Why does anyone lease hunting land

[Carr5vols]

Ok I am trying to rationalize this. Just using numbers for leases around me. 500 acres will have 8 people each paying roughly 1,200. On that 500 acres there are probably 30 deer (estimate around me is 40 deer per 660 acres). If everyone kills( does or bucks) 1st couple of years, then your heard is practically gone...and the leases that join up to your lease is doing the same, there are no future for the herds. What am I missing, the hunting lease is the biggest Ponzi scheme ever...

 

[bozeman]

Agree, but some people cant help themselves. I know men/families who will save for this more than a vacation.......I honestly on just dont get it, but then pay over $1,500 to elk hunt.....so......maybe non-resident elk hunting is a ponzi scheme. lol

 

[Jimmy]

Don't many land owners just lease to one person? Maybe it's different in Georgia.

If you're competing with a bunch of other hunters for game, heck you can do that for free on public land!

 

[coloyooper]

More people on leases equals less people on public. Keep cheering them on

 

[wind gypsy]

Different everywhere but its funny how people grow up in the east thinking they need a lease to hunt because that's how dad, uncle, and cousin did it. Better be a good lease otherwise it's really hard to justify.

 

[Mountain_Life]

40 deer per 660 acres is an average. On good property with low pressure and good cover/food, the concentration of deer is usually higher than the land around it. As hunting pressure increases and food decreases, the deer will continue to move onto the lease. When leasing good property, you aren't just hunting the deer on that property but also all of the deer in the surrounding area. Generally everyone isn't killing deer on it either, as it is usually managed for quality deer.

When hunting the public land in the area, you often have less deer and you cannot control the hunting pressure or amount of deer killed. Whitetail hunting on small tracts is a control game, and not comparable to western styles of hunting.

$1,200 may seem steep until you add up the costs of a nonresident hunt as mentioned.

 

[Mountain_Life]

I am not sure how hunting leases are set up down south though. In the west and midwest, the hunting rights are generally leased out to one person or party. If it is different down south, than I would agree with your confusion.

 

[DangerRanger]

I don’t understand what you are upset about. The price? The concept?


Anybody in state wildlife that can pm me about density estimation work? Is it directly from hunting harvest reports? Just looked up my county and it’s laughable. I’ve counted more deer in the field in front of my house than it claimed per square mile. Must have been a block party

 

[browning2480]

We had a lease for a while that was kind of like a time share. You could hunt different farms leased by the company by making reservations. Killed some big deer off of it. Nothing close to where I live now so I am not in it anymore. Like mentioned above, you are describing more of a hunting club vs traditional Midwest lease.

 

[WCB]

Some guys have more money than smarts or would rather battle 8 guys in a section than battle 80 guys on the same amount of ground that is public. OR maybe the lease is prime ground that holds deer and maybe the bigger deer?

As someone stated above the deer are not spread evenly...hell in MT there could be an estimated 10 deer per square mile in a county and in that county1 mile of river bottom you could see 300 of them.

Also as some have stated that sounds more like a club than a lease. In the midwest/west leases are normally a single party at a set price (not per person)...otherwise we call it an access fee if it is a per person multiple party access. In that case it is a free for all. I know guys that pay $500 a piece to hunt a ranch in WY for deer but guess what anybody that pays $500 can hunt it. That place gets more pressure than most of the public around it.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Well, I know why ranchers lease the land to hunters, as like everything it's $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. The pros. and cons. are open for debate. I think it puts a real limit on the hunters with lower incomes but at the same time, if managed properly it can lead to real quality bucks.

 

[Carr5vols]

Land owners here do lease to one person, and that guy to cover his cost gets x amount of his buddies and they all split the cost.

 

[Wallace]

You would blush if you saw the checks I had to write for duck hunting leases.

I was born and raised in the southeast, I've hunted public and leases for whitetail my whole life. I enjoy public land duck hunting west of the Mississippi River and bear hunting in the mountains close to my house. I don't mess around on public land for whitetail anymore. Too many people, not enough animals, and I can join a club/lease and hunt all I want as well as have stands in place.

 

[Newtosavage]

Ok I am trying to rationalize this. Just using numbers for leases around me. 500 acres will have 8 people each paying roughly 1,200. On that 500 acres there are probably 30 deer (estimate around me is 40 deer per 660 acres). If everyone kills( does or bucks) 1st couple of years, then your heard is practically gone...and the leases that join up to your lease is doing the same, there are no future for the herds. What am I missing, the hunting lease is the biggest Ponzi scheme ever...

That's not a problem around here. Most leases in this area are on a state-managed deer management program and the lesees get a specific number of permits to be used each year. We've had trouble culling enough does each year to keep up.

To answer your question, I've had a lease the last 6 years for a couple reasons. 1) there is virtually no public land in our area, and what there is is very pressured and you can't count on taking an animal each year - which brings me to 2) my lease has been my venison "store" for those years. A guaranteed way to put meat in the freezer and in the freezers of others I know who want venison. 3) it's close to home and I can run out and sit for an hour or two with minimal prep. Usually all deer season, my camo and rifle or bow stay in my truck and I can just go straight from work to the lease.

All that said, I'll most likely give it up next year because I loathe sitting on the same small acreage every year and with just me and my wife, we don't need as much venison as we did when we had 5 mouths under our roof. Plus, I don't like having to deal with landowners and especially their kids and grandkids who roam around the place like they own it (because they do).

 

[SteveCNJ]

I know in NJ hunting public land there are some real idiots out there especially during shotgun season. I started hunting a lease when my son was 10 so he didgeridoo shot by one of these morons. I'm now in the SC low country. It's as much water and thick growth as you can imagine. I joined some guys in a lease who are a great bunch of guys. Not sure how long I'll be there because it's not real close but so far it's been a great experience.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

I didn't understand it for a long time. Sometimes, it doesn't make sense. Like the scenario that you mentioned.

However, sometimes it is nice to just have a spot close to home where you know the competition will be low. For waterfowl hunts, I can see why a LOT of people do it.

 

[cobbc03]

It's clear you have never had a lease. 1) you can control who legally hunts it. 2) you can enact whatever restrictions you want, and in a state like NY that is crucial. 3) its so much more than just hunting. I can set cams up with minimal worry of them getting stolen, I can put in plots for year round feed, or to hunt over, and I can do whatever I want with my hard earned money! Did I mention the improvements I'm able to do actually attract and hold deer, where stateland around me wont hold deer for long?

 

[Dirtbag]

I have hunted western public land my whole life. For me it makes total sense to lease some ground if you have the cash to do so and you want to have a quality hunt with the limited time you have to do it. If I could afford it I'd love to lease a piece of ground all to myself or with a group of like minded people with common goals. I've never leased before but have been invited on property that was shared/leased for waterfowl and had some great hunting.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Like homes, boats, trucks, anything else......it's supply and demand.

And as for the ROI.....I know more than a couple of guys in GA who maybe shoot 1-2 does per year on a food plot, and they pay at least $1,500. They could use that money to go out west and shoot a cow elk and have 5X the meat, and actually experience something different, but what they are really paying for is 4 months of rent to a fraternity so they can tell Momma "I'm going hunting" this weekend, leave town, and sit in their trailer watching football while crushing 2 cases of Bush Light and a handle of Titos. If they slip out to hunt a couple of times while they are there, that's a bonus.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I havent been in a lease in prolly 30 years. In many cases the pressure is more on these leases than public land.
Not to mention a whole lot of drama.