Your Next Private Land Hunting Trip...

With summer quickly approaching, sportsmen all across the country are starting to plan for the upcoming hunting season. Tags are being purchased, dates finalized, and lodging arrangements made. Whether you’re searching for public vs. private hunting land, self-guided vs. with a hunting guide, or planning to camp vs. book a hunting lodge, there is a lot to coordinate before your hunting trip. Before you spring into a new season, its important to review your options: 

Crazy Mountain Cabin in Wilsall, MT offers access to a fantastic hunting lodge.

Public vs. Private Land Hunting

The debate over public vs private land hunting will always exist and we validate many of the pros and cons for both options. Recently, LandTrust founder, Nic De Castro, sat down with Eric Clark, host of the Where to Hunt podcast. Clark is a big proponent of public land hunting and does his best to share resources with his community that can help alleviate the stress and overcrowding that occurs on public lands. During this podcast, Nic and Eric discuss the differences between public and private hunting land access. Nic also answers questions from those tuning into the podcast live and they chat about the entire nature-based outdoor recreation space. If you’re a public land enthusiast, be sure to check out Clark’s Where to Hunt app, which is essentially the virtual version of the red flashlight. The app includes three major benefits to help you claim a spot, know your target and coordinate with your hunting party!

Self-guided vs. guided hunting trips

The team at LandTrust understands that there are diverse preferences when it comes time to book a hunting trip. We are happy to provide opportunities that include either self-guided or guided hunting trips. Many of our landowners, such as Chris Omland of the OO Hunting (Ipswich, SD), are proud to show you a guided or semi-guided hunt to make sure you have the most productive trip possible. With over 300 acres of land to explore, a point in the right direction at the right time on the OO Hunting grounds can boost your experience as a sportsman! 

Meanwhile, listings such as the Plum Thicket Farm offer sportsmen the chance to roam freely during their hunting vacation. However, Nancy and Rex Peterson do provide other special services such as a calving shed with running water where sportsmen can clean their game. If you're confident in your research about the area and want to go at your own pace, then there's no need for a hunting guide here!

Ample opportunity out at Plum Thicket Farm (O'Neill, NE)

 Camp vs. Hunting Lodge

LandTrust offers a variety of lodging arrangements within our listings. Many of our landowners are happy to share access to their land, but don’t have accommodations to offer sportsmen during their hunting trip. Meanwhile, we have quite a few landowners who are in a position to offer a hunting lodge for sportsmen to stay in. For example, a recently added LandTrust listing, the Abbott Ranch, is able to extend a very welcome invitation for sportsmen to stay in their ranch-style bunk house. 

Access to the Abbott Ranch also entails an inclusive, full-course, evening meal for the entire hunting party. They are happy to cook steaks, BBQ, hamburgers, or fresh game! After a long day out in the fields, coming back to this kind of support from the family and the comfort of the hunting lodge makes the experience all that more pleasing. It also helps sportsmen recover and get ready for another exciting day during their hunting trip!

The Abbott Ranch hunting lodge offers all sorts of amenities for sportsmen.

Some sportsmen are intrigued by the idea of returning to a home-cooked meal, while others are happy to take care of those arrangements themselves, but still stay in a hunting lodge. New to LandTrust is the 5,000 acre Oak View Ranch, located in O’Neill, NE. The Oak View Ranch offers two different lodging options for sportsmen: a main hunting lodge and an a-frame cabin. The main hunting lodge features a bunk house with three sets of bunk beds​ and a few more twin beds. In all​,​ it can host about 8-10 people and has two bathrooms and showers​,​ washer​/​dryer​,​ a game cleaning room and full kitchen.

The second lodging option at Oak View Ranch includes an A-frame cabin that was built 23 years ago. The cabin is located just a half mile from the main lodge and hosts two beds on the lower level plus two on the second floor. There is no running water or electricity- the cabin runs on propane for a cookstove and a wood stove for heat. However​,​ it sits right on the shore of one of our lakes and some of our guests really love it for the peace and quiet it can provide.

Evening fishing outside the A-frame lodge at the Oak View Ranch

Similarly, North Fork Hunting in Wauneta, NE has RV and tent camping available, as well as a simple hunting lodge. The lodging is not fully furnished, but does have running water and bathrooms and provides a great roof over your head. 

Many of our sportsmen book a hunting trip months in advance and look forward to their time out in the wilderness. Frequently, these trips are out of state and require flights or long road trips, making it worth their time to book extended trips. While camping in the woods or staying in a hotel nearby might be sufficient for a night or two, these big hunting trips warrant booking a hunting lodge. 

Regardless of what type of hunting trip or hunting vacation you're looking to book, we hope that you can find plenty of options available on LandTrust. If there's something that you're looking for that we haven't been able to fulfill yet, we would love to hear from you with feedback on how we can improve and where we should emphasize growth. 

If you have questions or comments about our operation, we invite you to start a conversation with us in the comments section of this post or contact us directly. If you know of other sportsmen or landowners who might consider working with LandTrust, we'd like you to consider sharing our story with them.