We did the same thing, it is a great lease now. I even kept my spot after I got my own place to hunt. It is great to have hard working people with the same goals and good attitudes on a lease.
If you don't want to absorb the cost, finding another leaser is not a problem.

Have a list of rules and management guidelines that each hunter acknowledges and agrees to follow by signing a copy. Also, the lease manager and several of the other more senior members should compile a list w/ game cam photos of bucks that shows shooters and non-shooters for each season. Email the list and photos out before the season starts, and require that each hunter respond via email that they have studied the photos and will follow the harvest guidelines for that season.

Not only will this provide hard, visual evidence of which bucks are off limits for each season, but it eliminate the problem of different hunters having different opinions of how to follow your original management/harvest guidelines. I've found that a lot of guys can read the same statements about deer management and have significantly different interpretations of what kind of deer represents what is being describing in your formal management plan. Hunter A may know not to shoot a nice 3.5 year old buck because he hasn't reached his full potential, but Hunter B may see the same buck and age him at 4.5+ years old and shoot him. Hunter B thinks he was following the rules and didn't do anything wrong, but Hunter A is pissed because a promising younger buck was killed. I have found that most people want to follow the rules, its just a very few "bad apples" that purposefully disobey clearly stated rules. Providing pictures of specific deer to visually show what you are talking about in your management plan should help to eliminate the difference in opinions about aging/harvesting deer.

Have a list of rules and management guidelines that each hunter acknowledges and agrees to follow by signing a copy. Also, the lease manager and several of the other more senior members should compile a list w/ game cam photos of bucks that shows shooters and non-shooters for each season. Email the list and photos out before the season starts, and require that each hunter respond via email that they have studied the photos and will follow the harvest guidelines for that season.

Not only will this provide hard, visual evidence of which bucks are off limits for each season, but it eliminate the problem of different hunters having different opinions of how to follow your original management/harvest guidelines. I've found that a lot of guys can read the same statements about deer management and have significantly different interpretations of what kind of deer represents what is being describing in your formal management plan. Hunter A may know not to shoot a nice 3.5 year old buck because he hasn't reached his full potential, but Hunter B may see the same buck and age him at 4.5+ years old and shoot him. Hunter B thinks he was following the rules and didn't do anything wrong, but Hunter A is pissed because a promising younger buck was killed. I have found that most people want to follow the rules, its just a very few "bad apples" that purposefully disobey clearly stated rules. Providing pictures of specific deer to visually show what you are talking about in your management plan should help to eliminate the difference in opinions about aging/harvesting deer.

Somehow I don't get excited about hunting a property that I have to get a pre approved email list of the deer that are/aren't ok to shoot.

Have a list of rules and management guidelines that each hunter acknowledges and agrees to follow by signing a copy. Also, the lease manager and several of the other more senior members should compile a list w/ game cam photos of bucks that shows shooters and non-shooters for each season. Email the list and photos out before the season starts, and require that each hunter respond via email that they have studied the photos and will follow the harvest guidelines for that season.

Not only will this provide hard, visual evidence of which bucks are off limits for each season, but it eliminate the problem of different hunters having different opinions of how to follow your original management/harvest guidelines. I've found that a lot of guys can read the same statements about deer management and have significantly different interpretations of what kind of deer represents what is being describing in your formal management plan. Hunter A may know not to shoot a nice 3.5 year old buck because he hasn't reached his full potential, but Hunter B may see the same buck and age him at 4.5+ years old and shoot him. Hunter B thinks he was following the rules and didn't do anything wrong, but Hunter A is pissed because a promising younger buck was killed. I have found that most people want to follow the rules, its just a very few "bad apples" that purposefully disobey clearly stated rules. Providing pictures of specific deer to visually show what you are talking about in your management plan should help to eliminate the difference in opinions about aging/harvesting deer.

Somehow I don't get excited about hunting a property that I have to get a pre approved email list of the deer that are/aren't ok to shoot.

LOL- We are on 7,000 acres. Good luck with that.

Joe knew exactly what buck he was shooting and didnt care. We dont list every buck that is a shooter or non shooter but every once in a while there is a buck that everyone knows is young that has great potential that everyone agrees should be on the no hit list. We have all agreed nothing is to be shot under 4.5 yrs old

There a lot of ranches that size and larger who have rules in place like this.

They must have a Jim Dandy assortment of cameras to be able to monitor every buck and determine what is on / off limits.

We supply examples of what should / should not be taken but the idea of "a list" is preposterous. What if the buck I'm looking at is not on said list? He'll be gone before I can scroll through all the pics. I think we may be saying the same thing, only different.

we have done it for 8 years and I think our results speak for themselves. Everyone has the freedom to make their own call on a trophy buck if they think it is 6 years or older. But we help that process by many many camera pictures - we post them in our camphouse and we have a Do Not Kill board plus a Kill board. If someone is unsure we encourage (but do not require) them to video the deer and get other opinions on its age. It is structured but our guys like it - last year our trophies taken were all between six years old and 8-9 years old. It can be done

They must have a Jim Dandy assortment of cameras to be able to monitor every buck and determine what is on / off limits.

We supply examples of what should / should not be taken but the idea of "a list" is preposterous. What if the buck I'm looking at is not on said list? He'll be gone before I can scroll through all the pics. I think we may be saying the same thing, only different.

I don't know where you hunt but where we are in the panhandle,if you see a big buck and want him you had better take him then. Odds are you'll never see him again.

One ranch has 48 cameras running on 11,000 acres. So yes they can monitor every buck they have on camera. Sitting in blinds and taking videos/pictures and then flying helicopter survey also taking pics helps also. One person makes the calls on bucks killed or let live till they mature. They keep pictures from year to year and that give them a history trail on buck. If they loose one for a year or two they can go back into old pics to find them. Sometimes they can't.