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

We never really run anyone off so long as they aren't tearing around on a [bleep] 4 wheeler.


Years ago a minnow trapper(who didn't have permission) tried giving me the third degree.


Asked me WTF I was doing when I met him on the trail(both in pickups).


Just checking the cows, WTF are you doing?



Oh ahh, yeah ahh, just up getting a couple minnows, ahh ohh...

Most all my land is open to hunt.

Its free, but not really free all at the same time.

It is under Montana State block Management.

We get paid by the State to let people hunt. You cant charge a fee to hunt Block Management land.

Comes out of folk's taxes, or maybe licence fees, I am not sure.

Much better than it used to be. Whole place was posted.

We got sick of poaching, cut fences, and beer cans.

None of that now that we are Block Management.

Come on out!

Some of my favorite mule deer country was in BM.

And then MTFWP pizzed off a BUNCH of local ranchers with their buff spreading plan....
And I do not blame them for getting pissed either, MTFWP can go Fuuck themselves over that horsechit)


Back to hunting with sneaky Pete.....grin

I live right in the middle of the buffalo BS. Not real popular, for sure.

We did accidentally burn up a couple of buffalo north of Wolf Point a few years ago.

They were the super duper Yellowstone transplants.

The reservation to the east of me killed a bunch of their super duper yellowstones by forgetting to check water last summer.

I do really like the Block Management program.

Seems like folks who cut fences and toss beer cans dont bother coming out, now that they have to sign in. Plus, the wardens and techs patrol once in a while.

We enjoy the hunters now, as they seem much more respectful.

The sneaky Pete I know has slowed down more than a little....

Don't tell the Buffalo Field Campaign but.... you can now pay the tribe $500 to shoot one of the 'saved' park buff....grin

Laffin hard! One of us on here has some kick azz stories about being sneaky Pete. From what I can gather he is darn good at it too!

It depends on where you are.
As a teenager in NC (mid 70's) I hunted local farms where we had permission to hunt and on family property/National Forest land in SC.
When I lived in north Florida in the mid 80's we hunted in the Apalachicola Natl. Forest and I belonged to two different leases one in south-west Georgia and another in Alabama.
Some of the folks I worked offshore with during the eighties invited me to hunt with them when we were off the rig so I had a exposure to Texas and MS leases.
In the late 90's I lived in Michigan's beautiful UP and almost of the hunting was done on public land or paper company property that allowed access. I would go back to the UP for deer season even after moving away.
This year it will be back to SC to hunt on family property and an adjacent lease.
You have to find what works for you.

StarchedCover

I own homes in the Texas Hill Country (where I can hunt) and north Idaho (where I can hunt). I cannot sit in a stand and shoot a critter over a feeder unless it is a hog. Nothing against those that can but I can't. I own property in north Idaho that extends to millions of acres just minutes from my house. Now retired I am working to understand my Idaho opportunities. I will never have a lease and some critters I want to hunt must be guided, brown bear, cape buffalo and sable being on the near horizon. I have monster Axis in the yard that I refuse to shoot... Folks just make a simple decision and I have zero issues with any made inside the law.

If I lived within a reasonable distance of Ames I would jump on that lease in a hearbeat.


I would not pay for access to a few hundred acres because I have access to family land. It is frustrating to listen to non-stop shooting on the opener of muzzleloader knowing that young bucks are dropping like flies on surrounding properties.

My long term plan is just to get more property of my own. I am also looking into more quota hunts which I have never done before. Don't really care to pay for guided hunts.

I've never been part of a lease, and unfortunately don't own huntable land. My camp in Pa. butts right up against an entire mountain of State Forest Land. We used to pretty much see the same guys every year from the surrounding camps. We stayed out of their way, and they stayed out of ours. Seems to be different now. Last time I hunted out there, I had a guy I didn't recognize walk right up to me and start chatting like we were long lost friends. I gave him my best leave me the fck alone look, and he finally moved on. It would sure be nice not to have to deal with such intrusions.

I have an 80 acre lease in North Missouri 17 miles south of Iowa that I only use one week out of the year. It's nearly 380 miles door to door from my home in southern Missouri to the small cabin I stay in that the lease holder owns but let's me use for no additional cost....Missouri rifle deer season

My wife hunts 600 acres of private property and sits in a permanent heated box blind during the Missouri primitive weapons season with permission from the landowner for free.....girls

I hunt Colorado public with a group of friends from Colorado for deer and elk when I am lucky enough to draw a license....some years I don't draw

When I can draw a tag or if landowner vouchers are available I hunt private property for Pronghorn in Colorado on a good friends family property....probono

This November my wife will Hunt on a farm in Oklahoma during the rifle season...several hundred acres of private property..... this hunt opportunity was provided by the generosity of another good friend.

Great friends.....priceless

There is more free hunting than I thought.

18 + million acres of forest land in New York State. 3-4 million acres are public land.

In Ontario there are millions of acres of Crown (public) land. Little of it, however, is in the densely populated south-east, central part of the province. Our group hunts on Crown land in northern Ontario but we have to pay an outfitter to fly in and for use of his cabin and equipment (boats, motors, etc.) We are still subject to the luck of the draw for tags. In addition we have to drive 725+/- miles to reach the area. For this hunt it runs us close to $2,000 a year. Not every one can afford to do this but years ago after some scary encounters with others who hunted the same areas we decided paying for access gave us peace of mind we otherwise didn't have.

For deer hunting we have free use of 50 acres granted by a neighbour of my s-i-l. (Free except for the gifts of various kinds that have been made. Not requested but freely given.)

Most of our acquaintances who deer hunt have purchased small, more or less abandoned farms. In some Crown land areas parties who have hunted there for years think they have acquired rights to the areas.

For the most part nothing is free. Usually we have to pay in one way or another.

Jim

Nothing is free. Costs money to get ready to go on a free hunt.

Not much when you live where you can walk out your door and hunt. I've filled all my tags within a half mile of my house for the past few years. A couple within 150 yards of the back door.

I can hunt out my back door also, but prefer to have lease. I'm at edge of city limits. Neighbors call the law if they hear shooting.

Sounds like you picked a poor place to live. It's no accident I live where I do. A couple of the criteria I had when I bought this place were....

1. Must be far enough from neighbors so as to be able to shoot in the yard or out the living room window as I choose.

2. Must be in a location with plenty of public hunting land and good fishing in close proximity.

The place I ended up buying met both of those criteria plus is next door to long time family friends with 126 acres which I have permission to hunt on freely. It's also right across the road from 200 acres owned by a non hunting absentee landowner that I have permission to hunt as much and as often as I want.

My folks picked it.