With hunting land now selling for between $4,000 ------------$8,000 an acre ( I just sold 42 acres for $340,000 in Durango, Tx), the amount people will pay to lease it will be insignificant to the new land owners, so it is unlikely they will lease the hunting rights. If you paid $340K for land would you really lease the rights for $2K---No.

I agree. Someone who is buying land at these prices would never even consider leasing it.

Anyone buying a smaller tract of land is not going to lease it. They are buying it for their own use.There will always be leases in Texas.....maybe not quite as many as land gets fragmented. The prices of leases have steadily climbed in price over the last 50 yrs no matter what has happened to the economy or oil prices or whatever one would think would effect them. They will continue to climb in price year after year.

I think there will always be a few options, especially from people who already own the land and want to earn some extra income. Ranchers for instance that don't live on the ranch. They might own 2000 acres that just gets grazed....why not make an extra $20-30k a year to let people hunt on it. I definitely see your point though. If I could afford land, there's no way I'm letting people hunt on it.....maybe that's why I've been unsuccessfully looking for a lease for years now....

Years ago around here there were folks who leased their property to hunters. Now I don't know of any.

There’s a cattle rancher near me that’s land rich and cash poor. He leases out hunting on most of his land. That’s probably the case with a lot of old ranchers around the state.

I think you are working some faulty logic. That someone paid a lot of money and won't lease cheaply does not mean leases will be gone. Lease prices may go up, but there will be leases. There will be people that pay lease prices.

Also, lots of landowners lease as a side hustle to other ongoing operations, right? They aren't expecting to make all their money back from hunt leasing, just to earn some side income.

Exactly right

There are many ranchers in TX that are multi-millionaires when considering their assets (land). Not so much with cash in the bank.

That's why I bought my own place. There used to be many leases available in our area but as the old folks passed on the children or estate took control of the lands and they were sold off or locked down.

I believe people will continue to lease to make supplemental income and to help get a little money back on what they spent to buy the land.

Everyone of those ranchers probably have $$$$$ in the bank because they live off nothing, and prepare for the worse. The newer generations could learn a lot from those depression babies.

IMHO, it's going to put more emphasis on the relationship between landowners and hunters, as is often the case in the sales world. While money will always be the key driver with landowners, hunters may find themselves having to make changes to satisfy increasing demands from landowners. More landowners, like the one who owns the land I currently lease, may not allow hunters to use feeders because of the problems that can come with them. Others may not allow hunters to camp on their property due to the increased liability. The same rules that apply to public land may eventually become more common to private leases.

No, many of them don't. That is sort of the point about being land rich and cash poor. A lot of farmers are in the same shape.

There are also wealthy land owners who utilize ranches as a safe haven to store value. Somes will try to earn as much revenue as possible while seldom venturing on the places they own.

If that was the case many ranches/farmers would of went up for sale via the country court steps because of depressed cattle prices and grain prices last few years.

Perception isn’t always reality. Like I said most will live off nothing to get through hard times with out getting into savings. Nature of the game when you are use to only getting a paycheck 1-3 times a year, and are the mercy of
Mother nature.

Leasing hunting is a diversity investment to add another 1-2 paychecks a year.

Not saying farming and ranching are a get rich occupation, but it’s an occupation that requires very thoughtful spending and saving.

I don't know any landowners who wont let hunters use feeders. You might have found the only one.

Most places require at least a protein feeder to meet requirements for the wildlife exemption.

Probably been going for a few generations also, and never have issues finding grass or dirt leasors.

Cutting the larger ranches up into smaller tracts is a much greater threat to supply and demand of hunting leases.

That's been going on for awhile, regardless of land prices.

Its going to get worse if Binden gets his way. historic ranches are a thing of the past.

You won't even be able to beat it as inherited stock.

I disagree

I'm talking about the ranches that have been in families for generations for the most part.
A lot of the true blue Texas Ranchers would rather starve than sell an acre of their sacred land and I don't blame them for that one bit. The land means everything to them because of the values they were taught on it!

Many down South are now have millions in the bank because of the EF oil boom but prior to that literally scratched a living off that brush for generations from cattle and what they could get selling either leases or package hunts.

Thing of the past, for some maybe.

Supply is low, demand is constant or increasing so there you have it. I have been on leases most of my life and there is a concept that some hunters I know have a hard time embracing, and that is that even though you are a paying customer, you need to act like a guest.

I recently had a conversation with a guy that got kicked off of a lease. He was on property in a vehicle with California plates. The land owner didn't recognize him, or the vehicle. So, the land owner engages him in a conversation, and the lease member immediately gets defensive and argumentative with the land owner. The next year, lease boss tells him land owner doesn't want him back.

This guy actually calls me, and tells me this story, almost verbatim to what I have described. Since I know the land owner as a former lease member on some of his property, I guess this guy was just wanted to bash the land owner. One of the things he said to me, "XXX XXXXXXXXX thinks just because he owns 26,000 acres he's a big shot". My answer, "He is, and you're looking for a lease because you don't get it".

It will be harder, but as others have said, like a lot of business' land owners have several income streams from their land. Grazing, hunting, water, timber, farming, etc......

Yup

And this is pretty much inevitable through each generation if there is more than one child involved which there usually is.

There is no doubt!
100% FACT!

I see that as a good thing if it means the landowner receiving fewer offers from other hunters.

only took 2 pages before Biden's name was mentioned...

High prices play way bigger roll... Leases were were on were affordable...
Seen were land owners leased land for 5 year option... Hunters did all the work.
Money, time, effort, then landowner, go behind back & advertise...
$$$$ money talks...
In the HF/LF discussions, many times seen people post.



That's & majo more than rity of them thar HF bucks got thar start from them thar deer farms...

High prices have played biggest roll...
ammo cost more than the gun these days...
& price of living gonna go up...
Happens every time thesy raise minimum wages...
Just my
money talks
i still got cheap posts...

Here, can see lots of changes in hunting...
We dont have the public land (wooded) like @
OSBWMA & the many other bigger acers that hunted down thar...
Thar be few land owners that let us hunt...
Tis a Blessing @ thankful... & let them know, offer ta help out...
Farming around here has become more corporate farming...
Prices of machinery expensive..



US tis slowly been geared ta Bigger. Faster, Better...
Seen this as a water meter reader... We get ahead, go help out in other departments.
We get the level eye, from the other departments...
We were told, dont slow down... Twas race, man vs high tech...
It twas faster, but we did more than just read meters...
We had NO say...

tis thinking prices of leases plays big role in leasing...
It cheaper ta go ta the store for 10 #'s of hamberger...
If it weren't for the OSBWMA opening up just down the road,
i'd a quit hunting years ago., leases just cost too much...
End rant...
Best wish's
Social distancing from MN...