The good and the bad
 

Well i went to my girlfriends graduation party on saturday and got talking for awhile with one of her uncles who is big into hunting, well we talked for about 2 or 3hrs. then he said if you ever need a place to hunt of want to hunt you can come with me, well turns out its like a 140 acres to hunt and he has about 15 to 20 stands all set up already pretty good deal.

Now for the bad new, I went to talk to my farmer friend where i hunted last year, well talked to him for about 10mins. and found out now he had the land all switched into his name and he's is thinking about leasing the land out. AHHH NOO now where am I going to hunt I really don't have a lot of money laying around for a lease and really don't like thinking about a lease because the way i see it is like paying $500 for a deer is rediculous and i can only hunt with the girlfriends uncle once in awhile because it is so far away from here. I mean i thought I was pretty nice to him last year i mean helped out on the farm a little and gave him some of the deer I got off of his land but i guess now days everything revolves around money nothing is like it used to be.

This whole things just kind of pisses a guy off your so nice and help out a lot and now your expected to pay to hunt the land I just don't get it.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Did he say he that you would have to lease it to hunt on it? That wasn't really clear in your post. If so, yeah that sux but bottom line is it's his property and the almighty dollar looks better than sweat and friendship to more land owners these days. Maybe you could talk him inot letting you hunt it for free or trade and he can lease it to other hunters? Worth a try. I only have 11 acres of private land left which my long time friend lives on. The rest is public land.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Sounds like you think he owes you something. You helped him work and he let you hunt. Sounds like you are even to me. Do you think the guy should be forever indebted to you? It sounds to me like the man wants to best utilize his land to make a decent living and provide for himself and his family. Since it's his land that should be his perogative shouldn't it? You begrudge this guy for wanting to put a little coin in his pocket but you don't think you should have to take any out of yours. I personnally get sick and tired of hearing people come in here and b*tch about what someone else does with their land because they think someone owes them a free ride. The guy has an oppurtunity to put a little money in his pocket and that's what he is doing. That's his job! That's like saying you wouldn't take a raise if your boss offered it to you because one of the other people in the office wouldn't get a raise if you got one. I doubt you would do that. You would look out for your best interest and the best interest of your family and that's exactly what he is doing.

RE: The good and the bad
 

No i dont think he owes me something, now that i over read it again andit kind of sounds that way. All i am getting at is that it sucks because i really dont got a lot of money laying around to payfor a lease. But ifI was the farmer I would probably be doing the same thing he is soI don't know

RE: The good and the bad
 

When you put it in those terms I agree with you whole heartedly. It sucks to lose ground but you have to think about it from his side as well. It may work out that you find and even better spot. Either way i hope it works out for you.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Yea that's definately a bummer. I don't have any private ground to hunt but luckily here in Missouri we have lots of good public tracts of land that I have to myself a majority of the time. Hope it works out for you.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Well you'll have to wait and see. Personally I won't pay to hunt. I already pay too much for my equipment and missing overtime at work. If he finds that he's loosing more money to crop damage/ property damage, then he makes with leasing, maybe he'll change his mind. It sucks to lose hunting land but it's his land to decidewho goes on and if he wants payment. If I were you I'd start knocking on doors and making friends of other farmers. Even if he doesn't charge it's always good to have a back up place to hunt. The ONLY problem I have with farmers leasing their land to hunters is the fact that I seeand hear a lot b!tching and complaining about crop/property damage. They want the state, game commision/DNR to do something about it, which is usually allow more deer to be taken from their landand tax breaks. I find something very seriously wrong with a person that gets a tax break for damage then wants hunters to pay to help solve their problem. I say it should be one or the other. Tax break or lease the land.

RE: The good and the bad
 

I agree that the situation stinks to high heaven and can understand why you would be upset. On the other hand, things don't seem to be set in stone yet so I would feel the farmer out a bit more on the situation. Maybe you can strike up some kind of deal that you both can live with.

