ModernPrimitive

Private land seems to be going this way everywhere; it's one reason I am getting burned out on hunting whitetails.
But there are payments other than monetary,i.e political.

Slowly, but surely, a farm I've hunted for almost 20 years is becoming a good old boys club for LEOs.
If you're not a LEO, you ain't in The Club.
It's great for them and great for the landowner; small town politics...
Sharing is fine, and years ago there were 3 of us who hunted this property of 300 acres with zero problems.
Then one of the three became greedy and began bringing multiple people with him- literally,truck loads.
The latest years are a(n) (over)reaction to that.
Personally, I am not of the mindset to adopt a proprietary attitude toward a piece of land which does not have my name on the deed.
Fortunately, I have other places to hunt but this one had a special place in my heart.

One of the largest farms,locally, leases by the lot size and season-turkey,deer,etc- a 100 acre plot is $1,000/season for deer, $250/season for turkey/coyote, AFAIK.

Tried "leasing" a small parcel this year with a couple guys by providing brush-hogging and other property maintenance services; it was an HN1 threadworthy experience!
Never again.

rockport

No they are not on my own property I don't own any hunting property, I'm on my way out the door for a Christmas dinner. I'll give some more detail later.

ModernPrimitive

ain't it the truth.

As I previously mentioned- if my name isn't on the deed, I am not developing a sense of propriety about a property nor am I inclined to police other people-particularly grown adults.

Now, one thing I've noticed this year is that with many people heading onto private land, the public land is holding a great deal of deer...

Ridge Runner

I lease 90 acres from my boss, just to post it to keep the jung hoard out of my mushroom patch, let friends hunt it, I own shares in a couple hunting clubs totaling 16,000 acres, do most of my hunting on my bosses remaining 4600 acres. hunting leases around here average 10.00 per acre, I'd hunt NF first.
RR

Bocajnala

Are your NF hit pretty hard during gun seasons? The issue where I hunt in Ohio is mainly just a lack of public land. There just isn't much public ground. In PA I have lots of public ground and can get away from others... But Ohio, just not much land to choose from in my area.... Southern Ohio does have some big chunks though.
-Jake

Mr. Slim

jake, if you drive down here around Saltsburg, you will see most of the properties are posted. most by leases. getting hard to find public ground that's open to hunting. going to have to check out the game lands over near Tunnelton. Pa. is getting to be like Texas and other states. sad to say.

rockport

Alright, here is what I do.

The concerns in this thread are kind of how I am able to do it.

I grew up in Pike Co IL(live a couple hours south now) Ive been ask to outfit for years and always turned it down because well I don't like it. I don't see a path to being honest, and providing a quality experience to enough people to stay in business. You can't outbid outfitters that are willing to sell BS and truck in and out as many hunters as they can book rather than how many the deer and land can offer a quality experience to. I refuse to do that.

A few years ago I was offered a deal from a long time buddy and farmer to lease the hunting rights to his land at a rate where I can make money AND actually deliver an honest quality hunting. He was done dealing with hunters and outfitters.

I took over and now manage farms in 3 different counties in IL...Pike,Scott,and Adams.

I have rules and simply take on costumers that not only agree to follow my rules but agree with my rules. They are happy to find an opportunity where these rules are in place. I'm certainly not getting rich but I do have a growing waiting list and have worked with a lot of great people.

About a year and a half ago my buddy the farmer was diagnosed with a brain tumor and passed away in early December at 38 years old. Right now I just don't know what the future holds.

Any way we have had good luck with people getting along,following the rules, and doing things the right way but the demand has been high enough to choose like minded hunters that are all on the same page.

I tell all my guys how it all works, they know how much I pay, they know how much I make off of them, and they know how it has to be done if it is to continue and the question I'm ask the most is "can I sign up for longer?"

You have to have good people or it won't work.

Ridge Runner

Here you need too get away from the access roads and trails, have hunted paces where you hunt for a week and see one orange blob a long ways off, hunting can be great where the drag is long, my biggest buck ever had to be dragged 1.6 miles, my all time favorite spot was .9 miles from the gate of the access road, killed 19 bucks and 2 bears in that spot in 13 years
RR

moosemike

I just moved back to PA from NC and if you aren't in on a lease in western NC then you don't have much of a chance. The public lands there are devoid of deer.