How much should land lease for?

[deerhunter10]

10 to 25 dollars an acre. Is what I've seen 10 is rare. I'll be honest being in the farming side of it we have cows on places we don't lease to hunt and lord have mercy some people that hunt land have zero business being on it and I've seen countless get kicked off and the owners won't lease it anymore. So be respectful and pay a fair price and you will probably have a long term agreement.

 

[hbg1]

Like mega said earlier I wouldn't even think of leasing out my land for $10-15 acre, isn't worth the hassle.

 

[Talome13]

Like mega said earlier I wouldn't even think of leasing out my land for $10-15 acre, isn't worth the hassle.

Agreed. Me and my dad had an offer of $20/ac to hunt our 500ac a few years ago and we turned it down. Seems like a lot of hassle/headache and liability.

 

[rem270]

I've seen it $10-$50 in south western KY. I'd say it stays around $25 an acre pretty consistently. There's no way I'd ever pay those high prices but on the other hand if I ever leased my properties out it would have to be for those high prices for it to even be worth fooling with.

 

[TheLBLman]

Agreed. Me and my dad had an offer of $20/ac to hunt our 500ac a few years ago and we turned it down. Seems like a lot of hassle/headache and liability.

I think the big difference (in your views vs. those of many property owners) is that you yourself are an avid hunter. What if you didn't hunt, which is the case now with most property owners?

The situation has to be a "win-win" for both the property owner and the person gaining access to the property. The deciding factor often comes down to trust between parties more than the amount of money.

Many landowners (who have no desire to personally hunt on their property) would rather just "lease" hunting rights to a trusted person for very little or no money at all, in return for trusted oversight of their property.

As to much of the property today being hunted by its owners, what happens when the next generation inherits it, and those heirs don't hunt?

 

[Talome13]

I think the big difference (in your views vs. those of many property owners) is that you yourself are an avid hunter. What if you didn't hunt, which is the case now with most property owners?

The situation has to be a "win-win" for both the property owner and the person gaining access to the property. The deciding factor often comes down to trust between parties more than the amount of money.

Many landowners (who have no desire to personally hunt on their property) would rather just "lease" hunting rights to a trusted person for very little or no money at all, in return for trusted oversight of their property.

As to much of the property today being hunted by its owners, what happens when the next generation inherits it, and those heirs don't hunt?

Good point

 

[hbg1]

I think the big difference (in your views vs. those of many property owners) is that you yourself are an avid hunter. What if you didn't hunt, which is the case now with most property owners?

The situation has to be a "win-win" for both the property owner and the person gaining access to the property. The deciding factor often comes down to trust between parties more than the amount of money.

Many landowners (who have no desire to personally hunt on their property) would rather just "lease" hunting rights to a trusted person for very little or no money at all, in return for trusted oversight of their property.

As to much of the property today being hunted by its owners, what happens when the next generation inherits it, and those heirs don't hunt?

I am a hunter of course and own land that I never set foot on but it still isn't worth the hassle to me to lease it for $10-15 acre, not going to.

 

[tellico4x4]

Paying for the lease just gets you started. Last year with huge cost increase for everything, we spent $5.00/acre above cost of lease.

3500 acres w/15 members. 41 food plots (60ac), 35 shooting houses & 50 ladder/tripod stands in woods.

We touch every stand & shooting house every year doing maintenance, repair or replacement. 15-20 years ago we bought LOTs of $49 single ladder stands and past 5 years have been replacing them with nice double ladders, only 5-6 more to go. Same with shooting houses, have been purchasing new ones to replace old wooden ones .

Lime, soil tests, fertilizer, seed, herbicide, gravel, fuel, equipment maint/ repair expense (two dedicated tractors & implements), trapping supplies, posted signs, cementum age testing for all bucks, work day meals, & website expense all adds up to substantial $$.

All of us use our place year round as opposed to just deer hunting . Really just depends on how important it is to your group & what your goals are.

 

[Soft Talker]

For as much as someone is stupid enough to pay for it.

