Getting Hunting Permission - Hints & Tips

[leighf]

Great thread, and post. A newbie like me needs all the help they can get. I've approached a couple of farm owners and at the moment have drawn a blank. As a pretty handy fellow I can offer a helping hand on the farm as a "way in". This way the farmer has an opportinity get to know you, a chance to way you up and get to know you. What do you think? I love the out doors and a days graft (free) must be a great opportunity for both farmer and potentical shooter.

[andyhawkx3]

You could offer your services as a beater, during the game driven shoots ...one way of getting your foot in the door

[D4V1D]

Thanks for the info on insurance. I'm all signed up.

[wafu]

thanks will try that

[strobe]

nice i never thought bout golf clubs before i will being seein bout my local 1 today

[greg]

I found the offer of doing any small jobs like repairs or tiddying up around the yard helped, after a while i ended up having a go on a tractor. and learning more about the farms..

[Mr_Wabbit]

Some forms that might help you get permisions.

[Magic Bullet]

I thought I'd just let you know how I got on with my experiences in
trying to get permission to shoot on land.

At the risk of it being a long story, I'll start at the beginning. I got my Mercury out of the loft earlier this year and found after years languishing there, it needed new seals and a spring. I had new seals and spring fitted, and joined a club (in July 09) where all manner of airguns (some older than mine!) including the new fancy PCPs (Wow!) were used. I know now they're not so new (or fancy), it's just me being out of touch in airgunning for years.

After a while, shooting at the club wasn't enough (realistically it never was going to be enough) and I asked how members got to go shooting on farmer's land. I was advised by the very friendly committee chairman to send out letters asking for permission. He showed me his letter of permission. He also had a map of the land/fields where he could and couldn't shoot signed by the land owner. I thought fantastic, but I'll never manage to get my own permission near me.

However, it's always worth a try, and if I didn't try, I would get nothing.
I sent out 10 letters to farmers near me to start with, stating who I was and I angled the letter to show how I could help the farmer.

Within a week I already had one reply - saying thanks very much, but we're well catered for with two shooters already here, so no thanks.

No one else replied.

Undeterred, I sent out a further 19 letters (I meant to send out 20, but miscounted) to the next nearest farmers on the list.

This time was different. I got a phone call 3 days after the letters went out from a local farmer who has a huge rat problem (not a ‘huge rat’ but lots of rats). In case you're thinking why hasn't the farmer tried poison etc., he has, and still does. The rats get used to it and the area is too large large to control with poison. He does use traps, but they give sporadic success. There are 16 cats, but they are fed too well and don't seem interested in the rats. He also has shot them (the rats) occasionally along with help from his farm staff, but he hasn't really got the time and it needs to be a continuous effort. So – and this is where I (or you) come in to help with a farmer's rat problem.

I have never been rat shooting before and have only been 4 times to this farm so far, and it is fantastic sport. Describing this is another topic. I keep detailed records of my nights there and so far have killed 23 definites (that's ones where I have witnessed a dead body). There may have been others that I killed but couldn't find. I keep hearing/reading of large numbers of rats killed here and there by other shooters (in the hundreds) but I haven't reached that quantity yet.

Anyway, the farmer seems happy, and so am I. But the story doesn't end there. Three days later, I got another letter from a retired farmer who asked if I would like to control rabbits on one acre of land behind his house that backed onto fields where he kept a pony. A quick phone call and I met the farmer who showed me the land. I haven't been there yet but it's my next port of call.

If that wasn't enough (and I was more than happy with what I'd got) I got a telephone call yesterday from another farmer who asked me to help with a 'massive' rabbit problem (a bit like the huge rat!) on his 60 acre farm. So that's another visit to arrange details and formalities on Monday.

It wasn't that long ago that I had nowhere to shoot and was in the same position as a lot of airgunners possibly reading this.
If you have no permission to shoot yet, I hope this helps to give some encouragement. It can be done.

Here's what I did.

1. Go to yell.com on Google.
2. Type in farms in the business box
3. you will have to put in your postcode in a box
4. select nearest business to you. It will show the nearest farms to you in order of distance.
5. Compile a letter asking for permission on a Word document and send 20 letters to the first 20 nearest farmers.
6. Wait and see what happens.

Be prepared to spend an afternoon writing a letter/envelopes and sending them out.
Hand writing 20 addresses on envelopes takes a while, but it is worth it.

In a letter, I would angle it to helping the farmer control a pest/vermin problem. Farmers are very busy people and pest control is just another chore. On the other hand, they also don't want people they don't know causing problems on their land that they then have to deal with. This is one of the reasons it is difficult to obtain permission. Another is they already have someone who looks after pest control. It is always preferable to deal with people you know, but we don't have that luxury when cold calling for permissions, so in your letter, describe yourself. You have one chance to get it right in your letter, so get someone else to proof read it or help you compose it, if writing is not your thing. You need to say how old you are, what you do for a living, how long you have lived where you do, what experience you have in shooting/pest control and put at the top of your priorities - safety. Emphasise that safety is paramount and that this comes first. Also, state that you would make sure all gates will be closed that should be, and would report any damage or unusual sightings/occurences on the land. The farmer may have livestock in trouble, a damaged fence, blocked ditch, a broken gate - anything like this that is reported as soon as you can could help him/her, and you could well end up being a friend as well as just having permission.

When you do get permission, be professional. As I mentioned earlier, make a map of the land you have permission for. I have done this for the farm I shoot rats on. This is useful for identifying areas you can shoot or not shoot, which way is safe to shoot, etc.

Also, use a permission slip. I believe there are ones available that you can download.
Get insurance. It shows that you are seroius.
Make records from the moment you start your shoots. Take a notebook and when you finish or get home note down the time/date, weather conditions, where you shot, where you got the most success, best place to shoot from, how many shot on that occasion.
Let the farmer know when you are going to start and finish if possible.
Always tell the farmer of your successes. He will be very interested in how effective you are.
Your records will make very interesting reading after say, 6 months. It should show your kill rate improve as you get to know the area better. It will probably decrease as time goes on as you thin out the offending pests depending on how often you go. Long term, the farmer should (and will want to) see less damage to his crops/property. After all, we are there for his benefit, not ours.
Another tip of mine is always approach and spend a bit of time talking to farm workers/relatives of the farmer you see as you come and go. Being friendly goes a long way and once you get to know them, trust begins to build up and they can give you good tips on the best place to shoot from, areas to look at. You never know what people can tell you.

Once you are trusted by the farmer, you may want to get someone to help you with your shooting, whether it be spotting or just shooting. Don’t rush this and invite 20 of your mates along. Wait a reasonable amount of time and approach the farmer first with your idea. Only invite someone you can trust as you don’t want your hard won permission to be withdrawn. This is where your map, statistics and local knowledge can help. Your friend can now hit the ground running (with your help) instead of just hitting the ground like I did when beginning to shoot at a new the farm.

At the end of the day, the permissions arrangement is a win win situation. The land owner gets free pest control/reports of incidents and the shooter gets to enjoy his sport. It’s a nice situation where everybody’s happy.

I hope that my situation encourages you if you are not sure about whether to, or how to ask for permission to shoot. Don’t just sit there looking at this. Do it now and in a week or two you could be enjoying some good sport. It is not the only way, but it did work for me, and my situation is quite common.

[markh]

There is some SUPERB advice here, well done to all.

I would also like to add that even going to local pubs and getting to know the landlord/landlady can help in finding who's who is the local area. You may even end up having a drink and chat with a local farmer !!

[markh]

Just thought of something else to add to Magic Bullets thread......

You also could consider adding a stamped, self addressed envelope as this is more likely to encourage a response.