Lots of truth in that. Marketing and peer pressure are powerful influences.

I have come to believe that money spent on actual life experiences is better spent than on things.

PP makes some great points also. It’s expensive to buy and maintain property.

Buying land may be expensive, and you may have to suffer hunting a little less property, but at least you have something to show for it. To me leasing was like renting a house, the second you quit making that payment you got nothing to show for it.

Is buying property expensive? Yes, but it appreciated in value while you get to use it. If we wanted to, which we don't we could sell ours for more than we have in it.

Life experiences are the value for me as well. I just returned last week from a outing with my daughter Sarah and Sapper Titan. I will post some pics soon of all the bucks we saw and could of killed. Nothing over 5 years old. We had a 5 out in front of us that most hunters would of shot if they look at things for what they pay. I think Sarah would of liked to shoot it but she never said so, lol........but it was one of my most cherished memories created talking about anything with Sarah and being emersed in this awesome wilderness surrounding us. By the way NP, we have been enjoying the SX60HS you recommended. I am shocked at the pic quality we have got out to 200+ yards all on the auto settings.

Yes I didn’t mean to imply buying land was a bad move. I did the same thing and bought back in 2004 - mainly for hunting/recreation. Don’t regret it at all but there are pros and cons as with any big financial commitment. We sacrificed a lot to make that note payment every month.

The main benefit is the satisfaction and enjoyment owning your own place provides. There is no substitute for it.

Good deal PP glad you are enjoying that camera. It was a game-changer for me.

Time is my greatest commodity and my biggest demon. As it applies to hunting, it makes me more willing to pay extra for proximity and quality. The third factor and fourth factors are WHO is at the lease with you and how is the property managed. Proximity is pretty self-explanatory, so I won't spend much time on it, other than to state the obvious. With work and family obligations, my time to drive out and work at a lease is limited, so I prefer to stay within a 3-4 hour driving time from my home base. Quality is a very broad category. The type, number and overall health/quality of animals in the area of the property, for example (whitetail and hogs only? exotics? Turkey? dove? quail?). The type and quality of properties around the lease matters (i.e. we've all had the potentially nice place that got ruined because every property around it subscribes to the "if it's brown it's down" philosophy), as do the hunting conditions (terrain, roads or lack of, water, cabin, utilities, etc). Who is at the lease with you *really* matters. Friends? Family? Fellow hunters with similar strategies/philosophy? Or yahoos who are going to make your experience miserable (at best) or unsafe (at worst)? Finally, how the property is managed matters. Are you and the LO aligned on priorities/strategies? Do you have the ability to influence the management of the place? Are neighboring properties under similar management (or at least *some* management)?

I think $4,500 for 5,400 well-managed acres with year-long access, hogs, trophy + 3 does seems like a good deal to me. As contrast, I pay $1,400 for 2,900 acres (10 guns) but we only have access to the property during the regular WT season (Blanco Co.), and only get 1 trophy and 1-2 does (depending on the year, the LO makes the call). If the 5,400 acres were relatively close to me, I would consider switching if I felt aligned to the other hunters. But our lease is only 1.5 hours from my driveway, and we have good WT genetics there. If it was better managed, I bet the property would produce much better deer, but we have too many does and cull bucks there.

Exiled that is a very economical price.

When we bought our land we were on a trophy lease in Kent county. 10k acres with 10 guns total @ $1500 a gun with year round access. Not many deer on the salt fork back then but when you saw one it was a dandy. I'd love to have that place today for that price. After seeing what our property can produce, the fact that its 2 hours from my Wifes house, and the fact that I'm 20 years older, built a nice home on the place, Im thoroughly content. A trophy buck here will score 130"-140". I'm happy with that. I can hunt almost every day of gun season, just by walking out my front door. When I was younger I hunted 4-5 different places. I enjoy going to other friends places, but the satisfaction of seeing deer feeding in a field that you planted on your own land is hard to beat.