Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quote from: Sitka_Blacktail on November 16, 2023, 09:10:04 PMQuote from: ljsommer on November 16, 2023, 09:07:08 PMSo not to turn this thread into a bunch of folks annoyed at me for being a poor hunter but back to the original question: do 'deer leases' exist in WA? I know they're extremely common in the south and midwest, but I haven't heard much about them in WA. Does anyone know if this is a thing? Being local is valuable to me as I work a lot and I have a young baby so day hunts are usually all I can manage. (the Idaho hunt was done with my wife when she was pregnant - boy, 1 degree temps with morning sickness....I married the right lady...she saw a buck on that hunt but passed on it hoping for something better. I saw a doe but passed for saw reason.)Rayonier has leases and I believe Weyerhauser has a few too.I've had a Weyerhauser pass in the past and it paid off - I got my first (only) deer there. Unfortunately due to overwhelming demand, Weyerhauser now sells out within minutes for all drive in leases for all plots in WA. (side note: I used to work with the guy that managed their cloud hosting for their website and the number of people who try to get into their site to get a permit is overwhelming, both numerically and from a cloud architecture point of view).
Quote from: ljsommer on November 16, 2023, 09:07:08 PMSo not to turn this thread into a bunch of folks annoyed at me for being a poor hunter but back to the original question: do 'deer leases' exist in WA? I know they're extremely common in the south and midwest, but I haven't heard much about them in WA. Does anyone know if this is a thing? Being local is valuable to me as I work a lot and I have a young baby so day hunts are usually all I can manage. (the Idaho hunt was done with my wife when she was pregnant - boy, 1 degree temps with morning sickness....I married the right lady...she saw a buck on that hunt but passed on it hoping for something better. I saw a doe but passed for saw reason.)Rayonier has leases and I believe Weyerhauser has a few too.
So not to turn this thread into a bunch of folks annoyed at me for being a poor hunter but back to the original question: do 'deer leases' exist in WA? I know they're extremely common in the south and midwest, but I haven't heard much about them in WA. Does anyone know if this is a thing? Being local is valuable to me as I work a lot and I have a young baby so day hunts are usually all I can manage. (the Idaho hunt was done with my wife when she was pregnant - boy, 1 degree temps with morning sickness....I married the right lady...she saw a buck on that hunt but passed on it hoping for something better. I saw a doe but passed for saw reason.)
Quote from: ljsommer on November 16, 2023, 09:24:37 PMQuote from: Sitka_Blacktail on November 16, 2023, 09:10:04 PMQuote from: ljsommer on November 16, 2023, 09:07:08 PMSo not to turn this thread into a bunch of folks annoyed at me for being a poor hunter but back to the original question: do 'deer leases' exist in WA? I know they're extremely common in the south and midwest, but I haven't heard much about them in WA. Does anyone know if this is a thing? Being local is valuable to me as I work a lot and I have a young baby so day hunts are usually all I can manage. (the Idaho hunt was done with my wife when she was pregnant - boy, 1 degree temps with morning sickness....I married the right lady...she saw a buck on that hunt but passed on it hoping for something better. I saw a doe but passed for saw reason.)Rayonier has leases and I believe Weyerhauser has a few too.I've had a Weyerhauser pass in the past and it paid off - I got my first (only) deer there. Unfortunately due to overwhelming demand, Weyerhauser now sells out within minutes for all drive in leases for all plots in WA. (side note: I used to work with the guy that managed their cloud hosting for their website and the number of people who try to get into their site to get a permit is overwhelming, both numerically and from a cloud architecture point of view).You may already know this, but the Weyerhaueser 'lease' program is completely different from their 'permit' program. The leases are allocated on a bid system. Some are offered locally, just not what I'd call a lot.
Isn’t Buck run similiar to what you are looking for. They used to run adds in the hunting pamphlets.
Quote from: boneaddict on November 16, 2023, 09:54:48 PMIsn’t Buck run similiar to what you are looking for. They used to run adds in the hunting pamphlets. No . Buckrun is a raffle type draw that gives you 1 day access to some private land .
Little late this year but I would highly consider spending a few days in late season over in NE Washington hunting whitetails. The last 3-4 days of the season, especially with a little weather, can get the bucks moving during the day as the rut kicks into gear
Quote from: vandeman17 on November 17, 2023, 03:53:14 PMLittle late this year but I would highly consider spending a few days in late season over in NE Washington hunting whitetails. The last 3-4 days of the season, especially with a little weather, can get the bucks moving during the day as the rut kicks into gearThank you! I drew a late buck tag a couple years back for whitetail in the Palouse but the hunt was rough as that unit is almost entirely private land. I did end up finding a "feel free to hunt" spot and then some logging land that allowed walk-in. We had a fun hunt and learned some lessons (a lot of lessons). I'd definitely like to return. That year the bluetongue had really hit the whitetails hard and so there wasn't a lot going on. Have things improved? I think I drew that tag in 2021. I actually hold whitetail deer in very high regard, to me they're the classic romantic image of a majestic deer. I'd be delighted to harvest a beautiful whitetail. I had very high hopes for my Idaho whitetail rut hunt but alas.
I am sure there are hunting leases around. I have never seen one advertised but I am sure they exist. I would focus on working on getting access to private property, something as close to home as possible, ideally in a any deer unit. Put out some trail cams and put out some apples or bait before the season starts and you should have no problem seeing deer. Getting access is the hard part. OnX shows you the land owners name and address. A nice letter and an offer to pay cash will probably go a long ways. Only take 1 land owner to say yes.
Quote from: IslandHunter on November 21, 2023, 03:00:14 PMI am sure there are hunting leases around. I have never seen one advertised but I am sure they exist. I would focus on working on getting access to private property, something as close to home as possible, ideally in a any deer unit. Put out some trail cams and put out some apples or bait before the season starts and you should have no problem seeing deer. Getting access is the hard part. OnX shows you the land owners name and address. A nice letter and an offer to pay cash will probably go a long ways. Only take 1 land owner to say yes. This is good advice, the north east deer numbers are horrible and the amount of cars at every gate is more than discouraging.. I would spend the $ for ONX then spend time connecting with land owners. I couldn’t imagine traveling hours over here with the numbers the way they are..