jkcmerg

I hunt in Northern Wi on private land and in the Chequamegon National Forest (huge land), I don't know of anyone up here that 'leases' land to hunt on. What do you guys pay to lease a chunk of hunting proprty, and does that give you exclusive rights to that land? Just curious..

kickin_buck

I have been leasing ground here in Illinois now for 5 seasons. The reason I started leasing is because the private property I was hunting was sold when the land owner passed away and an outfitter purchased it. I had hunted that ground for 7 years, all it took to get and keep permission was doing some chores, giving the land owner some meat, and a christmas card. However, I spend two years hunting junk after that, knocked on a bunch of doors, but that is very hard now in Illinois. The State keeps raising the number of NR tags allowed each year, so the outfitters keep leasing/purchasing new ground to accomadate their clients, which leaves us resident hunters out in the cold. I tried the public ground approach, pretty crowded. For me it was a decision to either hunt the way I want to hunt (hunting quality ground with real chances at quality deer), or stop hunting all together. I don't pay crazy money for my leases, which the outfitter do on a regular basis, but if you look hard enough you can still find good ground and a reasonable rate ($20-$25) per acre. I know there are a ton of people on here that hate people who lease and to be honest I was never a big fan of it, but a guy has to do what he has to do. For those that have private land to hunt for free, count your blessings and work hard to keep it.

AF Hunter

You can get land use for free by being polite, LISTEN to what the landowner has to say, and respect the landowners wishes. I got a 260 acre lot by asking and when the landowner said he didn't let people hunt because of liability reasons, I came back to the house and looked at the state code. I found here if you let someone to use your land for recreational purposes, to include hunting, the landowner is not liabel for injuries. I printed the code off and the next time the landowner was around, I went to talk to him again. I told him I understood his concerns and did some research. I then handed him the section of the code that relieves him of any liability. I told him that if he gave me permission to bow hunt, I would help out on his land any way I could. He told me he didn't really need any help but since he liked my attitude, I could bow hunt but he still didn't want any gun hunting there. I thanked him profusely and will abide by his wishes. The next 100 acre plot I got permission by spending time conversing with the owner and then when one of his dogs came up missing, I drove around the area to see if I could find "Jimmy". I found him and returned him to the owner. I then asked if I could bow hunt his property and he replied without hesitation that he would love it if I hunted his land. The 40 acre plot was a matter of tracking down the owner in another state, calling him, listen to his stories about being in the military during WWII (which was really a treat for me) and then asking if I could bow hunt his property. He gave me permission on the condition that I posted his property and tell anyone who asks, I have exclusive rights and no one else can hunt there. If you ask in person, be sure to dress appropriately, be clean, and speak at their level in connection with the aforementioned items. Good luck.

TX_Hoghunter

In Texas everyone leases, there is no free land. For a good place you will pay around $12.00 per acre for a place. You will need at least 100 acres per hunter. Normally that will give you exclusive year around hunting rights to the place. I have seen places as low as $5/acre and as high as $40/acre. I am 42 and can't image hunting any other way.

-john