Want to hunt on prime private land? Access is all about relationships …!

Welcome to Hunting & Fishing BC, my podcast about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columbia and western Canada. I’m Robert Koopmans. I’ve hunted and fished in BC for more than 30 years, and come to love everything about this province and all it has to offer.

This year, I’ve teamed up with Randy Nelson, a retired fisheries officer and a skilled hunter with a lot of wisdom and experience to share. We’re going to chat through the coming months about a wide range of topics related to wildlife, hunting and fishing.

If there’s a specific topic you’re interested in, let us know, we’ll see what we can do. If nothing else, send us an email letting us know how we’re doing. Reach us at [email protected] … 

Today, Randy and I talk are talking about access to land, specifically, private land. While much of western Canada is accessible to hunters via Crown land, sometimes the best places to hunt are on private land, especially close to urban centres.

Will Ciancone and is family have been ranchers for decades, owning and managing tens of thousands of acres of land near Kamloops. Over the years, Will has seen his fair share of hunters wanting to hunt on his family’s land. 

He’s had good experiences and bad ones. They have suffered cut fences and horses and cows killed by hunters. Despite that, he said he was always prepared to allow hunting on their lands so long as the people doing the asking were respectful, and showed they cared about more than their own selfish motivations to be able to hunt on prime private land.

Will says the key to winning a rancher’s trust is by building relationships, and showing that you care about more than just killing a deer …

Randy and I also chat about two “survivalists” caught by authorities filming a YouTube survival movie in Canada’s Banff National Park. In the name of their show, the two men killed endangered trout and destroyed habitat, to name just a couple of the infractions they are charged with…

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Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. If you want to share a thought, send us an email at [email protected] …  I’m Robert Koopmans, thanks again, and we’ll catch you next time.