Land leasing is getting ridiculous in NC

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I'd just like to know where people are finding land to lease....I hardly ever see or hear of land around here for lease. Its mainly all big clubs that have had the land for years.

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Same here I'm looking for turkey lease any where within 6-8 hours or any kind deal where people deer hunt and want lease turkey rights but there is very slim to none that I've found
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
I'd just like to know where people are finding land to lease....I hardly ever see or hear of land around here for lease. Its mainly all big clubs that have had the land for years.

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Same here I'm looking for turkey lease any where within 6-8 hours or any kind deal where people deer hunt and want lease turkey rights but there is very slim to none that I've found
If I ever find a decent lease I will be looking to lease out the Turkey hunting so I will keep you in mind.

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302cj

Old Mossy Horns
Im 180 out from some of y'all. Hunting in general cost enough. No way im gonna pay to hunt and have it swept out from under me for a few more $$$ from some one else. I would love to get into public land hunting but too many variables for me.
I drove down Christian Chapel Church Road on black Friday at 5 pm. Thats by harris lake. From stop sign to stop sign there was 18 trucks/vehicles parked around Game Lands. Seems a little crowded to me.
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
Im 180 out from some of y'all. Hunting in general cost enough. No way im gonna pay to hunt and have it swept out from under me for a few more $$$ from some one else. I would love to get into public land hunting but too many variables for me.
I drove down Christian Chapel Church Road on black Friday at 5 pm. Thats by harris lake. From stop sign to stop sign there was 18 trucks/vehicles parked around Game Lands. Seems a little crowded to me.
Just need to access from a different point. I hunted 3 different game lands this year. I never saw another hunter in the woods. In fact, only once was there anyone parked in the same area as me. I hunted during archery, muzzleloader and rifle season. Same thing last year and the year before. I find all the hype about game lands being crowded to be just that, hype. Even when I lived in Raleigh and hunted Jordan Lake, I never saw other hunters. Were there people parked at the access points? Sure, but in terms of seeing people in the woods, or having people walk by me or set up on me, never happened. But, it takes a little effort and a little outside the box thinking to avoid others. If effort and thinking are difficult for you, then game lands are not the place for you.
 

Weekender

Twelve Pointer
I know most (if not all) of you will think I am crazy, but I pay $2400 a year to hunt my club in Northampton. It has very limited membership with a maximum of 10. Great facilities and over 1500 acres with bordering game lands. Some years I think I am crazy to pay so much, but I like the landowner and use the land practically year round. I keep my eye open for other places but I got spoiled with a 10 member club. We always had a 2 buck limit so the new change does not matter to us. Deer density has gone down since I first joined like a lot of eastern nc.

You'd pay far more for you own lease and you'd be on your own with any problems with trespassers or long drags, etc. The right hunting club is worth what you're paying. Am considering skipping our usual outfitted hunt and nailing down another membership in our club if it comes open. Especially if it abuts to our current block.
 

Deerherder

Ten Pointer
Yes, the leasing game is getting more and more tiring to me. I had planned to give up all my leased properties and hunt public land only in 2018, but ended up keeping one lease and bouncing back and forth between it and public land. I saw more deer on public than I did on private. Large tracts of land are definitely getting much harder to lease. But, smaller parcels seem to be pretty easy to find and can be had for decent money, or free. A lot of people don't think about hunting on smaller tracts of land. For instance, I got on GIS the other day and realized the elderly lady that lives across the road from me owns 9 acres and 21 acres about 10 min from my house. I walked across the road and asked her if I could have permission to hunt them in 2019-2020. She said "those are awful small pieces, you think you can kill anything on them?" I told her maybe, maybe not but I would like to find out. She granted me permission to hunt, for free. These will be perfect spots for quick hunts and to take my girls. I am working on a 31 acre parcel that is 5 minutes from my house. My 2019-2020 plan will be to hunt public land and these couple small tracts close to home and get out of my other lease. I have really got to where I enjoy hunting public land, anyways. There is so much public land available within a 2 hour drive fromme that I am finding it more and more pointless to be confined to the parameters of a small lease. Sure, having 500 acres of private land to hunt is nice, but there is still only so far I can roam. Why be confined to 500 acres, when I can drive an hour up the road and have nearly 50,000 acre continuous piece of land to hunt?

