When I ask for land access permission nowadays from private landowners I sometimes get the “I’d like to but I can’t for liability reasons” excuse.
I wonder if hunters could get their own insurance policies that would somehow cover landowners, if hunters (etc) could be bonded against damage, or if there might be any kind of licensing/certification that could be used to give landowners confidence of the benefits of allowing the person to be on their land and to remove the risks. ???
For instance, having a trained person on your land could be seen or used as a security asset, some eyes and ears, someone who could agree to notify an owner about a certain range of noticed problems perhaps.
Life is more organized these days. Landowners are afraid/paranoid (heck, land managers, too…and land users…most everyone?). Could it maybe help if someone approaching them for permission were to display patches, signage, membership cards…and the mentioned license/bond/insurance???
Maybe that’s a way to meet the challenge on its own terms.
(It might also be worthwhile to remind youngsters, etc., that before about 1976 I don’t recall ever hearing that liability excuse—and health insurance was about $20/mo. Maybe we should have a commemorative watershed national memorial day when Americans lost so much land/venue access due to the birth of the liability monster. I wonder when that barrier really fully/officially appeared in full force. I suppose we could just pick a day/year to celebrate/remember the loss and what we once had… Maybe it could be called “The Death of the Handshake Day” or “The National Lawyers Holiday” or “The This Land is Our Land No More Memorial.”)
Just some thoughts…and an idea for a way out of the pickle we’re in…
