Get Permission
Free printable hunting permission slips
Print a permission slip, check what your state requires, and know what to say when you knock on a landowner's door. Free, no account needed.
State by state
Does your state require a written slip?
Pick your state. It also goes on the slip below.
Written permission required
Ohio: Written permission is the law
Ohio law says no one may hunt or trap on someone else's land, pond, lake or private water without written permission from the owner or the owner's authorized agent. You must carry it while you hunt or trap and show it to a wildlife officer, any law officer or the landowner when asked.
Checked against the official page. November 2026.
Fill it in, then print
Printable hunting permission slip
Pick a layout, type in what you know and print. Anything left blank prints as a line to fill in by hand. Both of you sign it in ink.
Nothing typed here is saved or sent anywhere. It stays on this page until you print.
Permission to hunt on private land
Ohio
The landowner named below gives the guest named below permission to enter the property for the activities and dates marked. The guest carries this slip whenever they are on the property.
Permission for
Landowner and property
Guest
Landowner's terms
The guest agrees to
- Respect the landowner's property and wishes.
- Handle firearms and bows safely, and never shoot toward buildings, roads or livestock.
- Leave gates, fences and crops the way I found them.
- Pack out everything I bring in.
- Follow all hunting and trapping laws.
- Use only this property, only on the dates listed, and bring no one who isn't named here.
I enter and use this property at my own risk. I release the landowner from liability for any injury, loss or damage connected with this permission.
Free permission slip from buckeyehunterhub.com. A general form, not legal advice. Check your state's rules.
When and how
How to ask a landowner for permission to hunt
The situations that come up most, and the approach that gets a yes.
Ask long before the opener
Late summer is the best time. The crops are still up, the landowner isn't buried in harvest, and nobody else has asked yet. Asking the week of gun season usually gets a no.
Knock like a neighbor
Go in daylight, in clean everyday clothes, with no camo and no gun in sight. Park where you can be seen from the house, go to the door alone, and step back after you knock.
Ask for less first
A whole season is a big ask from a stranger. One weekend, a youth hunt, does only, squirrels, coyotes or shed hunting in March is an easier yes, and it lets them see how you treat the place.
Offer to solve a problem
Farmers lose crops to deer, geese, raccoons and coyotes. Ask what's been getting into the corn or the calves, and offer to help with that before you ask about a buck.
When the owner lives away
Send a short letter to the mailing address on the property record. Say who you are, what you'd like to hunt and when, and include your phone number and a stamped return envelope.
When a deer crosses the line
Stop at the fence. Mark your last blood, then call or knock before you step over. Rules for recovering game across a property line differ by state, so if you can't reach the owner, call the wildlife officer.
Mark it with Blood TrailMeet the neighbors too
Introduce yourself to the people next to the ground you hunt. Trade phone numbers and ask ahead of time what they'd want you to do if an animal runs onto their side.
When someone else already hunts it
Don't push. Ask if there's a time that isn't taken, like late season, spring turkey or small game, and leave your number in case the other hunter moves on.
Put it in writing every time
Even where the law doesn't require it, a signed slip settles who is allowed, where and when. Fill one in before you go so the landowner only has to read it and sign.
Word for word
What to say
Change the details to fit. Short, honest and easy to say no to works best.
Knocking on the door, in person
Hi, I'm ____ from over in ____. Sorry to bother you at home. I'm looking for a place to bow hunt deer this fall, and I wondered if you'd consider letting me hunt your woods. It would be just me. I'd park wherever you want, stay out of the crops, and text you every time I'm out here. If the answer's no, I understand completely. Either way, thanks for hearing me out.
Once you have a yes
How to treat the property
Permission is borrowed. This is how it gets renewed.
Park where you're told
Never block a gate, a lane or a field entrance. If the ground is soft, walk in instead of leaving ruts.
Leave gates as you found them
Open stays open, closed stays closed. Livestock getting out is the fastest way to lose a place.
Know the lines
Walk the boundaries before the season and save the property as a hunt zone on the map, so you never drift onto the neighbor.
Draw the property on the mapStay out of the crops
Walk field edges, not rows. Ask before you drive anywhere but the lane.
Ask before you change anything
No screw-in steps, nails, cut limbs, food plots or permanent stands unless the landowner says so.
Bring only who's on the slip
Permission is for you. Ask before bringing a buddy, and never pass the spot along to someone else.
Say when you're there
A quick text when you arrive and when you leave means they never wonder whose truck that is.
Pack everything out
Empties, flagging tape, lunch wrappers and other people's trash too. Ask where they want an animal field dressed.
Keep it quiet
Don't post the location, the landowner's name or a photo that gives the farm away.
When the answer is no
How to take a no
Or a yes that is smaller than the one you hoped for.
- 01
Thank them and mean it
A no is usually about timing, insurance, family or a bad experience with someone else. It is rarely about you. Thank them for their time before you say anything else.
- 02
Don't argue or bargain
No second pitch, no asking why twice, no offering money on the spot. Pushing turns a polite no into a permanent one.
- 03
Leave your name and number
Hand over a card or a slip of paper in case things change. Plenty of yeses come a year later from a landowner who remembered the polite one.
- 04
Ask one easy question
"Would it be all right if I checked back next year?" or "Do you know a neighbor who might be open to it?" Then take the answer and go.
- 05
A partial yes is a yes
Bow only, not during gun week, catch and release only, weekdays only. Take it gladly and follow it to the letter.
- 06
Stay off the line
Never use the place anyway, and don't crowd the boundary out of spite. Wave when you drive by. You are still their neighbor.
Before you knock
Finding who to ask
Start with the map
Find the ground on the map first so you know exactly which piece you're asking about. In Ohio, the hunting map can draw property lines.
Open the hunting mapLook up the parcel
Most county auditor or assessor websites have a free property search. It gives the owner's name and the mailing address, which is where a letter should go.
Ask who has the say
The farmer working the field may rent it. The slip needs the owner's signature, or the signature of someone the owner has authorized.
Trusts and companies
When the owner is an LLC, a trust or a company, write to the mailing address on record and ask who can approve access.
Year after year
Keeping your permission
Say thank you after the season
A note, a text or a visit when the season ends. Tell them what you saw and that you closed up behind you.
Give something back
Share meat or fillets if they want them, and offer a hand with firewood, fence or hay. Ask what would help instead of guessing.
Be their extra set of eyes
Tell them about a broken fence, an open gate, a sick animal or tire tracks that aren't yours.
Ask again every year
Renew the slip before each season. Never assume last year's yes still stands, especially if the land changed hands.
Same people, same truck
Show up in the vehicle on the slip with the people on the slip. Ask before anything changes.
Leave it better
Pick up trash that isn't yours and fix what you can. That is what gets you invited back.
Good to know
hunting permission slip FAQ
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and differ by state. Check your state wildlife agency's current rules before relying on anything here.
Ask first. Hunt with a clear conscience.
Free to print. No account needed.