Truth!

you asked, here it is - both leases I got on came as a result of friends asking me to join up with them. In each instance, they took me down to look over the place, explained the rules and we discussed the positive & negative aspects of the place.

Well, ive been somewhat out of pocket for a few days and this thread really took off. Its shot off on some tangents that I wont take time to address. As for the original question.... I think the future of leases as well as hunting will have challenges in the future. As large places are broken up, as well as gobbled up by urban sprawl, then supply and demand will continue to drive up the price. Hopefully the sky will not fall on hunting in my lifetime, but many would say the sky is falling on everything.

Good discussion on lease trends. In our area in the southeast corner of Gillespie County Fredericksburg area, the ranches are all about 100 to 1000 acres. When I was growing up, every place had a hunting camp on it and was leased for hunting. Opening morning of deer season was like World War II. The old neighbors of German descent all were hunters and leased their land to long term hunters from Houston and Dallas. They were not just hunters, they were long term friends of the family also. Everyone looked forward to deer season and the hunters coming in. Fredericksburg was crowded with hunters buying groceries, ammunition and supplies. It was an exciting time for everyone, hunters, stores and landowners.

Today, all of the deer camps are gone. I don't know of a single active deer camp within 5 miles of our place. If I hear 5 shots opening morning that's a lot. All of the German neighbors are gone and with them the traditions as well. The kids have either sold the place or are living on it and take an occasional deer or Axis or only allow family to hunt. My new neighbors do not have any interest in hunting or leasing their land. They put their land in a Wildlife Exemption and it goes out of production and access. I don't blame them. They moved here to experience rural living and the benefit that goes with it. In Fredericksburg, opening weekend hunter activity is hardly noticeable. All of the supplies are now purchased and brought in before they come. Hunting season is like a non-event now.

Times have changed hunting leases at least in our area. I miss the earlier and simpler times when hunting leases were plentiful. A time to meet with old friends that brought you a good bottle of Jack Daniels. The times sitting around their camp fire after the morning hunt waiting for home made biscuits and eggs and bacon to be served from an iron skillet off of the campfire while hunting stories were exchanged. Coffee out of the old coffee pot beside the campfire that would burn the hair off of your tongue on the first sip. Yeah, I miss those days.

oldrancher, Im not doubting what you say is true but I am very surprised by what you say. I havent hunted the Hill Country in a very long time but I still thought the small towns were packed and crazy busy during hunting season. I hate to question you since youre comments seem so first hand and specific but I wonder if its just sight specific to your immediate area. Maybe hunters are becoming so much more selective about what they shoot and they stretch out the time period over the whole season more, that you just dont hear as much shooting as before....? Somebody chime in and please tell me the hunting crowds in Llano and Mason etc arent shriveling up and going away....

Got tired of deer lease thing years ago and we bought our own place, sooo much better and less to put up with!

It is my area specific I was describing. Llano county and western hill country are still thriving for hunting activity. The ranches in those areas are larger and have not seen the growth that the Fredericksburg area has because of it's smaller places. Now north of Fredericksburg in the Doss area and towards Mason those are still very active hunting areas and I would hope that continues. Going to Llano and west on any hunting weekend reminds me of what Fredericksburg used to be.

maybe the new land owners bought it for thar family/friends hunting opertunities...
If i had that kinda money & bought land, wouldn't lease it, be for family/friends...
As far as [i]topic...
Hunting leases be a thing of the past...

For me, enjoyed the people that shared the lease with, as many have said, the campfires, stories told...
Whin ya in d stand it's you & nature...
leasing got too expensive...
WMA's were afordable, & enjoyed chatting with other hunters...

Leasing will continue for those who can afford it...
Pay ta play not my ...
Have seen were more land tis being purchased for public...
Best wishs.
Social distancing from MN...

They just opened a Los Cazadores in Stonewall and Fredericksburg so I wouldn't say hunting is a footnote in that area but land use has certainly changed. Fredericksburg sees much more tourist traffic for Wineries, shopping and music than from hunting. Also, alot of hunters just don't go into town anymore.

What is going on is a change in demographic. People are buying land to enjoy, and are not leasing it out. Not saying they don't hunt it, but its family and guests and they don't have people there all the time.

I sold a ranch a few years back to a friend of mine, just west of Luckenbach. Was owned by an out of state owner who leased it to a group of people from Houston. She had a need being an absentee owner, to generate some income off it, so she leased to a group. They killed, what i would say, was too many deer off the ranch and certainly didn't understand age classes as their buck harvest didn't include anything older than 3 1/2 years old, per their harvest records.

So buddy buys it, lease hunters move on. They have the means to improve the ranch and don't need the hunting income. They own a hunting ranch in South Texas and do most of their hunting there. So, in the past several years there have been just a few deer taken off it by guests. I have 100% open access to go take my kids or myself up there and shoot whatever I want, but I don't have the time. in a nutshell, this is the changing demographic.....not anti-hunting or non-hunting owners, just people who are not 100% focused on hunting their properties.

I would say that in the place of lease hunters more family and invited guests have taken there place, which isn't a bad thing as they may not have had the opportunity to hunt had the current landowners decided to continue to lease. I know many folks who have killed their first deer in years, or sometimes ever, as a result of landowner invites that would not have been possible had the place been under lease.

I will also add with liberal bag limits and long seasons opening day isn't as revered as it once was.

By the time the 1st saturday in November rolls around I've already been hunting for a month, sometimes 2. I can wait a few weeks until dates line up right to get in the woods.

