I have been the manager of a hunting lease for 8 years, and had an excellent rancher to deal with. Recently we lost about half of the acreage, because a family member (part owner) no longer wanted to participate in the lease. This left the lease over crowded. One of the guys dropped off. I did not anyone else to lose their spot, so I also dropped off, and turned the management/business duties to the most senior member. In the past (several times) I have lost a lease, but never half a lease. This was something unexpected to deal with. I have other opportunities, so it did not present a major issue for my hunting.

I was a lease manager for manager for many years. The chance that the family situation will change and therefore affect the lease is always a potential problem. Couple of years back a younger member took over the manager spot which has been a blessing - to that job (assuming it is done correctly) requires a great deal of work and patience. Hope you find a good new lease!

Had my 480 acres cut to around 160 last year due to the LO passing. I was the lease "Captain." Just before the sale, the LO said they wanted my wife and I to stay on. Had to drop 2 great guys off the lease. Sucks. Hope we can stay for many more years.

yep, it seems to happen more and more these days as the older LO are starting to transition into nursing care or pass ... those that inherit the property have their own ideas going forward. I've been involved with a couple of those situations and neither was a good thing.

1. 890 acres, west of Llano, covered up with deer ... LO had 2 sons, both getting married and wanting to build their new homes on the ranch, LO didn't want a bunch of hunters shooting around their homes. We had a 10 year lease, paid in full and this happened at the end of the 5th year. LO just said no refund, just kill enough deer off the place to make up for the other 5 years. so we did just that.

2. LO passed, nieces/nephews in east TX got the place, told the guy that leased the grazing/hunting rights he had 2 weeks to remove everything. We subleased the hunting rights from him and he passed that time frame on down to us. This was after season fortunately but we had paid the next year (non-refundable). We really had to scramble to get everything removed on that short of notice. 480 acres NW Burnet county with several miles of shared fence line with the Goodrich ranch, some really good deer. 2 of the guys had been on that lease for over 25 years, my dad about 10 and me about 3.

What with these places that don’t refund the prepaid money, after they kick you off?

Not all landowners are good people, and, the money's usually spent and they don't have it to refund. That being said, ten years, paid in advance, would be a no sale for me.

Unless it’s in writing that X % is refundable due to special circumstances, you should not expect to get any back. Is it nice to do so, yes, but LO would be under no obligation to refund. But that’s also why I would only ever sign a lease for one year at a time with a right of first refusal if they get a better offer

My current lease is in NW Burnet County on the river at the end of county road 105. We had a cabin on the river we used until it burned down. LO and brother both built cabins on the river and we lost 80 acres around the cabins. Not a big deal but best area for axis and turkeys. It has been a good lease and LOs are good people.

Nothing new here, land changing hand amongst owners or new land buyers and hunters being displaced has been occurring since land leasing; was more anticipating a knock down, dragout between lease members or lease members and land owners. Now, that would be some real drama....

We had the same thing happen to us about 5 years ago. Our landowner was leasing property for his cattle adjacent to his property from his cousin and sub leased to us for over 15 years. His cousin wanted to give the property to her grandson, so she asked our landowner to give up his lease for the cattle and we lost about 1/2 our Acreage.
We had to cut our members in half. There was a group of retired guys that always went up during the week together and shot who knows what and were very hush hush. Only 2 of them had seniority and were offered to stay with us other senior members. They declined since their buddies couldn't stay on with them and plus the Old house, they stayed in was on the cousin's property.
Actually ended up being a good deal for us as the grandson is very friendly and management minded as most of our camp is as well and our buck quality has gotten way better.

agree on the pay in advance by today's pricing. This was back when a lease was like 50 cents to a dollar an acre for the "lease", split between however many hunters were put on it. None of the leases back then were per gun and the landowners basically leased their property to rid it of anything competing with their livestock. It was probably $500 total per year, split between 10-12 "paid" hunters. All the paid hunters tossed in the lease fee up front to secure the lease long term. Not a whole lot of money really.

ha, I have one of those stories when I have time to type it out ... was on the brother's ranch across the road from the one I mentioned in my earlier post west of Llano.

