I aggree with several points that cougar and greatwhite both make. However, I also disaggree with several points as well.

1. Leasing is a great to ensure success - Not the case at all. The only thing that leasing ensures is that the guy has a place to hunt. Leasing is HUGE in most areas in Illinois and I have seen tracts of land that I would not hunt for free get leased, mostly to out-of-state hunters who don't have the time to research the property and just assume that since it is in Illinois, it will have tanks on it. If you lease a big enough tract of property, you can decide to not take a buck and have decent expectationst that he will make to next year, but this is far from being 100% true. I lease 1500 acres near cougar and all of my ground has heavy hunting pressure on the neighboring properties. It would be one thing if the 1500 acres were a perfect square, but it is not. It is broken up by other land owners and I let a buck walk, I doing so knowing he could be killed 10 minutes after I see him.

2. Leasing ground opens the door to outfitters - in my experience is just the other way around. When outfitters roll in, they start sucking up every bit of available ground around them. This leaves a bunch of hunters (who were hunting my permission only) without a place to hunt. In return, they are almost forced to open their wallet and try to compete with the outfitters for ground. I know in Pike and Calhoun Counties where I did most of my hunting that outfitter will often lease properties that boarder their "core" areas just so noone can hunt it and provider them with a buffer zone. I lost a piece to an outfitter a few years back and the only reason why was because the property I was hunting had crop ground while the outfitters "core" area did not. He did not want me shooting "his" deer when they came to feed and he knows that he cannot make a big enought food plot to compete with a 200 acre corn field.

3. Heard management should be a part of any hunters game plan. I have never understood the guy that goes out and refuses to shoot a doe. He has to know that by not taking does, he is hurting the land in the long run. I know plenty of outfitters who spend a bunch of time in late Decemenber and Janurary killing does, just in an attempt to get the buck-to-doe ratio to a point where it helps them in hunting bucks.

IMHO leasing is what it is. Some are lucky enough to have gained permission to hunt (orown)quality ground. There are places where gaining access for free or by trading work is still possible. However, some of us are not so lucky. Deer hunting consumes all of my free time, the amount of time I have to hunt is more limited than I would like it to be. Thefore, I have opted to join a hunt club that leases private ground as well as lease private ground on my own. I want to know that when I get to go, I have a quality place to head to. I know that leasing is not for everyone, but it is spreading. I do believe that the midwest will soon be like Texas and other areas in the South. If you don't own, lease, or belong to a hunt club you will be restricted to public ground only.