I don't know what to tell you teal except that just 5 mins ago my UPS man offered a lease to me here in NC for $5/ac. I doubt that I'll do it since residential areas are free.

in illinois it is bout 1250-1500$ per acre for good hunting property

I've seen prime hunting land in Illinois get leased up for $50.00 per acre.

I'd better stop there before I comment on people engaging in land leasing, but then complaining when someone else outbids them. [:'(]

JRW,

Too late, your rudness prevailed. By the way, it wasn't a complaint but a simple realization. Leasing really is becoming a sport for the wealthy. I don't like paying $5-6k a year for a place to hunt but I will. I refuse to pay $8500 and find it amazing that demand is getting that strong. Also, I suspect your $50 per acre is for small parcels like 100 acres, not 3000.

I've been hunting for 20 years and I've pretty much had to pay the whole time. Here in Texas for prime hunting areas, 1 spot on a multi member lease can go for over $3000.00 per hunter.

LOL, $10 an acre aint nothing, neither is $50.

Go to the link that I provide below, this will take you to a webpage that talks about lease oppurtunities on the famous Kennedy ranch down here in s. Texas. The Kennedy ranch is a 440,000 acre block of land that is owned by one family, and a church. This ranch is between 2 of the king ranch divisons, and is an awsome place to hunt, but even I was amazed when I saw the prices.

http://www.lamansion.net/JaboncillosPackages.htm

My mom is friends with one of the family members of this ranch, but even she or her kids are not allowed to hunt the ranch, they only own the right to graze cattle in certain pastures of the ranch.


You can hunt an 8,000 acre pasture with 8 other hunters for a just $16,500. But of course this allows you 1 trophy buck, 1 cull buck, 2 does, 5 hogs, javelina, and some nailgi antelope.

Or you can get a "corporate" lease that will cost you $500,000 per year. Here you can kill 20 trophy bucks, 20 cull bucks, 40 does, more nailgi, hogs, javelina, and lucky you quail hunting is included in this package.

What really amazes me is that most of the lease openings are already taken, and the ranch has already sold 4 corporate leases. But of course the $500,000 corporate lease is a tax right off, so they get there money back.

IMO, land prices are sky rocketing b/c more and more hunters want to practice QDM and sadly the masses do not want the same. Therefore, in order to ensure chances at nice bucks, you must lock up land and keep the average joe out of there.

I have no problems with that, it's exactly the way I like it.

Keep in mind too, I am talking about Florida hunting whereby you get a chance to kill a "dog sized buck" topping the scales at 125 lbs and small 8 point racks. lol

The other interesting nuance is, of the 3000 acres, appx half is pasture since the primary use of florida land is cattle farming. In a sense, you are paying much more per huntable acre than $15 since this represents a blended rate to account for it being half pasture. My existing lease is 2/3 pasture, but at 5000 acres, there still nearly 2000 acres to hunt.

It's outrageous... why just last year I had to buy a dozen arrows. And right now I mow a lawn to get rights to a 265 acre patch for Len, his kid, Will and myself to hunt on. They offered to pay me for mowing the lawn last year and again this year.... but I said I wouldn't do it if they tried to pay me. I mowed it today... 5 and a half hours wide open on a John Deere with a bushhog behind it. My brother got me rights on a 2,500 acre farm in NY. We have to come up with one turkey and deer meat on request to pay for that lease. Len an Will picked up 3 other little parcels that require a little deer meat. And then there's all the public land. I won't pay $1000 to hunt let alone several thousand. That's really rediculous. First thing you know on most of these places is someone will come along about the time you plant food plots, cull the herd and out bid you.[&:] I saw it in Georgia on a lease about 10 years ago. There was more land around.. but this club my buddy belonged to had set strict bag limits on a 1000 acre lease. They developed the herd for about 4 years and then some yahoos(group of deep pocket doctors) came up from Florida and joined a local doctor and doubled the price of the lease. When the boys ask the landlord to hold off so they could call a meeting he did. The doctors raised the anti again before they had their meeting. The boys left.

I don't know where in Florida you are paying $10 acre but here in north west it runs about $3 to $5 an acre. My lease is 400 acres and cost me $550 a year.