How to tell a property owner Thank You!

I agree! Theses two guys say the biggest reward for them is when we show them what we kill or show them trail cam pics. One day I was in the barn yard shooting my bow and they stopped and talked. I let them both shoot my bow because it their years of hunting they had never shot one. Kinda made their day!

Shelton
 
I've done everything from holiday gift baskets and locally made wine, to roofing a house, splitting wood, and tagging calves. Been hunting the same property for my entire life and am very grateful for it.
 
Originally Posted By: The Famous GrouseI do a big gift bag the includes fancy coffee, cookies, treats, and other goodies that everyone likes. For my A-list properties, I give spiral cut hams right before Christmas.

Another good idea is to give a gift certificate to a local steak place or to the grocery store. Nobody will see this as anything but a great gesture and even the smallest towns have a place that does a Friday night steak fry.

I would avoid gifts of alcohol at all costs unless you KNOW the person drinks by actually seeing him take a drink. Just too many ways to go wrong with this and many other better options.

Grouse


Very good advice, not everyone is a drinker of spirits.
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We give most of them northern fillets. We don't catch enough walleye and many just appreciate the fresh fish. Some actually prefer the northern.

We poison pocket gophers in alfalfa fields and level off the mounds. Those mounds cause more equipment maintenance and few farmers have time when they are easy to poison. We bring the .22 and shoot other gophers while doing it so it isn't much of a chore

I think the other thing to do would be offer to help fixing fence. Every farmer hates it and it always needs doing. I have only done it for my uncle though.
 
The gift certificate is good advice. I agree about the alcohol too. That could cause some distrust he the land owner is not in favor of alcohol. Remember that he might think you too like alcohol and he knows you want to hunt on his land. He might wonder if you drink and hunt at the same time and why even put that remote thought into his mind? I love a good drink at particular times but only when it's when I'm not driving or hunting or shooting. Not everyone like the spirits and some people are really against spirits. Perhaps they have had bad experiences themselves or with others who drank too much. So why even bring that subject up? It's chancy unless you know for sure that the spirits will be appreciated before hand.

When my dad use to go to KY lake to fish in the early 1940 he went to this fish camp that was owned by a guy named Oscar. Oscar like to drink Whiskey and tell stories and his wife was a good cook who would make breakfast family style early in the morning for all the guess staying in their camp. After breakfast Oscar would pull my dad aside into the back room of the kitchen and offer him a swig of Whiskey. So we all knew that Oscar enjoyed his spirits and so did my dad. So it was pretty safe bet to give Oscar some of that type of Whiskey for Christmas. Oscar died and his wife continued to run the business for many more years. She was as much a character as old Oscar and fun to be around. When I was a kid I'd ride in on the tail gate of her pickup truck with my friend Linda when she dove from the house down to the dock. She drove slow down the gravel road for about 1/10 or 2/10ths of a mile to the dock down by the bay. Linda and I would drag our shoes along the high part of the old gravel road and kick up some dust. Linda was my dad's friend and fishing partner's daughter. So we knew each other pretty well as we would hang around at the camp when the men were out fishing on the lake. We stayed with Thelma the owner's wife at her house during the early part of the day or went fishing off the dock during the afternoons.

Originally Posted By: The Famous GrouseI do a big gift bag the includes fancy coffee, cookies, treats, and other goodies that everyone likes. For my A-list properties, I give spiral cut hams right before Christmas.

Another good idea is to give a gift certificate to a local steak place or to the grocery store. Nobody will see this as anything but a great gesture and even the smallest towns have a place that does a Friday night steak fry.

I would avoid gifts of alcohol at all costs unless you KNOW the person drinks by actually seeing him take a drink. Just too many ways to go wrong with this and many other better options.

Grouse
 
I work on a few landowners guns when they want some work done, and some prefer beer. I even have one guy that just wants a ride up to the corner store and back just about every time I hunt there
 
Close the gates. Around here that little "common sense" action gets regularly ignored and the local landowners really notice. A sincere thank you and good common sense will carry a lot of weight.
 
Offer to help out, from farming, mechanical work, or cleaning the gutters.. We hunt a farm and thatwas the first thing iI do offer to help leave my number so they can call, I have learned just as much by doing this, how to pull calves, run tractors, castrate pigs and cows, and much more..

Me and dad were coon hunting and went through a lot with calves in it crazy things ran in to the fence a broke it, dad was freaking out trying to get a hold of owner I just ran them into the barn lot and shut the gate. Next day the guy called dad wondering what he was talking about so dad explained, owner told dad it was about time he hunted with someone that had sense.. Well what we didn't know he was having problems with other hunters leaving gates open and mixing up cattle. If you want to piss off a farmer mix up there cattle. 2 weeks later locks were change and we were the only ones handed a key. We turkey hunt, deer, and now yotes..

Even if your not good at what they need help with the efforts counts, don't forget Christmas cards, summer sausage wine it all helps
 
From the prospective of being a landowner, we always enjoy getting Christmas cards or family picture. Stopping and talking to land owners just to talk and be friendly can go a long ways. Not always asking for something when seeing a person will build actual relationships. We have made some great friends over the years from people stopping to ask permission to hunt.
 
Respect for my property and a sincerethanks is all i need. Trinkets and gifts seem to just be in an attempt to obtain exclusive access. Most offers for help would just be a distraction and liability risk exposure. I normally grant anyone access who is kind enough to ask for as long as they wish to come back.
 
Well that's a fine gesture to want to thank the land owner. There are a few ways you can go about it. Of course, a bottle of wine and a thank-you note is pretty standard. However, if the fellow is wino...you may be complicating things in his life. And he doesn't need that. Have the old bag of a wife make up a batch of cookies to give the fellow. But, again, he could be diabetic. I've had that trouble for some time and had to lay off the old bag's cookies. A personalized engraved Buck knife is a gift that will last a lifetime. But, if the guy cuts himself with it, you'd feel terrible. If you want to be as safe as possible, they now sell these bottles of fancy water. You can't go wrong with a case of pure water and a thank you note. It's the safest thank you gift you can give. If he's a farmer, he most likely drinks lots of water. He may think you're fancy pantsy, but that's ok. You can show him the varmints you've taken off his land and he'll be thankful. Good luck.
 
I'm a home improvement contractor so I always offer "left overs" be it 2x4s or scrap plywood or recycled building materials. Farmers can always use lumber!
I also have cut up plywood backers for posted signs.Usually people appreciate a little help.
 
I always leave a thankyou note in their mailbox when I leave the property, and let them know if the ever need anykind of help Im always available. One place I hunt I asked about some old wood from a barn and made the a farm sign with it and some ornamental iron.
 
I second the asking if he needs any help. Just assure him that he can call you anytime if he needs that. Also, if you hunt deer or any other animal and get meat offer to bring some by for him and let him know its in return for hunting his land. Also, its always respectful to ask permission every year and not just assume you are able to.
 
Originally Posted By: HuntnyotesI second the asking if he needs any help. Just assure him that he can call you anytime if he needs that. Also, if you hunt deer or any other animal and get meat offer to bring some by for him and let him know its in return for hunting his land. Also, its always respectful to ask permission every year and not just assume you are able to.

Yep, this^^^^ I have some summer sausage curing in the fridge right now that will go in the smoke tomorrow. I plan to deliver a log of it this weekend to a landowner I haven't visited with for a while.
I know he will appreciate it as our last visit we both lamented that the deer processors around here don't make a really good sausage
He raises cattle and has a healthy yote population that needs thinnin also:)
 
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