Small parcels can be great. I have access to several hundred acres, but I see more deer on one 1/4 acre section of powerline right of way than at any other spot. My two wall hangers came from that spot & I can see a trailer park on one side at 300 yards and a housing project within 500 yards in the other direction from my stand. You don’t necessarily need big tracts to find big bucks either. The biggest buck I’ve seen in person or in photos were one whose picture was taken from my buddy’s deck in Emerald Isle & another that was killed in a 20 acre field that lies behind a subdivision.
 

Johnnie

Ten Pointer
Funny, today, I drove from Wake Forest to Ayden, NC (Stancill's), then to Gatesville, NC and back to Wake Forest by a different route. Passed through probably 8-10 counties today (Wake, Nash, Edgecomb, Wilson, Pitt, Bertie, Martin, Northampton and Halifax by my best guess). I drive all over the state, close to 40k miles a year and rarely to the same place, and have so for over 20 years. I'd be willing to wager (based solely on my observations) that the impact of expansion (urban sprawl) is far smaller than many are complaining about. Sure, someone that lived in Knightdale 20 years ago has been greatly impacted. Someone who lives in rural NC, where the absolute greatest amount of NC land actually exists, is hardly affected.

Lease prices are always rising, just like land, food, gas, cars, etc... If your budget is small, find like minded others. Ditchbank's 35 acres is a good example. Two or three people could lease that very affordably, work out a hunting agreement that works for you. I've done the same, leased a 120 acre tract that was $15/ acre (but close to home) and split it with 5 guys, affordably. We never had a single issue between us in 7 years of leasing. Market price is the market price, whether it is 5lbs of shrimp, 500 acres of "prime" property, or that all-original 63 Vette that you got out-bid on.

Johnnie
 

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
In no way I’m referencing any previous posts on this discussion but I’m constantly amazed at all the bitching from the “younger” generation about no where to hunt. You see all these guys in clubs driving $50k + plus trucks pulling ATV’s or utv’s. A lot are using daddy’s money but a lot finance them and pay for all on their own. These people could literally buy their own land to hunt on for more than likely, a smaller monthly payment than what their paying on their vehicle and toys. We’d all love to have hundreds/thousands of acres to hunt, but the fact is, a man can kill a hell of a lot of deer on 5, 10, 15 or 20 acres. If I was a “big deer purists”, I buy me a 5 acre lot on the suburbs of some big city. Big deer Mecca and bow hunt only.
I get it, some people simply cannot afford it due to life circumstances and age but I honestly don’t think those folks are the majority.
 

Southern

Ten Pointer
Excellent post. The attached deer photo was taken on a 21 acre tract I have for sale in Bladen County. This tract touches a large creek on the back and many hundred of acres of timberland. This tract can be bought for about 300 bucks per month if financed with a bank. A heck of a lot less than a new truck payment.
 

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Loganwayne

Ten Pointer
In no way I’m referencing any previous posts on this discussion but I’m constantly amazed at all the bitching from the “younger” generation about no where to hunt. You see all these guys in clubs driving $50k + plus trucks pulling ATV’s or utv’s. A lot are using daddy’s money but a lot finance them and pay for all on their own. These people could literally buy their own land to hunt on for more than likely, a smaller monthly payment than what their paying on their vehicle and toys. We’d all love to have hundreds/thousands of acres to hunt, but the fact is, a man can kill a hell of a lot of deer on 5, 10, 15 or 20 acres. If I was a “big deer purists”, I buy me a 5 acre lot on the suburbs of some big city. Big deer Mecca and bow hunt only.
I get it, some people simply cannot afford it due to life circumstances and age but I honestly don’t think those folks are the majority.

When they have a 1200 a month truck payment and a 250 a month 4wheeler payment they can’t afford anything else


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Johnnie

Ten Pointer
I have to ask, why did you go to Gatesville??? To see the traffic island??? (I'm from Gates County)...
Truth be told, I was a little north of Tarheel, not Gatesville, figured the big city was easier to locate. I'm an accident reconstructionist, had to look at an accident scene up there.

Johnnie
 

nchunter

Twelve Pointer
I have to ask, why did you go to Gatesville??? To see the traffic island??? (I'm from Gates County)...
Truth be told, I was a little north of Tarheel, not Gatesville, figured the big city was easier to locate. I'm an accident reconstructionist, had to look at an accident scene up there.

