Any hunters among us?

[KBCraig]

I've never been a big hunter or fisherman, but I intend to start when I get to NH. Are any of our members involved in hunting and fishing?

Kevin

[Pat K]

 I love to fish. look forward to finding out the fishing tricks of NH.

I have not hunted in years, but would lke to start again.

[polyanarch]

In order to to any hunting one must have access to land.  Here in WI, land for hunting is pretty much all wrapped up.  If you own some then you are sitting pretty (as long as the land is good hunting land at least) but if you don't then it is nigh impossible to find landowners who either will let ANYONE hunt there (hunting is bad 'm-kay! -and guns are even worse!) and if they are not anti-gun/hunting then they are already hunting it themselves or have family/friends who have already snapped up the rights to it. 

Going and asking for hunting privileges door to door is a fruitless and frustrating endeavor.  Some people have the nack for it and can spot the pro-gun pro-hunting childless retired and too-old to hunt/enjoy their land and are willing to let strangers use their land type.  I'm not.

I hope to be able to someday purchase some decent hunting land in NH.

Deer hunting is a religion amongst the rural folk in WI more so than any other game sport besides perhaps fishing which is more spread out.  But with the wave of city-folk buying up rural lots and sub-dividing lots and just plain not liking rural joys of firearms and hunting those of us who still enjoy it are hard-pressed to find a place to do it anymore.

[Fluff and Stuff]

I've never been a big hunter or fisherman, but I intend to start when I get to NH. Are any of our members involved in hunting and fishing?

Kevin

If I can get a permit to hunt bear in NH, I'll do it.  Otherwise, I'll likely just take up fishing.  I am a little behind you, though.  I wasn't born till 81

[Pat K]

You can hunt on state park land in NH.

[KBCraig]

As I understand it, it's considered downright rude and un-neighborly in NH to post your land against hunting. That means you can hunt practically everywhere, even on other people's property, because very few properties are posted.

[Fluff and Stuff]

As I understand it, it's considered downright rude and un-neighborly in NH to post your land against hunting. That means you can hunt practically everywhere, even on other people's property, because very few properties are posted.

Are you talking about what happened in Dalton?  Even if there was no government hunting land, just become friends with hunters...

[KBCraig]

As I understand it, it's considered downright rude and un-neighborly in NH to post your land against hunting. That means you can hunt practically everywhere, even on other people's property, because very few properties are posted.

Are you talking about what happened in Dalton?  Even if there was no government hunting land, just become friends with hunters...

I don't know what happened in Dalton.

This is just something I picked up last year while I was researching NH. It could have been from the FSP info pages, or it could have been from somewhere else. It struck me how different it is from here, where the only way to hunt is to belong to a hunting club that leases exclusive hunting rights from landowners with very large holdings (frequently timber farms of 400+ acres). The problem is finding a vacancy and buying into it (if you pass muster with the club). It's a fine free market solution, but I'm not interested in spending hundreds of dollars every year, plus a "work day" every month maintaining the lease, in exchange for a few days of hunting every fall. I like venison, but I can buy it cheaper than that!

The only alternative is to hunt the very few public lands, such as Corps of Engineers land. There's a lot more public land in Arkansas, where there are about 2 million acres of National Forest, but out of state licenses are expensive, and people can get persnickety about hunting "their" part of the forest. Not to mention the very real danger of stumbling into boobytraps set up to protect marijuana plots or meth labs.

I have threatened from time to time to clean out the tree rats in our back yard, but they're so small I don't think I could kill enough for a decent batch of squirrel dumplings. I'm not kidding -- our pet rat was bigger than most of these critters.

Kevin

[9thmoon]

As I understand it, it's considered downright rude and un-neighborly in NH to post your land against hunting. That means you can hunt practically everywhere, even on other people's property, because very few properties are posted.

That would be a problem for me.  Little Ms. Territorial and all.  Plus I don't want strangers with guns on my property.  In fact, I'd probably consider them a threat and shoot at them. 
Don't get me wrong.  I'm pro-2nd.  I just don't trust others' competencies.  Just because a person has a right to have a gun doesn't mean I should trust everyone to be capable of using it without accidentally shooting up my house (or my dog, or my truck, or...)

[Pat McCotter]

Driving along I-393 in Concord the weekend bow hunting opened there were 10 cars parked along the side of the road. Hunters park there and walk down into the woods. Many of them have tree stands stashed for annual use.

Yes, I did say "?n Concord." The city is 64 sq miles with 45,000 people so there is lots of open space.

[KBCraig]

It's worth pointing out that "towns" (and cities) in NH amount to "small counties". Everything is divided up, from a time where 10 miles was a long day's walk.

There is, theoretically,  unincorporated land in NH. But the reality is that the entire state is incorporated, just waiting on you to register,

Kevin

[AlanM]

In NH if it's not posted, you can hunt.

[polyanarch]

So people don't respect private property in NH??????

OMG -where I come from you don't go on private land without permission -PERIOD.

AFAIC you can shoot someone who is trespassing -it's a serious violation of the ZAP.

[mvpel]

There are tax abatements available for leaving your land open for recreational use, which serve as a disincentive against posting "no trespassing" signs.

[KBCraig]

So people don't respect private property in NH??????

Sure they do. Post your land against hunting and trespassing, and they'll respect that.

You'll lose your "current use" tax status, and any chance of being friendly with your neighbors, though.

Kevin