My friends and I recently locked up a lease. It kind of fell into our laps and we moved quick. It is a giant lease.. We signed for 1 year with the option of renewing for long term.. We are heading down first weekend of March to check things out and I am sure a few of us will be heading down for spring turkey. There is one person that lives on the property. He is not the property owner but keeps tabs on the place. To us, that was huge... This whole week has been a blur with the back and forth between the agent and our group. I'm thinking the first year will all be exploratory and we will hunt/shoot what we want.. Hopefully we see some things we like and lock it down for the long term. I envision the group obtaining a couple cell cameras to start the scouting effort. We definitely plan on marking the property and posting as necessary. Really, what I am looking for is any info from guys that have had leases or are currently leasing.. any little bit of info, insight etc. With things moving as quick as they did, we now have some time to regroup and get a good plan in place.. this is where I am hoping you guys can help us. We know we took a chance jumping in quick, but it felt right and we figured we would be spending the money hunting somewhere.. Here's to hoping it pays off! Thanks!
Congrats on landing your new lease, you must be excited!! I can't help you with any advice (other than cams), but if you find the property to be badly infested with deer and need help reducing the numbers give me a shout, I'm local (5D). Best of luck to you and your partners.
Make sure up front that all the folks in your lease are clear on what is fair game and what is not. Set guidelines/rules for harvest that all can live with and stick to them Nothing ruins a good lease faster especially among friends if you all have a different goal for leasing...
I'd also include in the agreement between the hunters precisely whom is allowed there...I've heard horror stories about lease members' families shroom hunting, hiking, exploring at will...while some this is all part of it, me if I pay big money for a lease for deer hunting it is precisely that and that alone. Everything should be laid out, no matter how dumb or small it seems.
defenitley put all laws in writing---such as who is allowed to hunt or even be on property-- as some will take advantage---we had a 6 person lease once--we inadvertently said any immediate family member may hunt, well 1 guy had 6 kids and a wife, all hunters, another was bringing in brothers in law. another situation arose--who may hunt where ? sounds odd I know--BUT I found a beautiful core area, had huge success for 3 years, then half the group encroached on the spot, one guy even put up a stand 15 yards from mine---said he was an equal lease partner, he can hunt anywhere he wishes, I quit then and there !! I know longer lease with friends or anybody else--- tends to ruin friendships for many
How many paying members? How much acreage? How many locals are members? Some leases allow members to hunt wherever they want. Others have a set number of private hunt areas per member. Some have a combination of both. There are pros and cons to all three of those set-ups. Ideally, no one would exploit the situation. It really depends on common goals and common styles of hunting. Also, ideally a ton of rules would not be necessary. But the more members and the more controversy that ensues = the more rules necessary. Don't make kids unwelcome; this will turn members and members' spouses against the annual expense faster than pictures of dead bambi.
I'd try to not over complicate it to the point it's no fun. I'll assume your group has already set goals and rules, preliminary budget. First thing I'd do is set up cameras on food sources or mineral stations if allowed and try to get a feel for what's there. Then I'd look at what improvements I could make for herd health, access and ease of management. Then I'd develop a stand plan around the improvements or if none are permissible then a plan on how best to hunt what is there that's fair for everyone. FWIW, it would have to be an exceptional property before I'd take a lease that forbids improvement practices in the lease.
As of now there are 6 paying members.. We are thinking of taking it to 8. The lease is 1000 acres. It is about a 5 hour drive for all of us so we think that it will not get pressured too much by us... Most likely scenario is 2-3 guys are able to make it down at a time. We are hoping the person living on the land is able to help keep tabs on anyone else in the area trying to use it. It is bordered by a river/swamp land so a lot of it is inaccessible except via the main entrance. The 6 of us are all pretty close friends and have in the past sent each other to "our" stands if we couldn't be there and knew someone should be in the stand. We are going into it where the 1000 acres is open to everyone involved, we dont want to parcel it off. I appreciate everyone's input so far, its definitely been helpful!!
First Congrats on the newly acquired Lease, definitely a exciting time and feeling..That being said, just from my experience just this past season, from a lease I acquired I'll give some opinions and suggestions. 1.) Know the bountries of the property, even being a 1000ac lease it's always best to know where the hunting can take place and where it isn't. 2.) Don't know if you got this lease from a agency or a private land owner or family/friends, but I strongly suggest you come to find out who or if any body has hunted this property in seasons past. 3.) Place cameras out (and several even more so being such a huge lease) not only for deer inventory but the possibility of trespassers and such. 4.) Being this is your 1st season on the lease, expect there to be some growing time, learning the lay of the land, the way in which the deer roam the property, their bedding areas, etc..... 5.) Strongly suggest that all of your hunting party on all the treestands, ground blinds etc that you label them with your Hunting parties name, and on 1 side of the tag place Private Property and the like, gives the trespasser the knowledge that there will and are others on this lease and that might make them second guess their choice to hunt. Lastly, this might sound cruel or weird, but seeing that you all are 5hrs away from this lease, (don't know if it's out of state or just the other side of your state) but the less info you all share with the neighbors and locals the better imho....it's fair to say that hunters can be and in most cases are other hunters worst enemy when it comes to hunting on someone elses property.....so again, might sound wrong but trust me sometimes less is best. Have fun, and enjoy the new lease, have a great off season getting the property set up the way you all like, hanging stands, cameras and all the fun exciting stuff preparing for the hunting season.
Sounds ideal since the six are friends and like-minded. Kudos. Makes all the difference in the world. Private areas won't be needed, sounds like. IMO, you guys need to post the hell out of the land that borders the river. You never know who has been hunting there a long time via canoe. What you guys think is an ideal sanctuary could be the best hunting on the property for someone you don't know is there half the time. Good luck. Should make for years of great memories!
I am not anti kids--I am just being honest--our set up ended up being--320 acre lease--6 guys---so heres is the lineup that came to be---6 members--6 wives--11 hunting age children--- at times 4 fathers, at times 5 brothers---that's 32 people trying to hunt 320 acres--does not work out to well for quality hunts---I bring this up for knowledge only to help others not to be anti children !
My advice...Start scouting and pick out your spots That's a lot of ground to cover...LateWinter/Early Spring before green up is the best time to go look for past years rubs and scrapes. If you can get topo maps and then go lay eyes on it making note of bedding areas, food sources, water sources, etc. Good luck...exciting times ahead
