new lease question

A buddy and myself are thinking about leasing this 112 acre piece of land, the pic on top was after it was cleared and pine trees were planted in 2005, the bottom pic is as it currently sits, the patch of trees at the top is national forest




Only problem is it does not have road access, it is about a 15 minute walk parking on the highway and walking a pipeline easement (that the local national forest had claimed ownership of a few years back) to a powerline easment before getting to the property. This land has not been messed with much since 05, plenty of hog signs and some big buck rubs. Not a lot of hardwoods for natural protein. From what i understand the going rate for a lease in East Texas is around $12 an acre.... with road access of some sort. There is a big hunting lease that neighbors the property so there is some pressure from those hunters.

What would y'all be willing to pay for a lease like this?

We don't like the idea of leaving the truck parked on the highway and a 15 minute walk dont sound like much till you've got a full pack of gear and rifle hanging from your shoulders.

A 15 minute walk from your parked vehicle, in east Texas, is all the time needed for the local meth cooks to steal all your stuff.

Personally, I wouldn't take a lease like that for free.

How is there not road access if they were able to access it and cut those trees down?

We walked it for 5 hours yesterday, and one of our biggest concearns was the truck and the power co-op guys that were working the power poles, finding our packs that we left stashed after a couple of hours of walking and marking property boundaries

They used a private access to a neighboring property you get to the powerline easment, in the process the access road got messed up and that property owner said no more use of it, period, although it was repaired immediately. Family quarrel type thing

We were thinking around $6 per acre, that would at least cover her taxes every year. no water, shelter or power.we can put a temp pole and have the co-op drop a line to it though

Are the easement roads not driveable?

The power line is but it goes through private property and stops before it gets to another road, the pipeline is owned by the national forest right there so we cant drive on it

As someone has already said in east Texas if you don’t want it stolen, you better plan on staying guard every night. Sound’s like this property is more trouble than it’s worth.

From the sound of it the best idea is just save your money on this property and find another. No matter how desperate you are for a place it’s not worth the stress of wondering if your stuff will still be there while you’re out there.

This........And come out west...

So are you going to be walking onto private property carrying a weapon to access the land you plan to lease/hunt?

the only private land we cross is the owners family and that part is powerline easment that is ok for us to be on.

How does the landowner legally access the property?

The same way, pipeline, electrical easements

So basically, it's 'landlocked'?

Yes, until we sweet talk a neighbor anyway

We have an electrical easement on the back of our place. We put in a gate. We drive it often. Just wondering if you might be able to do the same.

There has to be legal, dedicated, deeded access of some sort. You can't have "landlocked" property.

That was my thought as well. There has to be a legal way to access the property.

I have been reading up on it and in Texas a parcel of land cannot legally stay landlocked. I need to talk to the owner about that.

We went ahead and agreed to lease it though, for $600 for this first Year.
We were told there's an old logging road, off a forest service road that goes all the way to the back corner of the property, although we're gonna need a small 4wd to use it, we drove as far as we could in a 1 ton 4wd, it was just too wet to try and go any further in that truck. We walked a ways after that before turning back, figured we were wasting daylight and would try to find it from the property.

Yep you can't legally be land locked........

One of the hog rubs out there

Sounds like a good deal.

You are right. You can't legally be landlocked......after you take them to court.

Have you thought about talking to the logging company? If they still have the timber rights for the property, I would bet that they are working on a way to gain access to harvest their timer.
You could also talk to the owner who previously allowed access. Offer him $100/yr for use of his access road and promise to repair any damage you cause. He might be willing to talk to an individual instead of a timber company. But make sure you get it in writing.

Could you look at a plat for the property in the county tax office to identify the road?

We meet a gentleman that is a family fried with both property owners and had hunted the propertys since he was a kid. He's about to to buy the cousins property and told us he didnt have a problem with us using that entrance, after he buys it of course. So for now we're hauling everything on dollies