So I have been hunting a 56 acre property for 6 years in south western Indiana. Been food plotting and dabbled in "land management" for 4 to 5 years on this property. I was friends with the land owners son (elementary, middle, highschool and beyond) who recently passed away. I am good friends with the land owner and his wife or so I thought. Unknown guy "down the road" comes in and offers him an undisclosed amount and land owner tells me I can keep the property for $750... I offer him $350 and he walks away. So our friendship is worth less than $500 I guess. He aint hurtin for money either. To offer some perspective I'm on a 1,600 acre lease with 25 guys (fish, hunt, water foul, etc.) for $1,000 a person. I have another private property I hunt manage that is 90 acres so all is not lost but this was a big hit. This was a good property for me that I loved, I had put a ton of hardwork and energy into it. Luckily all the food plot work I do is in August and I only plant annuals besides some clover (minimal cost). I could have afforded the $750 in the end it just wasn't worth it to me. Rant over... Nothing to see here lol
Not to trying to sound like **** but $750 didn't seem unreasonable to me. $350 was a steel. You should just be happy you had it as long as you did at that rate. Sounds like you have plenty of acreage to hunt. I know all to well that it sucks having land pulled out from under you! Thats how it goes. It doesn't seem like relationships matter as much as they use too. Land owner around here would rather lease land out to out of state hunters short term with outrageous rates then lease out to locals long term at a reasonable rate.
Oh I agree, it is probably not unreasonable. But when you have been hunting it for free for 6 years and this comes out of thin air it makes that $750 seem like $5,000. Again, it aint really about the money if I wanted to drop $750 for it I could and not really blink. I just feel like is really worth raking a friendship over? Because at the end of the day its "just" $750 is that really a big deal to a guy who has a property worth $400k with the house thats on it...
It's all about perspective. That friendship goes both ways over $750? Over 7 years is only a little over $100. Probably not the best knee jerk reaction. Then again I wasn't there. I may have done the same thing. :p
Not bad, not good. Sounds like you know how it goes. I lost some killer spots over the years and sometimes just because. Time to move on. Like you said - just a rant. Good luck this year. Heck sometimes it comes back 10 fold if you're lucky and your karma is good.
To me, this particular situation isn't about money, friendship, etc.. that was disrespectful. Although it is his property and he has the right to lease and do as he pleases, in my opinion, the landownder should have at least made you aware that there was another offer on the table. In all, you have obviously respected the man and his property for the last 6 years for him to continue granting you permission, the least he could do it look out for you. I'm sorry to hear that you lost it, but everything happens for a reason. Maybe you will be hunting one of your other properties this year and kill a B&C whereas if you still had permission to the other place, you would have only seen a doe that day. Goodluck
You are paying a $1000 to hunt 1600 acres with 24 other guys. You could have paid $750 for 56 acres and not had to put up with anyone. The 56 acres looked like a better deal to me. I would have dropped the other lease if the 56 acres was a good spot. I don't like hunting with others because they mess the area up. I can only imagine what a mess it would be with 24 other guys. In the end it doesn't matter what we would have done. You made a choice. Sorry you lost it and good luck this fall. Tim
Thanks guys, respect what you all had to say. First off, I just needed to vent my frustrations more than anything. Respectfully, after hunting the property for 6 years I think I got a good idea about what its worth. I don't think it was an unfair price, just outside what I was willing to pay for this particular piece of property. In the end, it wasn't about numbers it was the principal of the matter. Perhaps if I wasn't already on a lease for $1,000 I would have paid up - but I aint putting $1,750 a year down on deer leases, just aint doing it. Just cause I am posting on a forum doesn't mean I hate the guy. I'm blessed and thankful for the opportunity he provided me the last 6 years. So don't get me wrong. He did give me a chance to "buy it back" if you will. Hell for all I know the person(s) that approached him offered him $1,500 plus and he offered it to me for half that so in his mind he was giving me a good deal. Possible! Lastly, as for the lease I am on you have to understand that all 25 of those guys on the lease are not deer hunters. Several of the guys are waterfowl hunters and will not be using it for deer hunting. The lease also has 3 nice lakes on it which I use for fishing. So the property is a little more dynamic.
if youve harvested nice bucks there in the past and had trail cams of big bucks. im willing to help out the landowner. 750$ isnt a problem with me. im willing to pay the landowner that much. better than leasing that amount from a leasing network for 2000$ and up. its always good to have a plan a and b hunt. but if youve got another peice of land like that 90 acres you had and cant afford the other property. you got to get what you can afford.
If you want to keep a pc. of ground to hunt for yourself You better buy it these days $$ talks. I no longer show cam pics of deer to property owners let alone the deer I take off. I lost a prime spot right on the Mississippi river during hunting season over loose lips. I no longer do any improvements to someone's elses ground no food plots,licks or watering holes only to lose it to a guy with a few $$ more my time and hard work I can't get back.
This is probably what upsets me the most. I've invested a lot of time and money into his property and I've treated his property with the utmost respect. I've passed on quality bucks that I wasn't necessarily passing on for the purpose of getting lucky and harvesting a bigger buck that same season, I passed on it in hopes another day the following year I'd get a chance at that same buck. In all reality, that has burnt me in the end. 3 strait years of passing on bucks in the 120 to 130 range is only going to benefit these other hunters and I will not be able to realize the benefits of those decisions.... So the $750 question is why didn't you just pay? He is a family friend of mine and I'd been hunting the property for 6 years with no problems. It was just unexpected. If I was the land owner and I wasn't hunting the land, I'm not sure I'd let me or anyone else hunt for free either. I get it. I just hate it.
Honestly I would have been insulted if you made a 350 offer after I gave you first crack at it for 750 after letting you hunt there for free.
In my situation right now, I would have paid the money. They could have been giving you a break and not known it! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thats the kicker about not owning your own land.Still cant figure out why people some people seem to think that they have some (rights) to other peoples land.