Johnnie

I had to go to Norfolk awhile back, drove up through Tarheel. Tarheel BBQ joint wasn’t bad, cool little taxidermy display room in there.


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DRS

Old Mossy Horns
I actually paid $3550 in leases/dues this year. I'm dropping one for $900 this year. This was planned, to see which club I wanted to hunt with. I enjoyed every bit of it.
 

nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
Truth be told, I was a little north of Tarheel, not Gatesville, figured the big city was easier to locate. I'm an accident reconstructionist, had to look at an accident scene up there.

Johnnie

You will always have a job!! :)
 

302cj

Old Mossy Horns
Just need to access from a different point. I hunted 3 different game lands this year. I never saw another hunter in the woods. In fact, only once was there anyone parked in the same area as me. I hunted during archery, muzzleloader and rifle season. Same thing last year and the year before. I find all the hype about game lands being crowded to be just that, hype. Even when I lived in Raleigh and hunted Jordan Lake, I never saw other hunters. Were there people parked at the access points? Sure, but in terms of seeing people in the woods, or having people walk by me or set up on me, never happened. But, it takes a little effort and a little outside the box thinking to avoid others. If effort and thinking are difficult for you, then game lands are not the place for you.
I understand and agree with you. To be honest I think 13 years of running dogs and only still hunting a few times a year made me a "lazy hunter". Maybe this is the year to change everything up and hit public lands. I work with a couple guys that only hunt Jordan GL and they say the same as you. They never see anyone else.
 

Greg

Old Mossy Horns
People charge a lot because for whatever reason enough people will PAY a lot.

Personally, I can't understand why some people are willing to pay so much money, but that's their business. I've always thought that if it's "to hunt" or "the camaraderie", there are game lands. If it's "for the meat", well, you can buy as much good meat for a hellofalot cheaper. I'd never improve land I didn't own and was paying to hunt. I'd also be less inclined to worry about any sort of QDM, either.

I've never paid a lease fee to hunt and don't plan to. I would probably pay a couple times for a few day hunt elsewhere with a good chance to kill a monster, but nothing year in and year out. But everybody's different and has different priorities, likes, and dislikes.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
PL hunting is the hot new thing now. The hunting beast web site and the various you tube shows have really gotten attention to PL.
Enjoy it before it gets "too popular"
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I've always enjoyed public love camping fishing and hunting public couldn't imagine a year going by didn't do it. I can't afford to lease 6000 to 500,000 acres but I sure enjoy them for price of license. And at times manage to kill something. But in all fairness I'm not trophy deer hunter couple does and I'm happy deer wise
 

JONOV

Twelve Pointer
People charge a lot because for whatever reason enough people will PAY a lot.

Personally, I can't understand why some people are willing to pay so much money, but that's their business. I've always thought that if it's "to hunt" or "the camaraderie", there are game lands. If it's "for the meat", well, you can buy as much good meat for a hellofalot cheaper. I'd never improve land I didn't own and was paying to hunt. I'd also be less inclined to worry about any sort of QDM, either.

I've never paid a lease fee to hunt and don't plan to. I would probably pay a couple times for a few day hunt elsewhere with a good chance to kill a monster, but nothing year in and year out. But everybody's different and has different priorities, likes, and dislikes.
I'll caveat this with the fact that I'm lucky with my lease.

But for most, they don't "pay" to hunt or for the meat. They "pay" to have a much higher degree of certainty that they won't get walked up on by a dog walker or hiker, another hunter, to know that they won't find someone hunting in a spot they want to hunt, to reduce the chances of their stuff being stolen, the ability to press trespassing charges, etc...
 

berryman26

Six Pointer
Im 180 out from some of y'all. Hunting in general cost enough. No way im gonna pay to hunt and have it swept out from under me for a few more $$$ from some one else. I would love to get into public land hunting but too many variables for me.
I drove down Christian Chapel Church Road on black Friday at 5 pm. Thats by harris lake. From stop sign to stop sign there was 18 trucks/vehicles parked around Game Lands. Seems a little crowded to me.
Jordan Lake is usually pretty crowded too. Gotta find spots that no one wants to park at and walk in. Public is tough.
 
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