iHunter app

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WiserFool

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Alberta, Canada
I own a few quarters of ranch land in good elk and deer habitat, so I'm someone who doesn't mind letting a few hunters harvest an animal. But, every year it gets worse (Hey buddy, I need to borrow your tractor), so I have my land posted and just let people I know are ethical and skilled on my property any more. I thought by sharing some info from a landowners point of view, it may be helpful. Please don't be offended, that is not my intention.

Straight up, iHunter (and similar apps) are the worst thing to have ever happened to anyone who owns land in a productive spot for elk, deer, etc. It has taken dealing with permission seekers from a very large distraction, right in weaning, needling, preg checking and shipping season and turned hunter interaction into literally a full time job. It is so bad, one of my neighbours (large ranch in 300) is having a website built that will require paying a small gateway fee just to ASK to hunt, to help as a bit of a "filter". This is no exaggeration, the owner now gets up to 50 interactions a day, sustained for MONTHS! 50 x 10 minutes = 500 minutes divided by 60 = 8.4 hours a day! Some hunters can take 30 minutes of your time, thinking you would like to get to know who's asking permission (which we do). The owner isn't rude when they cut it short, just busy.

Please don't "permission collect" online or with phone as a part of the pre-hunt preparations. If you are planning a hunt, find a spot you would like to hunt and then, if you subscribe to an app, use it to assist you in asking permission once you are actually ready to hunt there. But use common sense. The rancher is probably awake already in the pre dawn hours, but likely not really ready to take your call or answer a knock on the door yet. If the permission request answer is no or there is no reply, respect the landowners reasons and don't argue or give them the "I'm starving" story. They're busy earning a living and truly don't have time to chat much or listen to your beefs. Thank you for reading this and it would be appreciated if you would give it some though.
 
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Thanks for this!

As someone new to hunting, it's nice having the perspective of the other side.

As an aside, what would be a good trade for getting to hunt on someone's land? A share of the harvest? Labour (how much?)?
 
Thanks for reading and a great question. There are probably some ranchers out there that want to profit, but most just want to find skilled, ethical hunters that will help manage the population of animals on their ranch with a minimum of fuss and bother. If you intend to park in or near their yard each morning and glass for trophies for a week, it doesn't matter how ethical you are, they ain't interested in being your host. Most are happy to share info about where the animals are anyways, as they know that will make the harvest run smooth and efficient. But ask your questions and let them get back to work.

The myth that helping with labour will be appreciated is a hold over from days gone by. Nobody wants that any more, especially since the new farm safety legislation has come into effect.

I have one lady hunter that drops by with some baking every Christmas and that is appreciated. It is illegal to take meat or payment for hunting privilege and most ranchers are not looking for a portion of the kill or anything in trade. If they are negotiating for some meat or profit, it's probably best to avoid them or better yet, report them.

If you are successful in a hunt, thanking the host is never a bad idea. Telling all your buddies and having a pack of them show up later on the same ranch expecting to hunt is likely not a good idea.
 
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Thanks for the info WiserFool.
I'll be honest I like iHunter and have used it for the last few years. Not so much for seeking hunting permissions, although I have used it for that, but more so for the WMU boundary info it shows as I hunt some areas that are very close to edges and the regs aren't always real clear.
When you speak of hunters asking for permission to hunt are you speaking strictly from a land owner perspective or also from the grazing lease holder side of it or is it really one in the same from your perspective?
 
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WiserFool said:
Thanks for reading and a great question. There are probably some ranchers out there that want to profit, but most just want to find skilled, ethical hunters that will help manage the population of animals on their ranch with a minimum of fuss and bother. If you intend to park in or near their yard each morning and glass to trophies for a week, it doesn't matter how ethical you are, they ain't interested in being your host. Most are happy to share info about where the animals are anyways, as they know that will make the harvest run smooth and efficient. But ask your questions and let them get back to work.

The myth that helping with labour will be appreciated is a hold over from days gone by. Nobody wants that any more, especially since the new farm safety legislation has come into effect.