my dad's group of hunters had been together for years, core group of about 8 guys that were long time close friends. Depending on the lease, would add a couple new people here and there. These were family style leases where all "paid" members could bring their immediate family (wife/school age children) with them to hunt. We had just gotten a new lease west of Llano out close to Valley Spring, around 800 acres. We all went out a couple weeks before season to get camp set up which was a couple of old army surplus mess tents, butane stove and refrigerator, 4 army cot bunk sets, There was a power pole that the group set up lights in the tents and one of the guys brought in his small travel trailer as his wife would come to hunt also. It was a great set up for the group. The Friday before season opener, dad and another guy went to the store to buy all the food staples and weekend supplies that should cover about 3 weekends worth of food. The other guy bought a couple of cases of Lonestar for camp. Everyone came in for the opening weekend. Upon heading home on Sunday, dad and the other guy checked the fridge / pantry cabinet to see what they might need to bring the following weekend, which was minimal, plenty of food & drink for at least another weekend. Fast forward to the following weekend, everyone shows up late Friday night, to bed, up early to go hunt and then we would fix a big breakfast mid/late morning after the morning hunt. Dad and I get back to camp to start breakfast but upon looking in the fridge/pantry, it was basically empty. Odd! another hunter shows up and we decide we need supplies, so off to town to get more food supplies that we thought were left from previous weekend to tithe us for several more weekends. Get back and finally fix breakfast around noon. Out for the afternoon hunt, back to fix dinner, repeat for Sunday (hunt, breakfast, pack up). Again, look in fridge to see what might be needed for the next weekend. Next weekend, same situation, pretty much everything in the fridge & pantry cabinet was gone, another unplanned trip to the store mid day. Remember this should have been enough food for 8 paid hunters & their family for several weekends.

So, during the middle of the following week, dad and another guy decide to make a random unexpected trip out to the lease. Upon getting there, they find the camp food/drink supplies empty yet again but a couple of trucks parked there, so they waited until whoever it was got back from their hunt. Late morning, up comes 4-5 college age guys, dragging several deer into camp. 2 of them were one of the core group guy's college age sons that were going to Angelo State with a few of their buddies. When confronted, they said they didn't have class on certain days and would come to deer camp with their buddies to hunt, party and had eaten all the food and drank all the beer. In a not so pleasant manner, dad and the other hunter informed them they were not welcome and to not come back. Upon getting back home, they found the dad and told him what had happened, he apologized but had told his sons they could without discussing with the rest of the group. Dad was ready to remove him also at that point as there was no telling how many deer those boys and their friends had already taken but let him stay for the remainder of the season. He (the dad) was not invited back the following year. The dad asked year after year to get back on with the group but they never let him back on.

dad and the other guy still would make random trips out to the lease during the week occasionally to check on things. They were very selective on adding another going forward

Your Dad is a more patient man than I am. But, he did keep the peace and solved the problem. You can't blame the college boys, but their dad owed someone some $, and he would have been gone that day if it were me.

Before I was born, and before "the magic bullet", my dad got to tell John Connally that he was hunting on the wrong side of the fence. True story. Dad had leased a place close to Tarpley. Connally was a relative of the LO I think.

'Not really drama, but I looked at a lease offered by a then mod on here several years ago. 'Toured the place and got back to the cabin. I asked casually about bringing my dog with me during the summer only, since it was required to keep feeders full year-round. He explained that I couldn't 'cause there'd been an incident with a member's dog and the livestock; LO was pissed. I understood. Just then, another lease member pulls up and out bounds a big, loveable lab. I'm out! It certainly wasn't the only "tell" that it wasn't going to work, but it was the last.

To PMK. This example shows why most leases have strict guest rules. I am currently on a lease where no guest are ever allowed, even during the off season. Very strict rules for limited family. From your post one of the members allowed his kids and their friends to hunt when he was not even there himself. No excuse. Then they had the audacity to eat the food. That is quite a story.

totally agree Brother Phil ... this was 50+ years ago when hand shake leases were the normal, rules were established between the paying members ... but there was always that one guy that stretched beyond what was agreed upon ... kinda like why labels are put on McDonald's coffee cups that the contents are hot ... common sense isn't so common

I've observed on more than one occasion that boys from the more well-off families, that haven't been taught a whole lot of respect for others, and particularly the ones that Mommy picks up after, tend to create problems and cause "drama" on a lease. We had one teenager that decided he was gonna be a bow hunter and went around and changed all the feeder timers to go off when he wanted. Another one that wounded a buck with an arrow, deleted the pictures off the camera that captured the incident, then was incapable of uttering one word of thanks to the entire group that helped look for his deer.

True, but I've seen trashy folks in all walks of life and socioeconomic levels, poor, middle and wealthy. Lack of character knows no boundaries...