I thought I would check to see if you all use any leasing services out there such as basecamp, hunting lease network etc. I have hunted Ohio for the last seven years with several of my buddies on private land. The lands we have hunted have produced some nice bucks but also other people had permission to hunt it. We (2-3 of us) are wanting to find something to lease next year and have been looking at these websites. Anyone have experience using them and the states we are looking at are Kentucky (I do not know anything about this state for deer hunting. I have been told to stay west as much as possible) Indiana and Ohio. We considered other states but trying to keep it within 4-7 hour drive from us since we are in East Tennessee to make it easier to spend more time on the property. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know season is here but still trying to plan for next season.
I've used these types of lease brokers in the past. Locally in IL you will see 2-3 decent leases per year become available on those sites but you need to pull the trigger really fast. It seems the good leases rarely make it to those brokers, and when they do you will pay an astronomical amount of $$$ through these brokers vs. finding a landowner on your own. I see a lot more leases and for reasonable prices through brokers in areas like Kentucky, Kansas, etc. But areas where leases are in high demand with low supply like IL it may not be your best option for quality or $$$.
I actually had a convo with my buddy last night about going up where we wanted to look. I told him we should start knocking on doors and talking to people after season was over. The only reasons we considered the leasing brokers were the ease of finding one and able to look at it prior.
Best way to go about it for sure. Go find you the tax acc records and start calling. Some areas even have a gov website where you can see who owns the property. Have picked up a couple of extra turkey hunting spots this way here in MS.
The rules are pretty restrictive for some of the leasing brokers. I signed up fro basecamp leasing and they only allow X number of hunters and all hunters have to be on the lease. There are no provisions for guests. Thats my biggest gripe. I get the reason but its a pain. Currently in Kentucky they have 17 leases available ranging from 100 to over 1000 acres in size.
I did notice that and also noticed that every member on the lease had to be a member of BCL plus pay 75.00 each or something for liability insurance.
Pretty much any lease whether through a broker or direct with a landowner is going to need to be insured. I'm paying $250ish per year right now for my insurance on my 135 acre lease.