100% on this TxTro. Kind of what I was saying earlier about how and when we hunt has changed. Opening day/weekend used to be a huge tradition and many hunters just wanted to shoot anything and then it was over. Most are much more selective now and it takes longer to find the right one. Also, the entire experience of the hunt and the camp life just makes many just want to spend more time afield instead of just shoot and done. Also, archery hunting is more popular and the success is harder so that stretches out the hunting opportunities. Of course the added month of archery and MLD keeps that opening weekend mad rush from peaking right then.
I guess this is skewing off topic a little but still close.

we hunted a ranch in Utopia that had 13 members on the lease. By the time the 2nd weekend of deer season rolled around 11 or 12 members had tagged out already....most of them did it on Opening Weekend, every single year. They didn't know the hunting was best the week of Thanksgiving, they were content to go to a few work weekends during the year, then show up opening day and whack a 2 year old 8 point and head home.


I would also say that most people hunt smarter than our forefathers did. I don't miss a lot of "traditions" because in hindsight they did things backwards.

Our place is west of Luckenbach also. I agree with all of the points you made. Change is not always a bad thing because it does allow for another mindset to be introduced for hunting opportunities when the land is not under a lease. Our property is no longer under a lease agreement which gives me the freedom to invite a father and his son or daughter or friend to come out to hunt. The grandkids have the freedom to hunt where they want to and when they want to and can bring a friend. Even though I miss the camp fire days with the old hunters I find it now a better experience with the young hunters or a friend that I have given the opportunity to hunt. The kids get to spend time with their Dad and they will never forget that experience.

IMO Hunting crowd hasnt shrunk in the berg. City has just grown up so large it consumes and covers it well.

While both Mason and llano have grown significantly they haven’t gotten big enough to swallow the hunting traffic.

Castell is a perfect example of hunting being still very alive and well.

TxTro, your picking up my slack again. I meant to point out that hunters are more knowledgeable now and often don’t hunt opening weekend cause it’s not always the most productive time. Earlier hunting, bucks may still be in a more predictable pattern. Late season they may be patterned around a less available, but much needed, food source. And then there’s the tut. None of those times may not coincide with opening day and thus stretch out that crazy peak associated with opening weekend.

I miss the hunting camps. I miss the sitting around the campfire and no mater where you sat the smoke got in your eyes.
I miss everyone congratulating the hunter who was lucky enough to bring in a deer. No one ever said, "what does it score?"
They just slapped him on the back, and started helping him skin it out while someone was frying the bacon and someone else
peeling the potato's.
Times have changed.

I agree mostly. I do miss the simple times around the camp fire, but I also enjoy seeing 15+ deer very sit and 140+ inch deer annually.

I do miss those times, I enjoyed that part of it as much as the hunting if not more. I haven’t got to experience that in a long time, it’s the one big negative part of hunting your own place without other members.

I didn't read the entire thread - so not sure if it was mentioned - but a good chunk of people buying land right now (at least it seems in my area from several people I've spoken to) are out of state folks from the NE or California. People who you could assume have zero interest in hunting - nor allowing anyone to hunt. I think the Texas migration has trickled over into rural land and leasing opportunities will also suffer from that since the majority of these people bring their liberal mindset with them.

Plenty of activity in Llano and San Saba county opening week-end and after. Sitting at the light at the intersection of hwy. 29 and hwy. 16 in Llano opening week-end is entertaining in it's self. Seeing all the vehicles and gear loaded on those vehicles is impressive. In Llano the amount of customers in the Lowes grocery stocking up on groceries is impressive.
Will agree we don't seem to hear as many shots fired in the distance as in the past.

The California influx has been largely overblown. I’ve sold more ranches to people from Louisiana than I have from California.

There are some California investors floating around bit there always have been.

There are a lot of California money buying land on the fringes of metro areas but they are not inundating rural area.

And most are escaping liberalism not bringing it here

I grew up hunting the same as you described above. However as I got older I had a passion to try to shoot bigger deer and did so - even though we would all ask what the score is we still would sit around the fire and have a great time - times have changed on everything - some good and some bad - but I have never understood why wanting to shoot a larger buck than your last is a bad thing - to me it is human nature

I can understand Mr T but I identify(did I type that) with titan better, and tlks later post as well. We have 18 on one lease and we have a lot of comradery and patting on the back when a buck is killed. We also see a whole lot of deer and kill a lot of big ones. You dont have to give up one to have the other. If fact the closeness of our group creates a bond and like mindedness that helps us reach our mutual goals of killing older and bigger bucks. Fun, hard work and big deer all go together(or can).

Bought my own place a LONG time ago, about 40 years ago, in Montague County just South of Bowie. $415 per acre of “recreational property” that didn’t even have a road through it. In those days we heard a lot of shots during November and some in December. Don’t hear a lot these days other than my anti hunting neighbor who starts shooting a pistol early on deer season weekend mornings and starting again in the afternoon.

I believe I heard 3 or 4 shots during deer season last year. Lots of non leased bigger properties around me. Being within 100 miles of D/FW, I would expect more hunters. And, once Grandsons get their deer, I’ve seen the last of them.

In Leon County a person could hear a lot of shots on opening morning in the late 1960's and during the 1970's, don't hear much anymore. Have a feeling a lot of the lack of shots is Antler Restrictions and the limited days for does.

Most of neighbors have quit leasing. The got tired of folks not following the rules.

Mine were not following the rules, they do now. Think they forgot who was paying the taxes.