views on leased land in Pa

Barking treed · 10-04-2002, 11:42 AM

I am wondering how hunters in Pa feel about the current trend towards private land being leased up by hunting clubs.
And if those that have some leased feel that the new deer management programs Pa is enbarking on . Will effect the cost of those leases.
Notice I am not asking form those posters without access to leases and bitter towards that. to use this a platform for an arguement.BT

Broadhead88 · 10-04-2002, 12:10 PM

Try hunting in NJ where the best land is all private (for the most part)and landowners are under pressure from developers and the tax man. We saw our lease go from $5K to 10K overnight! I do not know of a single person that has free access unless it is from a family member. Leasing is here to stay and is the norm down SOuth and the midwest.

Am I bitter b/c I have to pay $$ to hunt good land--you bet. However, what else can I do to guarantee a place to hunt that is not overun w/hunters.

Looking at the world from 15 feet up.

Barking treed · 10-04-2002, 03:41 PM

BH88 I'm long past the worrying about how those that do not lease feel about us that do. Frankly as in every walk of life, you'll find some that will cling to yesteryears ways, as well as those that just won't agree it will happen, and always those with insight to be the early ins that will grasp the primo spots first.
My feelings are though ,that those that can, will.
I got tired of public land overcrowding years ago. Purchased a lease back in 87 when I transfered down here , and have had good hunting since.I could have passed on the lease and stayed hunting on Blue Mountain Gamelands where every evening at the best time some yahoo stumbled thru my setup with no regard to hunting manners, and grown bitter. But why continue to put up with that?BT

Rob/PA Bowyer · 10-04-2002, 07:56 PM

Barking Treed, you make good points about public land and I'd like to point out the biggest problem and that is hunting manners. The overcrowding is probably the biggest contributing factor.

I've been priveledge with hunting ground. My hunting partners family owns several thousand acres, I have other personal exclusive private lands which I hunt alone and also as an outfitter, we have leases. The new antler restrictions are good for me, our neighbors are forced to pass on bucks that we pass everyday which otherwise, they wouldn't have.

I do have the fear in the back of my mind as many tho that leases are going to be more common as the bucks grow and the demand is up. The people you can't blame tho is the landowners, it's called supply and demand and they are not making more land anywhere I know. Land is not getting cheaper and taxes need to be paid....I hope for the sake of everyone tho that it is at a minimum and the public availability of land grows.

Things are going to change, costs are gonna go up, be prepared now.

<font color=blue>Good Luck and Good Shooting</font id=blue>

<font color=red>Rob</font id=red>

eddiee · 10-06-2002, 06:29 PM

The 1000 acres we hunt on is leased buy the Amish. A ranch had tried to buy the property and sell guided deer hunts. The well to do family which owns the land declined. The 5 adjoining camps to the property are allowed to hunt on the leased land at no charge. There is talk that the property might be clear cut and sold off. Or a conservation group might buy the property and donate it to the game commission

Barking treed · 10-07-2002, 05:12 AM

Anyone that has been around the hunting game very many years. has seen alot of states be taken over by leased hunting rights. SW,MW, W now NE.
The one constant issue behind leaseing is ..... Quality hunting. I fear That with Alt pushing for Pa to become a " big buck state" . that leaseing will increase due to it. EVERY state that has big bucks has little public land, nearly all farms are gobbled up by lease hungry hunters. Wanting those big bucks.
nothing remains the same. Even the age old tradition of deer hunting in Pa is changing.So see itmfor the better,some for the worse. Depends which side of the lease lines you fall on.

Broadhead88 · 10-07-2002, 08:42 PM

BT-

I agree that with quality on the upswing, more guys will want to grab a lease in a good area. I hunt in Illinois on private land that a customer of mine owns and he is surrounded by leased land from Chicago hunters. The quality is awesome and there is almost no "free" land left in the trophy areas of Illinois.

NJ has some great hunting land in the NW and the central part of the state and clubs lease most of the better lands. The really good properties are strictly off-limits to hunters or only hunted by some caretakers or relatives. We have 14 guys that lease land for deer/birds/etc and are surrounded by other clubs. We have tried a season of QDM but since no one else does it, we basically threw the towel in last year. I did shoot a 135 B&C 3 yrs ago and have seen some others in that range but the hunting pressure is so severe in NJ that quality is tough to come by.

Do I think that Alt's plan will cause more leasing in PA? Maybe a little in the areas that are close to the larger cities. But PA seems a little different as there is so much Public land available. Illinois actually has very little public land for such a good deer state and NJ has a decent amount 300,000+ acres but the overdevelopment is ruining the experience for a lot of us.

Looking at the world from 15 feet up.