Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting does this exist?

I've actually had a couple of those, way back when.....landowners got greedy or other hunters with deeper pockets coveted land that 5-10 good lease members had cared for, sweated for, improved upon, and invested in. These days, it seems you need deeper pockets than the next guy, willing to join a 47-114 member 'club' of half, half-wits, or married/born into a large land owning family, to get access to larger parcels. I still get by on reputation, integrity, old loyalties, and an honest name....to hunt small parcels here and there....but those things mean less and less every year, compared to a quick dollar or competitiveness. It's a shame, but times do change.

This.

I've known people who were friends for years...until they joined a hunting lease. It has nothing to do with honesty.

hunt by Chris Jamison, on Flickr

I've only been involved with one, have been a member since 2009.
Have seen all the things you mentioned and more, but the one I quoted is the only one that really gives me heartburn.

As for the sharing information, it has been a long, slow process
establishing some level of trust. We still don't tell all, at least immediately, but that is fine with me. I'd as soon not know what they saw, so if I decide to go hunt that area and happen to kill what they were watching, there at least SHOULD be no hard feelings.

It does seem to bring out the worst in a lot of folks, but it makes you appreciate the ones who rise to the occasion and are truly good sports.

Not sure how common this sort of arrangement is, but we have around 25-30 members most years and a communal camp house -
kitchen, common area, bedrooms with 4 bunks per.
Been there since 1949, some 4th and even 5th generations hunting. Great place to hunt with your kids or grandkids,
my two learned to hunt there.

Worried about it though,
our lease prices have went through the roof, and internal squabbling has hurt our ability to keep enough members...
Afraid I'm gonna get priced out of it.

Along with duck hunting, turkey hunting and...

For the most part we do share openly. Because we are in the lease together and trying to manage it. We have 2 that shoot anything, but luckily usually not anything that matters.

We often discuss what has to be shot, what should get a pass for X years. Which ones should breed. And so on.

We all show the photos off our game cams.

Only thing that pisses me off, we are allowed 2 bucks.. I often don't shoot a trophy for years. In fact after my buck this last fall I"ll likely never pull the trigger on a trophy again in my life. We NEED to shoot culls the minute we see em. But they are scared they will spook a big buck... never mind I shot a cull 2 years ago on opener. And 5 minutes later, a 24 inch wide 8 point walks out. My buddy loves wide deer so I let the deer walk hoping he would get it. He never saw that deer unfortunately.

But trying to find like minded folks in any large numbers is really hard. Some of the older members of our lease still shoot a deer so they can come home and say I got an 8 point again. They don't want to come home and say I shot 2 spikes this year.... something not good about doing good for the herd.

You need to associate with like minded folks to start with. But for us, family ties get in the way... Personally if I was in charge I would write a lot more rules in the lease.

Seen a LOT more azzholes duck hunting than anything else... including wade fishermen that flip you off if you get the airboat in "their" zone... never mind I"m driving water depths mostly under 6 inches....

Best lease i was in had no rules other than you had to put your pin in where you were hunting. It worked because the ten guys in it were like minded and since there was no rules there was nothing to fight about. Before I got into another one with a bunch of rules and some more willing than others to follow them I would hunt public. All that bs takes then fun out of it for me. I have a lease now with one other guy. Its great.

I am in one of each kind. Unfortunately the good one is two hours from home and the bad one is only 50 minutes.

The bad one, which I'll probably not renew for next year, has been infused with a very competitive atmosphere. There are now "personal stands" which the officers have declared off limits to anyone else, etc. It is not that the members are bad guys, but just seem to have their egos wrapped up in killing the most and biggest deer; and pass rules that enhance the odds for themselves while leaving the average member behind the eight-ball. I have hunted that land for nearly 45 years but I've about had it.

Never fall in love with a deer lease. About the time you think it's forever, someone or something will screw it up.

I knew one family that had managed a lease literally for 40 years. First the father ran it, then eventually his sons came on board. One year the old man decided he couldn't hunt anymore, and the landowner decided it was time to get a new crew. The kids had literally never hunted anywhere else, and were all shook up.

I'm on a low fence lease that has plentiful deer and other game; the landowner is a nice guy, everyone is easygoing. I sort of nudge folks to let young deer with potential get bigger. And I've only shot does & culls the past two years.

I guess I could find a place that has bigger deer, but it would probably cost more. I could maybe find one closer to home, but that would also cost more. Guess I'll keep this whitetail lease for the time being, and then look around for occasional spot hunts elsewhere.

Had a friend several years who went in on a lease in TX with 4 of his close friends. Everything went smooth until one guy started sneaking in some of friends during the days nobody was there and the owner started finding gut piles. Owner told them all the to get out and not come back.

That is so very true..Might be an insider(s) causing the problem or outsiders trying to buy the lease from under you..

We have no free public hunting over here so nearly all my stalking has been on leases.

The best was a seven hour drive away, but it was worth the travel until things went pear shaped..

Not sure why people expect others to be completely open with all info gathered...If I saw a nice buck or found a nice little hot spot, I might keep the info to myself or perhaps just share it with members who were close friends..

On the other hand, I've passed up shots on bucks so I some one else can take it, plus I've spent a lot of time "guiding" other new /less experienced members to get them the chance of an animal and generally get them started in the right direction..

What I do intensely dislike is people who break the leases rules everybody has agreed to and which are there for the common long term good...

One thing that seems to be come across on here is that many of the leases in the US are very small, ie around 100 acres and have a high number of hunters...

For a 100 acres, I would only share it with perhaps one or two people max and only then if I knew them well and trusted them.

Personally, over here, I wouldn't join a proper syndicate unless it had at least 500 acres and with a max of say ten people, ideally, I'd be looking at a minimum of 800 acres if possible...

Thank god I don't live where someone tells me how to hunt, what to hunt and where to hunt.

Had the perfect crew on a lease in Mo for 9 years.
It was 7 hours from home for half of us and the others were either local or lived within three hours of it.
We shared info, shared the work. Had a couple mandatory work weekends a year that were just an excuse to get together, drink beer and eat like kings.

We all had stands we " preferred " to hunt but who went to what stand was never an issue and all the stands were open to whoever wanted to hunt them. Having 20 stands on 1400 acres made that easy.

We killed a 150-160 class deer off the place every year.
Club rule was 8 point or better and outside the ears or it wasn't a shooter. We had an abundance of does that could be shot to fill freezers plus by state law we could purchase all the doe tags in that county we wanted.

Never an issue until the landowner was approached by a young man who wanted to get into farming.
He offered him $150K for a 3 year lease and we were gone.
His $50k a year trumped the $18k we were paying.

The 8 of us still get together. We were just up in the area last weekend hunting geese on a neighboring farm.
We're actively searching for another property to lease in the area.

Farming and deer hunting co exist in MANY places... what a shame.

My uncle was shot through the forearm. Fortunately the bullet went between the ulna and the radial. I clearly remember the disfigurement. The guy he invited said he heard something.

I was in a great club for years until we put my wife's family farm into trees and we started hunting the farm.
5,000 acres divided into 22 hunt areas with orange paint on trees to mark the boundaries. Most areas had multiple food plots. First come, first serve. A draw on Saturday mornings and Holidays. No private stands. We had secrets, but nothing major.

Flip to the family land. A younger member who comes a few times a year, shows up and hunts the area where an old big buck has been showing up on pictures because he was told about it. Shoots a young buck that three of us had passed, but trails all through the woods looking for it. This is an example of why you don't share pics and info.

I'm just glad I don't hunt a one deer per season state.

Me too and I don't.