What is the most you have heard of paid for a hunting lease ?

[westcliffe01]

In response to a listing in the classifieds here, asking nearly $9000 for a 6 month lease on 300+ acres for hunting, I guess I am somewhat floored about anyone spending that much money to be able to hunt ?

How many people need to be involved and how many deer do you need to take on the property in a year in order to justify that kind of expense ? There are farming activities mentioned (crops) so it is not as if it is a piece of wilderness that you have exclusive access to..

Just curious. I see many listings here in Michigan for between $1500 and $2500 for just deer season (Sept to January) on private land. I pay my way by killing coyotes and providing labor for projects on the farm. I also donate part of my meat to the family who owns the farm, but other than gas I have no cash in it at all.

 

[mitchell]

when i lived in texas 6 of us paid $800 per person for a year lease on 600 acres that was deer hogs dove coyote everything . i would never dream of paying that much for a lease.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Where was this 6 month lease on 300 acres for $9000 and did it have an Orvis Lodge with maid service included, LOL! Up untilmy Dad quit hunting about 10 years ago he was part of a year around lease on 2000 acres down in south Texas for $1500 a gun. They had either 6 or 8 people on it with a 1 buck, 1 doe per person limit, all the hogs you could kill, and bird hunting according to the limits and season dates.

 

[midwesthunter]

I think it really depends on where it is and quality of animals around, prime IL land goes for $100+ a acre. I have leases in OH and WI, both are year round lease's There not cheap but there not most expensive either, but the hunting is great.

 

[battlestick]

I have seen $3500 leases in S. Texas.

Alot of times too, what a person is willing to pay is the combination of alot of factors. My boys and I went from a lease in East Texas of 150 acres for $175 a year, to 600 for $1k a year in Central Texas.

Why am I willing to pay more? Several reasons.

1. Deer population. I can see more deer in one day in Central Texas than I will all season in E Tx.
2. Drive time. E Tx lease = 4 hours. Central Tx lease = 30 minutes. This means the money I spent in gas now goes towards my lease. Is it a wash, hell no we just hunted 30 days last deer season alone. But it sure is more fun!
Additonally, my boys are getting older and it is harder and harder to get them to spend a week with me and out of touch with the girlys.

When I was younger I always said I will NEVER pay $X just to hunt. Never say Never.

 

[Steyr Luxus]

Zero $$$$ as I do not hunt lease property. All my hunting is done on either private land to which I have permission or public lands. It's illegal to receive monies (i.e. lease land) for hunting purposes where I live unless you are a bonded, insured and registered guide.

 

[screech]

I know a guy who pays 10k a year but I know there's a ranch further north that I'm sure is 20-30 that's leased by an outfitter

 

[bamadawg2009]

I myself have never paid anything for a hunting lease we have 250 acres of family private land and the only thing we put into it is blood sweat and tears and the price of corn, and food plots.
I dont think any deer in the world is worth the price of a brand new vehicle or a fully customized brand new rifle, not to mention a marriage and child support. My wife would be gone before I ever left for the hunt if I dropped that kinda cash for a deer. I would never pay 4000-30,000 for a deer lease or hunt. If I was an outfitter I could see leasing for 30,000 because you get your money back and then some by selling hunts for $4000-$10,000. I guess it all depends on how bad you want to kill a deer though, but there comes a point when you have more money than brains. I also look at it like this $10,000 over the course of a 10yr lease and you could buy yourself your own property to hunt or put a huge dent in the price of it.

 

[skeetjs]

me and another fellow leased 3000 acres low fence 12000 each first yr -up to 15000 162 first yr,,14pt double drop next year ,172, 187 3beams, last yr.. 237 low an i had a 3000 lease from84-2001 while i had the expensive one had to quit to save money to rrettire i studder also when i wrote those cks.

 

[Sackett]

I hunt in Western South Carolina and lease 700 acres at $5200.00 per year. Of this land there are 2 owners, but the land is joined. I only have deer and rabbit and hog rights to 550 acres, and all hunting rights to the other 150 acres. The up side to this lease is it offers access to 1500 acres of Public Land that is unaccessible to others, land locked. Then I have another tract less than a mile away that is 200 acres, and I get to hunt it in exchange for managing the property. I enforce trespassing and bush-hogging and grass mowing, general up keep. Then 1/2 mile away is my house that has 120 acres of family land. I also keep Hunting Lease Insurance on all the properties for another $250.00 per year. These last 2 properties also have Public Land attached that is unaccessible. There are 6 of us on the 750 acres, family land 3 of us hunt, the 200 acres are just my dad and I. I do open the 200 acres up for 2 days for a disabled hunt "Wheelin' Sportsmen" put on by the National Wild Turkey Federation and The U. S. Forest Service. I have all this for a total of $5450.00 per year. Then throw in another $150.00 each for food plots and fuel it comes to about $1050.00 each. The good news to all this is it is all within 3 miles of my house and I can hunt from Sept.15 archery, Oct 01 Muzzleloader, Oct 11 -Jan 01 Rifle.

The good part of this over Public Land is that you can manage what deer are killed and greatly increase your odds of killing that MONSTER BUCK, I have been managing this property for 6 years now and I now have the chance to kill a State Record Book Buck each hunt (our rules prohit this, only 3 bucks per year) you can't do that on Public Land in this area.gun)

 

[skeetjs]

SOUTH TEXAS GOLDEN TRIANGLE is the highest I know about.. about 15-18 large texas countys.. they start at 4500 on a small lease with too many people to be able to kill deer over 145. quality leases there are 5000 to 6500. super leases run 7500-12000 but some have food, guide, lodgiing include.. expect too kill 160-170 ever year 185-200 ever 4-5 years.
in 2000 the lease I was on i had 7 buck between my stand and feeder ,175 yds , that would all score 140-150 18-21" wide.. its hard to look at that kind of bucks and not pull the trigger. and i have the video ..