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Cousin Strawberry

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Cousin Strawberry

Cousin Strawberry 1261

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If this needs to go somewhere else, I apologize. I thought maybe we could have a dedicated thread for members seeking hunting leases and established leases needing members. I figured if its limited to Surly posters, no one ends up showing a lease to a guy in square toed boots and bedazzled jeans who celebrates shooting a 3.5 year old 8 point with a bunch of fireball while cranking Florida Georgia Line at max volume.  This would be for non-regard hunters who understand management goals and lease rules.

 

Post if you want to join a lease or need members for an existing lease.

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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If only we had an Outdoor Board....

I digress.  So for those seeking a place to hunt.  I may have something come up.  700+ acres near Coleman.  Low fence, etc.  I have spots for four.  Two that have been there longer, I get the feeling may not renew (father/son combo).  It's still early so I'm not pushing them, but I have a hunch.  If this does happen, I'll post here and here only initially to get feedback.  Fairly turn-key:  Lamco protein feeders (2), corn feeders (8) and fiberglass Dillon blinds (4:  4x6 and 4x4).  Could bring more.  Room is available, but not necessary.  

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TahoeHorn

TahoeHorn 107

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I lease to hunters (man and wife) and have no idea what I'm doing.  The guy I lease to got an eight point buck and four does this past year.   I don't know what other game he got (e.g. turkeys) It was not a good year.  I live on the property and don't allow high powered rifles.  What should I be charging?

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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1 hour ago, TahoeHorn said:

I lease to hunters (man and wife) and have no idea what I'm doing.  The guy I lease to got an eight point buck and four does this past year.   I don't know what other game he got (e.g. turkeys) It was not a good year.  I live on the property and don't allow high powered rifles.  What should I be charging?

Location?

Water (tanks/ponds/creeks)?

Size (acres)?

Lodging?

Year round access/day hunts?

Feeders/blinds?

Animals allowed to take (deer only, quail, etc.)?

 

*most importantly - define "high powered rifle" (assuming you mean center-fire)?  And how are deer taken then?  Bow/shotgun/black powder?

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TahoeHorn

TahoeHorn 107

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4 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Location?

Water (tanks/ponds/creeks)?

Size (acres)?

Lodging?

Year round access/day hunts?

Feeders/blinds?

Animals allowed to take (deer only, quail, etc.)?

 

*most importantly - define "high powered rifle" (assuming you mean center-fire)?  And how are deer taken then?  Bow/shotgun/black powder?

North Alabama (Madison County (county population 346,000)

Creek a little over a half mile, typically about two feet deep and 25 feet across, but varies

160 acres minus area near my house

No facilities provided.  Hunter puts up his own blinds, camera, feed

He can take what the law allows.

I should have said no rifles.  If I'm in range it's not allowed.  A slug with a shotgun is ok; black powder and bow is ok.  I don't want to get shot because the hunter forgets where my house is.  I don't want my neighbors shot either.  Most of the time there will be woods and several hundred yards between any person.  And only a few houses are within rifle range.  But I'm not taking chances.

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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46 minutes ago, TahoeHorn said:

North Alabama (Madison County (county population 346,000)

Creek a little over a half mile, typically about two feet deep and 25 feet across, but varies

160 acres minus area near my house

No facilities provided.  Hunter puts up his own blinds, camera, feed

He can take what the law allows.

I should have said no rifles.  If I'm in range it's not allowed.  A slug with a shotgun is ok; black powder and bow is ok.  I don't want to get shot because the hunter forgets where my house is.  I don't want my neighbors shot either.  Most of the time there will be woods and several hundred yards between any person.  And only a few houses are within rifle range.  But I'm not taking chances.

How is the lease structured - year round?  Season only?  Other animals allowed (such as turkey)?  Sorry to beat you up, but it all factors in.  I can say I've seen set-up's like that here in Texas go for around a $1,000 per gun.  Usually more.  Scarcity issue.  Have you checked local sites to get a feel for what comparable leases go for?  An anecdotal market analysis if you will.  

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TahoeHorn

TahoeHorn 107

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31 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

How is the lease structured - year round?  Season only?  Other animals allowed (such as turkey)?  Sorry to beat you up, but it all factors in.  I can say I've seen set-up's like that here in Texas go for around a $1,000 per gun.  Usually more.  Scarcity issue.  Have you checked local sites to get a feel for what comparable leases go for?  An anecdotal market analysis if you will.  

