, plain and simple, to engage their trust. Then I can pretty much do as I please.
In many instances here, it's considered proper to leave a bottle of whiskey for the land owner, just for the privilege whether you shot/caught anything at all.
I guessed (correctly) that one rancher wasn't a big drinker at all.
Since 2001, I have bought a side of 2yr old ranch bison from him every November/December which I have processed locally.

15 years now and more than that many stories about my associations with these people. It's all good.
 

boatman

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 20, 2007
2,444
4
78
Cornwall
And there was I being told some time ago how easy it was to find the owners for overnight travelling bivvies. Of course it is difficult, if not impossible.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
I don't know about difficulty. I do remember a great deal of driving around with a map in hand and introducing myself!
It just takes time. Two or three summers. Eventually, I was able to start selling grapes and new started grape vines. Then I fit in.

Lots of the homested families are still here, the roads have their names. Guess who lives at the end of Wheeler Road?
That helped a lot more than fuzzy directions.
 

artschool

Forager
Sep 14, 2014
111
1
chester
Then from time to time, toss a couple gutted Canada geese on his porch.

lol. that would get me kicked off some of the land i shoot!

The best recipe for cooking a Canada goose is to soak a house brick in red wine, stuff the bird with the brick and slowly roast it in an oven. You then throw away the goose and eat the brick.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
With ever so slightly more culinary effort, you should be preparing wine-braised Canada goose.
I'll agree that it's all to easy to waste a goose with a dreadful cook. In this flyway, they are grain-fed.
You do know, of course, that a real "Canada goose" is with an icicle?

Usually, I can sit in a lawn chair in the ditch in a ghillie suit and pass shoot them as they come by.
Normally at less than tree top height. A few decoys to keep them looking in the wrong direction.
 

artschool

Forager
Sep 14, 2014
111
1
chester
With ever so slightly more culinary effort, you should be preparing wine-braised Canada goose.
I'll agree that it's all to easy to waste a goose with a dreadful cook. In this flyway, they are grain-fed.
You do know, of course, that a real "Canada goose" is with an icicle?

Usually, I can sit in a lawn chair in the ditch in a ghillie suit and pass shoot them as they come by.
Normally at less than tree top height. A few decoys to keep them looking in the wrong direction.

i was joking but they are viewed as a pest in the UK.

i used to rifle shoot them on occasion to get them off crop.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
Oh, I know. I wanted to pretend that your kitchen skills were offensive!
They're an extraordinary crop pest here, too. I take off the breasts and give the rest to the falconers.
Ranchers and farmers love me because I'm an efficient bird hunter. Not one big bang per moose.
I can raise hell all day long = bad joss in that field.
All the same, at high speed, 80kph, they explode when they hit the ground.

Because we are required to use nontoxic shot (and steel is the cheapest), the carcass of the bird is fine to feed the falcons over the winter.
Benelli Nova 3.5" x 12 ga, stuffed up with BBB steel in hot loads is efficient.

I've been able to clock Canadas doing 90kph and they were really working at it. Half a dozen and it was impressive.
Local birds are cruising at 70kph, so easy to imagine the lift from the front bird's wing tip.
 

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