Dont give up on going door to door....

[heathwesley]

Hello All
          Last Saturday I finally had a day off and my little brother/turkey hunting partner was home on spring break.  Since Mid-January, when bow season ended we had discussed committing a whole day to knocking on doors in seach of new places to spring turkey hunt. 
          We headed out the door a little later than I wanted to on Saturday - as Friday night can be rough for a college kid home on break.  We hunt in a great County in Illinois - not short of birds to hunt.  We know our immediate area well, and have a handfull of nice places to hunt in the spring.  We hunt so much during the roughly 6 week Illinois season though that we have found you can never have enough places to fire up a bird. 
          We drove towards the south end of the county armed with a half a tank of gas, a plat map, the google maps app on my phone and an obsession with killing spring turkeys.  As we drove we devised a simple plan - dont get shot and knock on every door we could.  Approaching total strangers to ask for hunting permission on their front porch can cause a bit of anxiety.  That said our attitude was, "whats the worst thing that could happen (besides get shot at)?  They say NO!  We could handle that.  Our goal was to get one Yes!  If we could get one land owner to grant us permission to hunt turkey on their property the day would be a success.
          The area we targeted screamed turkeys!!  The kind you drive by and just wish you had permission to hunt. Scattered with rolling hills, creek bottoms, ag ground, set aside, and hardwoods we knew this was a long shot but were also quietly optimistic.  We were soon at the County line where we abruptly did a U-turn and headed back into our own county.  We wasted no time turning west down the first county road we hit - turned out to be more of a long drive way.  At the end of the driveway was a cluster of junk cars, mobile homes, and trailer homes pushed together.  We paid little attention to the no trespassing/keep out/beware of dog signs as the sun shined down on turkey heaven beyond all of that.
          To be honest we were a little unsure of what to knock on and where.  A couple junk yard looking dogs joined us as we seached out a resident of the property.  We followed the dogs down a steep hill to a home - there were vehicles around but no one in site.  We decided maybe we shoud move on - as we headed back up the hill the dogs began to bark and we heard a voice.  From behind the house came an old man wearing an old farmers cap.  Are pitch to this was clumsy and not to well planned - we were first timers so we wung it.  We quickly introduced ourselves and clarified what we were doing on the property.  We received a quick but cordial no answer to our inquiery.  Mr Sherwood proceeded to tell us horror stories about his previous experiences with giving permission to hunt on his properties.  Previous hunters had disrespected the property and disobeyed the rules put forth by the land owner.  Essentially ruining it for all future prospective hunters.  We countered by offering a weekend of work to which he again replied, "No".  We stood in the driveway and talked turkeys, the weather, etc, - small talk for a while.  Feeling as if we had struck out on property number 1 we thanked him for his time, shook his hand and began to leave.  As we began to walk away he must have had a change of heart.  He said, "hey boys lets go ahead and give this a try".  I could not beleive it.  We worked out some minor details with him, and told him the offer for work was and would remain on the table.  By the time we left he was pointing in the direction of the number one roosting spot on his property.
          Feeling good about ourselves we floated up the hill and humbly celebrated our victory.  A couple high fives in the truck and we were on our way.  We headed up the drive and onto the East side of the same road into more of the same good turkey hunting territory.  A couple miles passed by before we got back down to business.  We spotted a "prime" looking area with a long drive that led to a singlet house.  We wound back onto the property along the drive and to the farm house - surrounded by pig farm.  At the door we were greeted by a young blond who repectfully informed us that she had several brothers who were all turkey hunters.  One for Two aint bad and we were back in the truck and on our way. 
          Not a mile down the road and feeling a little closer to Earth about our mission we approached a dairy farm.  Pole barns and farm implements littered the area around the house and beyone the house more turkey heaven. As we passed the house my brother noticed a man sitting on a wagon taking a break from his work.  We stopped in the road and the man stood up and approached us.  I must say I did not have the best feeling about this.  We introducted ourselves again and stated our purpose.  The man explained to us that he was only renting and did some deer hunting on the property.  At that time (timing is everything) the landowner was coming down the road in his truck.  The nice gemtleman we had just met said he was not a turkey hunter and it may be worth asking. 
          We pulled off the road and parked just as the land owner stepped out of his truck.  We met him in the road, introduced oursleves and stated our purpose.  Before he could speak we also indicated that our request was for turkey hunting and turkey hunting only.  (This could make a big difference in Illinois).  We also offered our work in exchange for the right to turkey hunt the property.  To our astonishment the told us to jump in his truck so he could show us around the property???  I could not beleive it and still don't.  He drove us all around and showed us the property lines, where he has been seeing turkeys, and where to park when we returned.  We were floored.  Could not beleive it.  He had property on both sides of the road bearing his name and mentioned that if we did not find turkeys to let him know because he had more property.   Unbelievable!!  He was busy and working so we thanked him several times and left the property.  Estatic we headed down the road. 
          At this time we actually contemplated heading home - not pushing our luck.  To make a long story a little shorter we actually received permission to hunt a 3rd property that day along with several other failed attempts.  This property was small but had potential to kill a turkey.  A small honey hole!  At that location the landowner actually took us on a walk to show us the property lines. 
           We headed home as the sun was going down with 3 new places to hunt spring turkeys this year.  So if your having trouble finding places to turkey hunt don't give up on just going out and knocking on some doors!

[hwy419]

Inspiring... thanks man!

[Improvinghunter101]

Awesome!  You in the southern part of the state?  Heck I can't even get a sniff around here without pulling out my wallet, which I refuse to do.  I have to rely on about 50 acres of private land and what little public land there is.  Bad thing is more and more people keep hunting the public land so I have come to dislike going there more and more. 

[lightsoutcalls]

Congratulations!

[heathwesley]

Awesome!  You in the southern part of the state?  Heck I can't even get a sniff around here without pulling out my wallet, which I refuse to do.  I have to rely on about 50 acres of private land and what little public land there is.  Bad thing is more and more people keep hunting the public land so I have come to dislike going there more and more.

I hunt in the central part of the state about 50 miles East and North of St. Louis MO. 

[RutnNStrutn]

That is fantastic!!
Sadly for me though, I live in FLA. Between the growing population, the land development, the wealthy businessmen, the outfitters gobbling up all the land for people's quest for an Osceola to fill their slams, and people that just enjoy watching the turkeys do their thing on their land, you can't get anything but laughed down the street when you ask. Hasn't stopped me yet though. I keep asking every year, and getting told no every year.

[stone road turkey calls]

 

[Improvinghunter101]

I'm about 30 miles northwest of Springfield.  Use to have quite a bit of ground to hunt until the outfitters started coming in.  Now everybody expects to get some green to hunt.  Even a guy that I am friends with wanted me to pay him to hunt his land.  He said that he thought about giving the rights to an outfitter so I figured I would offer to clear his roads through the timber for him.  He said I would still have to give him about a thousand dollars plus the clearing of his roads.  Needless to say I told him to go ahead and give it to an outfitter because I'm not about to pay that price to hunt about 2 weeks.  Heck I don't even spend that much when I go out to Nebraska to hunt in the spring.  I'd much rather make two trips out there

[Team Kabob]

Great! Getting harder to find land to hunt with out paying $$!!

[DirtNap647]

still is a few good guys