Hunters don’t go on public lands looking for trouble with neighboring private landowners, but sometimes tense interactions can happen. Here’s how to avoid them.
Feature image via Sam Soholt.
Getting permission to hunt on someone’s private lands is an opportunity you shouldn’t squander. Here’s how to respectfully maintain relationships with the landowner and give yourself the best chance to hunt that land again the following season.
In Illinois, finding places to hunt is getting increasingly difficult. The state is 97% privately owned, and the few public hunting areas are so crowded that it’s deterring to newcomers. It’s a worrying trend in a state trying to combat declining numbers. “You used to be able just to knock on somebody’s door and they would say ‘sure,’” said Tammy Miller, Illinois Department of Natural Resource’s access program manager. “Landowners are more...
When we daydream of camping with our families, we often conjure up an image of our tent tucked into the shade of a couple of towering pine trees. There might be a lazy stream running nearby or possibly the shoreline of a placid lake where the waves softly lap upon the shoreline. We rarely envision some other family pounding in their tent stakes just feet from ours or the sounds of an all-out campground party raging until the sun comes up. Camping...