The hunter said he already knew getting permission in Texas was going to be hard.
Public hunting access is limited in a lot of places, and Texas can be especially rough if you do not already have family land, a lease, or a friend with a gate key. So he went back to the old-fashioned way: drive around, knock on doors, be polite, and ask landowners if they would ever consider letting him hunt.
In a Reddit post titled “Had a gun flashed to me twice today, done asking for permission,” he said he had tried the same thing when he first moved to Texas about five years earlier. Back then, he still got plenty of no’s, but most people were at least civil about it.
This time felt different.
He dressed nice, cleaned up his truck, and went in ready to offer help around the property if that made the conversation easier. He was not asking like somebody who expected free access. He said he was willing to hunt only certain species, help with cull bucks, or spend the first couple years earning trust before getting any real opportunity.
The first house gave him a bad sign right away. Someone slammed the door in his face without saying a word. That is rude, but it is still survivable. A slammed door tells you the answer is no, and you leave.
The next stop raised the stakes.
Before he could even get out of his truck, a man came out of the house with a shotgun and yelled for him to leave right now. There was no conversation. No chance to explain. No, “What do you need?” Just a man with a shotgun making it clear the visitor was not welcome.
The hunter left.
The next two ranches went more like he expected. The landowners said no because they already had hunters leasing the property. That kind of answer is disappointing, but at least it is normal. For a hunter trying to do things legally, a polite no is part of the deal. You take it and keep moving.
Then came the last stop.
The landowner heard him out at first, which probably made the hunter think the conversation might stay reasonable. Then the man lifted his shirt, showed the pistol in his waistband, and told him that if he ever saw him or his truck again, he would be sorry.
That was enough.
The hunter said he loved hunting, but not enough to keep asking strangers for permission if guns were going to come out during the conversation. He was not accused of trespassing deep in the woods. He was not caught crossing a fence with a rifle. He was asking at the house, trying to do things the way hunters have been told to do for generations.
Still, the reaction left him done.
His wife had a theory. She thought the way he was dressed and the nicer truck may have made some landowners think he was a developer or someone sniffing around to buy land. In areas where development pressure is high, that suspicion can change the way people react to strangers coming up the driveway. A hunter asking for permission might think he looks respectful. A landowner tired of strangers, salesmen, developers, poachers, and trespassers might see something else entirely.
That does not excuse threatening someone who is leaving when told no. But it does explain why the old knock-on-the-door method may not feel the same anymore.
By the end of it, he said he was probably done asking in person and would stick with the miserable odds of public hunt draws. That is a sad place for a hunter to land, because he was trying not to trespass. He was trying to ask first. But after having a shotgun brought out before he stepped from the truck and then having a pistol shown to him later, the risk no longer felt worth it.
A lot of commenters told him the door-knocking era is mostly over, especially in places where landowners have been burned by trespassers, careless hunters, and people who treat private property like public ground. Several suggested sending letters instead. That way, the landowner can read it without feeling cornered at the door, and the hunter does not have to stand in a stranger’s driveway while emotions run hot.
Landowners in the thread explained why so many of them say no now. They talked about people leaving trash, cutting fences, bringing friends after being given permission, shooting game and leaving it, and trespassing after being told no. A few said they would not have flashed a gun at someone asking politely, but they understood why many landowners have stopped trusting strangers.
The thread eventually got locked because the comments drifted into politics, but the practical advice stayed pretty clear. If you are asking for hunting access now, especially in a tense area, a letter, a local connection, or a lease-finder route may be safer than showing up at the door unannounced.
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