Expensive Leases

[WoolSocks]

Why, exactly, does leased land go for so much? Im watching auctions out of some sort of morbid curiosity. Surely the chance to hunt an elk isn’t worth mortgaging your house?

Just sayin’. What makes those bits of woods so much better?

[h2ofowlr]

How much are they going for?

[jrebel]

Guided Quality Elk hunt paid for out of state:
-  8-12K for 5-10 day hunt
-  Travel, fuel, food, to and from destination 1K
-  Out of state tags and license  approx 1K

By my math, a guy could easily spend 10-15K for an out of state bull elk hunt.  If you lease local property for 1K per month and can harvest multiple elk off the property you are money ahead.  For the guys that like elk hunting, this is a very good way to do it.  Share your lease cost with a hunting buddy or two...and have a known hunting camp for years to come.  This is why I decided to just buy my own property.....Mortgage $1,200 per month and we can hunt turkey, bear, deer.....seems like a no brainer to me.  No my kids don't have to compete with the zoo of orange dots on the hillside (specifically modern season). 

[ducks4days]

The people paying these prices don’t need to mortgage their house to pay for the lease.

[LDennis24]

What's a lot of money to you?

[nwwanderer]

What some think is a bunch of money may not pay the taxes on property that the system will not let you log, develop or graze.  Getting crazy out here

[tvandy45]

I have a few buddies that renew their weyco lease every year at about 2500 a pop. you split that with 3-4 hunting buddies and its really not bad. I wish i would of gotten in on it with them a while back, they kill nice bulls every year and typically dont have to worry about other folks unless they are trespassing. Cut wood, pick mushrooms seems like a pretty good deal to me

Not sure what other leases are going for these days though...

[Alchase]

Where I hunt in SE Oklahoma, on Weyerhaeuser land, right a crossed the road is a hunt ranch that has 44,000 privately-owned acres:

140-150" White Tail for $5,000
160-179" White Tail for $6,500
180-199" White Tail for $8,500
200-219" White Tail for $10,000
240+ White Tail for Call for pricing, 

Hogs
3 day fully-guided $1,500 per person (minimum 4, maximum 12)

Rams
2 day fully-guided $1,250-$2,450 per person

Exotics - Call for availability and pricing

[WoolSocks]

Yeah, I’m calling “expensive” $5-10k for a 500-acre chunk of land. So say $10/acre for a season’s lease.

I get the attraction of private land, especially if you could go in together with a bunch of friends. But you can buy stripped timber land for 1-2k/acre and nourish it back to life. If you’ve got the kind of money to spend on leases or trophy hunts, why not spend $100k to buy yourself 50 acres somewhere, clean the creeks, plant food plots and trees, then have something valuable in 20 years?

Just trying to figure out the logic. It’s a lot of money for something you don’t get to keep.

[jrebel]

Yeah, I’m calling “expensive” $5-10k for a 500-acre chunk of land. So say $10/acre for a season’s lease.

I get the attraction of private land, especially if you could go in together with a bunch of friends. But you can buy stripped timber land for 1-2k/acre and nourish it back to life. If you’ve got the kind of money to spend on leases or trophy hunts, why not spend $100k to buy yourself 50 acres somewhere, clean the creeks, plant food plots and trees, then have something valuable in 20 years?

Just trying to figure out the logic. It’s a lot of money for something you don’t get to keep.

5K for access to 500 acres is cheap....especially if you split it with 2-4 guys.  500 acres is a nice chunk of private land to hunt....especially if you know elk inhabit that land.  50 acres for 100K is cheap.....like cheap enough I would wonder why it is so cheap.  With that said, the mortgage on 100K is way more than 5K per year and you would carry that mortgage for 30 years.  You would also have taxes and a much larger financial burden than just leasing the land.  Not to mention most raw land requires a large down payment or owner contract....or payment in full. 

I own my own land and would still gladly pay a 5K lease for hunting purposes if the land carried elk. 

All the above being said....to each their own.  Some people love to hunt public land for free, some pay for out of state tags and guides, some buy land and well....some lease it. 

[bugs n bones]

Guided Quality Elk hunt paid for out of state:
-  8-12K for 5-10 day hunt
-  Travel, fuel, food, to and from destination 1K
-  Out of state tags and license  approx 1K

By my math, a guy could easily spend 10-15K for an out of state bull elk hunt.  If you lease local property for 1K per month and can harvest multiple elk off the property you are money ahead.  For the guys that like elk hunting, this is a very good way to do it.  Share your lease cost with a hunting buddy or two...and have a known hunting camp for years to come.  This is why I decided to just buy my own property.....Mortgage $1,200 per month and we can hunt turkey, bear, deer.....seems like a no brainer to me.  No my kids don't have to compete with the zoo of orange dots on the hillside (specifically modern season).

amen to that !