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Turkey hunting leases

fairchaser

fairchaser

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2011
Messages
9,080
Location
TN, USA
Do you pay for a turkey hunting only lease? How much do you pay? How many acres and how many hunters? How great is it?

I hunt Ames plantation for $1500 for turkeys only. It's 18000 acres, 16000 huntable and 30 hunters. The last few years it's gone from pretty good to mediocre to difficult. Last season, the club killed 20 birds. The hatch looks pretty good for this year.

There's a waiting list to get in! I'm currently a member.
 
mediocre ground that has had a bird cross it in the past 3 months will bring $3 per acre in MS. Good ground will bring $5 per acre for lease rights. Excellent ground with quite a few birds will bring $10 per acre.

There is a tremendous amount of turnover in turkey hunting leases, often annually. Places that had birds one year may have none the following.
 
megalomaniac said:
mediocre ground that has had a bird cross it in the past 3 months will bring $3 per acre in MS. Good ground will bring $5 per acre for lease rights. Excellent ground with quite a few birds will bring $10 per acre.

There is a tremendous amount of turnover in turkey hunting leases, often annually. Places that had birds one year may have none the following.
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If you figure 30 hunters over 16,000 acres it works out to about $3 acre, so I guess not too bad.
 
fairchaser said:
. . . . 16000 huntable and 30 hunters. . . . . . . Last season, the club killed 20 birds.
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That works out to over 500 acres per turkey hunter.
I would consider that a "quality" set-up, if you have a decent turkey population.
Seems pretty sad that at least a third of the turkey hunters there didn't kill a single bird for the season.

I'm assuming some of those 30 hunters might have killed 2 birds, so may be over half the hunters didn't get "a" bird? As bad as that sounds, that's still a better outcome than what I saw on some large leases in Stewart Co. last year.

Do hope you have better luck this year, and sounds like the prospects have improved.
 
I have had a few turkey only leases usually pay between $200-300. Some were good others not. Not large tracts. Have let some go and others I have negotiated year round leases.
 
TheLBLman said:
That works out to over 500 acres per turkey hunter.
I would consider that a "quality" set-up, if you have a decent turkey population.
Seems pretty sad that at least a third of the turkey hunters there didn't kill a single bird for the season.

I'm assuming some of those 30 hunters might have killed 2 birds, so may be over half the hunters didn't get "a" bird? As bad as that sounds, that's still a better outcome than what I saw on some large leases in Stewart Co. last year.

Do hope you have better luck this year, and sounds like the prospects have improved.
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By all appearances they have. Part of the problem was the late start to the season. The strut was at its peak and slowing down. Also, many in the club have other places to hunt. I killed only one bird and worked to get it.
 
Spurhunter said:
I would pay $1500 a year to turkey hunt 16000 acres with 29 other hunters if there was a really good population. However, for a guy to spend that much I would assume he would be a serious turkey hunter. 30 serious turkey hunters only killing 20 longbeards on 16000 acres would make me question the population.
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Agree. Population has declined over the years. It seems to have rebounded somewhat based on my observations during deer season. I guess we'll see. Serious turkey hunters yes. But like most serious hunters, they have multiple places to hunt. Probably easier places to hunt too.
 
fairchaser said:
It seems to have rebounded somewhat based on my observations during deer season. I guess we'll see.
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A large geographic area I deer hunt in Stewart County has had a declining turkey population for years.

But it's spotty, and you can too often see them congregated at a feeder in someone's backyard, and many of those killed are being killed in those backyards. And as more houses, with 2 acres, spring up around the peripheral of the bigger tracts, more turkeys spend more time at backyard feeders.

During the 2022 deer season, we all felt like there had been such good nesting success in 2022, we were destined for 2023 turkey season that might be the best in several years. Nope, it was still pathetic. Had some really good turkey hunters fail to kill a bird. I hunted hard and was very lucky to get the 1 bird I found. And, my bird had a craw so full of fresh corn, he probably couldn't fly. Never mind I was near a mile from the nearest house.

I really think the extreme cold weather in late 2022 may have killed some of our turkeys, but also many died in a few people's backyards on the opening day.

Will be interesting to see what happens now this April, as I again believe we have more than we had 2 & 3 yrs ago, albeit mostly young birds.
 
Spurhunter said:
That makes sense. I envision Ames as primarily big hardwoods. I guess that's not accurate.
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Its crops, hardwoods, pine thickets, open clear cuts, meadows, pastures, fields and everything else. It's an outdoors dream property really. Fifteen years ago, you could go to any area with a box call and have gobblers coming at you from every direction. But, the population is much less now. The harvest last year of 20 birds was the lowest it's been since the start of the club.
 
fairchaser said:
The harvest last year of 20 birds was the lowest it's been since the start of the club.
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That's about 1 bird killed per 900 acres of habitat.
Low as that is, it's in the ballpark of most TN private lands,
and a little better than many TN public lands.

In 2023 Spring Turkey, LBL killed 48 turkeys on about 60,000 acres (TN portion).
That's about 1 bird per 1,250 acres.
Pathetic, but still comparable to surrounding area.

The "good ole days" of turkey hunting in most of TN have been long past now for several years. For quail, even longer. In Stewart County, I think the last time I heard or saw "Bob White" was about 3 yrs ago. I hear there's still a remnant population, but they must no longer beautifully whistle like they once did, nor do they run along side or get seen crossing the gravel roads.

How's the quail population doing now at Ames?
I've always had this fear that, as go the quail, so will the turkey.
 

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