Originally Posted by MontanaCreekHunter


I hate to be the bearer of bad news BUT hunting Leases have been going strong long before the TV shows.


I understand that. It wasn't much of a thing in the Midwest in the 80s when I was growing up there. It is now. It has always been a thing in the Southeast, but when lease prices went from $3/acre to $15/acre in the span of 3-5 years, that is when it became a problem. High $ leases have also been going strong in TX for quite a while, but that is mainly due to lots of private land and lots of oil & gas money to pay for the leases.

Again, the point that I was trying to make was that a lot of us Eastern and Midwest whitetail hunters have often thought/dreamed of heading out West to hunt but it has been cost prohibitive when we have good hunting in our own backyards. That "good hunting" is now much more in line, cost wise, to hunting out West, so some of us are taking a year or two off of hunting here to fulfill that dream.

The other thing that I didn't mention in my first post was that more and more sportsmen are being forced out of the Left Coast states and are settling in neighboring states. I also know quite a few people who are leaving CO due to the influx of crazies from CA. And as the need for more infrastructure grows in NM, AZ, UT, ID, WY and MT, more people will be moving in from the east to fill those jobs, quite a few of them will most likely be hunters. This is also increasing the number of people putting in for permits in those states.