Year round

Any animals

The best feature, by far, is that it's one of the few good hunting areas near the city.  (Most of the county is either highly populated or open fields with row crops.) Hunters have to drive to less populous counties.  But the worst is that it isn't the full hunting experience with lodging and such.  It's a pocket (80 acres of the 160) of woods with water amidst civilization and animals flee to it.  It's the place to be if you're an animal.

I've done some informal asking but there aren't good comps.  What I'm getting is comparable per hunter to what one might pay for a spot 150 miles away.  It would be better (no civilization) but there would be multiple hunters with a designated area to stay in, and scheduling requirements.  My deal is for whenever with no scheduling.

And I don't allow rifles.  But one year the guy got nine deer.  A different hunter got five turkey one year but he was a great turkey hunter.

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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1 minute ago, TahoeHorn said:

I think does were unlimited.  I don't know is the real answer.

 

So, how much should I charge?

I'd think for that level of animal harvest (that to me seems WAY off), I think a grand isn't outrageous.  I'd also look up and contact your local game warden and get to know him.  He will be your biggest ally through this leasing process.  Invite him out.  Let him meet your hunters.  He can/will also answer each and every hunting related question you can think of - especially game limits and season dates.  You'll need to know these.

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Cousin Strawberry

Cousin Strawberry 1261

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53 minutes ago, TahoeHorn said:

http://www.outdooralabama.com/season-and-bag-limits

He shot his limit on antlered deer, and I'm led to believe there isn't a practical limit on does, but I don't know.  Also, as I said, his wife hunts with him.  I don't know how that works.

Not saying he went over his limit. The individual bag limit is 6 per year.  So he could have taken 6 total and his wife could have taken 6.  

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TahoeHorn

TahoeHorn 107

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8 minutes ago, Cousin Strawberry said:

Not saying he went over his limit. The individual bag limit is 6 per year.  So he could have taken 6 total and his wife could have taken 6.  

 I've checked three sources, including the link I provided.  The limit in Zone C in Alabama on does is one per day.  (My brother says antlered deer were that way too about ten years ago.  Now the limit on antlered deer is three.)

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Cousin Strawberry

Cousin Strawberry 1261

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20 minutes ago, TahoeHorn said:

 I've checked three sources, including the link I provided.  The limit in Zone C in Alabama on does is one per day.  (My brother says antlered deer were that way too about ten years ago.  Now the limit on antlered deer is three.)

one un- antlered deer may be taken per day in addi- tion to one antlered buck per day. See Special Exception #3 for selected areas with one deer per day limit on U.S. Forest Service L

 

The total is six.  You can kill one antlered deer per day until you reach 3 for the season.  You can kill an antlerless deer on the same day you kill an antlered deer until you have killed 3 total.

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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Yep.  And those limits are set by the biologists in the state based upon density and deer numbers.  Have a great friend up in Florence, AL so I’ve visited a few times.  And I think you are quite a bit under the market.  But if you are happy.  The hunters happy and respectful and safe.  Then you have a good setup.  Leases in Texas going for $3k-5k a gun in many places.  

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Cousin Strawberry

Cousin Strawberry 1261

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40 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Yep.  And those limits are set by the biologists in the state based upon density and deer numbers.  Have a great friend up in Florence, AL so I’ve visited a few times.  And I think you are quite a bit under the market.  But if you are happy.  The hunters happy and respectful and safe.  Then you have a good setup.  Leases in Texas going for $3k-5k a gun in many places.  

Not for 80 acres.  I've paid well north of 6K but that was per gun (10 guns) on over 6K acres. That had fantastic lodging for 10, laundry room, kitchen, dishwasher, cleaning station and walk in cooler. But there were no deer there over 160".  If you want something above that I would expect to pay 10-12K in lease cost alone plus another 2K in protein and corn, for anything above 160".

 For 80 acres I would expect to pay about $800, unless I was in east Texas where they think 1000 acres is a huge lease, and aren't concerned with other hunters safety, especially if I couldn't rifle hunt.

