So you have made up your mind to go on a hunting trip this year, and come back with a good haul and the experience of a lifetime! Well then, where are you planning to go? A good number of hunting lands are available, and making a choice is not exactly easy.

It would help if you were aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each hunting land. So the details of a few hunting grounds are presented below—

(1) As indicated by its name, a public hunting land is open to all. Such lands are found in many states and have plenty of game available. No fees are charged for using this land. You are provided with a hunting license for a certain time of the year. Browse through a map listing all the public hunting lands, as well as the list of restrictions governing the hunt. The restrictions generally center round the “catch”.

Maintained by the county, state or federal government, these hunting grounds may prove to be a big disappointment because of the large crowd of hunters. With so much of “sporting” already having taken place, there is hardly any game left for you!

(2) In contrast, you have the private hunting land, where the entire property belongs to one individual. Though the land is not hunting-specific, if there is a good population of animals there, the owner may allow hunting. Of course, his/her permission has to be obtained first. Such grounds are not advertised. So you can get to know about them only by word-of-mouth. You know your friend, your friend knows someone who knows the owner, and so on.

Generally, the owner does not want any money. But in some rare cases, you might have to shell out some money to get permission to hunt there. There are certain rules or rather, restrictions which have to be followed. The advantage is that not too many hunters are allowed on a single-owner property—so you are assured of a good haul!

(3) Sometimes, guide companies or hunting lodges throw open their privately-owned hunting grounds to the public. You have to pay a small amount to enter, as the whole area is classified as hunting land. This is private business and services offered vary from one organization to another. The fees also vary accordingly.

Some of these companies give you a map of the hunting land and access to it for the purpose of camping there and hunting game. But that is all—they offer nothing more. Naturally, the amount charged is less. Those businesses, whose services extend to lodging, guides, food, etc., definitely charge more. They also admit people on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and may even put a restriction on how many animals you can hunt. This becomes necessary to guarantee that the population of animals never goes down. So check out that these limitations do exist before you decide to go there—you are also making sure that they have left some game for you!