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Hunting lease discussion

WISCO

WISCO

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2022
Messages
451
Location
Northern Wisconsin
Kicking around the idea of getting a hunting lease. I want some private land to take my family hunting on, something I can have permeant stands and blinds set up on. Does anyone have any experience on hunting land leases, good or bad? A lot of the leases I am seeing are on Ag lands, I'm not looking to install food plots. Pricing on some of the leases out there is pretty reasonable.
 
WISCO said:
Kicking around the idea of getting a hunting lease. I want some private land to take my family hunting on, something I can have permeant stands and blinds set up on. Does anyone have any experience on hunting land leases, good or bad? A lot of the leases I am seeing are on Ag lands, I'm not looking to install food plots. Pricing on some of the leases out there is pretty reasonable.
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If the price seems reasonable it probably sucks. At least around here that is the case.
 
Every hunting lease or club I've been a part of has been a disaster. It's always an ego or possession type attitude, or the whole this is my spot,thats his stand or spot , ive been in the club longer than you, deer shaming its just awful.
Be honest I love public and its much better. besides my liscence its free and there's good deer
the biggest problem in my areas with an individual lease is that most farmers who lease properties think that their farms are on the lines of Tecomonte ranch and have Booners everywhere you go and they charge for it 35-40 an acre is just ridiculous
 
I did a Basecamp lease with 3 friends from 2017-2019… other than writing the check (and me getting a trailer stolen) it was a great experience and the farmer was awesome to deal with. Was about $25 an acre. The reason we quit is I had kids and the lease was 2 hours away. If you do Basecamp pay for the upgraded membership, review leases immediately as they’re released and be ready to eat a deposit or two in the process of finding your long term keeper.
 
BTaylor said:
$15-20$ per acre around here last I checked and that isnt primo ground either.
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Reasonable and going rate is often two different things..: we are our own worst enemy, my buddy was bid out out of his South Carolina lease and he already paid $30 an acre.

For me, $10-12 an acre is reasonable. More than that is too rich for my fireman blood. Especially when you factor food plots or any of that and lodging. Public land grind is becoming the only affordable option for a lot of us. Supply and demand I guess, it’s the way of the world. As long as somebody keeps throwing down thousands of dollars to sit and watch deer landowners will keep the prices up.


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I've leased a ton of ground over the years. I've had some great ones and I've had some terrible ones. I'm done with leases. For a good lease, you're going to pay a lot of money per year. I felt like I was throwing money away. So, I found property to buy paying about the same amount per year, and my kids or grandkids will have it if they want it. Plus, I still have nearby public lands if I want to have more ground to spread out on.
 
shwacker said:
Reasonable and going rate is often two different things..: we are our own worst enemy, my buddy was bid out out of his South Carolina lease and he already paid $30 an acre.

For me, $10-12 an acre is reasonable. More than that is too rich for my fireman blood. Especially when you factor food plots or any of that and lodging. Public land grind is becoming the only affordable option for a lot of us. Supply and demand I guess, it’s the way of the world. As long as somebody keeps throwing down thousands of dollars to sit and watch deer landowners will keep the prices up.


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I am looking around $14 an acre. I didn't think it was too bad.
 
I own some hunting property, there is some leased joining me, they shoot anything that moves and hunt every day for months, so can't get much going in the deer world for that, So, if you can, check for restriction around the lease you look at before laying down the greenbacks.
 
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For that amount of money you're a pretty good ways towards a guided hunt adventure in Canada or Alaska or somewhere in the lower 48 targeting a new animal, If I had that type of funds to spend on deer every year that's what I would be planning, going on a moose or dall sheep or caribou etc hunt every third or fourth year or something like that and would continue to hunt public around home. Who knows maybe my opinions will change in a few years though. That's my plan for now though, just on more of a shoestring budget and likely with larger gaps in between trips.
 
I've been in a few leases. The first one I got in the dues were $800 a year and we had about 9,000 acres and 25 guys. In the 9 years I was in it the dues went to $1300 a year and the property dwindled to 3500 acres. We still had about 25 members but some of the older guys dropped out and we got in some guys who moved to camp and actually lived there 3 months out of the year and hunted 7 days a week. Also, for them if it was brown it was down. Every year it was "are we going to have enough members get back in for the club to make?" and "are we going to lose land this year?" or "how much will the dues go up?" and it was always down to the wire before we ever got a solid answer. There were some big blocks of land that I always said that when they get logged, I'm out, and they eventually got logged.

Another thing was that unlike public land, guys out there would ride 4 wheelers over every square inch of the place that they could. It wasn't just scouting either. The kids would just joy ride. A lot of those dudes would literally ride their 4 wheeler up to the base of their ladder stand and hunt. It was pretty ridiculous. Then they would complain about never seeing deer, lol.

All that said, if you knew how to get away from them the hunting was pretty good. Basically, if you found a place they could not get a 4 wheeler, like across a deep ditch, they never went there. It was like the dark side of the moon for them. Also, new growth cutovers that got thick were good spots because the only way they knew to hunt them was sit on the road with a rifle and if anything came across, they would have at it. Of course, if it did not fall in its tracks on the logging road, they left it. They wouldn't go into the thick stuff. I found lots of skeletons 40 to 50 yards off in those thickets.

I saw the club president about a month ago and we talked. I have halfway given some thought to getting back in just for the turkey hunting and the hogs and the fact that I know the place backward and forward and know where some really good rut funnels are deep in the thickets. I would still hunt public primarily but i do miss being able to hunt hogs year round. Our WMA rules only allow hog hunting during an open season. If the season is open for deer, I'm not hunting hogs.
 
WISCO said:
Kicking around the idea of getting a hunting lease. I want some private land to take my family hunting on, something I can have permeant stands and blinds set up on. Does anyone have any experience on hunting land leases, good or bad? A lot of the leases I am seeing are on Ag lands, I'm not looking to install food plots. Pricing on some of the leases out there is pretty reasonable.
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Perhaps your question should be phrased around your goals:
1 How much have you paid per acre per deer shot?
2. How much have you paid per acre per (P&Y buck, or inches of antler) shot?

The answer to a general question is going to vary regionally, and depend on many factors. The replies above have already played this out: from leasing is terrible, to it’s wonderful.
 
I belong to a lease now that is really affordable, because we have about 9 guys, but It is amazing how quickly 9 guys not on the same page when it comes to hunting can make a farm nocturnal. I have been on this lease for 3 years and I find myself hunting it less and less each year and supplementing with more public. I am actually thinking about just doing public next year and then spending my lease budget on a 5 day archery hunt with a semi guided outfitter that will let you be mobile and move around. Basically paying for good land that has all the food plots and intel I would need to get an opportunity for a nice buck would really give me more bang for my buck.
 
The lease I'm looking for would be just myself, my wife and kids. I'm not looking to start a club or butt heads with other members. From the comments here and what I read on other pages, leases with others can be a headache and Sh!t show. I'm also seeing a lot of people talking about loosing leases after they spend thousands on food plots. I wont be spending thousands of dollars upgrading land I dont own, that doesn't make financial sense. Basically looking to have a piece of land that we are the only people hunting it and having opportunity's for my wife and kids to hunt without dealing with others on public land.
 
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