That sounds good depending on where the lease would be and how many hunters per acre there would be.  The money in my opinion is within reason. 

Archer-Baylor-Young county area, approximately 700 acres, 4 guns total.

That price sounds reasonable, but in a situation like that how would you handle young hunters?  Would each youngster be $2,500 or would there be contingencies for them as long as the total deer kill for the number of guns purchased is correct for management purposes?  If you tell me the first option then with a couple of boys that price would start getting high quick!

Also - aren't those counties one buck?  How about doe tags/allotments?

In all honesty, we have not gotten around to discusing youth hunters yet.

Thank You for bringing that point up.

We had just not got into the planning that far.

Yes. Archer, Baylor and Young were all 1 buck/2 doe counties.

With the new regulations that were passed and will go into effect Sept.1, Archer and Young will have the 13 inch Antler Restrictions put in place.

Both counties will have a 2 buck(antlered) limit, one with the 13 inch minimum inside spread, the other with one unbranched antler.

Baylor is going to a two buck limit I believe, but without the AR's.

All 3 counties are going to have a 5 deer limit with a maximum of two bucks in any one of them.

The place will be under a management plan and hunters will be expected to work within that plan.

The friend I am working with on this, has not had the time yet to set down and get any figures as to the number of deer using the property.

One side of this property adjoins another piece of land that he owns, so the hunting pressure around this property is very light.

I will bring these issues up to him when I talk to him, and hopefully I can get some kind of answer for you.

Thanks Again for your input.

Just my two cents, listen if you want, my being a woman and all. On our lease, we really enjoy the work that goes into it and being able to decide where our stands and feeders go, even building our own to suit our needs and doing the maintenence ourselves. But your story above sounds EXACTLY like our weekends in Nov. and Dec.

That said, the price of $2500 a gun does not sound bad for what you are offering but you have to consider people like my husband and I who want to get our children interested in hunting. We allow them to shoot our does or whatever for us and would never get on a non-family friendly lease.

Many Thanks for your input.

After what the previous person said regarding kids, I discussed it for a few minutes with my, and he stated that we would delve into that aspect a little more over the next couple of weeks.

One of the things we did discuss was letting the paying members bring guests/kids, but limit those folks to either does or non-branch antlered bucks(spikes), with any animals killed by that person, counting against the members limit.

Depending on what the management plan fleshes out to, and the number of antlerless that needs to be taken to maintain herd health, this may be part of the lease agreement.

There are so many avenues to go down, and this is just in the fleshing out stage.

One of the aspects we are looking at is the time factor involved, so we will be working on the cabin, setting feeders and stands, working on the roads in addition to hammering out just exactly what the overall management scheme will be.

I do appreciate all the input and everything will be taken into consideration when finalizing just exactly what will be offered and the price.

"Now I ain't trying to take Billy Mays' place or Ron Popeill here, but what if, for say $2500.00 per gun, you could get on a lease that already has fiberglass stands in place, protein and corn feeders up and running, game cams already active, and a cabin with electricty, so that all you would have to do is pick up the groceries you would need for the weekend, whatever clothes you would need, and your bow/gun, and head out."

And how about if you didn't even need to bring the groceries or drinks, and you were guaranteed a 130" class buck, and your son could harvest a management buck all for that price?

Then a guided hunt may be a good option.

Now, if you really like having an excuse to get out of the house alot of weekends, then an old fashioned lease may be your best route. imho

www.deerhuntnow.com

I ain't talking about a Guided Hunt.

I am talking about a lease, except instead of the leasees trying to make the time to keep everything up and running, it is being done for them.

Instead of the leasees having to deal with the problems, all they have to worry about is bringing their groceries and drinks for the weekend and showing up and hunting.

No worrying about the feeders having gone down, or stands blowing over, or any of the other things that can go wrong between trips to the lease, that can mean the difference between actually getting to hunt one weekend or be tied up all weekend trying to get stuff fixed so you can hunt.

As for guarantees, no one witjh an ounce of brains guarantees a hunter a certaion size animal, unless they have them penned up and waiting.

Why worry about a 130 class buck, when 150 to 170 class bucks are killed annually off these properties?

This set up is not for everyone, but neither is the old style lease where a 120 class buck is a big deal.

This property is surrounded by property that is managed by the same person, and has been being managed for 10 years now.

