wholelottagobble

Guys I have been looking into perhaps leasing some land. I have never done it before, but have always said I am willing to pay for good ground to hunt. There are several advertisements in the local classifieds. The land would likely be mostly hardwoods in tracts about 50-300 acres. How do I decide what to pay? What is too much to pay? Do I pay an amount per acre or what? Also, I would likely want a lease to run 3+ years is that too much or too little? Of course I would make it clear that I must have exclusive rights and would like to even post the property with signs. What are questions I need to ask the owners when I talk with them on the phone? What should scare me away from a piece of property? Thanks for the help...

GRIZZLYMAN

I don't know how North Carolina is but I'll tell you how it is where I hunt. Most land in Arkansas where I hunt is owned by forestry companies or family trusts. The cost of a lease per acre can vary. I have three leases ranging from 40 acres to 180 acres. On one lease my brother in law and I pay a little over two dollars an acre leasing from a family trust. On another we pay 4.00 an acre but we have to pay 115 a year for insurance to the timber company. This puts the effective rate at 6.00 an acre for a 40 acre lease. For another lease we pay 4.18 an acre and that is about the going rate.

I look at a leases accessability (do I have to cut trails in), amount of huntable land (if half of your land is in a swamp, that's not necessarily a good thing) , rules as far as what can be done with the lease (do they allow clearing to plant food plots).

Most leases in my area are year to year. Watch out, if you make a lot of improvements, a land owner could kick you off of it and lease it out at a higher rate, or hunt it himself. I've seen this done. Forestry companies are sometimes the best route for preventing this.

I ask questions like "when is the last time timber was cut". This tells me if it's been 5-7 years in pine forests, they may have scheduled a cut and might not tell you about it. I had a timber company start cutting the second day of deer season two years ago and clear cut the 40 acre lease (my brother in law was hunting that one that day and barely got out of a tree before they cut it).

Another question, if you are joining a lease with someone else is to ask why they are looking for new members. This could indicate that the lead person has the best area staked out and you are left with crap (this happens in clubs all the time). I let myself be talked into that one time, and never again.

There isn't a magic formula, a lot of it is hit and miss. The best place to start if you are in an area with a lot of timber industry, is the forestry companies. Word of mouth from someone you trust is another route. The best way is to buy land and do what you want on it. It may take you several seasons to find a good area; once you find it, hang on to it! Good luck!

wholelottagobble

when leasing land is it for several years at a time or just season to season? Also when you lease land can you post it?

shaftnem

Alot of your answers are just going to depend on what's common in your area. I live in Alabama. In this part of the state {which consistently produces more and bigger deer than other areas}, land leases for anywhere from $10.00 to $20.00 per acre. In the northern part of the state I know of land going for only $3.00 an acre, so it can change drastically troughout a relatively small area. Land is almost always leased "per acre"{around here anyway}. Land is typically leased year to year, but sometimes you can get 3,5, or even 10 year leases. I have 3 year leases on some of mine. It just depends on the landowner. I would suggest starting out with a 1 year lease, to make sure you like the place, and talking to the landowner beforehand, to see if a multiple year lease is an option should you decide to keep it. And yes, you can post leased land. I'd probably just start calling those numbers and talking to the people. They'll have an idea of what they want for it. Talk to several of them, and go with what sounds best. Try to meet with them and look over the property to make sure it's something you'll be happy with.

GRIZZLYMAN

When I lease land it is year to year, and that's pretty much the way the owners want it. It's also to the hunter's advantage because if you get a dog of a lease, you can get out of it.

In Arkansas, you can post leased land, as far as I know. I've posted all of my leased land as well as owned land. In most cases, the boundries are already posted and marked with purple paint, which in Arkansas, is as good as a posted sign.

HuntinGUS

I lease land in WV off of a Timber co. The lease has to be re-newed every year. the price is about 4.25 per acre. The company I lease off of allowed me to walk the property and take a good look at it first. They also allowed us to post the boundries and provide a member list.