We got word two months ago that the ownership of our lease has changed hands and this is the last season it will be hunted.

To say I am disappointed in the BS antics happening out there right now would be an understatement.

Guys are shooting spikes, 2, 4, & 6 point deer that are so young and small I'd never even put a scope on them to take a second look. The rationale is to get back at the property owner's family.

I actually had someone tell me to get in on the feeding frenzy. If I'd had anything in my stomache at that point I would have gladly puked it up all over his shoes.

Logging kills back at camp has gone out the window. Guys are bringing friends of friends in to shoot anything that moves.

I work from home and make my own schedule. I busted my tail off at the lease this year hauling water in 300 gallon totes so that deer in my section would be able to make it and the fawn crop wouldn't be a total loss. Saying nothing about being one of the few that feed year round to boot.

I have hunted hard during bow and rifle season and have yet to take a deer. I guess at this point I am just going to content myself with taking hogs until we are out of there.

But apparently killing everything that moves isn't enough for some out there. Box blinds owned by members are being shot up, items stolen, tripods kicked over. New feeders and set-ups being placed way to close to other members sections (safety issue)

All I can say at this point is if I catch someone in my section screwing around with my stuff or hunting my stands, they shouldn't be surprised by a rifle butt to the jaw.

The term 'hunters' has nothing to do with the idiots that are running around out there now.

If I am reading it right sounds like the rest of your "friends" are pissed and taking it out on anything that walks. Correct?

WOW send me a PM list of members so I'll know never to get on a lease with them!

Myself I'd be calling Operation Game Theift (or GW) on every violation I see.

I hate to hear of carp like this!

Looks like some more private land becoming more private. You can be assured the neighbors will eventually know, and the word will spread, and more landowners will take their land out of the lease pool.

That seems like the standard operating procedure more and more now days.

Things like this show a persons true character, tough way to find out what the folks you shared a lease with are/were really like.

Hope things improve for you and you find better lease next time.

Have you said anything to the members or lease owners? I feel your pain but remaining silent will not solve this issue. I would do my best to have them removed from the property even if it's just for your personal safety.

It's one of those things you take up with the new owners; they might like you and appreciate your input.

That is it in a nustshell. We are in a 5 deer county, no AR's and I have never taken more than 2 deer in a season. Don't see the point unless you really had a family to feed.



Outside the AR zones, so unless I can prove an individual took more than 2 bucks or three does I'm just yappin' in the breeze.



The lease holder is not the property owner. It has been made known to the lease holder, but almost all of the others on the lease are there as a result of their professional relationships with the lease holder. He's not going to boot clients off over this.

Within one day of having a discussion with another responsible lease member and a heads-up to the lease holder about the issues, 'things' started happening in my section.



That occurred to me as well since the property is staying in the same family. But as it stands, I cannot prove that any laws have been broken other than hunter harrassment, which is being perpetrated by other lease members. I assume if they think they can trash your hunting opportunites, the chances of them shooting something goes up. I spent yesterday afternoon installing new cameras that have nothing to do with the game out there. Anything I can show proof of will be turned over to the warden or local PD (property theft, destruction, etc)

That just stinks. Some people don't deserve the air they get to breath!

Sadly, this is the second one of these I have heard of this year. I don't understand it.

Where is/was your lease at?

Not cool at all. What a waste...

It is sad to hear, but not surprising....

I would just man up and discuss with your hunting buds instead of trashing them on the internet.

He didn't mention any names.I agree if at all possible-talk to them.Doesn't sound like that's going to happen though.Some people are just A-holes.SATX,you just do what you know is right.You're a better man for it.

It sounded to me that he already did. And they don't care. Also, he has not mentioned one name. So he is not trashng them. Just what they are doing, and if you ask me anyone that is willing to destroy someone else property. Is not worth the spit to spit on. Just my 2 cents.

I would just remove right now what is mine that I don't want trashed, and try to only hunt the rest of the year and avoid all contact if possible with those other lease members, and chaulk it up as a bad experience.

Your not going to change them by talking to them because they don't seem like reasonable people to begin with, and cutting your loses and moving on is your best bet.

X2 on this ideal. As for the jerks you hunt with sounds as if you would be wasting your time talking with them. The new owner is the only one that might correct what's happening.

It's a 5 deer county. You said you don't even know if they're violating any laws. Perhaps they just wanna get their moneys worth. Since you didn't say that you spoke to all of them,how do you know whats going on? They're not logging kills? SO again, how do you know exactly whats going on.

If yall have been leasing for years and now being booted off unexpectedly, why not shoot the deer you have paid for? You say you've been feeding year round right? Why leave them for someone else?

I believe in the original post. It said that they were also shooting other peoples equipment. That is vandalism and last I check against the law. I believe someone else said it best: "A persons character is not measured by what they d do when other people are there to watch them. But what they do when they are alone."

If you are OK with shooting deer just to get 'your money's worth' in a situation like this then you'd be the type of guy I'd rather not share a lease with. The deer in our area were hard hit by the drought to begin with. It's not a personal comment about you, it's just not how I hunt.

Lease rules for deer season state immediate family only. I wouldn't have an issue if someone brought a non-family member out in the spike or anterless season, but to be doing it the 2nd week of rifle season is BS, especially when a lot of lease members do not feed year-round.I don't kill 1 and 1 1/2 year old deer that everyone would have let walk in other years just to get back at a land owner. It's also a rule that all kills on the lease get logged.

And as for the log book not being filled in, it's pretty plain. Here is how it goes. You hear a rifle shot, hear an impact sometimes, check the log book on the way out, see no entry, then hop in the truck and simply follow the fresh trail of blood on the drive out to the exit gate, where it happens to pool on the ground as someone gets out and unlocks the gate. Hard to miss.

If you aren't taking something that you'd be embarrassed by, our taking more than your legal limit, then why not log it?

As far as laws being broken, I believe theft of property and hunter harrassment are on the books. Blinds have been broken into this year and things stolen like propane heaters. Cameras have been stolen, cards pulled out of ones left behind. Wires from solar panels to feeder batteries have been cut.

Not going to say where the lease is at. There are some good people on it that are just as disappointed.

And yet some people wonder why there is a significant decline in hunter numbers per annum. ( Some people don't believe it and a lot have tried to give me grief over this) This is also a good reason why the present lease system doesn't work anymore and why it's ultimately doomed to failure. It's bad for everyone and ultimately it will be bad for the landowners as the land will face an ever increasing tax burden.
This is also an excellent example of why every hunter needs a contract with the landowner and/or lease holder that they ARE WILLING TO ENFORCE. It will protect everyone and terms should be clearly defined including the eventual exit from the property.
It sounds like your deal is with the lease holder so you are essentially subleasing from him/her. Unless it's in the contract he can do pretty much much what he wants until he reaches the point of intent which violates criminal or civil law and this is likely to be a high bar.
At this point it sounds like you should just pack it up before someone gets hurt or get a lawyer if you think it's worth it. It's probably not. If someone does get hurt you've already expressed your intent to do bodily harm on this forum which is now a record and will be held against you. FInal Advice: Find a new place with a new start, buy your own property or find a new sport. Aholes live everywhere and since everyone has one there is no short supply.

Just another example of one of my favorite quotes

"Sports don't build character. They reveal it."

WOW I can already hear the animal rights activists milking this for all its worth should they get hold of this story. No wonder hunters have a bad reputation in the eye of the general public. These guys on your lease are the perfect poster child of that. What happened to a hunter suppose to be ethical, courteous, fair. That's what they teach in the hunters education classes. Unfortunatly ethical values cannot be taught nor enforced. You either have ethics or you don't. Your lease buddies lack ethics. Keep yours. Find yourself a good group to hunt with next year. If you get proof of vandalism and theft by all means turn the low lives in. Just my 10 cents worth.

However ethics applies to EVERYONE in the process, and that means to the lease members, lease holders if they are different persons and landowners. We've also heard one side of three sided story.