Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting does this exist?

This club/lease business sounds like a royal PITA.

I've hunted a lease or two,one in eastern Colorado,the other in Wyoming. In Colorado there were only 3 of us and knew each other well,so were in sync with a common objective, namely, for one or two of us to kill the biggest bucks we possibly could.

In Wyoming,there were 10 of us to share 25,000 acres,so crowding was not a problem. Plus I had permission to hunt the adjoining 25,000 acres so there were many options. On the lease, some of the country was too rough for those who wanted to cruise in a truck all day.

It worked great but like any hunting situation it morphed over time and the lease portion got sold. C'est la vie.

Personally I'd rather hunt big remote country sans competition with a big woods component but understand that isn't possible for many people. More's the pity. Multiple deer don't really interest me that much since I like to key on a mature animals. If I get lucky and kill there's always other states nearby.

In places I hunt in New England and central Maine, there is NO competition with tens of thousands of acres to hunt,and big bucks.You don't bump into any sound shooters up there....in fact, you don't hardly ever see anyone in the woods,in the course of a week of hunting.

And in certain places of Maine you can shoot unlimited does and 2 bucks. I don't have to pay to have someone tell me to sit here or shoot that. I'm not passing judgement and if it is what you have it is what you have but I still thank god I don't live there.

There are pluses and minuses to wherever you live. Texas is gun friendly. That's a plus. Texas has lots of folks who like to hunt. That's a plus, but has some negative. Texas is mostly privately owned. +/-

Hunting here has changed a lot since I started in the 50's. I'm sure we'd all like to live adjacent to thousands of acres of virgin country.

But I do get to hunt deer Oct thru Feb. And it's still good to get out around the fire with friends and family.

Experienced the "deeper pocket" syndrome a couple years ago. Six member group on a 220 acre lease, with deer, geese, turkey. Good bunch of guys, on different work and travel schedules that rarely conflicted, we shared stands and locations pretty well. One member's Dad had his eye on one distinctive buck, we were asked to let it walk for him. Didn't bother me, and I don't believe anybody else had an issue with it. We knew the Dad was fighting against long term illness, and mature enough to know it could be us next year. Unfortunately, the illness won out in the end.

Anyway, the property owner was approached by another group interested in leasing, and offered a larger amount of money for the same lease. We were asked for an increase about double of what we had been paying. I didn't feel a lot of loyalty from the land owner for our group, and decided to opt out. I don't what the rest of the group did.

I hunt in the County Park deer management program now, closer and easier to get to than anything else. Plenty of friction from the rack hunters, the meat hunters, and the ones that don't know any better. Some guys hunt only horns, and pass does. Some set stands on top of other stands, some walk through the bedding areas to get to a stand. I've had deer field dressed under my stand, and hunters walking into "my area" a smoke in hand. End of the day, you figure out who the guys/gals are that you want to hunt with, and try to avoid the ones you don't.

Choose your hunting partners with about as much care as you use in choosing a wife. You can know people for years and find they react/behave very differently in a hunting situation.

It's hard to do this in a club.

Was talking to a friend yesterday and he told me a guy who shared a lease with some other friends was leasing the same area to other hunters as if the land belonged to him. Some people have no shame.

Was part of a 1200 acre lease for around 15 or so years. Hunted it for free for over 25 when it was owned by a coal company. Coal company had 2200 total, went bankrupt and any who wanted to use it could. Eventually it was spit up and sold. Owner did some periodic timbering and did it right for wildlife. Always was great Deer and Turkey country and remains so today.

At the highest there were 20 people, but usually around 15. Couple serious bow hunters who took some hogs during the rut. No rules other than Pa Game Law rules. Most of the members didn't use it all that much and after the first day it wasn't rare to hunt and only see a couple others or no-one. Especially if the weather became a little nasty.

The individual lease fee pretty much paid the owners land tax. Started out at $500 per individual and ended up at $800. I thought it was reasonable for 1200 acres of prime Deer country.

No meetings and as mentioned no rules. But with one or two exceptions it all worked out. Couple members who wanted to sit all day objected to some of us who liked to roam around most of the time. A couple thought they had exclusive dips on a specific area whenever they would decide to show up. That got settled quick and they either adapted or moved on.

Got sold last year to an out of state fellow who wanted his own private hunting ground. $1.2Million. Miss the place more than a little. More than a few memories and Bird Dogs rest their bones there. However last year hunted within a mile of it most of the time. Same type of country and I couldn't cover it all in a week.

Addition: No it is not the same. No long streams path their way thru it. No cut highwalls wrap around the hillsides with hot spot funnels when the Deer want to come down. Not as many Grouse. Few high points that you can stop and look out for a couple miles. It's not the same, but it will do.

Hard to find IMHO, SIL got out of the Marines and moved back to Arkansas. Asked me to go in on a deer lease. Timber company land. Said sure, as it was not that expensive. Went hunting this year, everything looked pretty good, water bourse etc. Only the issue was no deer sign. The old boys run the area, said it was a good spot. It should have been.. Only problem no recent deer sign, stands, paths, food and water.. Perhaps to much logging activity and the deer moved. He is going for a new spot next year. Kind of like a close knit thing, even thought he is from the area he is not known.

Just because no deer sign its bad? Deer change patterns, often due to food sources related to rain or lack of from year to year.

I wouldn't much make a guess after hunting something for one year personally.

Not a lease but hunted private land with a couple guys I knew, that was fairly large. Deer would lay and not move if you didn't have enough hunters. They had already picked out where they hunt so I moved towards the property line the furthest away from them to give everyone room. For the most part I believe they never kept secrets on the deer they saw ect. We did have a problem that 2 tree stands were hung on the property that were not ours, so we gathered some trespassers were hunting it during archery season. The farmer who was 80 and sickly was unable to keep an eye on his land all the time. The first year I hunted it saw deer everywhere the next years continue to get gradually worse? The farmers has since passed and I hunt a different spot that is nowhere as good or as big.

rost495,
Yep they sure do change patterns. First time hunting Southern states, mostly have hunted Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. Maybe even closer and tighter woods then the Nothern states. I tend to do my scouting during grouse season in the North. Problem in Arkansas was it all looked good, but absolutely no recent deer sign. Everywhere else I have hunted I have at least been able to see they were around sometime in the recent past. Here very little sign, no tracks in at least a month, no recent bedding areas no fresh "smart pills" NO sign they had been browsing in our area (about a square mile) Did see a bobcat, several old stands and in general a lack of deer sign.