RE: The good and the bad
 

I would go to the farmer and just straight out ask him if you can hunt on his land, ask him if he leases it, can you be written into the contract as a steward, basically someone who watches over the farmers land while it's being leased by others, making sure the people who lease it do no damage to the property. I'd bet he would go for it, almost like insurance for free with the exception of you hunting on the property. Go for it and let us know how it turns out.

RE: The good and the bad
 

This whole trade idea has got me thinking maybe there is some kind of way to be able to hunt his land without paying thanks for the input

RE: The good and the bad
 

That's a bummer. I'm dreading the day when one of my landowners asks for money. I am as nice as I can be, and always on the look out for new places.

And before you guys complain about people's right tomake some coin.....look at it from the tons of people who've enjoyed hunting all thier lives for nothing more than a smile, a handshake, and maybe a little sweat. When you've done something all your life basically for free and then get charged a significant amount of money...it is a GIANT and painfull pill to swallow.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Exactly what the farmer thinks ry. When you have done something all your life, a ton of sweat and basically for free then you have to start asking for money to hunt because it is the only way you can make any. Don't think that greed drives a lot of these guys to charge for hunting. The price farmers and ranchers are paid for their commodities have changed very little overthe last 50 years. Think their operating expenses are still the same? I bet you would be surprised to see the net income statement on their tax returns every year.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Paying for lease land is pretty much a fact of life where I'm at. There is some public land around, but I've already been shot at in my life and have no great desire to put myself in that position again. The only thing that I can offer is that if you work directly with a land owner, sometimes you can get cheaper lease rates for doing improvements to the land, not building permanent stands, etc...We do that on one of our leases where the owner is out of town. Heck, we even cleaned a deer that he shot when he came into town last year. Sometimes this pays off. We are leasing it for half of what the going rate is in our area. You might try that approach.

What you have to watch for is doing the improvements for the owner when you are leasing, and have the owner turn around and lease it to someone else for more. That happened on a corporate lease that my old company had. We tore down everything that we put out there and brought it back.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Get used to the fact that if you don't own land you might have to pay someone who does to be able to hunt on it. It's a fact of capitalist life and it isn't getting any better. Twenty years ago you would've never paid to drink water when water fountains were everywhere but look at all that bottled water now.

RE: The good and the bad
 

Man, it must be nice to live up north. If a landowner around here told me I could hunt his land for free, Iwould have to assume he was hopped up on crack. Land in this area leases for $10.00-$25.00 an acre. $15.00 an acre is average.If you don't pay, you don't hunt. Even at these prices, it's almost impossible to find a piece of property that's not already being leased. Public land is scarce and if you do decide to hunt it, you can pretty well bet on at least one near death experience each season due to someone else's negligence. $500.00 to hunt 140 acres? Consider yourself lucky.:)

RE: The good and the bad
 

thanks for the input guys

RE: The good and the bad
 

You think that is a bad one, listen to this one.I have permission from a man that owns several hundred acres in the N. Georgia mountains. A private landowner, and his buddy leased some timberland that butts up to this land.There is only 2 access roads to my property, and one is through their lease. I made the mistake of showing a picture of 160" 10 pointer that I got with my trail cam the week after I tagged out. This buck would be a county record. the landowner, an influential construction company owner, had the back entrance, the only other way in, blocked with boulders. He refuses to allow me legal access through their lease. The property owner that gives me permission to hunt, will not put this in writing for fear of liability. I have tried to sign a release and everything I can think of to get him to put the agreement in writing. The only way that I can force them to allow me access is if I obtain this in writing from the landowner.This is all because of 2 greedy 'hunters' that want to force me off this land for their own obvious reasons.It infuriates me, as this land has been very productive for me, as well as holds the possible county record, and I have no recourse, unless this man changes his mind. If I push too hard, he''ll deny me permission. If I don't get him to put it in writing, I'm out of luck! What would you do?

RE: The good and the bad
 

Hey sounds like your in a pretty big pinch, I was once told that if you have something that everyone else wants, or wants to know about don't tell or show anyone it because it won't be long before its not just yours anymore. As far as what you should do i think i would just keep pushing because by the way it sounds your out if you don't, and if you do you could get back in there or you could be out so i would just keep pushing.