I bring this up because I have mixed feelings about leasing ground. I see it from all angles so I'm going to bring out the good and the bad. I personally do not lease any ground. I am fortunate enough to be surrounded byState property that is so far from the nearest public access that it would take an hour hike just to get close to my area. So basically I have about 300-400 acres to myself, even though 90 percent of it is state. I have considered leasing before, however it is very expensive, since in my area if you are going to lease you must lease a very large chunk of property.
THE GOOD: Leasing property isan excellentway to assure hunting success. You can manage the property how you see fit to ensure trophy animals.Who wouldn't want 1000+ acres to themselves.
THE BAD: ThisI have witnessed first hand. It seems as though the leasing of property in my area has had a negative affect on the whitetail population andoverall health of the heard. My area first gothit with major leasing about ten yearsago. When it first started you sawnice deer consistently beingtagged in. You could almost guess what certain regions of counties these animals came from just by looking at thesize of the animals. So naturally, you have everyone else wanting to do the same. As aresult of the popularity of leasing the individuals hunting their leased property began focusing on BIG bucks instead of overall herd management.People would hunt just for rack.
Thiswas the start of the demise of the local deer herd. Soon you have populations exploding due to does not being killed off. This overpopulation lead to increased crop damage, which iswhy the farmers leased property for hunting purposes to begin with.Not only did you get overpopulation, but major in-breedingas well. The in-breeding started leading to smaller deer and weakeranimals due to more recessive genes being passed down the generations.All of a sudden you have more1.5 and 2.5year old bucks breeding their mothers. Which is ok as long as it doesn't happen a lot over an extendedperiod oftime. Theweights of the deer decreasing is also a result of lack of food.
Soover the course of the past 2-3 yearswe really started seeing smaller weights of animals. Racks are still big, but thats just because peoplewere pumping nutrient rich food sources into the animals that isgeared to build rack. The population was still getting out of control.This is were it gets really bad. Rumors have it that farmers started taking matters into their own hands this past summer. Rumors and I will repeat rumors say that farmers are getting depridation tags,and gut shooting deer so they run off of their property and die elsewhere. One guy I know, has a lease. He isextremely gifted. Itsjust expected for this guy to kill a 130+ class deer during archery season. For the first 23 days he did not see a single deer. WHY?I assume its because the depridation tags went overboard. Peoplewere going spotlighting and not seeing eyes glowing, but dead deer scattered here and there throughout fields.
MY OPINION: Leasing property is ok...as long as it is done correctly. Anyone who leases should take the responsibility to manage the deer herd intheir area. Not just take the trophies but take does as well.A lot of farmers have the mind-frame "kill em all". So if you wish to leasea farmers property you mustuphold their wishes. Do your part and take the responsibility to manage the deer, because if not then you are only hurting yourself. Whenyou take one smallgroup being irresponsible about managementand multiply it then everyone suffers.
I guesswhat I'm trying to say is that if you are willing to spend the bookoo bucks tolease you might as well fill all thetags you can. Ifyou don't, well then you will witness first hand what happens.
If you agree or disagree, then please, please explain. All ears, because this doesn't just benefit me. It benefits everyone,including the deer.

Good post! I read the whole thing. I agree with you for the most part. I don't think people should just rack hunt all the time but there's always going to be people that do that. You and I realize the importance in shooting does also and we do our part, but like you stated, in order for it to work everyone else has to do their part too.

I hunt on a small 150 acre lease my fathers friend leases down in central FL. I do what I can to improve the land whenever I'm there, but it's ultimately his responsibility. Several old friends and I are currently searching for a lease and when we find what we want, I will dedicate a lot of my time to managing it. I'm not specifically going to try to build monster racks, but I will have food plots, mineral sites, and feeders going just to keep the animals there and healthy. And we will definitely have a good doe harvest program.

The biggest problem I see with leasing land, other than what you have mentioned, is that you can spend a lot of time and money setting up a management program and then without notice or any protection you can and will lose the land. Timber companies and individuals sell land, it is lost from families thru tuff times, you are outbid for the lease or some family member will simply drop your lease in favor of a friend. A lot of hunting clubs are short lived. Either poor management, chemistry or other factors will usually lead to the decline of the club. To take on 500 or so acres by yourself will get expensive quickly. At a minimum of $7 and most likely $10 or more an acre, $300 plus per food plot, road maintenence, stands, feeding program and other costly factors you will run $8000 or more real fast. And then you may only have the land for a few years.

For what you pay to lease good hunting land you can very often just buy some instead. Sheriff's tax sales and auctions are great places to start looking.

part of the problem with leasing is that you may just handcuff yourself into poor herd management. Say you are allowed 1 buck and 2 doe, for example. You share the lease with 1 othe person, that's 4 doe max to come off that lease. If the farmer wants more taken or the herd needs more taken in that area, you're stuck.

I HATE leasing. I understand why a farmer would lease and I 100% agree it's his right and his choice and it may actually be the only thing that keeps him so that he can afford to keep the land. However, it blocks other hunters from using the land. Yes its the landowners right, but I'd rather hunt here in NH where most land is open with the knock on a door and a polite inquiry.

I hate the leasing trend, but I respect the rights of the landowner even more. I believe leasing to be one of the more insidious factors responsible for the decline of hunting.

I lease land and hunt on state land. We have an abundance of state land and the area we hunt has basically no competition. However, in the last few years, there have been many timber companies and paper mills who used to allow their lands as public become leased. This has increased competition for good spots on public ground. I leased mine for the reasons of always having a spot to go, the price was good, and to have an area to manage and not have to worry about others. I fill doe tags every year, and the doe population was way out of wack there. So, I have only taken 1 buck in three years on the property and about 7 does. Do I agree with leasing? Well, I wish we didn't have to but that seems to be the way the US is going so I joined the bandwagon so I am not left out in the cold.

x' 2 That says it all

I personally hate leasing as well. Seems like they just put hunters up against hunters to see who will pay the most. I especially hate leasing companies. The price Ive seen for 60 acres with maybe 3 acres of woods is ridiculous. I hate to say it but the day may come where I have to find a lease, but I'd rather find it "Word of Mouth" than pay what they companies are advertising online.

If you hunt smart there's no reaosn to lease unless you live somewhere like Texas or Alabama where leasing ad hunt clubs have all but locked out regular guys without state land to fall back on. I hunted public land for years successfully by simply hunting smarter and a little harder than the next guy. I've secured land access for free, many times from hosts who weren't even willing at first, by trading something they wanted such as varmint control or simple labor. Leasing is not and never will be necessary for someone who wants to hunt badly enough, I've never "paid to play" and never will.