yep but you could watch 40 deer a morning with a portion of them being bucks on a $100 lease w/ 250+ members. I honestly do miss the days of seeing actual herds of deer come cruising through the river bottoms in single file.

There is so much money in the hunting industry that it is shot through the roof. I couldn't agree with you more though.

While I do agree with some of the TS's sentiments, would you rather have less people interested in hunting, and no one to stand up for your rights? Then there is a ban imposed on ammo, then guns, then hunting altogether? When you think about that, some Johnny Dallas shooting a $20K buck isn't so bad.

Darn right!

nothing is stopping you from doing it now!

really the only toys that i enjoy using are my rifle scope and my tailgate feeder, other than that, i'm content

Everything has changed, today almost everyone "thinks" they need a high dollar rifle equipped with a scope that cost more than the rifle. A 4x4 pickup, not just any pickup, it needs to be 3/4 ton or more, crew cab with all the bells and whistles, plus the add on bumpers, and headache racks. Next we need the ATV, bigger is better, it needs to comfortably seat 2, but 4 is better, and needs the power plant of a 4 wheel drive tractor, because we wouldn't want to scratch up the pickup and we are too lazy to walk the 1/2 mile or mile to the blind. Next is camo, I won't even go into this monkey football game. Next is camp facilities, trailers with AC, flush toilets, satellite TV, and this list could go on for pages, but I will stop here.

Now for the lease, if there is not at least a trophy buck for every lease holder the lease is designated as a POS. Contrary to what everyone thinks, only a small percentage of bucks will become a trophy, you have to take the bad with the occasional good, and the very few great deer. The trophy leases take work and money, lots of work and a lot of money, make that a whole lot of money.

Next are the feeders and blinds, let's just skip this issue, and admit that the corn, the feeders and the blind will cost a bundle, make that a big bundle of cash. And a lot more if you add in protein feeders and protein. Might as well add in a few salt blocks and feeder blocks, I am sure we cannot do without those.

My first deer hunt on leased land was in the 1960's, I paid $150 for the lease, I drove my car to the lease. I had no blind, no feeders, and I used a Marlin 336 30-30 with open iron sights. My "camo" was an Army field jacket and blue jeans. No camp facilities, but there was an old 3 sided shed on the place, it served all us as our camp "house".

Today, we have a small cabin with electricity, a TV with local channels, 3 feeders, that only run from Oct through December, 3 blinds. I still wear jeans and a Army filed jacket, no 4x4 pickup, no ATV's, my rifle and scope cost about $300. Counting for inflation my hunting today costs about the same as it did about 40 years ago.

The amount you spend is your own fault. No one forces anyone to keep up with the "Jones", if you chose to spend the extra money you have nobody to blame except yourself.

With any hobby there are cost. I like custom rifles, and fancy glass. I didnt always have those things, and there was a point in my life i wouldnt of been able to afford them. Now that i have them i appreciate them. Some guys have a safe full of guns. Mine has two and another custom on the way. Its all a choice. No point in complaining about the choice that another guy may or may not make. If you can afford the fanciest stuff then buy it. Ive hunted on leases, but for my money i will be doing guided hunts in the future.

^^^^ This ^^^^

Although nothing has changed for a lot of folks from those early days, and really like mentioned above it's up to the individual on what they want to spend on the sport.

I'm still pretty low tech when it comes to guns and scopes and other gear. Never owned or want to own an ATV, and I don't need the best blind on the place although I did build one myself out of used lumber that will keep me warm and dry, but like someone mentioned above is the tailgate feeder I finally broke down and bought this year.

The old coffee can out the window worked great all those years until this year when my drivers side window broke, and it was pouring down rain and it wouldn't go back up.

Some times you just have to give in and bite the bullet and accept progress!

sometimes it's hard to keep those costs down...like folks who have leases that have more than quadrupled over the past 4 years. Hard to let go of a place where people got to watch their kids grow up over the years.

Quadrupled in 4 years? I find that hard to believe, unless the that is one heck of a trophy lease. And if it is. I would like to know if the landowner or the lease holders paid for the improvements to warrant such an increase.

They dont have to do anything all it takes is one guy saying ill give you x for the lease. If the ones on choose to stay they do.

Temple-Inland sold most of its timber to Campbell and they put the lease prices on a stair-step system. A lot of folks that were paying $180-$300 back in 2006 are now looking at $1400-$2000 lease payments and will continue to increase in that fashion for the next few years.