 

[SaltwaterWalt]

Being a senior aged deer hunter, I've sure seen a lot of changes in my lifetime of deer hunting. Knocking on a landowner's door to gain hunt permission is long gone. While a big rack buck is nice, it's never been my obsession. My reward is sitting in a stand on a cold morning and absorbing God's creation, while hoping to put venison in the freezer. A cold nip on the nose and frozen fingers make's me feel alive. I'm blessed in that I have permission to hunt 70 acres of scrubby, rough land that was an abandoned farm from yesteryear. I've been there 5 years. Each year I wait for the other shoe to drop as the owner keeps getting higher and higher offers for it from developers (it's about an hour south of Nashville). It comes down to how much money are you willing to pay to spend a couple weeks a year to hunt deer? Being retired, I'm on limited income. When it comes to pay to play, if deer hunting becomes a rich man's game, like in Europe, I'll go fishing on the great public waters we have in TN. But I will be sad not to sit in a cold stand anymore.

 

[Andy S.]

Many the younger hunters might be willing, but they're not able.

I'm seeing younger hunters (coworkers of mine) that rarely hunt pay more for leases/access than I would pay, and I consider myself a pretty serious hunter, albeit thrifty at times, so often looking at my ROI for any expenditure. These leases are within 45 minutes of a big city, but the kicker is they are leasing the ground and rarely stepping foot on it. That is the part that leaves me scratching my head.

 

[DaveTN]

Wow. I had no idea people pay thousands a year for a place to hunt. Do multiple people lease or just one lease per property?

 

[TheLBLman]

I'm seeing younger hunters (coworkers of mine) that rarely hunt pay more for leases/access than I would pay . . . . .

Andy, there are exceptions to everything, and every young person isn't financially poor.
Some do in fact have more money than they have sense.

Some of these same people have yet to go thru their first divorce, yet to pay child support, maybe yet to be married with kids. Many young people will have rapidly changing priorities in their future. I'm afraid for most, those priorities will not include any type of hunting.

 

[Wiley]

I feel like I've won the lottery. The season that just ended was year #25 on the 438 acres that I lease and not paying anywhere near what y'all are quoting as average.

 

[redblood]

I lease a few farms for a local farmer. Here what i can tell ya. Its worth what people are willling to pay and in middle TN thats alot.

 

[BSK]

When it comes to pay to play, if deer hunting becomes a rich man's game, like in Europe, I'll go fishing on the great public waters we have in TN.

I hate to tell you this, but in large parts of Middle and West TN, hunting already is a rich man's sport. You wouldn't believe how much land is tied up in these areas in ownership - not just leasing - just for hunting. I know because I work for some of these people, and the money that is spent on land management - beyond the ownership cost - is crazy.

 

[TheLBLman]

I hate to tell you this, but in large parts of Middle and West TN, hunting already is a rich man's sport. You wouldn't believe how much land is tied up in these areas in ownership - not just leasing - just for hunting. I know because I work for some of these people, and the money that is spent on land management - beyond the ownership cost - is crazy.

What's your thoughts on the next generations' overall "management" of most these properties?

Are the children & grandchildren as passionate about deer hunting as the original purchaser of the hunting property?

 

[Boll Weevil]

What's your thoughts on the next generations' overall "management" of most these properties?

Are the children & grandchildren as passionate about deer hunting as the original purchaser of the hunting property?

Not from my vantage...it's too much work.

 

[JJ3]

In west Tennessee $10/acre is what I've paid on every lease (or club) I've been on for the past 20 years. Currently have 250 acres for $10/acre and provide liability insuranc and have had this for 5 seasons. I've built good relationships with the land owner so this helps. Land is mostly ag with small wood lots and hedgerows. A club I hunted in 2001/2 was $20 per acre for the lease. So yeah today market is $10 - 25.

 

[skipperbrown]

We paid $14/ac for 667 ac of pine plantation in SW AL about 10 min from a small town 3 years ago. The hunting was considered very good for AL. This got the land reserved for hunting all game and fishing in ponds. You could also camp in designated areas and run atvs anywhere but you couldn't tear stuff up. Cost of lime, seed, and fertilizer was extra and we had to provide the equipment for the approximately 22 ac in food plots. It was expensive. When we gave up the lease, there was a line at the door of hunters trying to get it.