I have one lady hunter that drops by with some baking every Christmas and that is appreciated. It is illegal to take meat or payment for hunting privilege and most ranchers are not looking for a portion of the kill or anything in trade. If they are, it's probably best to avoid them.

If you are successful in a hunt, thanking the host is never a bad idea. Telling all your buddies and having a pack of them show up later on the same ranch expecting to hunt is likely not a good idea.
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Holy, that's a lot of good information! Thanks for taking the time to write it up!

I always assumed giving up part of the harvest was a given in most cases haha. And it makes sense why trading labour may not be a good idea due to the safety laws coming into place.

If you don't mind me asking another question about permission, i know written and signed permission is best. Is verbal usually how it's done though? Would e-mail maybe be the best way once you have built some sort of rapport? What's your preferred method?
 
iHunter is a great app, thing about it is the landowner maps... not sure if there is a way to remove your name from the map with the county unfortunately. If one were to buy that map from the county as a hard copy landowners would still be on it. It's worse for leases as some times they actually have contact #s on the leased land and then everyone has your name and number....
 
I had this discussion with my neighbor who is on his local rm council. I suggested that they put a slip in with every land owners tax notice. On it they can simply ask "do you want to allow hunting on your property?" If the answer is yes the quarter or quarters show up in Green on the map. If its a no then they appear in Red on the map. If its a yes but written permission is needed then its yellow. This way busy land owners only have to be asked as much or as little as they want. Just my two cents
 
Riflesmith said:
I had this discussion with my neighbor who is on his local rm council. I suggested that they put a slip in with every land owners tax notice. On it they can simply ask "do you want to allow hunting on your property?" If the answer is yes the quarter or quarters show up in Green on the map. If its a no then they appear in Red on the map. If its a yes but written permission is needed then its yellow. This way busy land owners only have to be asked as much or as little as they want. Just my two cents
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Oh man, every green or yellow quarter would be swarmed with people, next year the whole county would be red lol
 
One sure way to get to the top of the permission list is to do some wolf and coyote shooting in the winter on my land or nearby.
 
Mazeofmystery said:
If you don't mind me asking another question about permission, i know written and signed permission is best. Is verbal usually how it's done though? Would e-mail maybe be the best way once you have built some sort of rapport? What's your preferred method?
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The law often says written permission, but the common practice is still verbal permission. You will see more and more written as time goes on, with a bit of who, what, when, where and a rudimentary waiver giving the landowner protection from such things as the hunter getting shot by another hunter, mauled by a grizzly or a rancher's bull, etc. I use verbal permission but will implement a signed document shortly.
 
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kc34 said:
Thanks for the info WiserFool.
I'll be honest I like iHunter and have used it for the last few years. Not so much for seeking hunting permissions, although I have used it for that, but more so for the WMU boundary info it shows as I hunt some areas that are very close to edges and the regs aren't always real clear.
When you speak of hunters asking for permission to hunt are you speaking strictly from a land owner perspective or also from the grazing lease holder side of it or is it really one in the same from your perspective?
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I agree, the ap is useful for staying legal, etc. But, with the easier access to ranch contact information it facilitates, the stressors I originally post about are very real. My perspective is from a ranch owner. I do not have any grazing leases. Grazing leases are crown land rented by a ranch for specific purposes, so the hunting issue is WAY more complicated there.
 
Desjard said:
iHunter is a great app, thing about it is the landowner maps... not sure if there is a way to remove your name from the map with the county unfortunately. If one were to buy that map from the county as a hard copy landowners would still be on it. It's worse for leases as some times they actually have contact #s on the leased land and then everyone has your name and number....
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The public availability of the basic ranch contact info is still reasonable, as all ranch owners want to know about who is potentially accessing their land, control # of hunting parties per day, tell hunters areas to hunt and areas to stay out of and to basically help hunters that are given permission to participate efficiently in managing the population of game that is essentially competing with the cattle for available forage. If they give you permission, the rancher is hoping you are successful in harvesting an animal and that is why they are letting you onto their land in the first place. But, the absolute WORST thing you can ever do is develop an attitude that you are doing the ranch a favour by harvesting an animal. Avoid that big time, trust me.

