Landowner turkey lottery

[seamonster1]

Too me this is the biggest joke!

I know of several individulas who own 40acres of black dirt field- But get a landowner tag every year.
Also- several guys who have every member of there family apply to get a landowner tag for the same 40 acre dirt field!

Sad- the rest of us have to follow the rules!

[Mark Christianson]

...and why do we let non-residents apply?

[Mark Christianson]

By the way, you can only apply for landowner tags, if your property is homesteaded.

[adaylate]

Yea it is a joke. Some of them even won't let you hunt on there land as required.

[HateHumminbird]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying....that's a pretty common trick....but I'm not sure that ALL of the rest of us follow the rules.

Our family elects to stay out of the landowner permitting process, even though we have a good portion of our land being field and/or good turkey habitat. We'll take our chances in getting a permit in the general lottery or not at all, and here's why:

1. Blanket permission probs. I hunt on some of these landowner pieces posted in the turkey hunting booklet, but it often happens that so does everybody and their brother, usually without asking the landowner first.

2. Other seasons/game. I end up seeing the same trucks and the same people back for deer hunting, again, often without permission.

3. Safety. We hunt in a more densely populated area, with land that is out of sight from our farm, so it's tough to keep less than a pair of guys in there at a time. More than that can result in problems with the limited acreage .

The farmers often don't really care who's on their land, especially if they're out to kill those durn turkeys! That's fine for the farmer, but tough for someone interested in a quality hunt.

All-in-all though, I think it's a good way to get access to other lands. Some are better than others, and it's definitely a better start than a plat book. We choose not to participate because of the problems others have had, but still let people hunt on our land from time to time, provided it doesn't interfere with any of our seasons, and we've been seeing enough birds around for others to hunt.

I tend to do better with permission by finding birds in an area, then looking at the surrounding plat and aerial photos. I find some good country, that the flock generally stays in pre-spring breakup, and start knocking on doors. You'd be surprised how many people don't even know that you can hunt turkeys!

Anyone else have any other thoughts on the turkey hunting/public lands issue? I'm interested to see what others think about states such as KS that have Walk-in Hunter Programs and if they'd be better than the current system we have.

Joel

[adaylate]

In the area I hunt some of the landowners charge $20 per hunting party and don't allow any one else on during your hunting time.Some people don't like to pay a fee to hunt,but I see it as a good situation for the landowner and the hunter as long as they keep the fee at an affordable price for all hunters.

[HateHumminbird]

Adaylate:

The pay situation is seemlingly what it's all going towards. The problem is that affordable for one person, isn't for another. All it takes is someone who really values good turkey hunting (and has a big pocketbook), to come in, and lock up many hundreds of acres for a premium price. I wouldn't mind paying myself as long as it stayed reasonable. I think that's why long-term leases are more popular.....a guy can lock in the price in a contract from what I understand.

I have heard of folks applying for the landowner/tenant permit, and THEN charging on top of that. I can't seem to find a definitive answer on whether or not that's illegal.

Where I hunt, there's a tendency to hold it for the local boys, which makes access even tougher for most.

The next decade of turkey hunting in MN will be very interesting. We have turkeys reproducing and thriving in much of MN, but with more turkeys, comes more permits, and more crowding. I'm thinking that the way we hunt them will be different in the future. I tend to secure a bunch of land, and hunt the active gobblers from piece to piece. I think hunters will need to be more reliant on the few properties that they can get permission for, forcing them to stick with the tough birds that don't come strutting right in on opening morning.

What do you think about a cap on the number of permits we give out in MN? What do you think of eventually selling them over the counter?

Joel

[SCCO9803]

How many people who pay someone, or lease a hunting spot, get a reciept? How many of these people get a renters/ lease return tax slip every spring. I don't have a problem with people leasing land or renting a hunting spot, but let's make sure these people who own the land are being taxed for this. This may help regulate some of the monopoly that could occur.