We found out Jan 1 that our lease sold and we heard nothing and now the new landowner has a broker selling off parcels this weekend…. Sure blows for me but especially those that have been there for 30+ years!

Did you pay for the current year after learning the property had been sold? Did the previous landowner provide you with any information on the buyer? The buyer would have no obligation to honor the lease with the previous landowner.

Happening more and more.

We have not paid any lease money as of yet….

that stinks!

It happened to me once. It sucks, but it happens.

We picked up all of our stuff last Saturday

Luckily we were told in late March it was up for sale and stopped feeding expensive protein and cottonseed or else some of us would have been out another $2k-$3k!

Very glad to hear that.

Next time I would suggest contacting the County Tax Office to identify the buyer if the previous landowner doesn't volunteer that information. As others have noted, this type of thing is happening more often, and many times the landowner makes no mention of his/her intentions until it happens. IMO, keeping in touch with landowners throughout the year is a must. You never want to approach the relationship like some do with doctors who seem to believe no interaction will somehow provide protection from bad news.

In the business world, the highest relationship level between the client and the customer is that of a "trusted advisor" where the two parties share information they don't share with others. While achieving that level of relationship might be rare in the deer hunting community, I feel many people come close to it. And one thing is certain. There's no chance it will ever happen if the only time you talk to the landowner is when you call to tell them you've mailed them a check.

We had about 1/3 of our lease sold a couple of seasons ago. Oh well.....life goes on. I am on another lease that is for sale right now, but at $10,000,000 I think it'll sit for a while until we get ready to carve 'er up.

Myself and a friend leased 750 acres of some of his family’s land that had been for sale for several years. We made one trip out there to drop off a bunch of feeders and hog panels. The next weekend his uncle called to tell us he had a contract on the place.

Found out Jan 1, contact was made with new landowner by lease manager, all seemed good! Then the survey stakes showed up, then the brush cutters/grinders, then the social media ads!!

Like someone posted, the price ain’t right if you ask the questions you’ll figure it out!
No water
No Electricity
No ranch roads other than utv trails
LOTS of cedar and rock

Have had it happen twice now. First one was a lease I found on here. I was hunting when a guy rolled into camp and said he was the new owner and to pack my stuff. Never heard from the landowner I leased from. My lease for the last nine years sold to the guy we were leasing it through. He owned the neighboring ranch and leased the cattle and hunting. He finally bought it and decided he didn’t want to lease the hunting anymore.

Been there and done that. Lucky you don't have any $$ at risk. Mine sold half way through a pre-paid yearly lease contract. I had to get involved and make both brokers aware of the legal binding rental agreement I had in hand. We got a prorated check cut back to us at closing for our remaining lease time and had to pack it up that same week. No fun.

It may, or it may not.
If the economy stabilizes it may go fast. It is amazing how many have that kind of cash to invest in property!

Always be ready to exit quickly. This applies to deer leases and just about any room.

That's one of the reasons why hunting without feeders doesn't bother me much. And all my stands are portables that can be broken down and loaded in the back of the pickup in less than a day.

It’s easy to break a feeder down too

We lost a great lease years ago when it was sold with no warning to us.

Ranches to the north and south of me sold to realtors. They are breaking them up into 50 and 75 acre tracts. 2/3rds of my ranch is HF. Guess I'll have to do the rest. Don't really want a HF ranch but if I don't I won't ever see another mature buck.

Our lease is up for sale. Been on it 29 years now. They haven't sold yet so I asked the owner of we could hunt till it sold. I was shocked when he said "yes". That wasn't his demeanor last spring when he chuckled at my request.

I had it happen to me every few years over the past 10 yrs. I was fortunate enough that the land owner always found me a new place to hunt. He eventually convinced me to buy a piece of land he started to lease to me last year. Made me a great deal and realized I should have bought 10 years earlier as the price of acreage nearly tripled in the last 5 years.

But yes it sucked having to pack up every time the land sold. Good luck out there.

Pretty solid landowner you had there and congrats on land ownership.

That’s not true. Provided the lease agreement is on paper, the current owner has to disclose it to new owner and new owner has to allow it, or buy out the lease. It’s this way for any kind of lease, residential, farming, ranching, recreational, or mineral.

Not having a written agreement doesn’t mean the lease is null & void, just means you’ve got more leg work to do.

Happened to me this year around February. Landowner called and said the place has sold and gave me time to come and get all my stuff off. Never would have thought that place would have been for sale, but money talks I guess. We ended up getting the place next door so it worked out, but I might only have it this year b/c the rancher had the lease right until after deer season. Hope we get to stay it’s a very nice place.

Last season on ours this year. Turns into a subdivision in summer of 2023.