So I win the lottery, I'm buying all the panhandle land I can get my hands on. I'd lease it to a group, that I would be a member of. It would be good to be the King.

I`ve been on several leases since my 1st one in 1984. No really bad problems, but a few people that I just didn`t like to be around. Had one person on a lease in 2000 that I had an issue with. I was the last person to get on the lease in 1999 and got the spot no one wanted but it turned out to be a honey hole. The 2nd year I put up a bow blind with a feeder that was 150 yards from the property lines/fence about 3 months before the season started. About the 2nd time I hunted it in the a.m. I heard what I thought was a bow being shot. Thought it was across the fence and forgot about it till I got back to my truck. Come to find out the person who had a blind farthest from me and on other side of the lease had put up a feeder and ladder stand between me and the property line. He was gutting a doe when I got back to my truck. The more I thought about it the madder I got. The next time I went hunting, I went and found his setup and took down his feeder and took it to camp. Saw him a few days later when I showed up to hunt and told him that I took the feeder down and it was too close to my area for another feeder and ladder stand setup. He wasn`t happy but didn`t have the stones to say anything. I would never do that to anyone. It was just BS and I called him out on it. I wasn`t his friend before the lease and had no plans to befriend him. He was also the Jerk that showed up late on opening morning and drove thru the small lease after sunup and then walked back to his truck and left an hour before anyone else got out of their blind. The other 4 lease members weren`t happy about it either, but I was the new guy and didn`t say much about it.

Tpack sorry that ya had to experience that...just think how many times he had been at your blind checking it out before he put up his blind up. I don't know your rules but he would know not to come close to my blind again. If I were lease manager I would not except his money next year. That little trick is very dangerous.
good luck

I had actually forgot about that incident until reading this post. I was on that lease for one more year and luckily me and him never crossed paths. I wasn't looking for a confrontation, but putting another setup within 100 yards (I measured on google earth) of mine was BS and I wasn`t going to let him get away with it. He wasn`t like by the other members either. Go figure.

Good rules that are understood and enforced(if needed) would keep that from happening in the first place.

You are correct. All of the original members were car salesmen at the local GM dealer and very casual rules as you can see. I got on when one guy left and happen to know a member that knew I was looking for a lease. The person who was in charge really didn`t have the balls to enforce much. I was just glad to get on a lease that had lots of deer since I hadn`t got to hunt deer in 7-8 years. Probably the guy hadn`t had any push back from anyone before or he might not have tried it. I know for a fact that he screwed up another guy`s hunting several times by walking near him while he was bow hunting and the guy didn`t call him out over it. Now that I think about some more of the stuff he did, he was a POS.

Should have been your first clue, right? You handled it well.

As for the perfect lease member, it's someone who doesn't always have something else to do on work days and very rarely has to ask to pay you back. They always bring extra and would leave their stand immediately to help others find their deer. And they NEVER gossip about other lease members or show a desire to listen to others who do.

Interesting point about guests you may think about:

My buddy hunted ( as a vendor guest ) on a large ranch between Ft. Stockton and Ozona. Whitetail, Mule deer and Elk.

Leasee brought another vendor guest to come hunt. Hunt went well and he brought him again the next year. Following year he gets a call from the landowner ( contract was up for renewal ) and was explained that he went in a different direction. Guy was floored as they always had a great relationship and had leased the property for quite some time.

Did some digging and come to find out the guest had contacted the landowner direct and leased the property for more money.


Something to keep in mind when complaining about the no guest policy. It’s extremely easy to find landowner information in this day and age.

I have first hand knowledge of this very same thing happening. Unbelievable what some people will do.

It's far less likely to happen when you have ongoing communication with your landowner and members. If the only time you speak to the landowner is to tell them you're sending them a check, you're leaving yourself open to such things.

My landowners knows he's going to get a message from me soon after each time I visit his property. It may be nothing more than I found nothing out of place but he always responds with his appreciation.

"Money talks and bs walks." No matter how kumbaya you are with the LO. Had it happen to my family. The company with more money abused the place and the LO was begging us to come back.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but aren't vendors supposed to take guests (customers) instead of the other way around?

This is true. But you're less likely to get blindsided and can often see the writing on the wall when you have ongoing communication with the landowner.

I don’t know how you gathered there was a lack of communication with the landowner?

Your trying to insert a point ( by the way of assumption ) when the point is watch who you bring out

We were a little late one year due to a miscommunication and he reminded me at the gate he has guys willing to pay way more than we pay. Needless to say I make sure we pay early.

Yes, there are those who view the cost of a hunting lease with the same vigor as 15-year-old views Taylor Swift tickets.

Personnaly also seen guest underhand a lease from landowner for more money cutting out long time lease holders that would have paid more if asked by landowner. great relationship with landowner but $ talks in most cases. If you don't own the land then you have no control. I've been part of some very good long term leases over the last 50+ years that only reason left 3 of them was heirs didn't want to deal with land and sold or chopped it up.

Yes, all it takes is one bitter heir to screw things up for everyone.

Been on this lease for, I think, eight years now. LO is having health issues and his wife can't keep up the cattle operation so they're selling this section of land. Their son lives in San Antonio. I'm lucky because they really like my wife and I and have offered to let us hunt on two smaller sections across the road. Sucks for the other two members though.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but in the Sales world, it's the goal of every salesperson to become a "trusted advisor" to their customers/clients. I would choose to differ with those who say you can never reach at least some level of this with hunting leases. Just like the Sales world, competitive offerings become less an issue when it happens. It also points to why joining the best leases is usually so difficult. Existing lease members can be extremely protective of that trust relationship and rightfully so.

Been on the same lease for 34 years now. Have seen it all, bad lease managers were the problem. Leasing paper company land in East Texas, as long as we pay and don't damage the property, we don't have problems from the lessor. Mainly a family lease now with the understanding of the rules before you are allowed to become a member. Rules are set, you read them and agree to them first and foremost. If you have qualms with the rules, we don't let you in, period. Lease is run with an iron fist, no one gets away with breaking the rules. And no favoritism. But the rules are common sense (safety mainly) and we have a total club membership after each year to discuss everything about the year we just finished. We have 9 members on 2000 acres. And we all have a good time with one another and trust each other. Has taken awhile to get it right, but it works for us, at least for now. You have to have people you can trust, and it's just flat hard to do when you have to advertise for members.

This - same page and regimen here.

Very similar to how I ran our lease for years. Our rules are extensive but are all common sense - each member signed a copy of the rules every year no matter what.

My number one rule was always "no drama" - we are all grown adults and will be respectful to each other and the LO.

As far as advertising for new members we always went to our existing members first to see if they knew a good candidate - if we ever did have to entertain a new member we did not know then I always met with them face to face and I usually learned from the questions they asked if they would be a good fit. IMO this approach led to a very well run lease and ranch and our quality of deer.

You made an excellent point. While I'm sure they exist, I've never known a paper company representative who wasn't honest and up front with the lease manager. And as you said, they can be the most loyal landowners a hunter can find in order to avoid creating animosity between hunters and hunter groups. I had old timers tell me long ago that's something they learned the hard way when they refused to lease land to hunters. Simply put, they learned it was far better to keep hunters on their side.