Private Hunting leases

[J W Campbell]

I am thinking of trying to lease some land for my private hunting use. There are 4-5 of us who have been frustrated over the last few years with what has happened to hunt clubs and public land. My question is has anyone gone out and leased on their own. I know there are companies doing this and this is another reason we want to do our own lease. If you have leased for hunting please share with me what you leased per acre, time/length of lease and anything else that will help in gaining a good lease for all parties involved
Thanks for the replies!

[Buckmaster]

JW
You may want to PM 10 gauge or wait for him to reply. I think he's knowledgable of this topic. Good luck.

[Thunderflight]

Have you tried going door to door and asking permission?

TF

[Thunderflight]

Here's an interesting debate over leasing.

TF

http://www.bowsite.com/BOWSITE/TF/REGIONAL/thread.cfm?threadid=91081&MESSAGES=98&state=OH

[Basementdweller]

Suxs being poor/middle class. After reading that post of the guy spending 1500 bucks a year on a lease. I dont spend 1500 bucks a year on any hobby. After retirement, college, general savings I have enough left out of my check for a couple of beers and pork shoulder for the smoker.

[eschatts]

I leased 91 acres for $1000 for a full year.

Ed

[J W Campbell]

Thanks TF for the link. Reading through that will make you even more concerned about what the future for hunting is going to be for the average person. I am willing to continue to spend time and money on my hunting addiction. I am becoming more certain all the time that it is going to continue to be more and more frustrating to find areas to hunt. Thanks also to ESchatts for the information on lease costs.

[buggs]

Hey,
A few buddy's and I leased from a company called base camp leasing. These dudes are real expensive. I paid 2400$ for 140 acres for 1 year. Very strict, only 3 people allowed. Was in Carroll county. Saw no turkey, no small game. A few nice bucks 130 class, and way too many does. In my opinion this leasing agency in a rip off. They promissed a quality hunt and all I've done is boot people off the place so far. Tresspassers etc... So if you find an area or company that treats you right, please pass it on.
buggs

[george tinkham]

BUGGS IN MY OPINION THAT IS ALL you will git in ohio if you lease,ripped off,you just xplained the reason,you could do better on public land or find a farm for the askin for a better hunt...there is no reason to lease in ohio

[buggs]

Hey I agree almost. I own a management service for all game but mostly for trophy deer. Our state has allowed way too many does to pile up on our once trophy rich state. In NE ohio you will be lucky to find a spot going door to door...land is worth too much, and landowners taxes are high, so they lease. In the next 10 years you will just about have to lease or belong to a club to hunt. Anyone remember hunting wild pheasants and rabbits?? You almost have to pay or raise your own just to work your dogs. Average bird club membership is 1grand per year, and a bird is 20$.....So much for good old state managed land. And how easy has Turkey hunting got in the past few years? So to manage, own and lease land is the only way left. If your rich, I'm not. So if anyone out there wants to hunt with a biologist, let me know.lol. I have designed a lot of seed/mineral blends on the market and am looking for some serious trophy ground to hunt and manage.

[Minker]

i personally am dead set against leasing land to hunt on . i have a brother in law who along with 5 other guys lease around 2200 acres of private land in s.e. ohio . i believe they each pay 1100-1200 dollars a year. which comes out to about $3.30 an acre if i did my math right . but they have all sorts of problems with people hunting in there illegally , people vandalizing the old house they have fixed up into a hunting cabin, there vehicles vandalized , etc. the average hunter can't afford to pay to lease land to hunt on. when the average person can't go hunting , things are going to snowball down hill and the end result will not be good for any and all hunters . i maybe the exception to the rule but i dont have a problem getting all the private land to hunt on i want . i do get alot of that land because i'm trapping on it and the land owners greatly appreciate me thinning out the furbearers which cause crop , livestock and property damage . too many people anymore are just lazy and dont want to get out there , and respectfully ask for permission to hunt . i'm sure its different in different parts of the state but i just cant see where anyone cant obtain enough places to hunt by asking and not paying for it. my 3 cents worth . mark

[Lundy43123]

The lease or not to lease question will be debated for a long time to come. It is and will probably always be a emotionally charged issue.

The one basic right that many against leasing somehow always fail to remember is that they do not OWN the land. The landowner reserves the right to decide if he will lease his property for hunting, not the hunters. There are many landowners today that are either leasing their property now for hunting or very seriuosly considering leasing in the near future BECAUSE of hunters.

I have been leasing hunting property in excess of 10 years in southern Ohio. I found this opportunity when the landowner placed an add in the newspaper advertising hunting land for lease. I was the first to respond and have had it ever since. I have agreat relationship with the landowner, and almost zero tresspassing problems, or any other problems.

If hunters want to reduce the growing trend of leasing in Ohio they had better treat the landowners with respect, and keep them happy. I'm sure the everyone of you will say "I already do that". Do you really keep them happy, or if a guy knocked on his door and wanted to lease the land would you be out? It's much easier to retain a hunting property than to find a new one, don't be blindsided.

You could also purchase land to hunt on. Then YOU would be the owner and would actually have a right to say what does and doesn't happen on YOUR land. Until you are the OWNER you really don't have much of a voice

The REAL key are the landowners, not the hunters.

Kim

[george tinkham]

lundy,i hope ohio never goes total leasing,...an it can happen...enuff sed on that...i dont have a problem of what a land owner does,its his land, butt when you got these shyster hunters goin out an tryin tuh lock up group farms,a county or the whole state their ultimate goal...,makin shady deals with farmers to charge his fellow hunter,make him pay him(the shyster hunter)so we have a place tuh hunt,of course he hunts for nothin,while stuffin our money in his pocket an gittin off the farmer all he can...then thats what i am totally against...some of muh relatives(farmers) have been approached by sed hunter shysters an shoo'd them down the road,tellin em why do i need you ,i can do this on muh own,an people like you i will charge more...not all farmers are suckers,as the hunter shyster would like them to be...an thank god most farmers dont charge an feel as i do about chargin hunters to hunt...do what yuh gotta do to insure you git a deer or turk or just huntin,butt you really dont have tuh pay umless you want to

[Lundy43123]

George,

I don't disagree with you. I don't like the business side of leasing. If a private landowner elects to lease for his or her own reasons with an individual or group of hunters so be it, that's thier choice. when companies like Basecamp get involved it's a bad deal. That's nothing more than people (hunters) trying to make money from hunters, it has nothing to do with landowner rights, it's just money and I don't like it.

I get a bunch of PM's every year around this time asking me for details on leasing, the how's, the where's, the how much?, because it's widely know that I lease hunting property. I really don't want to answer those questions. If a hunter REALLY wants to find property to lease it's out there, they just need to do the work to find it. I have identifed at least a dozen different properties over the last 10 years, some good , some bad, some are now leased, some aren't. Finding the land is just like looking for permission except that you have an agreement and you pay some money instead of bailing hay, or helping around the farm.

If someone wants to find property to hunt, either through permission and free access or a lease they aren't going to find it sitting in front of the computor. They need to get on the road and knock on doors just like everyone else does.

[CritterGitter]

When I approached the farmer this week to get permission he was working and the first thing I said to him was, "if you got another shovel, I'll give you a hand with that." He knew why I was there as I had stopped about a month earlier when he was busy with his vegetable stand. He offered me a shovel and I spent a half hour helping him out. Without my help it might have taken an hour or more by himself on a hot day. I think he appreciated my help. That was a small fee and I would gladly help him out again. Farmers believe in hard work and they respect others who believe in it as well.

CG