My previous post.

I am unfamiliar with all of this, no timber land in west Texas. But a $180 lease sounds more like a 1960 price, so I would guess that Temple-Inland was not using sound business practices and not keeping up with inflation.
Looks like they were getting bargain basement priced leases and should be grateful for that for the years they got them. I would guess that these leases where isolated incidents compared to the statewide situation.

these were usually employee leases....they had hourly and salary employee leases running similar prices. The ones that were open for everyone saw something similar, but I would say some of those doubled and some triple, but that was set in motion a few years prior to the sell-out. Might not be what happens statewide, but still talking about 1.55 million acres. (with some smaller tracts, not part of that total, donated to the Feds to become parts of the NF they were around)

There are some good "Hunters" out there that never experianced the "Good Ole Days." I am 34 and I was lucky enough to enjoy them. Back in the day Dad, Grandad, brother and I all hunted on a 300 acer lease that coust us $400 total. I have seen the price change and also the increase in deer population. The last lease we all shared we got ran out by money! My Grandfather has passed away and I will never get the opertunity to hunt with him again. My dad has Diabeties along with some other health problems and I will probably never get to hunt with him again. My brother lives in St. Louis and I will never get to hunt with him again. I hate to see it come down to money that causes a family from enjoying family traditions but it has alowed the population to increase.

1.55 million acres is less than 1% of the land in Texas, again they should be grateful they had the cheap leases for as long as they did. That would be like getting a super discount every time you needed something. Now, after the increases they are probably paying closer to what other hunters were paying while they were getting a discount. Most hunters were paying a lot more for all of those years that these people were getting a bargain.

I have been hunting all my life. My father was a avid hunter/fisherman and he passed down that interest to me. (I'm going to be honest with you).

When I was in my early 20's I can remember driving to the lease with everything I needed in a Ford Ranger Pickup. I remember sleeping in the cab and having everything I needed for the weekend in the back jump seats. As I got older, I decided sleeping in a truck was painful in the back. I ended up buying a tent and using that for all of a year. I then upgraded to building sheds and sleeping in those. That actually worked well for a while. I recall first going hunting with a Winchester Model 94 with a 4x scope on it. I also would get 5 gallon bucks and put a feeder on the bottom of it and hanged it from a tree. My deer stand was pallets that I nailed together and threw cloth over the side to block the wind from going through it.

Now that I'm in my 40's, I'm one of those hunters that takes their travel trailer and parks it at the deer lease. I like having electricity and running water. I figure I paid my dues and now I sleep in a air conditioned/heated trailer with a kitchen, shower, toilet, etc.. I find spending time in camp now is much more enjoyable. My deer blind is a commercial built plastic unit with plexiglass windows and yes, I do have a portable heater in it now. My chair is no longer a metal folding chair, but a disgarded office chair that my company was going to throw away. My archery stand is now a commercially built ladder stand and no longer 2x4's that I cut and nailed to a tree so that I can sit on one of the limbs. My deer feeders (Multiple), all have pens around them and have digital cameras to take pictures of the deer. Although I use my old Winchester model 94 from time to time, I generally use my Remington 700 these days.

Again, I paid my dues. I'm no longer in my 20's and as more and more time goes on, I like being comfortable when I go hunting. (Some day you'll understand what it means going to deer camp and having a home away from home... Especially with the Wife and Kids staying home!).

And now you can see why I love predator hunting lol.... Although with the whole filming aspect and the fact that I guided predator hunts for a few years I'm sure I have my fair share wrapped up in it! But hunting is what I love like I said before I don't golf, smoke, drink , play poker ect I hunt and I figure all the money I save on that other stuff counter balances my hunting. I'm 26 years old and although that is pretty young I still remeber growing up in New Mexico hunting mule deer and camping out in tents telling storys around the fire and not being able to sleep from being excited just too be in the woods and enjoying mother nature at it's finest. Now days you may get drawn to hunt you may not so all I can say is don't worry about keeping up with the "jones" just pay what you can and use what you have but most importantly grap your kids out of the front of the Internet , iPod, video game, ect world they live in and take them with you that's the only way this great sport, way of life, hobby, what ever you want to call it "hunting" is going to be hear for years and years too come. I truly love hunting it's in my top 5 list of most important 1. Is to love God 2. Is love my wife and family 3. Work hard and provide for their needs 4. Share my love of God with others 5. Hunting and just plain enjoying the way of life that the outdoors has to offer. Sorry about the long winded writing God Bless Skinner

Nothing wrong with being comfortable.

