A good relationship between hunters and landowners can be mutually beneficial – but is sometimes lacking.

Bill Hoyt, rancher in southwestern Oregon and chairman of the Oregon Cattleman’s Association’s legislative committee, also sits on a predator board (with members from hunters’ groups) and is familiar with their issues.

“I was on a committee last year to develop rules for landowner preference tags,” says Hoyt.

“The ranching community feels landowners are owed special consideration by wildlife departments around the West; studies have shown that 70 percent of the wildlife resides on private land or spends most of its time on private land. We are feeding all these elk, deer, etc., and feel we should have some consideration,” Hoyt explains.

“Hunters have always felt their number one priority is access. Most of the budget for fish and wildlife departments come from state sales of hunting licenses, tags, etc., so hunters feel they have a huge stake in this.

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Here in Oregon, they don’t always appreciate the fact that the rancher gets a landowner preference tag or extra tags at no cost when hunters are funding the department and want access to hunt on private land,” says Hoyt.

Restriction and access

We need more efforts to bring these two parties together for mutual benefit. “Some ranchers allow hunter access, and this trend will grow if they can see some benefit – either for money or to help reduce wildlife impact on their property,” he says.

“On my ranch, we have an interstate highway through the middle and urban neighbors on the perimeter. We can’t allow rifle hunting, just from a liability standpoint; I can’t afford to have an errant bullet cause issues on the interstate or with a neighbor. But I allow bow hunting,” says Hoyt.

Bill Wilber, Oregon rancher and chairman of the Wildlife Committee, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, says there are several advantages to having hunters on the land – assuming they are responsible and respect the property.

Hunters should ask permission and talk with the owner about where and how to hunt. Some fields and pastures may be off limits because of livestock or proximity to ranch buildings.

“One advantage to the landowner, is that in a discussion with hunters prior to hunting, you can ask them to be observant regarding livestock they see – such as their condition, illness or injury,” says Wilber. “Hunters may see something you’ve missed if they happen to be at the right place at the right time or notice an animal in the wrong place.

“You can also ask them to shut gates they find open. We’ve had this happen; other hunters came in without asking and left gates open. This is an opportunity for your invited hunters (or who asked permission) to check gates, fences, etc.” They could close a gate or report back to you about something that might need your attention.

“They can observe your water facilities and let you know if something is wrong or places where you leave salt,” says Wilber. They are another pair of eyes, since it’s hard to see everything on your ranch every day. Wildlife or feral horses may be eating the salt you put out for livestock, and it may be gone sooner than you thought.

Elk are seeing more depredation hunts

Payoff for the owner-operator

Allowing hunting can be a win-win situation if you have a chance to meet and screen your hunters rather than just saying “No, I don’t allow hunting.” Fee hunting creates an even closer relationship. The hunter knows there will be good hunting, and the landowner knows the hunter will respect private property.

Some states are more proactive than others in fostering good hunter-landowner relationships, access programs and fee hunting (to enable landowners to recover some of the costs of feeding and providing habitat for wildlife).

Fee hunting is often the only way there is reimbursement for crop loss/damage or repair costs when big game go through and damage fences.

In Montana, two innovative programs are helping foster better relationships. The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) has a Hunter-Landowner Stewardship Project that began in 2009.

It evolved into a voluntary Web-delivered information system that allows landowners and hunters to participate in a self-paced interactive program designed to be informational and fun. Completion of this course may take about two hours, total time, but a person can log on and off and do it in increments.

“Participants who complete the course can obtain lifetime certification in the Montana automated licensing system. Some landowners now request that hunters who want permission to hunt on their place show proof of completing this stewardship program by providing a copy of the certificate,” says Alan Charles, Montana FWP.

Meeting the sportsmen

The Montana FWP also has a block management cooperative program in which contracts are negotiated annually between private landowners and FWP. Charles says this program has been in place for more than 20 years. “Last year, 1,230 landowners voluntarily enrolled 7.6 million acres, providing more than 400,000 hunter days of recreation on private land.

We have individual contracts with landowners regarding where they allow hunters and how they want them to hunt (bow, rifle, shotgun),” he says.

“We work with landowners to determine how they prefer to issue permission. Many want to meet the hunters, shake their hands and give them the permission slip and a map. Some landowners don’t want to deal with hunters because they are too busy, so they ask the department to implement some other kind of system. Often this consists of a roster box we put on the property and keep supplied with daily sign-in coupons. Every hunter fills out a two-part coupon. They keep one part on their person to show they have permission. The other part, they put into a slot in the box. This provides accountability; the landowner knows who was on the place and when,” Charles says.

“In other regions, we provide a seasonal staff person who stays in a camper where there are several big ranchers. Hunters get their permission slips from that person, who patrols the area, helps hunters with game retrieval and keeps an eye on things. A key part of the program is accountability. We want to know who is hunting on private land – their name, hunting license number, vehicle description, etc. This is good for the hunters and good for the landowners,” he says.

“We provide a detailed map of the property, containing the ranch rules for that property. If we enroll the property, we tailor the contract to meet the landowner’s needs, and he makes the rules and explains where people can hunt,” Charles says.

This program is appreciated by both parties. “Some landowners are eligible for benefits. We pay them to offset potential impacts of inviting the public onto their land. This compensation may include fixing roads, controlling noxious weeds, fixing fences. Landowners qualify for up to $11 per hunter day. A hunter day is any time a hunter comes on the property. If three hunters come that day, it counts for three hunter days,” he says.

The program simply helps offset hunter impact and increases accountability, fostering courtesy and mutual respect. “It’s a recognition that when a person invites hunters onto their land, there is potential impact. We try to reduce as many impacts as possible by helping hunters know the rules,” says Charles.

Some states need to work harder on helping create better relationships between hunters and landowners; often the hunters and game department take the private contribution (feeding wildlife, wild horses, etc.) for granted. This can be a stumbling block in good hunter/landowner relationships or permission for access.

“Elk are having a devastating effect in many areas. Some states have depredation hunts to remove excess elk,” says Wilber. Most ranchers are cooperative in allowing hunters on their places for that purpose.

There are some positive factors when ranchers allow hunting. “Ranchers can demonstrate good stewardship, showing hunters how we take care of the land and wildlife,” says Wilber. Predator control is another benefit. Hunters are often eager to shoot coyotes or wolves they might see on the property.  end mark

Heather Thomas is a freelance author based in Idaho.

PHOTOS

PHOTO 1: Deer winter down on Roaring Springs Ranch in Oregon. Photo by Stacy Davies.

PHOTO 2: Elk are seeing more depredation hunts in some states, leading to more cooperation between ranchers and hunters. Photo by Deb Lawrence.