I just saw this thread but I would say that $500 for 250 acres of private land is the deal of the century! It is nothing to see 3 times that price here in Maryland. My friends will typically pay around $1000-1500 each to hunt on that much land.

I do agree that it sucks but if you want to hunt on private land, you are stuck. I refuse to pay that much to hunt so I stick to public and federal lands.

NC,

I don't doubt that you have had problems with hunters. On the other hand I haven't, and neither have a dozen different people that I could name in my neck of the woods.But again, a lot of that may be linked to where you live and the people who are around you. The thing to keep in mindis that there is a big difference between an individual's experience and everyone'sexperience. Confusing the two can only give hunters a bad name.

to get on a "good quality deer lease" around here....expect to pay $2,500.00 and up. this is why i hunt public land.

Well I am assuming you are are reading the entire post I put up and the several I put up earlier in the thread because I have already stated there areother reasons people might join clubs (other than land) and the fact that I do hunt several thousand acres of public land. However, I have been hunting in my area for over 20 years and have lots of connections to land and hunting in this particular region but a newcomer to this area/hunting might not and could run in to lots of frustration when trying to find a good place to hunt. Again public land is probably their best bet but they do need to put in some work in tracking it down and getting familiar with it and some might not know exactly where to get started or just be a little lazy. I don't consider paying to hunt with my club a "mistake" as I have made some great friends and had some great times. IfI have to fork out a little money, so be it. The realtionships/comradery I have experienced and continue to experience are well worth the cost. I pay more than my dues each month on gas(I try to keep things in perspective). As far as being a sucker, I guess you know enough about me and otherswho pay to huntto come to that conlusion/opinion. You (Kevin1)have some great points about hunting public land and some good tips on ways to gain access to private land, that is what I take from your posts. As far as people who pay for land to huntbeing "drones, suckers, or anon-noodle users",you could probably leave that stuff out. Youhave very strong opinions about paying to hunt andIam not one to try to changea personsmind, I would just hope they may take something from what I have said to possibly help them understand from my perspective, rather than telling me what is wrong with my perspective. Ecspecially on a topic where there really isn't right or wrong, just opinions.

Hey, I guess this thread is dead.

It's taken 20 years for hunting where I hunt to triple in cost. Only now does it seemto be getting steepat ~$1000/man x 30 hunters for 7800 acres (of which we each get 50-150 acres depending on which blind you get).

Still, beats public land and rolling the dice with that shooting gallery.

THere is still plenty of land to be hunted for "free". Even here in South Texas, you find an older woman with land, and offer to help with her fences, and she'll likely give you permission. I just secured access to 17,000 acres that surrounds 3 sides of our ranch, for helping run 1 side of the place in barbed wire. On top of that, she says I can plant and manage the land anyway I want to.