Why does anyone lease hunting land

[MattB]

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...

At a minimum you are missing that deer reproduce.

 

[Carr5vols]

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?

My dad has had 2000 acres leased since late 80s and we own over 500 ourselves. I just could not rationalize why him and his friends had this lease 5 minutes from our house. At the beginning it was good, the past 20 years it has been bad...but they still keep getting it. No matter how they try to manage it...road hunters and trespassers.

 

[Carr5vols]

At a minimum you are missing that deer reproduce.

Understand the reproduce, but between road kills, kills by leasers, kills by predators...it takes a toll if everyone kills each year.

 

[cobbc03]

My dad has had 2000 acres leased since late 80s and we own over 500 ourselves. I just could not rationalize why him and his friends had this lease 5 minutes from our house. At the beginning it was good, the past 20 years it has been bad...but they still keep getting it. No matter how they try to manage it...road hunters and trespassers.

You make it seem like those aren't an issue for public land either. I can promise the land I lease gets less poachers then all of the public land around me. While I can never get rid of them all, making my presence known goes a long ways. The entire population is decreasing, but what we are able to do on the 700ish acres we lease attracts deer all year, ensuring we not only harvest more and bigger deer, but see more all year round.

 

[Billy Goat]

The most important thing is a place to hunt. Not a custom rifle, fancy clothes or anything else.


That place to hunt is easier to come by in some places than others. Especially if you want to see stuff.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

Couple reasons for leases in my area.

1. Unmolested wildlife, crucial for deer and waterfowl. Especially hunting mature bucks.
2. minimal public land in the heart of redneck country. Safety first!

I understand that if you live in a western state that leasing land seems asinine, but it’s the standard in most eastern state’s

 

[Page Master]

Lot of real salty people in here about how others choose to spend their money and hunt. I own 13ac and have permission on 200ac surrounding it, yet I still have neighboring and family pressure harming my hunts. In a state with limited and crowded public land, watching friends pull monsters off of leases every year, I decided to bite the bullet and invest on extra land to hunt in a better part of the state.

 

[Brewski]

I backpack scout and hunt california high sierra public land for deer about 15 days and hike a minimum 75 miles per season. 8 years and have only killed 2 bucks. Costs are very low, just gas and cheap tags. I see a ton of hunters (extremely rare to see a successful hunter) and even spotting one legal buck is rare. I dont plan to stop, but have accepted most seasons are just taking my rifle and 50lbs gear for a hike.

Due to the frustrations with public land I now also lease low fence moderate pressure land in north Texas and hunt around 10 days per year. I share the lease with 3 other hunters but game animals are everywhere. Even with moderate lease and high surrounding lease pressure, I see 10-30 different deer per day plus alot of hogs and varmints.

Yes the cost of leasing is high but I have a lease because I value seeing animals and eating deer meat. There is absolutely no comparison to the amount of game I see on public versus private and the opportunity to harvest. Lease hunting is an expensive hobby, but I value seeing game animals so i will continue to lease. The key is finding a great lease. Plus I get to use cell cameras and wake up to pics like this.

 

[wildwilderness]

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...

You are missing a lot......

30 deer, say at a minimum 15 are does, they will have 30 fawns per year.....

Why do you have to have 8 on the lease? I'm on a lease with 1800 acres and 4 guys but we pay more.....
You can set rules on the size of bucks killed- 4 yro only etc....
You can control who gets to hunt when...
You can add food plots, minerals etc...
Lots of reasons to lease land, just seems like you are too cheap to afford the $$$ so don't worry about it.

 

[Carr5vols]

You are missing a lot......

40 deer, say at a minimum 20 are does, they will have 40 fawns per year.....

Why do you have to have 8 on the lease? I'm on a lease with 1800 acres and 4 guys but we pay more.....
You can set rules on the size of bucks killed- 4 yro only etc....
You can control who gets to hunt when...
You can add food plots, minerals etc...
Lots of reasons to lease land, just seems like you are too cheap to afford the $$$ so don't worry about it.

