Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Pay for leases vs hunt for free

How many of you all hunt for free, I have a lease In east Texas that's 800.00 and a lease in west Texas that's 2000.00, Dove hunting is 50.00 a day. Do any of you get to hunt for free? There is very little free hunting in Texas unless you hunt on family or friend land. Is there free hunting in other states?

Come on man what are you trolling for this early Friday morning.

You want all the western guys out saying how they have all this welfare hunting out west?

I can walk out my back door and have at least 3 sq. miles of free hunting. In this little patch, there are deer, bear, moose, partridge, snowshoe hare, geese, ducks, fox, coyote and now turkey. I can walk out my side door, go 300 yards, and fish for native wild brook trout up to 4 pounds.

There is about 4 million acres of public hunting opportunity in Pa.

Right there with you Pat. I can walk out the door of our camp and shoot a deer between the cabin and the outhouse. Deer cross that close to us. Virtually the entire mountain we're on (Boone Mountain in Clearfield County) is State Forest Land. Even in the area of northeast Ohio that I'm from we had no trouble finding spots to hunt that we didn't have to lease.

Hunting in Texas is sort of a rich mans game, and getting worse.

I guess I will take the bait.

Yes, there is "free" hunting in most all other states, but you have to share.

The general seasons are getting stupid crowdd though for deer and elk hunting. Every bend and wide spot in the road had 35+ foot campers parked.

Hiking and willingness to be in bad weather does allow one to find solitude though. Eastman and monstermulies, etc. has really ruined some areas though...like the Wyoming range. There's folks everywhere during the Sep 15 rifle deer hunts...even way in the back country.

Other hunts and seasons such as pheasant/chucker and winter time coyote hunting finds me alone for days on end, even on public land.

If a hunter can learn preferred food sources and basic good deer habitat they can be very successful hunting public land in Pa.

That's the reason I don't hunt Texas very much. For $2000, I can hunt moose in Alaska, hunt some monster mule deer in Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, or Colorado when I can get a draw. I've got a little advantage in this because during my working career, I was either a resident of these western states or my job caused me to work in remote places in them.

The exorbitant lease fees in TX, l think are a result of Maw Richard's head of the TP&W. I can't remember her name, but she was not pro-hunting, and promoted land owners charging high fees. Kind of like raising the price on cigarettes to reduce smoking. Course that did stop a lot of people from hunting, fewer kids getting to hunt and now kids that don't have any hunting traditions in thier families. Her plan is working. I guarantee I will never pay $10000 for one of those farm raised whitetails in South Tx.

i have a hunt club thats 2500acres in va. that cost me 300.00 per year ,650acres that i hunt free and another small 20 acre track next to my house that i hunt free.

I hunt public land and also have a 600 acre lease.

The lease offers us legal benefits that do not come with public hunting. I see benefits in both systems

If you pay a lease you are just promoting pay-for-hunting. Stop it.

"legal benefits"? I hunt public land in Pa and I'm not sure what you mean?

both

After years of over crowded public hunting I, joined a few leases over 30+ years but that did not suit me either. So I bought 35 acres on a mountain stream here in SW Arkansas. Best investment I ever made.
My only problem now is the deer and critters eat as well as I do out of my gardens and orchard.

There is an awful lot of public hunting land in Florida. A lot. State run WMAs, several National Forests, and State Forests.
There are also a lot of hunters, and on public lands, it is always a crowded, dangerous mess.
I have spent much of my life hunting public land. I have been pretty successful as well. It is always a hassle, with quotas on the number of hunters allowed, times and dates, reporting issues.
This year, I will be hunting on land my son bought. Not a lot of acres, but there won't be anyone else there. There are several other farms in the area I can, and do hunt.

I hunt public land in my adopted home state for “free” using less expensive resident licenses, but the money I have left on the table for the privilege of living here is multiples of what it would cost to pay for leases in Texas. Also, as T_Inman indicated, it is stupid crowded during the short gun seasons for big game. (I bowhunt to avoid crowds and to hunt the elk rut). I am satisfied with the tradeoffs that I have made. Life is about choices.

Can you till up public land, or build permanent stands on public land?
Can you clear trails and manage habitat on public land?

We also flood some of the crop land and timber...all per the lease agreement because the landowner understands that habitat improvement makes his land more valuable.

Are you allowed to do any of that on public ground in pa?

I can on my lease per the written lease agreement. We also have it in the lease that once the crops are off the farmer who works the ground cannot be on the property until it's time to work the ground again

My part of Arkansas is mostly pay unless you own land as I do. There is free hunting through the G&F, but you have to draw for it except for bow hunting. There is also National Forrest in the West part of the state that is free, but I have never hunted there. I remember when it was all free, then the timber companies started leasing, and it snowballed. We also have a lot more hunters than there were then. When I was young, you seldom saw a posted sign, and could hunt almost anywhere you wanted. miles

Ok, I see what you mean. There are definitely advantages to leasing. I just didn't know what you meant by "legal benefits"