I hear alot of the same things from land owners that rockyshamrock mentioned. Some farmers say part of the reasonor at least abenifit from leasing is as shamrocksaid--they dont have to deal with trespassers and everyone asking to hunt.
As far as laying blame for leasing --I honestly dont feel youi can blame the land owner. If they are offered top dollar for leasing/hunting rights they are nuts not to take it.

Of course the flip side is that some folks lease land and don't let folks hunt on it, and they only shoot big bucks. So, the land is overrun with does and small bucks and they likely cause more crop damage than the farmers makes in lease money. And from what I have seen, some of the folks that lease land can cause just as much problems as other folks in terms of property damage and trespassing on adjacent pieces of ground.

I disagree. What good doesthat do (outfitters) to manage the land they own or lease for Illinois hunters when almostall of their clients are non-residents? Doesn't do a thing to help us.

What Lanse couche couche says is spot on! Many of the leasors are taking bucks only. In fact one of the landowners I hunt on wastelling me a couple farmer friends leased some land for a couple years only to find out theguys from Georgia leasing it only took a couple of bucks and since they hunted it for only two weeks thecrop damage costs were far exceeding the money they made by leasing it out. Good news for hunters like me, because a few landowners are starting to see that leasing is not all its cracked up to be.

This is the future:
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2085399&mpage=1&key=dnr%2caudit& amp;#2085399

Yup, Illinois just more or less handed those permits out. There was an article about this in the St louis Paper . It went on to say how somebig name hunters wanted tags for certainIllinoiis counties----the county tag quata was filled and it was past deadline anyway but Illinois dnr still gave them Tags.The article I read named people who recieved tags ----politicians ,ball players and even gave names of some people big in the hunting industry.

It's becoming an epidemic in Illinois,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I'm talking about leasing! I think the outfitters days are numbered! Farmers are becoming aware that outfitters are making all the money and farmers are given a minute amount. That's why more and more farmers are leasing land to hunters (as groups &/or individuals). They are clearly making more by leasing the property themselves.. But once a farmer recieves $ for the use of his/her property, then they are also assuming liability for that persons safety and no longer protected by state law! I see Illinois quickly becoming alot like England(pheasant hunting), that only the wealthy will be able to enjoy deer hunting.

I had hunted in Pike county from 86' to 98', and in that time period, i know of a great deal of families who no longer speak to one another due to the "leasing epidemic". My familiy and friends had been hunting on this farm since 1980.Our supposed friend had arun down old farm house on his property that he said we could turn into a deer camp... Sowe took it upon ourselves to rebuild the old farm house, which before we came, had a family of coons living in it and the roof collapsing in. A group of us, all tradesman (carpenters, electricians andpipefitters), pitched in money and rehabed the whole house, donated furniture and so on....... We all pitched in $250 each x 13 of us, to have it resided. On top of that, we each payed our friend $350 per person for the use of electric, gas and taxes. We would also come down and help on the farm, with bailing hay and stacking it in the barn. To say the least, we thought we were really close, like a family...........

Then around 1996, we started noticing stuff missing, little stuff, like tooth paste, soap, toilet paper and so on... So we payed no mind to it, we thought our friend might have had some friends over for poker parties or something of that nature. Boy were we in for a surprise! There were only 3 of us that bow-hunted the property, maybe 1 or 2 weekends before gun season. My best friend had property on the other side of the state and he had wanted me to bow-hunt with him and also asked me to start gun hunting with him. Year after year I had told him I couldn't gun hunt with him because of this camp we had built. But in the past years I had been noticing a great deal of non-resident hunters in the area, and I had not been seeing the calibur of deer, that I used to see (#'s, and quality). Well the following year, more and more stuff came up missing (pillows, blankets and so on.)and we had to start giving him weekends we were coming down, 8 months in advance..... which was weird to us! The next season had come and gone and with the popularityof PIKE County at an all-time high, farms we used to be able to hunt, we were no longer welcome due to leases. Well, one weekend that i was supposed to bow-hunt I couldn't due to a funeral, soI had called my friend and told him I would be coming the next weekend, he had told me I couldn't, I thought he might have had family staying at the camp, so I in turn told him I will just stay at a hotel in town and he then said, I can't hunt on his proeprty that weekend.I asked him why? He said he had hunters coming from Pennsylvania coming.................... I was blown' away, I didn't know what to say.. I contacted the other guys from camp and they couldn't believe it! So, we always had an understanding that no-one could bow hunt a week before gun season, so the woods could settle a little bit. So I called our so-called friend to let him know that I was going to come down 3 days before gun season to due some off the road and porch scouting, being the camp was on the highest point in the area. He said its a bad idea, I said I'm just coming down to get a little R&R in...... he said, not to, because he was busy.... I told him I didn't expect him to baby sit me, and thats when he told me, that he has a group of guys from Chicago hunting,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and that's when I said, this would be my last gun season in Pittsfield, Pike County and he would have extra room next year, because he would never see me again, after this gun season. I went down during gun season to retrieve old photo's and personal belongings and have never set foot in Pittsfield again!

I miss that place because of all the fond memories........... But my story is only 1 of probably a 100 in Pittsfield alone......!

I think that it is always best to have some sort of written agreement with someone to avoid a sistuation like whitetailcrazy describes. My father has a "handshake"agreement withone of his cousins for hunting rights to a piece of ground in exchange for keeping some of it mowed down during the summer. However, he has had problems with his cousin turning right around and giving other folks permission to hunt it from time to time. Its always best to get it in writing even when dealing with good friends and family.

I think that leasing is here to stay. But, as some folks have noted, the trend may drift more towardsmall hunting clubs leasing property for their own use and with the understanding that they are gonna keep the deer numbers weeded down to reduce crop damage.In fact, it would be nice to see folks put together some sort of brief study of the cost/benefit of leasing to better educate landowners aboutleasing.

Another related problem is that as more land gets locked up by deer hunters, there is less access for other types of hunters. I have never boughtinto theidea that letting someone squirrel or dove hunt land in september is gonna ruin things for deer season, but many people do and act accordingly.

Lanse, I once had a guy give me a hard time because I was dove hunting on public land......said I was ruining his deer hunting!

That's the problem with SOME deer hunters. They think that buying a deer permit means that the whole world has to stay out of their way. Hell, my dad thinks that if a rabbit dog barks on the next property a half mile from his stand that his whole day is ruined. Several guys deer hunt on my cousin's land where i have been trapping and rabbit hunting for over 30 years. I have crossed paths with them a time or two and they weren't too happy. But, if they want to push the issue, i will have a long talk with my cousin and they willlearn to keep their mouths shut or will end uplooking for someplace new to hang their deer stands. Attitudes like theirs aren't helping hunting in Illinois either.

i was hunting atjim edger panther creekone night this year(untilabout 5 that next morning)with a couple grand champion dogs i own. when i was putting them up in the truck i had a guy come barreling in to the parking lot, slam on the brakes, get out and proceeded to yell at me because he was going to deer hunt that patch of land that morning( like i was suposed to know something..lol) anyways as he was yelling i shined my light out into the field i just came out of and showed him a small buck and three does and told him "for one its PUBLIC land so shut the he!!up(in a not so nice words..lol)and two my dogs have never ran a deer and it sure as he!! doesnt looklike those deer had a problem withthembeing there." he was just amazed there were deer still in the field. he studdered around a lil with his words and then proceeded to say im sorry, then grabed his stuff and went into the timber. i dont know if he got anything but i know people need to quit thinking they own the public ground and quit thinking hounds birddogs beagles etc scare deer out of the country.
sorry a little opf subject but i had to vent..llol
Jeff S.