Lease Rules

Looking for some basic lease rules to put in place for our group. This is just strictly for the group we have already signed a lease agreement. You guys got some ideas?

1. Be nice.
2. Be honest
3. do your part of the work.
4. pay up early
5. clean up after yourself
6. leave the gates like you find them unless landowner says otherwise.
7. Help each other out.

We had a gentleman agreement not to enter or leave the ranch during morning and evening hunt. Moving vehicles through someone's hunting site was sometimes disturbing.

It's a group effort and responsibility. No hunt others area without permission. Always clean up after, you might lease but the property belongs to the owner. Ask owner if he has any rules.

I require that anyone entering MUST sign a release and also that the club have their own liability insurance which I setup and they pay separately when paying lease. Its cheap and if guest are allowed which I allow it might come in handy some day. Also no stands on fencerow. Back off a hundred yards or so at least.

RULES????
You don't need no stinkin rules!!!!

The rules are up to group agreement, so I won't list specifics. But I can point you to hot topics your group should discuss and agree upon in advance.

1. Use of ATV's during the season (any limits on specific roads/areas/times of day/days of week, etc.)

2. Stand rules (private stands? club stands? etc.)

3. Guest rules (guests OK/no guests, age limits for guests, number per member per season, fees for guests? etc.)

4. Alcohol rules.

5. Game kill rules (state law or club restrictions).

I hated this at my old lease...one of the reasons I left...We had one cat that we had to get on to because he had the loudest truck in the camp and would be revving like crazy. You could hear that thing all morning throughout the woods.

-Keep the blinds clean, take out the trash, and gently remind parents to police up after their kids. I think one of the big benefits of having a lease is for a father to teach his son(s) how to act around a group of men, both out hunting and back at camp. What fathers are involved with their boys and what fathers let momma handle everything becomes real obvious real quick.

- RIFLES UNLOADED IN CAMP.

Lemme guess - Dodge??

No it was an old Z71...young guy, got to his stand later than everybody else got to theirs. Mornings and evenings...His spot was really muddy getting in and out, I understood revving to get through that crud, but dang...hearing a loud engine revving at 7am while I'm in my stand is not what I want to hear. lol

I'm just talking about guests.
No guest first two weekends of the season.
Guest hunt off of your tag.
Limit number of guest a person can bring to how many tags you got left. If you only have one doe tag left, then you can not bring two people.
I don't have a problem with guests, in fact on a couple of leases that I was on, former guests became paying members.

Basic Rules we used in all my past lease agreements.

1. To obey all laws, regulations, licensing requirements, rules, and ordinances, (collectively "Laws) including all Laws pertaining to the taking of game, and of the use of public and private lands, of the County of xxxxxx, State of Texas, and of the United States Department of the Interior.
2. To not create, or to allow the creation of, a nuisance, or allow any waste, injury, or destruction to the Property and all items on the Property, except for the taking of game, and normal camping and uses incident thereto as allowed by Law.
3. To not use, or allow the use of, the Property for any purpose other than set forth in the use declaration above.
4. To remove all litter, trash, debris, and other materials from the Property.
5. To not construct any improvement, blind, stand, cover, or other like item of a permanent nature, without Landlord's written permission therefore. Permanent fixtures become property of the Landlord, unless otherwise agreed.
6. To not allow any person other than specifically set forth herein to hunt, camp, or otherwise use the Property. No “guest” hunters.
7. To not alter, or allow the alteration of any part of the Property, or any improvements on the Property.
8. To not allow the discharge of any firearm or other weapon, such that the projectile will cross any boundary of the Property, and to not cross the boundary of the Property with any loaded firearm.
9. To track and to retrieve all wounded game, and to field-dress all game where the game falls.
10. To not disturb, harass, shoot, or otherwise harm any livestock maintained on the Property.
11. To leave all fences and gates as found in their then condition, open if found open and closed if found closed, to enter the Property only through those gates as instructed by Landlord, and to not place any locks on gates and fences not expressly approved by Landlord.
12. Where applicable, to drive only on established paths and roads, and to not drive over fields and/or rangeland.
13. ATV’s will be allowed in remote areas for game retrieval and valid hunting purposes only; no recreational riding.
14. Landlord will provide access to temporary electric and water utilities for camping purposes at no additional cost.
15. No open fires will be allowed. Contained cooking via butane or propane stoves is allowable if conducted in a responsible manner.
16. Due to an effort to reestablish them, all Quail are excluded for hunting purposes.
17. The Landlord requests that coyotes and feral hogs be shot whenever possible.
18. Game feeders are to be maintained and stocked by the Lease Manager or a hunter described in appendix “A”.

One of the mistakes too many people make is not having clear rules of enforcing the rules. If the rules are enforced nothing is personal then.

This! Can't play Favorites because if you do no one takes the "roles" seriously.

The longer you are the lease manager, the more rules you will add. There will always be someone out there that is going to do something stupid.

We try to be as democratic as possible and vote on everything with the manager being the mediator and have the final say. But you always have a argumentative guy in every group that you have deal with.

