I'm not posting this to slam these people for trying to make a living, but things are getting out of control when I see people charging large sums of money for just about any strip of land in Illinois. I dont know these pieces of property, so they may have a 200 inch buck on them or they may have nothing, but something doesnt seem right when you see two totally difffernt prices for the same land.

Today, Isaw two different leasing websites that have the same property forVERY different prices. These two...http://www.midwestleases.com/landleases/index.php?st=4and http://www.leasehunt.com/avail.htmLook at the price for the two Brown county farms and you will notice they are the exact same properties only very different in price.

Last year I was sick of trying to find decent land to hunt and sick of hunting public land, so I decided to lease a piece of property. I was charged $5,600 for a couple hundred acres of which only about 90 acres of it was huntable. I did about as well as I have done on public land hunting for free, so needless to say I felt I wasted my money... I will never do that again.

I have been deer hunting for about 25 years and I think deer hunting in Illinois is getting out of hand. It's become a sport about INCHESand MONEY. I fell in love with deer hunting because I love the outdoors. I love sitting in a tree in the cool fall air with the leaves changing color, watching wildlife. When I see people like this driving up the cost of hunting wildlife that is supposed to be a state resource for everyone, it makes me sad. I find myself lately actually hoping our deer herd crashes and all the money goes away. I've always wanted to buy hunting land for myself, but at 3 to6 grand per acre now just for WOODS I may never be able to do that. 15 years ago the same ground would have been selling for 500 and acre and would have actually been affordable, but not now. I hope all the money grubbers go away soon, so I can get back to the sport I love.

Lots of people, including me, should have bought their own land back when it was500 an acre. Unfortunately, most folks just assumed that they would always have access to private land, and/or, they preferred to spend their money on stuff like guns, ATVs, 4-wheel drives, etc. I would think that if you shop around, you could get a lease on some decent acreage for much less than almost 6K.

at least you can find land to lease i guess[&:]

One of these days maybe folks will organize and push the state to establish more public access hunting ground.

The site that was charging way more money for the same property has since taken the listings down. I wonder if they read these forums?

Hech...a buddy of mines place got sold a couple days a go!

Now he has to find a new peice to hunt.

It went for $4100...old coal miningground!

I really dont see it getting any better in Illinois. I have no idea what the future holds for us in Illinois.
Here are some lease prices I know of in central Illinois-----and they have no problem getting it.--$3500 for 40 acres, $4000 for 40 acres , $1500 for 15 acres and 1500 for 20 acres. and a 60 that gets $3000.

There are farms available for reasonable costs.

I have400 acres in Morgan County (near Jacksonville) available for lease. It is only $10/acre. It is very secluded, but doesn't have a huge amount of timber. It has lots of CRP and food. It also has three small creeks and many ponds on it.

Farm has received very little pressure for many years.

PM for more info.

I think that a lot of times, the really high lease prices are because the property is handled by a lease company that gives the land owner a modest fee, then turns around and marks it up. But then again, considering the prices that some people seem willing to pay, you can't really blame landowners for playing ball. Hell, i'm not interested in leasing my land at this point, but at 100 per acre I wouldn't be able to sign the contract fast enough.