How much per acre for the 1800, around here the going price is $20 per acre and seen some as high as $30. That would be 36k for the 1800 yiu have 4 guys, 9k each...nope I will be cheap and For that price I can go on a jam up hunt about anywhere each year.

 

[tt_johnsclist]

What you are missing, or doing incorrectly, is turning a density estimate of 40 deer/acre into a population count of 30 for your 500 acres. Simply not the sort of math that those estimates are intended for. At best what you can say is that “at any given time about 30 deer on average may be present on my 500 acres” which is very different than “I only have 30 deer I need to ration carefully”.

What a lease gives you, a good lease anyhow, is the ability to manage the habitat and the shooting pressure on your 500 acres so that you can attract and hold more than 30 deer at any given time - primarily by shifting their distribution from neighboring properties to your own - but without ever substantially changing the 40 deer/acre estimate for your county or region.

 

[CoStick]

Understand the reproduce, but between road kills, kills by leasers, kills by predators...it takes a toll if everyone kills each year.

During the rut deer arrive that you only see during that time. We only have 5 acres, but good resident does, so when the rut starts it is like a cheap motel.

 

[wildwilderness]

How much per acre for the 1800, around here the going price is $20 per acre and seen some as high as $30. That would be 36k for the 1800 yiu have 4 guys, 9k each...nope I will be cheap and For that price I can go on a jam up hunt about anywhere each year.

I don't pay anywhere near that amount.
Every lease is different, some worth it and some not so much...
Yes you can just pay for a hunt every year. That will be like 5 days of hunting...
Its not the same as having a place you can hunt season long, with multiple deer etc.

 

[kda082]

I pay a farmer down the road a small amount to bow hunt his 160 acres and actually only hunt 30 acres of woods. I dont kill monsters on it but I also don’t fight crowds and can ride my ATV there in a couple mins. Son had his first bow kill on it last year which is priceless in my eyes. To each his own.

 

[bofishil]

I quit duck hunting 25 years ago because lease was going up every year on a private club. Then decided to spent all my time bowhunting deer. Unfortunately in Illinois leasing deer ground has far surpassed what duck hunting was in leaps and bounds.

 

[IdahoElk]

I’ve never hunted a lease but my buddy in NC does and the rule is nothing smaller than a 8 pt so after a few years they are seeing much bigger bucks than surrounding areas. During the rut I would guess that goes out the window as bucks roam for miles.

 

[sahunter06]

How much per acre for the 1800, around here the going price is $20 per acre and seen some as high as $30. That would be 36k for the 1800 yiu have 4 guys, 9k each...nope I will be cheap and For that price I can go on a jam up hunt about anywhere each year.

At that price per acre you are hunting in Harris/Worth/Lee/Meriwether/ Dooly/Macon counties or somewhere surrounding them. If you are a whitetail enthusiast then that 9k is worth harvesting a 140+ class buck. It’s personal preference. I have friends that spend 5k each for 2000 ac tract with a handful of guys and still go out west. Plus for those sportsmen that don’t have land and enjoy hunting, leasing land is a much safer option than public land hunting in Georgia. Additionally, being able to introduce the younger generations to hunting requires land and $. I understand your point, but you need to look at it from a different point of view. For what it’s worth, I have a farm, lease land and hunt out west.

 

[T28w]

Did the op mention where he is from.

It’s obviously different depending on where you live, but here, literally everyone is in a deer lease or family/friends land. I know very,very few people hunting public land for whitetails.

And I’ll say not all leases are equal. If u get in a good lease with good friends/family, it can be a great thing. And just as important is who the landowner is.

 

[7Bartman]

It's pretty simple here in MD. You either own, lease, or hunt mostly overcrowded public land. I'm saving my money to own, so in the meantime I lease and hunt public land. I think the issue is population density and lack of land here in the East that might be foreign to you. Don't get me wrong I think it's incredible to be able to go out and West and know I can roam further than I can walk in a single day.
I like leasing b/c it gives me some control over the land and the wildlife. Sure we spend thousands each year, but it beats the alternative.

 

[Billy Goat]

Lots of people who go to a grocery store think it's stupid to hunt.


Just perspective from where you stand.