Many years ago before the thought of antler restriction by TPW was ever heard of 10 of us got on a new lease, we sat around and came up with the rule of not shooting anything under 8 points. We thought in 5 years or so we would have a large number of great bucks running around. I was 30 at the time. One 70 year old man who had worked his butt off helping get the place ready spoke up and said, "I don't know if I'll be around in 5 more years or not. I guess this lease is not for me."
I said, "okay, every one but him is restricted to 8 points or better." I was ready for an argument from several, but To my surprise all nine people agreed. For the seven years that I was on that lease, the old man only shot one buck and two does. The buck by the way was a very nice 10 point.
This is a long story to say that rules can vary greatly for each lease and still be good for everyone.

.

Ours are simple
1. Take care of the place better than if it was your own place
2. Treat everyone fairly and respectfully
3. Every helps with chores and place is cleaned up before we all leave
4. All stands are public and everyone keep them nice
5. no loaded weapons in camp
6. nothing under 30 cal for deer

What?

^^^These are good. Plus any rules regarding:

Firearms in camp- shooting allowed/not allowed (we have a 150 yard range in camp)
Guest rules- for sure have these well defined and whats allowed/not allowed
archery season- guidelines about preseason rifle hunters (I bow hunt, but a lot don't, and mess up the hunting for bow hunters.)
Dove season- shotgun hunting right before deer season- where and how
Duck season- rules for if you have a large pond or lake
Year round Feeding or seasonal feeding
Any camper/cabin requirements or locations for housing

Some good ideas listed above.

How about,
*No blinds and feeders on main thoroughfares.
*All blind locations are to be approved by the lease manager.
There is always that one knucklehead that puts his blind right on the road to camp, and then complains that someone drove by with their kill at 9:00am, and he wanted to hunt till 11:00.

Respect and common sense are all that is required, but unfortunately they seem to be in short supply these days.

Agreed.

10 quail hunters on OK lease,,, it is real simple ------- piss off the main guy and you are out--- normally he gives you one warning not to do "that" ( whatever "that " is) In the last 5 yrs he has kicked off 2 people, everyone else complys.

In this day and age written contracts that clearly outline the rules are a must.

The fewer and simpler the rules the better. Be fair and firm. It takes most members 2 years to be fully vested in a good lease. But that doesnt mean you have to put up with unnecessary bull for 2 years. Replace the problem children at the first opportunity

I have hunted for well over 50 years - both hill country inexpensive leases to high end south texas leases. As far as rules goes I discovered that like the rest of this world, 90% of folks do the right thing and the other 10% do not. Problem is that the 10% can ruin it for the others.

Biggest issues I have witnessed on leases:

No guest rules - family and guest are great on a lease until it infringes on the other paying members. Some members not only bring too many guest at one time but they often times do not control those guest.

Are you managing to improve the herd or are you just wanting to meat hunt? If the objective of the lease is to improve the herd via management then you have to have some guidelines on what can and cannot be shot.

Dividing a ranch into areas for each hunter. Not saying it cannot be done but I have seen many conflicts come up by having designated areas. People tend to become very protective of "their area". I have found that having open stands with first come first serve to cause less issues.

Finally - camp life - again as in life some will do their part while others do not. Some complain and gripe constantly. The main rule in camp is there is no drama. Life is full of drama every day so going to the deer lease to get away and then find drama is no good - do not put up with it.

So rules have to be designed IMO to fit the personality of the ranch, lease, and hunters.

tik hit the nail on the head. Well said

Your free to borrow mine. Granted everyone has their own assigned property so no need to worry about vehicles coming and going. Their is a link you click to read them on the page.
http://www.okiehunts.com/hunting-land/

Good set of rules - we have a good set of rules too and you had a few I had not thought of. PM me your email and I will send you ours. Similar to yours but some others that you may want to consider.

Here is the problem I see with making all stands first come first served- the issue with some being protective of their area is the fact that some will put in more time than others at their area and don't want to share with someone that puts in just enough effort to be able to hunt. By this I mean that some like to hunt with a gun and some with a bow. Each has different elements to their area for hunting. Many bowhunters like to hunt the woods with no place to put a food plot. Others like big, open areas to gun hunt where food plots can be planted. Someone that spends several hundred dollars and many hours planting a food plot, because they like to do that sort of thing, may not want anyone that they perceive not as committed as they are to hunt over what they sweated over. That is why we have designated areas for each member and then set up a couple of community stands for others to share cost on. I understand that unless you are hunting several thousand acres the same deer are wandering thru all the areas, but it is human nature/mental thing about your own hunting area.

I understand. We are on a large ranch plus our rancher maintains all feeders and pens and keeps them filled.
Guess for me personally I would get tired of just hunting one area or one stand and seeing the same country and the same deer. Also it seems like if you had first come first serve the bow hunters would pick the areas they like and gun hunters would pick the areas they like but would have the option of moving around to different areas.

most places I have hunted, everyone had their own set up / location. most of the time, no one minded someone else hunting their stands but these were mostly meat leases. More recently, similar situation but everyone only hunts their own area until after Thanksgiving, then most people are more open for others to hunt their stands (typically most have taken their trophy by then, and it's hunting culls and does).

keeping rules simple but straightforward seems to be easiest for most to comply and grasp.