Hunting MFL Open
Wisconsin
Does anyone hunt MFL open? More specifically without talking to owner and using their choice of a tax break to your hunting benefit. Have you ever been confronted by a land owner who is enrolled in MFL open while scouting or hunting? How did it go?
I do regularly. Landowners rarely cause issues-they know they have to let you hunt. Neighbors are more likely because they like to control other people's property.
Yes but not often and now only the larger tracts in northern Wisconsin owned by lumber companies. Never asked, just follow the rules on their signs or their web sites.
If I were on a privately owned parcel I would make contact with the owner first. I used to hunt one of those in Buffalo county that worked out well until some group from the Minneapolis area leased it. (which I don't think is legal)
One 80 in the Hayward area that I hunted a couple of times used to be open and last year no trespassing signs went up. After some research I learned it was switched over to closed MFL. Sucks that they are allowed to break a contract and change programs. I hope they have to pay the tax difference on the prior years plus a penalty to do that.
I turkey hunt MFLO lands. I always contact them first. I don't trust any website that says it's open. OR county records, but those seem to update quicker nowadays. Some have taken their land out of MFLO. Others let me hunt different properties too.
I approached a owner a few years back about his MFLO. I asked about parking on the end of his property and walking across an 80 acre field back to the wood edge. He told me just drive back there, park by the old tower. AND then he told me where the turkeys came out........3 turkeys - 3 years........AND he gives me asparagus.
IMO it pays to talk to the owner.
Another program to check out for hunting private land is the VPA - Voluntary Public Access program.
I ALWAYS try to contact the owner. It's not only the right thing to do, sometimes it can get you in on additional land that isn't open. However there seems to be a lot more absentee land owners than there used to be, at least in my areas. I make an effort, but I won't waste too much time tracking them down. By law you don't have to ask. Just use common sense and treat their land better than if it was your own.
Good info guys, thank you.
I may be wrong but I believe the DNR web site tells you not to contact vpa land owners. Not sure why it would be nice to thank them but I suppose they would be bugged quite a bit.
I do in Northern Wi. Buts its thousands of acres, Been doing it since 62
maya, you are correct that the DNR says not to contact VPA landowners. But with MFL open I think it's always a good idea if possible.
Doesn't MFL open now if it is surrounded by private lands have to have an access for people to use it otherwise t is taken out of the program? Thought 2015 WISCONSIN ACT 358 stated that.
Trapperjack - I wondered the same thing. There was an exec here that was proud he was enrolled in the program for the tax break but there was no access to it. Didn't seem right.
New entries have to have an access from a public road or through public land.
So I'd assume the older ones are grandfathered in? They should really change their status if you can't get to them.
Prior to act 358, if there was no recorded legal easement to a property a property could be enrolled in open MFL that had no public access. Those will not change however they will not be able to be renewed without a public access. These instances are relatively uncommon, but they do exist. In some cases they were landlocked properties that the landowners had no way of granting access to (similar to many of the public parcels that the DNR has are is in the process of selling) and in some cases they were created by individuals using different ownerships to create the "landlocking".
Here is a good set of "Frequently Asked Questions" regarding MFL and FCL. It answers many of the questions posted in this thread. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/ForestLandowners/OpenLands.html
