By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Many farmers in Ohio would love to connect with hunters to help them get rid of pesky deer. They just don’t know where to search.

Hunters struggle as well – because 95 percent of Ohio’s land is held in private ownership, they have been having an increasingly difficult time finding places to hunt. But thanks to HuntOhioFarms.com (Ohio’s Web-based deer hunter access program), farmers with deer damage problems can connect with responsible hunters looking for a place to hunt.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife (ODNR/DOW) and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) have teamed on this program in an effort to combat wildlife crop damage on Ohio farms. High deer populations in some areas have led to problems for farmers, and now through this program, opportunities for hunters.

“There are a lot of farms that already allow hunting. Now what we’re hoping to do is set up a system that gives farmers more security in who they’re allowing to hunt,” said Chris Henney, director of legislative relations for OFBF. “We want to target farmers who currently don’t allow hunting.”

HuntOhioFarms.com is simple: Hunters provide information about themselves, such as hunting preferences, availability, hunting implement of choice and more. Then, farmers search hunter profiles and find hunters who are a good match for their farm and circumstances.

“We asked farmers what their concerns were and they were worried about trespassing, liability and all kinds of risks that they feel they are opening themselves up to,” Henney said. “We heard from our focus group that farmers are inundated with people trying to get permission to hunt.

“People just come to their door or call, and they just don’t feel comfortable with that. They said they would feel more comfortable if they had some background information on the hunters. Then, they would be the one contacting the hunter. This gives more control to the farmers.”

Through the program, interested hunters provide a profile for interested farmers to consider.

“We had just 75 farms to hunt our first year in this program, with about 8,000 interested hunters,” Henney said. “This year we have roughly 100 farmers involved and 10,000 hunters. We wish we had a lot more farmers involved, but we’re getting there.”
Henney said a risk management tool was created to allow farmers to look at profiles of hunters. After that, the hunters make contact. The hunters never see the farmers, analogous to how a one-way mirror works.

Access to private property is vital to the success of Ohio’s deer management program, and access is a privilege that cannot be legislated. For that reason it is essential that hunters and landowners work cooperatively to develop positive relationships that facilitate the harvest of deer, specifically does, from private property.

Many farmers worry about liability issues, but under Ohio Revised Codes 1533.18 and 1533.181, also known as the Recreational Users Law, it states that “no owner, lessee or occupant of premises assumes a responsibility for or incurs liability for any injury to person or property caused by any act of a recreational user.”
There are many skeptics, however. Some hunters say most farmers rent a substantial portion of the land they farm and they have no say if it is hunted; it is the prerogative of the non-farmer landowner.

Other hunters claim most farmers don’t have a shortage of hunters; rather, they have a history of poor experiences with hunters. Still other hunters claim that many farms have problems with wildlife from adjoining properties where they have no say if it is hunted.

With HuntOhioFarms.com interested hunters can log on to the website and develop a profile of themselves that would include years of hunting experience, preferred method of harvest (archery, gun muzzleloader and the like) and available dates and counties in which they would like to hunt. Farmers then search the database and contact those hunters directly who meet the landowner’s criteria.

For hunters this will provide the opportunity to sell oneself to the farmer. Hunting experience may be a factor, but other aspects, such as method of harvest preferred to time of year one is willing to hunt, are also important. The farmer may request a background check on the hunter as well.

For farmers, this website will be set up to see the hunter’s profile, but the hunter will not be able to find them. It is up to the farmer to make the initial contact, either by phone or e-mail.

This program was a successful pilot project last year and included just four counties in southeastern Ohio. This year it has expanded to all of Ohio’s Deer Hunting Zone C, which includes the counties of Adams, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Carroll, Clermont, Columbiana, Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Gallia, Guernsey, Hamilton, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lawrence, Licking, Meigs, Monroe, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Richland, Ross, Scioto, Tuscarawas, Vinton and Washington.

There is a long list of interested hunters to choose from and OFBF is currently working on building the list of interested farmers. To check out the program, visit http://huntohiofarms.com