ben10
Junior Member
Posts: 58
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Post by ben10 on Jul 6, 2024 19:44:26 GMT -5
Where are you talking about? The farther north you go in FL, the cheaper per person hunting leases generally are. Per acre, N FL can be just as expensive as S FL thoughjj. Just fewer acres per member on most leases in N FL than in S FL. I was just curious in general, never hunted leases or looked into leases before, still a new hunter and public land is fine for me to learn what I can.
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ben10
Junior Member
Posts: 58
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Post by ben10 on Jul 6, 2024 19:48:09 GMT -5
Some of those areas are expensive for a few weekends a year!
Those that hunt on leased land, what’s you’re opinion compared to public? Any huge benifits?
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Post by One Man Gang on Jul 6, 2024 21:31:15 GMT -5
Leases are def the way to go if you can afford it but:
They require a lot of work, time, money to keep up with, dependingon the set up. Good leases are difficult to find. Good people on a lease are even harder to find. Year round hog hunting makes it more attractive, for me. Even though I'll pass them up, my kids like killing them. A good lease can be safer to hunt. A lease affords you a easier way to get your deer back to camp and your access in the lease is usually much better than public land. Expect the costs to rise every year on a lease.
Public land is mostly about out hunting everyone else. Busting your ass in the heat is usually a requirement. You'll learn a lot more about hunting on public land than sitting over a feeder on a lease. You will see much less game and way more people on public land. You're also stuck fooling with this stupid quota system and a 3 day hunt which will greatly hinder your ability to learn things.
Anything I kill on a lease pales in comparison to what I kill on public land.
That's all I have for now.
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Post by swampdog on Jul 7, 2024 7:49:56 GMT -5
Very well said OMG. I don’t turn down an invite to a lease, but primarily am a public lands hunter. Last lease hunt was four years ago.
I have shied away from leases, as most have restrictions on who hunts where and antler restrictions that make Florida’s requirements very liberal. The most recent one I heard about, was you can only shoot a buck you plan to mount… Most (not all) young guns and trophy hunters have an overload of horn envy and social media addictions.
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Post by pinman on Jul 7, 2024 9:15:26 GMT -5
A couple of things I liked about the one lease I was on in my life is the ability to go when you can or want. Also knowing where the other hunters are going to be (on a smaller lease anyway)
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Post by One Man Gang on Jul 7, 2024 9:22:56 GMT -5
I completely agree Swamp. To shell out $5k or $15k to MAYBE shoot a fantasy land 150 class deer every few years is for a different breed of hunter. Then, having to contend with a jealous club president and a bunch of grumbling and drama because you shot that buck... forget it.
As I said, finding good people on a good lease is not a easy endeavor.
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Post by ogbohica on Jul 7, 2024 13:59:41 GMT -5
Leases have become a joke in General now...OMG has summed them up nicely. My new public area lease/ open hunting to anyone land is really nice. I hunt whenever, wherever, however. Little cold at times but its freedom hunting at its finest. Florida hunting has become either a rich mans game, or a BS quota special opp nitemare. BOHICA
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Post by 4ward on Jul 7, 2024 14:53:23 GMT -5
Got priced out of our last north Fl. Lease about 12 years ago. Old timers around here hang on to small plots and connections. ( and that is getting more difficult by the day)
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Post by altuck on Jul 7, 2024 15:16:35 GMT -5
When considering joining a hunt club/lease one needs to decide what their goals are. I ran a lease in Jefferson County for 10 years. The first thing we did was to decide whether we wanted to be a "trophy" club, a "brown is down" club, or a "social" club. We had a social club with 10 members on 1200 acres for a grand per member. Each member included kids under 18, and a 4 deer quota (2b and 2d). We averaged 18-20 deer per year including 2 or 3 8 point or better. But the best part was the club/family atmosphere. We had brunch at 10;30 on Saturday and Sunday and dinner on Friday and Saturday. Lots of sitting around a fire sharing brown liquor and stories. To me that is what a good lease should offer.