I guess the primary issue is many people, with the help of the new apps, are now basically pre-calling every ranch in the zone they are planning to hunt in, sort of shotgun permission collecting, so that when they arrive on the ground, they feel they have an advantage with hunt access as elk herds move around in response to hunting pressure, etc. In addition, if a big trophy deer or especially if a nice herd of elk are visible from a public road, the situation generally goes berserk with cell phone and in person permission seekers. This has been an issue for years, but with the app subscriber base growing every year, it's way worse. This is producing the burden of time on the rancher that I originally posted about. I don't have solutions to suggest for all of this, but hopefully if you get a glimpse of what it's like from the perspective of the person you will be asking for access, things will run smoother for everyone involved.
 
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I love the iHunter app, it helps me easily identify public land. However, that's all we can do in Ontario as we dont have landowner information accessible to us. I can see that becoming very annoying an frustrating as a landowner... but if landowner information is readily available to sources like apps, this seems like an issue to be taken up with the province.
 
squidxm said:
I love the iHunter app, it helps me easily identify public land. However, that's all we can do in Ontario as we dont have landowner information accessible to us. I can see that becoming very annoying an frustrating as a landowner... but if landowner information is readily available to sources like apps, this seems like an issue to be taken up with the province.
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You do have the info available to you as it is public info. It just takes a trip to the municipal office.

I have the paid version of ihunter and the private land only gives the PIN number. To get the property owners info, I would still have to go to the municipality office and search the database.

OP - Does ihunter give more info in your province?
 
There is one farmer I call every year that talks my ear off, otherwise it’s a 1 minute call, hi this is lyallpeder, can I hunt on xyz land between these dates? Land owner: sure. Me: thanks want any info from me? Landowner: no, goodbye.


OP, is setting up an email account with an auto reply for permission an option or do you not want to let everyone that asks on?
 
Fortunately our farm has yet to deal with an influx of hunters as per thie initial post, usually just the same locals every year that we know from outside of hunting season, however trespassers tend to be a larger issue in our area.

We have all our land marked, and give permission to those who we feel will respect us and our property and conduct a safe and ethical hunt. We have a system where people text requesting permission to hunt specific articles of land on a specific date and I will either give the all clear or decline based on someone else already requesting that day. On the day of the hunt we requested the hunters sign in and out via text with a short description of their vehicle so we know not to interrupt their hunt.

One of the big things for us is that all vehicles entering the property be free of soils and plant matter, slowining the spread of disease, fungus, and noxious weeds is a top priority for us. As a result those who do not follow our wishes will have their hunting permissions revoked.
 
onetwentyish said:
We have all our land marked, and give permission to those who we feel will respect us and our property and conduct a safe and ethical hunt. We have a system .... to hunt specific articles of land on a specific date and I will either give the all clear or decline based on someone else already requesting that day. On the day of the hunt we requested the hunters sign in and out via text with a short description of their vehicle so we know not to interrupt their hunt.

One of the big things for us is that all vehicles entering the property be free of soils and plant matter, slowining the spread of disease, fungus, and noxious weeds is a top priority for us. As a result those who do not follow our wishes will have their hunting permissions revoked.
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That is basically how we do it as well. I like to control who goes where and limit the hunting pressure to one party per day per area. Also, no hunters where I have my cattle at on that particular day. The spread of weeds is surprisingly evident to someone who is on the land on a daily basis. It's even pretty easy to find a gut pile exact location up to two years later, based on how it changes the vegetation. Vehicle ruts, several years as well.
 
Lyallpeder said:
OP, is setting up an email account with an auto reply for permission an option or do you not want to let everyone that asks on?
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I guess on a big grain farm it may be possible to manage hunters in that way. For an active working ranch, I can't think of a worse way to manage the hunters. Giving permission in a blanket approval system would be disastrous.
 
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