I don't mind staying in a tent for a few days if the weather is tolerable, but having a camphouse is nice, especially for longer jaunts. and if you want to build a big ole' house on your ranch, by all means, go for it.

I do like my 4x4 crew cab 3/4 ton truck, becuase it does double duty, in the winter it gets me, my buddies, all our gear into and out of camp, safe and sound. In the summer it pulls a very heavy boat, along with a skidloader or tractor every now and then.

if you can afford it, go for it!

Well I am not renewing my subscription to texas trophy Hunters magazine after many years because I feel that they promote high $$$ hunting in Texas.. $$$ is never discussed only refered to ranches as getting a call from my friend and they have been scouting a certain animal and they have located it.. better come on out.. Not hunting as i see it.. To each their own though. I try to find decent hunting opertunities on a limited budget and do so.. Yes we do use more fancy stuff than 40-45 years ago.

Gotcha, but isolated in one part of the state and you can't go anywhere without the majority of the deer habitat being owned by them. Now that they have increased the prices, the smaller timber investoment co.s have followed suit. It's just one big chain reaction. Atleast with the smaller companies you can lowball the heck out of them and hang up and wait for the return phone call on their larger tracts. Not arguing that it's finally catching up with the rest of the state, but costs that have basically been fixed for folks over 20+ yrs are changing faster than their income is for the area.

Growing up in my part of West Texas, we did not have any deer at that time. Was 17 when I saw my first deer on the ranch. Not much commercialization around under those conditions. Ended up in the Graham/Jacksboro area in the 70's and 80's and had my first experience with commercial hunting. My former father-in-law had a couple of places in Jack County that he leased out for deer hunting. They had their cabin, blinds, pickup trucks, etc and spent a lot of time hanging out in the camp, stumbling out to the blind in the cold morning darkness,etc. My father-in-law had a totally different approach. He would get up in the morning and have a big breakfast. After he had finished reading the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, he would start up the truck, turn on the heater, go back in the house for his bottle of whiskey, and off he would go. Drive around the pasture (in the warm truck) until he saw a deer, shoot deer, load deer in truck,and return home. What if he didn't see a deer...there was always tomorrow.

Cabellas didn't make much money off him. Can't say the same for the coffee shop.

A simpler time.

And you can still do that on many leases out there. At least the ones I hunt on. I was in Boy Scouts my whole younger life. Really don't care to sleep in a tent on the ground anymore.

Hunting is commercial thanks to media though. Heck, we got three channels of hunting. Can't pay the bills without sponsors. Have a magazine, can't pay without sponsors. What, do you guys want the big box hunting stores to go away or something? Leasees are cheap compared to land prices. When a property is worth $2 million on the open market and the group pays $10K which is .5% of the value it is cheap to hunt. Want them to sell and then you have nothing?

Good ole days of no media or little bucks are gone. So are cheap cars, houses, Cowboy tickets, and everything. It's all in the eyes of the beholder.

Most places out west didn't even have a deer 30 years ago. You can now hunt and see tons of deer in those same counties. They went from no does, to 1 doe to 5 does in about 8 years and you still can't shoot enough. You can go kill for $100 a doe now and keep killing. That ain't too expensive for some good meat and good times still unless all you want is some scrappy buck for horns.

Well i will say at Youth in the Wild Outdoors we like to try to keep the WILD in it.With our fatherless boys i like to push the adventure envelope with our more experinced youth.This year and next we will be doing spear hunting,survival camps.As i get older these fatherless boys push me to run a little more,Eat a little better,Hit the gym a little harder and PRAY a whole lot more.Oh yeah we can get pretty creative with a limited budget on places to go hunting.Squirells,dillas,coons,predators,varmints,have become our 10 point 150" class buck and hogs well those might as well be a 200" class buck to these boys.They really do keep me grounded because after it is all said and done,THE CAMPFIRE BECOMES THE PLACE WHERE LIVES ARE CHANGED AND MEMORIES ARE MADE FOR THESE FATHERLESS BOYS.If you ever want to get back to the basics take a fatherless boy hunting and fishing it will make a DIFFRENCE in yours and his life.