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Post by 4ward on Jul 7, 2024 15:27:25 GMT -5
When considering joining a hunt club/lease one needs to decide what their goals are. I ran a lease in Jefferson County for 10 years. The first thing we did was to decide whether we wanted to be a "trophy" club, a "brown is down" club, or a "social" club. We had a social club with 10 members on 1200 acres for a grand per member. Each member included kids under 18, and a 4 deer quota (2b and 2d). We averaged 18-20 deer per year including 2 or 3 8 point or better. But the best part was the club/family atmosphere. We had brunch at 10;30 on Saturday and Sunday and dinner on Friday and Saturday. Lots of sitting around a fire sharing brown liquor and stories. To me that is what a good lease should offer. Yep
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Post by osceola on Jul 7, 2024 17:46:53 GMT -5
I was involved in a quality lease for many years.Glad to have experienced that. Next!? Private year round camp site and doe tag, summer hog were a key lease feature. Turns out I often skipped summer hog and I eventually found a private property adjacent to one of my favorite WMA. Still miss summer hog and feeders but only because I cant do it and I was always hesistant to shoot around a feeder. Over a Dozen Doe tag not "Filled". The money I have saved on Lease will build a nice pond and a cabin on the camp place. The Lease was intensively managed Pine,which was fine,but the public WMA landscape is more appealing. The lease I was involved in was low member per acre,members had private stands,casual atmosphere. Even so,lease pressure at times was heavy at certain areas and times,more than what I see at my WMA. At 290,000 acres...there is room to roam.
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Post by jmarkb on Jul 9, 2024 12:30:12 GMT -5
South of i4 will be north of $10k. The mormons sre starting development and planning of the stretch between 528 and 192. Lotsa nice land gone. Leases are a real commodity these days. Last yr i leased was 2020, cost me over 3,500 that year and said paying 250-300/ month just to hunt a couple weeks didnt cut it. Yeah they bought about 50k acres up here to replace it.I looked at one of their leases up here before last season. It was way cheaper than the CF ones. Didn't get on it, but it had a bunch of deer on it.
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Post by gator4ever on Jul 21, 2024 12:02:07 GMT -5
Sorry guys had to go to Europe on business. Thanks for all the tips.
Yes i was on a Lykes lease but after 18 years and no land prep no mowing no burning no nothing the bucks are getting smaller and smaller. Plus they went from 20 members to 26 and the cost remained the same. Yes its a big propety but 20 of them run buggies and dawgs it does not take long to wear the place down.
Add to that the cost is insane.
I am going to hunt with a friend in Alachua county yes the drive sucks so I will go every 3 weeks or so and stay longer. I love the idea of hunting in cooler weather and DRY land.
thanks again for all the advice
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Post by walkerdog on Jul 21, 2024 14:50:16 GMT -5
No land management and smaller bucks? Reality is quite a bit different than the picture you’ve painted, if you use actual data to inform your opinion.
Best wishes in Alachua. Hope your feet stay drier and your grapes aren’t quite so sour up there!
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sgp
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by sgp on Jul 22, 2024 8:42:02 GMT -5
No land management and smaller bucks? Reality is quite a bit different than the picture you’ve painted, if you use actual data to inform your opinion. Best wishes in Alachua. Hope your feet stay drier and your grapes aren’t quite so sour up there! Why do you always disparage the field observations of people that have been hunting on your employers property for decades longer than you have? Conduct an email survey of hunter observations from the long term members. Nearly everyone I have talked to in the last several years has felt populations, quality, and overall satisfaction are going downhill but you always disagree adamantly.
I do not think that most of it is the biologist's fault.
Cameras and especially cell cameras are causing high grading with the best 3 and 4 year olds being killed on a more regular basis by the "trophy" hunters. Being able to monitor several feeders on your phone and switch locations when the "trophy" is there is not great for targeted buck survival. No one on my lease will shoot the crappy 80-90 4+year old bucks out of fear of loosing their buck tags and/or getting kicked off if the deer doesn't age what they thought it would. Making a mistake is too costly. So these smaller deer while legal under the biologists rules, are almost always let go to continue breeding.
Overwhelming numbers of contractors have been in the woods for last several years. Most of these guys are probably not poachers, but there are a few that certainly are. There are no longer 2-3 year old 8 points standing on the side of the road every day, and there has not been for a few years. Assuming that guys, with unsupervised full access to leases they can not afford, are not shooting bucks and gobblers is a fallacy. Many people raised in the woods can bone out a deer in a few minutes. Many also express a disdain for the "rich" lease members, so there is certainly no respect.
Predator populations in south Florida are the highest they have been in a century. Likely higher than ever in history, with the coyotes.
It all adds up.
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