  

 

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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4 minutes ago, Cousin Strawberry said:

Not for 80 acres.  I've paid well north of 6K but that was per gun (10 guns) on over 6K acres. That had fantastic lodging for 10, laundry room, kitchen, dishwasher, cleaning station and walk in cooler. But there were no deer there over 160".  If you want something above that I would expect to pay 10-12K in lease cost alone plus another 2K in protein and corn, for anything above 160".

 For 80 acres I would expect to pay about $800, unless I was in east Texas where they think 1000 acres is a huge lease, and aren't concerned with other hunters safety, especially if I couldn't rifle hunt.

  

 

Yeah. No.  Not talking about that size.  Just general lease rates in Texas.  Most places run between 600-2000 acres.  Most are low fenced (even though that is changing) and allow season-round access + protein/corn costs. 

And the crappy part is some companies buy up hundreds of not thousands of these spots and jack up the price by (30%+\-) via subleasing.  Stinks as there isn’t any public hunting land options 

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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And for 160+ class deer.  Most are on managed ranches with high game fences.  Or you simply pay a set fee at such places, go with a guide for a day and he helps you “find” one.  Worked at such a place during my summers. Choctaw Game Preserve.  Nice place.  Couldn’t imagine the amount of money big dallas money would plop down to drink Johnny Walker Blue and basically shoot penned animals with tags.  

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Cousin Strawberry

Cousin Strawberry 1261

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21 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

And for 160+ class deer.  Most are on managed ranches with high game fences.  Or you simply pay a set fee at such places, go with a guide for a day and he helps you “find” one.  Worked at such a place during my summers. Choctaw Game Preserve.  Nice place.  Couldn’t imagine the amount of money big dallas money would plop down to drink Johnny Walker Blue and basically shoot penned animals with tags.  

Thats gross.

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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11 hours ago, Cousin Strawberry said:

Thats gross.

Not my thing.  But I also get it, as I "guided" many of these guys.  They are hyper-successful.  Hyper-driven.  Work insane hours.  And just need to get away.  Many ran companies or were senior leaders whose biggest concern was time.  Some, I gathered were worth many millions - so paying a few grand wasn't a stretch for them.  They were all very nice.  I can't say if I was working 100+ hours a week and had tons of disposable cash that I'd not do the same thing?  And these were BIG animals....wall hangers for sure.

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Reagan1k

Reagan1k 3024

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I've hunted some in MS, TN and Alabama

Alabama is certainly different in how they write their regs -  If I recall, the one doe per day still stands and is independent of the 3 buck limit.

I used to joke with a buddy from there that the wrote the rules like this because they knew "his type" was going to shoot that many anyway and they might as well make it legal since no bag-limit would stop them.

Quote

ANTLERED BUCKS

Bare antlers visible above natural hairline – Statewide – one a day.

White-Tailed Buck Limit

Three during all combined seasons. One of the three must have at least 4 antler points 1” or longer on one antler (except for Barbour County). A point is an antler projection of at least one inch in length from base to tip. Main beam tip shall be counted as a point regardless of length.

Exceptions:

  1. Barbour County Antler Restriction – white-tailed deer bucks must have a minimum of three points on one side, (except on the statewide special youth deer hunting dates during which any antlered buck may be taken).
  2. Wildlife Management Area (WMA) Bonus Buck – One buck will be allowed to be harvested from a select collection of WMA’s on specific hunt dates depicted on the WMA map permits that will not count towards the hunter’s State 3 buck limit. Must be validated by WFF personnel.

UNANTLERED DEER

During the Unantlered Deer Gun, Special Muzzleloader, Bow and Arrow, Spear, and Special Youth (under 16) Seasons, one unantlered deer may be taken per day in addition to one antlered buck per day. See Special Exception #3 for selected areas with one deer per day limit on U.S. Forest Service Lands.

 

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Cousin Strawberry

Cousin Strawberry 1261

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12 minutes ago, Reagan1k said:

I've hunted some in MS, TN and Alabama

Alabama is certainly different in how they write their regs -  If I recall, the one doe per day still stands and is independent of the 3 buck limit.

I used to joke with a buddy from there that the wrote the rules like this because they knew "his type" was going to shoot that many anyway and they might as well make it legal since no bag-limit would stop them.

 

Holy shit, I just reread and I think you are right. 

