Trtr0611

Im on a hunting lease in Tennessee with 6 others including my son and father in law. The other 3 members are friends. The farm is 180 acres with 75% open pasture. I knew going in, the hunting would be tough especially during firearm seasons. The problem we are running into is that some members have put in personal stands in the best areas leaving the others including my family to take the leftovers. They don’t seem to be concerned about it and I guess they think it’s fair. I don’t want to lose friends over this but it is really frustrating. The communication has been lacking because of work schedules etc. With this many people we should have had a plan in place to make the odds better for everyone but it just didn’t happen. Now here we are with muzzleloader season a few days away and some are still undetermined on hunting spots for the opener. Has anyone had this experience? I would like ideas on how to handle this next season if we stay on the lease.

Bocajnala

Agree before the season starts on how you want to handle selecting stand locations.

It could be a season to season thing. It could be a day by day thing. Y'all have to decide.

Then figure out how you want to do it. Draw straws, go by age, make a rotation list, etc.

These things can be difficult. One guy might put in allot of hours scouting, working, setting up and spend hours and hours in the stand hunting. Then have someone who did none of that whine about not having a good stand location. Or somebody may be able to hunt every day all season. And somebody else might only get out a half day. Only getting out a half day doesn't automatically qualify you for a good stand location. Although that might be the nice thing to do for someone.

Best to clear everything up before season with good communication. Have a plan and then stick to it.

-Jake

Champlain Islander

I agree with Jake. if the group is good an agreement should be easy to hammer out. Mostly field 180 acre parcel is pretty small for 6 guys and prime spots are most likely not that numerous so a system of sharing should be able to work. If not then the ones being left out will eventually drop off the lease so if the group wants to stay together than a system of sharing would be the answer.

rockport

I find that a lot of people not matter what always think other guys are in better spots.

You also have to remember (I'm assuming) you are doing this because its cheap. You are not paying for great hunting when you split 180 acres 6 ways which is just not a recipe for much success.

We'd have to see an Ariel to decide if its even reasonable for 6 guys to hunt this particular 180 acres.

I probably wouldn't do what you are doing. I'd rather have my son, father in law, and myself on 60 acres than 6 people on 180 but again I assume you have gotten into this because its cheap?

It is very unlikely 6 guys will ever all be happy with and feel like its fair no matter how you do it.

Either way you will have to be committed to seeing opportunities the other five don't because even if you split "the good spots" dead even it sounds like that leaves you out half the time and it leaves those "good spots" way over hunted probably.

If at all possible I'd try to find a diamond in the rough of the leftovers and use nobody else wanting that spot to my advantage.

A mediocre spot you have to yourself is better than a good spot with 6 people using it.

mrbb

I agree with a lot of the above
BUT at same time, I also have this to say
WHY didn;t you pick better spots sooner?
I gather NOTHING was stopping you but yourself
or you might be in one of the them BETTER spots NO?
so, sort of sounds like your also upset about the fact they beat you to them?

since there was NO set rule son things, it sounds like it was a free for all deal
and as such, anyone could have gotten any spot
NO rules ahead of time, and this is what you get,
NOW your upset your in lower odds places on land, and NOW In hunting season upset
Things like this happen when there is piss poor planning ahead of time, and as a result,m you end up on the dirty end of the stick, with no great options
as getting mad at others that got motivated sooner, isn;t really fair
they did there part, they went and scouted and FOUND where they wanted to be, before you did
you could have done the same NO??

I suggest you have some talks about things PLANNING for NEXT yr and NOT be expecting them to change NOW, this yr, as IMO that would NOT be a fair thing to do, they worked, they scouted, they hung stands, they put the time in, so they reap the rewards
more about blaming yourself here than others, I know this sin;t what you wish to hear, but its IMO the honest truth .
I know we all don;t have time to do everything others do, or budgets,
but in life you get what you work for and put into things
PLAN ahead next time, have rules in place on how you plan to work out stand locations, be them in a lottery like deal, pick a number out of a hat or so on
BUT if your doing this, also expect to also PAY your part for stands and the work involved in hanging them, setting them up and so on
Fair is fair, , and if your not providing stands or $$ for them, or the work/time in hanging, cutting shooting lanes and so on
it has to be fair all around, or it will never work out!

rockport

With 6 people trying to use 3 good spots it won't be long before the deer are also using the leftover spots.

mackesr

I am in a very similar situation. I was given the opportunity to join a lease on apprx. 120 acres, mostly open fields. Two brothers already had the lease and let four of us join. The brothers had already scouted the lease and had their stands in place before we joined. I did a lot of scouting and all the big buck sign was in the section the two brothers were hunting. One of my friends didnt like that and kept complaining to me about it but I told him we knew the situation before we joined so not much could be done about it. I just made the best of the situation and like rock said, the deer eventually started moving into the leftover spots. My stands were good for mostly does and smaller bucks but never saw any big buck sign at all for years. I usually took a basket rack 8 most years during archery or muzzleloader seasons. The one year I got lucky and a nice mature buck started a huge scrape in my area and I ended up taking him He was by far the biggest buck I have ever killed. A fifteen pointer with a 20 inch spread that weighed 200lbs which is a big deer for our area. I am still hunting there and my friend moved on. To each his own.

Oldtimr

It also won't be long before they are not friends anymore. Rules have to be made and everyone has to sign a contract that they will obey the rules and there has to be an agreed upon method of choosing stand sites. Making rules as you go is a recipe for disaster. I have seen too many friends fall out over deer camps and duck blinds. You only really get to know a person after you hunt with them and you are tied together monetarily.

wallhangr

Did everyone join in at the same time? If so, the suggestions of a rotation or a lottery sound like the way to go...Unless there are some that are shouldering most of the work. If hunters have joined in over time, then seniority would be the way to go. That's the way it is with us. And it shouldn't be hard to communicate, we have a group text for anything going on with the property. Who's going hunting this weekend, when is everyone available to plant, mow, do repairs, meet up to have a few drinks and square up on bills.

rockport

Yeah 6 people on a 180 acres isn't likely to end well no matter how you do it.