I have been on the D-I-Y leases, and while I enjoy the work and effort required, I am also just as happy shooting does as I am the biggest buck in the world.

This set-up is for folks that don't have the time to nursemaid a lease thru the season, but want a chance at a really good buck, without doing a 3 day hunt on a Guided Property.

Your talking one thing, I am talking something else.

There is no guiding to this, it is a lease, just not one where the hunters are having to try and manage it and getting frustrated due to lack of time to do what is needed.

I have no problem with folks offering guided hunts, I do it myself for Javelina in west Texas.

I also know that there are folks that when everything is said and done and figures are put to paper, that are out more than $2500.00 a gun, and if they can kill a 120 class buck, they are lucky.

Also, this property is low fenced, surrounded by low fenced properties and should something registerable with B&C or P&Y get killed, it can be registered, you can't do that on a high fence property.

"Once you got there you could unload whatever needed to be unloaded, go in the cabin and go to bed.

Feeders would be being maintained, blinds would be being maintained, same with the cabin.

In fact, you would be able to leave some stuff at the cabin, nothing real valuable, guns/binoculars/bows and such, but clothes, extra boots, rain gear, whatever."

This is exactly what we are wanting to do with our property.  We already feed and maintain EVERYTHING, I just have no idea what a fair price for all we have to offer. 

That is something you and whoever else is involved with the place will have to work out for yourselves.

Lots of folks still want to try and do the old Do-It-Youself lease, but many more folks are getting interested in being able to spend more time hunting and less time having to mess with keeping everything up and running.

You can reduce the number of nunters on your place, while increasing the quality of the animals they will be killing.

Yes, increasing prices is painful, both for the hunters, but also the landowners, because most of them also like to hunt and really don't like having to charge what they do.

It will end up being your decision as to what you will do in your situation.

fords & chevrolets

Don't guess you would be willing to give up your lease there in Montague would ya... I'm looking for one in that area. That is if you get this other lease the way you would like it.

When you do get something put together along the original lines you discussed I would sure be interested.  The young hunter issue is very important.  My wife and I both hunt and we are looking for a decent arrangement with year round access here in Texas.  Your price is not the lowest but it certainly is within reason.

Roy L. Bryant

Many Thanks for your comments Mr. Bryant and to everyone else that commented.

We were unable to get everything worked out for the 2009-2010 season, due to other committments and a recent death in the family of one of the principals involved.

We are still working on the concept and hope to have something to offer early in 2010 for the 2010-2011 season.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to agree that your plan is better IF the location is right. We're (6 man group) looking for something within 2 hours of Austin, annual with year-round access for 2010, we have feeders/blinds, and we don't necessarily require a cabin. For the right size lease, and $2000/gun or less, we would be happy to switch from our present lease (3,100 acres, w/cabin, year-round access, our own feeders/blinds to maintain, AND A 5 HOUR DRIVE EACH WAY).

I live in Ft Worth and would certainly pay $2,500 for a year round lease like you describe.

I am currently looking for a lease within 150 miles of Tarrant County for myself and/or a group of up to 6 hunters. If i could find a spot for 1 that would work too.

Shayne

shayne@retrievers.com

When I first found this site, I posted on a topic about trophy deer leases.  The one my dad and I got on the season before last was a POS, and it was run by a group of POS's.  If I got on another 'trophy lease', the first things I would want to see are photos (deer cam and harvest, both trophy and management) and harvest records/strategies.  We had absolutely none of that on the Childress Ranch, outside of Brownwood. One way driving for me was 6 hours and 4 hours for my dad.  

I did not have a lease this year.  Went on an invite hunt near the Oklahoma Panhandle and got a nice 8 point.  That 2 day hunt and a 3 day mule deer hunt were the only days that I hunted this last year. Never again will I sign onto a trophy lease without loads of documentation about the place and the people on it.  Life is too short for that kind of BS.

Too put an end to my rant, the people I have gotten to converse with on this site are some great people who are the cut of cloth that make hunting fun and memorable.  

We are moving from a do-it-yourself lease to a managed property this year for the reasons you stated.  There is a market for it.  In an ideal world I would prefer to do everything myself but any good lease is a long drive from Houston and the time commitment was overwhelming.  Being able to just roll in and hunt will be a pleasant change.  And no more arguments over whose turn it is to go fill the feeders and check the cameras!

It should work