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Spaulding Smails

Spaulding Smails 1554

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Great thread topic.  We just bought a place in Junction, but I'd like to have a spot to hit during the week.  Junction is just a bit too far for an afternoon hunt.  Curious to see what we can scare up on a few hundred acres (low-fenced).  Setting up three feeders and blinds this weekend, and we'll start feeding protein next week.  

Back on topic, I'm on the prowl for a dove / duck lease within an hour of ABIA.  I'm looking for somewhere that I can lock in without being plopped down with hunters I don't know.  Would like to have 3-4 gun spots.  This would be for my business partner and me with the intent of taking our kids / employees / clients a few at a time.  Willing to pay $5K+/yr depending on location / setup.  

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BabaYaga

BabaYaga 15301

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On 4/5/2018 at 12:49 PM, Cousin Strawberry said:

How do they manage populations  letting every hunter kill a daily doe for the length of the season?

Game wardens and biologists re-evaluate most every year or so based upon hunting populations and deer count.  Seems there's a surplus apparently.  One issue we are seeing here in Texas due to deer population density issues is CWD cases are being spotted with more and more frequency.  Like parvo, it can live in the soil for up to a decade.  All these high game fenced "ranchettes" (<1k acres) where the deer are on top of each other with no place to go have become problematic.  Around the feeders where the deer congregate and obviously eat off the ground.  If the state looks to outlaw hunting over bait like so many other states do, that could radically alter the hunting landscape of the state.

50th CWD Case discovered

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wreckatx

wreckatx 141

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On 4/9/2018 at 3:49 PM, Spaulding Smails said:

Great thread topic.  We just bought a place in Junction, but I'd like to have a spot to hit during the week.  Junction is just a bit too far for an afternoon hunt.  Curious to see what we can scare up on a few hundred acres (low-fenced).  Setting up three feeders and blinds this weekend, and we'll start feeding protein next week.  

Back on topic, I'm on the prowl for a dove / duck lease within an hour of ABIA.  I'm looking for somewhere that I can lock in without being plopped down with hunters I don't know.  Would like to have 3-4 gun spots.  This would be for my business partner and me with the intent of taking our kids / employees / clients a few at a time.  Willing to pay $5K+/yr depending on location / setup.  

I'm looking for something similar.  Within 60-90 miles of Austin. Don't care about deer.  Would like to be able to hunt birds, fish, and camp.  Basically just a place to take my kids and fart around. 

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RowdyVic

RowdyVic 106

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On ‎4‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 9:46 PM, BabaYaga said:

Yeah. No.  Not talking about that size.  Just general lease rates in Texas.  Most places run between 600-2000 acres.  Most are low fenced (even though that is changing) and allow season-round access + protein/corn costs. 

And the crappy part is some companies buy up hundreds of not thousands of these spots and jack up the price by (30%+\-) via subleasing.  Stinks as there isn’t any public hunting land options 

Lake Somerville has public hunting.

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RowdyVic

RowdyVic 106

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Hmm not sure about turkey. I will have to check. But yea you can hunt deer. Archery only. Just need your license and PHP.

 

And i think it might be the only public hunt in central texas that isnt is a drawn hunt.

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Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8397

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On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 7:56 AM, deadshank said:

High fencing and deer breeding.   Not a fan. 

We high fenced.  Because a neighbor on 30 acres shaped like an airplane runway next to us had 9 blinds and feeders set up on our mutual fenceline and would shoot anything they saw.  Most deer on a place our size never see a fence.  But it keeps dickheads who think it's cool to shoot 50 deer a year on their 30 acre parcel from doing so.

I am not a fan of deer breeding either.  We do net a nice buck every year and put him in a 100 acre trap, most of which is cover, with 20 doe we net.  And then open the gate to let them out after the rut.  

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Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8397

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1 hour ago, Llano Estacado said:

Birds?

I’d pay for a dependable wing shooting spot, but there’s no money in it...so I’ll daydream about it while I scroll through listings of high fenced deer breeding operations with thousand dollar protein bills. 

We have a small place near Hempstead.  I am going to plant millett and sunflower this year on 20 acres and see if draws in dove.  I can go out there and get 5-10 on an average afternoon with no food source for birds.  Hoping I can get some decent hunts on planted fields.  Honestly, a good dove hunt for me is one of the most fun things to do outdoors.

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