The price to bow hunt these days.
 

Hello I’m a poor country boy from Texas who's passion of bow hunting couldn’t be higher than anyone else's. That’s just how I feel about it. I graduated college a few years ago and I got a decent job but I don’t make huge bucks or anything. I went to school in Kansas and enjoyed the bow hunting there in the 4.5 years of school I attened. After college I came home got a job, wife, kid and all that good stuff. Well now that I have a steady income I'm trying to get back to the Midwest to hunt and looking for leases have been just a major pain in my ass. Anyways back to the title of this thread. So what do you guys pay to hunt in the Midwest? I was looking for a smaller to midsize lease for like 5000$ about what I could afford. (I really can’t afford that) but I could come up with the money btw 1 to 3 people. I found a guy that had 10,000 acres of good hunting land and he told me 20-25 dollars an acre. So that’s 10000$ for 500 acres or say 25,000$ for 1000acres. How can anyone afford that innless they make a lot of money? 10,000 is 1/3 or of what I make in income per year. It just make me sad that I probably will never find to place to hunt in Kansas where I can have long term lease and be able manage a deer herd, inless I hit the lottery and buy some property. I am a Land owner in Texas and yes I did obtain it through heritance. If it wasn’t for my grandfather I wouldn't be blessed at what I got to hunt here in Texas. How do you guy go about finding a lease that is a reasonable price? If I wanted to shoot a big buck, my chances would be better paying for a 7 to 14 day guided hunt in the Midwest. I don’t know about you guys and gals.. I just had to vent this. Don’t take for granted the things you have because some guys who have the passion as much I do or you do, don’t have opportunities that others have. Keep that in mind. Thanks Dan

Yeah, it sucks to have to fork out that kind of money for a lease. But realize that you don't have to have 1,000 acres to yourself to be successful.

It's nice to have a lot of land, but it's not essential. Many guys in the east are successful on 10-20 acres! The Eberharts practically specialize hunting on tiny parcels...with great success. It's unrealistic for most hunters to expect to be able to 'manage a herd' on their own...just isn't going to happen. Therefore, you have to learn to work with what you have. I understand that you need more land if you're out west because there is less cover, but still...1,000 acres isn't a requirement IMO.

Up here in Wisconsin we pay $1-2,000 per acre. I'd say 20-25 bucks per acre is rather cheap. But what we pay for are actually hardwood forests. Not entirely sure what Texas has to offer as far as the hunting scene down there goes.

You guys make me feel really lucky. We have a lease of 34,000 acres with right at 100 members. Cost is $600 per family and next year going to $800. We are paying right at $2 an acre I guess.

woah, I'm going to assume you meant the price of Buying land is in that range (and thats more in the middle or north of the state) Not sure where you're hunting, but i know for leasing in Buffalo County (which is #1 county in the nation for trophy bucks) a higher end price per acre is $50-$60 bucks.

hunt the suburbs with the bow, huge bucks there

Suburbs in Texas dont have the big bucks like midwestern deer do. We dont have good rain fall annually or have the land to grow the protein. You could feed the protein from feeders but I dont have the money for that. Now like Chicago or some other midwest city I could see this happening.

I pay $350 for my private club. I would never pay more than $1,000/year.

We pay $450 for 2 of us to hunt about 100 acres that butts up against some very crowded game lands.

In Lehigh Country PA.

I know you already know this- but there are huge national forests and state parks around the midwest. Many can provide a top-notch hunt for someone willing to go further than most others will go. I know there are many reasons why it's not as practical as a lease- but $1500 ain't practical to me! :sad0064: