I pay a premium for 75 acres just outside Bandera. Price per acre is way outta line.

But Its 30 min from my house and I have exclusive hunting for me and my family, and can take whitetail, axis, turkey, pigs and duck.

So to me, it's worth it. I'm in the blind now as a matter of fact with my oldest boy.

It's gonna get to the point that the regular working man with a family to take care of will be doing his hunting by reading about it on these forums.

Here we go again...

Just speaking the truth

That's what 99% do anyway

Talking about how the price per acre method is outdated

I would think a lot of how much you have to pay depends a lot on how much access you are allowed on the property. If you only go out there a couple of times a year then each time you go is expensive. If you go several times a month throughout the year then those times are less expensive. I do not lease and would not for any amount per acre for a couple of reasons. I own the property and do not want to be told how I should run it. I own the property and do not want it off limits to me when the hunters are there. I do not want to be told my Ibex ate some of the Deer corn or chased off a Deer. A person above says it is getting too expensive to hunt. Golf, movies, driving, eating out, cable TV or just about anything you do for pleasure is expensive. You just have to pick the ones you want to do and what your "Pleasure Budget" allows you to do. When you do get a lease contrary to what some say you do the majority of the time get what you pay for.

Little outside your wheel house hand



It's all about location absolutly no way to "average" a cost.

Are you talking Teets Up ranches in a hour or 2 of the Metromess or prime times ..

Rab is right, average cost is an impossible question. It is hard to get an average on what you or wanting out of a lease. Some people are just as happy shooting 110" bucks and some want 150+, some people want to just get away and spend time with family. Some take hunting to a new level of seriousness. Cost of hunting is very dependent on location and real estate.

I'm about to get hammered and called names, but.

I pay about 30 bucks an acre. Small place, about 150 acres, wooded with a cabin. Near Athens only about 70 miles from my house. I see deer every hunt, covered up with hogs. Very nice property.

150 wooded acres feels like 500.

Two hunters. Even though I'm really the only one who goes.

There's so much more than acreage that goes into price. Cabin? Electricity/water? Primitive only? Guest allowed? Bag limit?

The list goes on. I agree that there's no way to determine an average.

It's worth what someone is willing to pay for it. In other words it could be only worth $5 per acre to you and $10 an acre to someone else. I have a very small place, only 77 acres and just my wife and I hunt it, but its a honey hole and we both get big bucks each year. I turned down an offer of $52 an acre to lease the place this year to two hunters for just deer season. Why, because my wife and I get more fun out of it than that. We are both 70 and don't know how many more years we got that we can climb those tower stands, so we would not lease it at any price.

No question that it's very expensive to hunt. With that said, it's worth every penny to me. Since getting on my first lease I've had many first. Killed my first deer, turkey, coyotes and quail. In addition, my daughters and son in laws have shot deer, pigs, coyote and dove. Tough for me to out a price on seeing my kiddos hunt. Because I have a limited budget, I make sacrifices or cuts in other areas so I can afford hunting. I also go to my lease once a month and we consider trips during off season as mini vacations.

Bold highlighted area is what a lot of folks can't grasp. I don't hunt an extreme high dollar lease, but I do have to make sacrifices here and there to be able to afford the lease dues. I have flirted with the possibility of getting a lease out in the hill country with more abundant wildlife, but want to keep my current lease as well due to the atmosphere of camp/great group of family oriented men that we have. But I don't want to cut too much out of other areas of our lives. There are indeed folks who simply live check to check and can't afford any "cuts" to have a lease. I know that, I've got friends who are at that place in life. But a lot of folks that I know who are bitching about lease prices have a new truck every year, a new boat every other year, go on multiple vacations a year, buy new pistols every few months, etc. Those guys I don't feel for when it comes time to hunt and they're griping about not having a lease to go to

This

Agree

You can't compare one place to another unless you do so comprehensively. Location matters a little, amenities matters, management matters, access matters, yield matters.

