Property Lease
 

Me and a couple of friends are trying to find some property that we could lease for hunting. Or a farmer who will allow us to hunt for an annual payment. We are having trouble finding any land, and most land we do find is just for sale. A website said to contact a local wildlife biologist and find out farmers who are having problems with deer populations, however we do not have a wildlife biologist. I guess im just looking for advice on how we can go about finding land, and a landowner willing to let us hunt there. We are looking to start a small informal hunt club with 20 or less members.

The VDGIF has biologists assigned to whatever district you are in. If you go to the VDGIF website you can find your district biologists name and contact info.

What part of VA are you in or what part of the state are you looking to lease land in?

Thanks, im in page county, and looking for land in or around page county

IMHO you and your couple of friends would be better served to find a couple of hundred acres you can lease for hunting. Two or three members is a lot easier to control and get along with than a bigger club. I've been in several clubs and when you get into 20 or so members you will have major headaches sooner or later. For that size club you would need 3,000 acres or so, so more money needed and more headaches. A game warden should be able to help you with the question about farmers needing hunters. Now is the time to start looking for land, for next year. Contact all the paper companies and major sawmills in the area, some banks manage land for family trust, contact your local county forester, consultant foresters, put signs in the feed stores, place an ad in the paper, see if there is a Virginia Forest Owners Association (they might have a list of potential leases), knock on doors, get the word out, but don't get to big in members. Make sure you get all leases in writing, get a sample lease and use it.

Ditto what TC said. You'll have better luck with a few guys, if at all. Tough to find in this area for sure. A friend of mine spent a ton of time trying to do this a few years ago .... only to give up and join a club. Not many folks like to lease around here it seems. I'm a couple counties north of you Frederick cty. Might be different down where you are, but probably not. Go to the DNR and see if they can help you. You can also check the county website for large tracts of land, and see about contacting the owners. Good luck

thanks guys that helps a lot. Youre probably right about the amount of members. The only reason we talked about that many people is because it would reduce individual costs. Im deff. gonna try the ideas you guys gave me. Anyone else ever had any personal experience with this?

I am getting pretty old now, but when I was younger there was land open to hunt everywhere and people had a different attitude. As things changed a lot of us hunters thought about buying camps or starting clubs. I decided to just start hunting and learning the public land I could reach for a day or weekend hunt. I don't regret making that decision and I still run into guys that complain about losing their hunting spot to housing projects or are about to.
People like me have good years and bad years hunting on public land, but the good years outweigh the bad ones. The thing I noticed about private land hunters is that when their hot spots dry up or get sold they just give up and quit hunting. It is up to you what you want to do, but as the others mentioned, a club or lease usually ends up going bad.

You could try taking an add out in a local paper stating what you are looking for with your contact info. My boss goes out west every year pheasant hunting and that is how he does it to find land to hunt. He has had multiple choices to hunt every year. Might be worth a crack!

Your regional VDGIF office is the Region 4 office in Verona. You might try contacting them to find out what local farmers have applied for damage permits. Notice I said applied for. If they will tell you this information, I would start with the landowners who have been denied....they may be more willing to let a group lease their land.

Timber companies are another good potential source. Just be aware that they may be cutting timber during deer season. One method I have used is to use my local GIS maps and find medium size farms and go knock on their doors. I get a lot of "no's" but every once in awhile you strike it lucky.

Finding land to hunt for free is hard to do anymore....at least where I'm at on the VA/NC border. Last year I saw an ad on Craigslist for the area I hunt in. The posters of the ad were willing to pay $10-$15 per acre, for tracts of land with 1000 acres or more. FWIW in the lease I'm in, we pay the tax bill every year, keep the trash picked up on the side of the roads, and maintain property lines.

Thanks VA.. I will try to contact them on monday hopefully they will give me the information. What part of virginia are you from?