I know guys paying $10,000 each to hunt highly managed ranches but seldom shoot a trophy. They're always trying to best the last one they shot. Once you get into the 170's that's going to get really tough to do.

My last lease was $6000/year. However, it was well managed (MLD3) South Texas with big bucks. Each hunter was allowed to shoot 3 trophies and then 10 to 14 does, javelina, hogs, two kinds of quail, dove, predators. You could bring guests and they could shoot off your ample quota. Each hunter averaged about a section (640 acres) each. When I compare that to many hill country leases that pile a hunter to every 50 acres and then you get 1 buck and 2 does paying $3000, well there's just no comparison. The more expensive lease is the better value.

My current lease has year round access, 2 bucks, 3 does, turkey, 2 kinds of quail, dove, javelina, hogs, predators, electricity, no livestock, 1500 acres, 4 hunters at $10/acre. Is it a good value? I dunno yet. I've only hunted one weekend thus far. I'll let you know after the rut and we see what it produces.

And I'll add an observation. I personally know a lot of guys that don't hunt anymore because they say it's too expensive. Yet they drive new(er) Diesel trucks. Mind you, they don't tow or haul anything. The trucks are pavement princesses that only seem to exist for vanity reasons. Those trucks cost $800/month and sometimes more. A $3000/year is only $250/month. Maybe put your vanity in check, get a little less truck and go enjoy the outdoors.

$1500. each 4 hunters for year round access on 216 acres. We have well water and electricity that we pay for. A one bedroom house is included for our use. Have a great landowner who only increased the price this year after 15 years. We have many hogs, many turkey and deer. For me it is about 110 miles away and I go there every week-end during deer season and about twice a month during the off season.

What is with you with all the smack talking to me? You live in the "metromess" and hunt cookie-cutter style by chumming corn on roads and sitting in a box or riding around on your UTV drinking and hoping some animal commits suicide. You don't have a clue about me or my "wheelhouse".

P.S. You basically said the same thing I said on this thread anyway. I know you can't help yourself, but you could at least troll me on a thread you disagree with me on.

It's just about priceless for me to be able to bring my boys out to the lease anytime of the year. everything else is a bonus. $1600 a yr lease vs buying at same cost per month is what I can afford right now.

I look at this way. I hunt a $2,500,000 property for $1,700 a year. Hope the son continues in his fathers ways when it comes time. I am very lucky to get a buck so it is just icing on the cake. I enjoy all the other things about a lease besides killing a big deer. Otherwise I would pay the $4,300 they get just up the road from us but then you are putting pressure to kill a big buck every year. I had a friend paying $3,500 a year in western hill country and come to my place and said he never saw a buck as big as the one I shot for half the price. It takes trial and error when finding a lease.

We went to the movies last night and family of four with dinner and two drinks each was $135.

My buddy leases his place for $30,000 to one guy. It is worth it to him and he lives out of state. Gets a crapload of tags but guess he thinks it is worth it. Every place is unique.

Have two leases and under contract on a third...

And worth every penny of it and wouldn't mind doubling the price on one to reduce the number of heads...

Unlike "Outdoorchannel Charlie" we spend all year scouting, feeding and judging deer...
Between Sept-Feb we are gone on the road 16 round trips...Cookie Cutters




Some people like close leases some people like comfy leases etc

Each to there own, but you can't put a average price to them and it will always be per acre.

We have one gentleman that's hunted with us for 27 years on the same ranch...he's shot 1 buck (now it was a 170" class animal and made TTH) but he likes to just come and hang out.

I help the person that owns the land with his cows, hay, and fencing in exchange for hunting and camping. I have been very fortunate to have the setup I do, small cabin to stay in and good friendship. It is 80 miles from the front door to the lease and the piece and quiet are worth all the work I do, game is a bonus.

I also went to Mesquite High school and live in the area.

Of the places I am associated with, not counting utilities or housing, or services like filling feeders, etc... it's $10.80 an acre. That covers land in Archer, Baylor, Foard, and Hardeman Counties, year-round access, all legal species.