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Deer lease pricing question

2,337 Views | 21 Replies | Last: 2 days ago by AggieTailgate84
clarythedrill
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I am on a deer lease with seven other dudes and we were informed that the lease price will double AFTER the upcoming hunting season that starts in September of this year. The lease is located about an hour south of Wichita Falls.

The lease is 2400 acres and is pretty much 50/50 pasture land and farm land that is sewed in wheat in late Fall. We have year around access but it is only used from late July to the end of February or so.

It is first and foremost a ranch so at any time there are cows and calves on the property, which has never been a problem.

We, the people on the lease, own all the feeders and associated items, all game cameras, and all blinds which include bow and regular blinds. We pay for all corn and we fill the feeders ourselves.

We shred all trails and shooting lanes, and weedeat the inside and outside of all feeder pens and maintain the feeder pens which we paid for.

The lease has electricity, which is paid for by the land owner. The lease has no water, but we catch rain water in large totes and chlorinate the heck out of it and use it for showers in the campers. We have access to a decent size old barn that we hang out in and eat in. All improvements and upkeep to the barn have been done by us as the owner wants nothing to do with the barn, and that is fair since we are the ones using it.

We have never had an issue in 15 years with cows or calves getting out due to use and have quiet frankly had a good relationship with the owner. So, the possible doubling of the lease payment is sort of out of the blue. The land owner is rich as hell, like multi millions, so money isn't an issue.

There are deer, turkey, hogs, doves, some ducks (not many) and a handful of coveys of quail. The bucks are nothing special, the largest seem to be in the 130 score area.

So, all the above is to ask y'all what you think would be a good amount per acre to lease the above if it was yours? We need to know if what we are currently paying is on par or if we have been getting over for a while. Thanks for any for any feedback.
ttha_aggie_09
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AG
What are you paying now and what is proposed amount? If you doubled from $1,000 to $2,000, I'd say it was about time. If it is from $3500 to $7000 that's a lot.

Also, how long have you held constant at this price? Maybe your landowner just finally realized you have been locked into pricing for 10 years and it's time for a price increase. What is the price increase averaged out over the years?

Bottom line, hunting is expensive and leases are not cheap anymore. Even if you check all the right boxes and do the right things, cost of living and expenses have gone up. Landowners are going up on their prices across the board.
clarythedrill
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ttha_aggie_09 said:

What are you paying now and what is proposed amount? If you doubled from $1,000 to $2,000, I'd say it was about time. If it is from $3500 to $7000 that's a lot.

Also, how long have you held constant at this price? Maybe your landowner just finally realized you have been locked into pricing for 10 years and it's time for a price increase. What is the price increase averaged out over the years?

Bottom line, hunting is expensive and leases are not cheap anymore. Even if you check all the right boxes and do the right things, cost of living and expenses have gone up. Landowners are going up on their prices across the board.

The price is not far out of line with what is in bold above. Yes, there have been increases in the amount per person about every 4 years.

The land owner has multiple leases, and a good number of them are turn key for those on those leases, they do not have to lift a finger for ANYTHING. This will get fleshed out over this upcoming hunting season, but we are hoping that we have simply been lumped in with the much higher end leases the owner has and the increase may not apply, or at least be as much as the other leases. Thanks for the feedback.
Mas89
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So y'all aren't trophy hunting but basically hunting hill country type deer. 8 guns on 2,400 acres is not too many. Many hill country leases have around 1 gun per 100 acres or less, including ours with 10 guns on 700 acres in Mason County.
What you've been paying isn't as important to the landowner as what he thinks the Current market would pay.

For what you describe, I'd say 3,500 per gun would be a price the landowner could get. Even with more guns or he could possibly have several different leases/ groups that close to DFW.

Have y'all/ the landowner considered adding more members to the lease?
ag0207
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AG
It sucks and I understand your frustration but land is expensive to own. Hunting is an expensive hobby and it is a want but not a need.

Look at your cell phone bill, cable bill etc…..If you look at it that way it really isn't terribly out of line with other things we have to pay for otherwise. Let's say 7000 a year is what he is increasing to. That is $583/mo and let's say you have 4 guys on the lease so $145/mo. Obviously that doesn't include what you spend for other things like corn/protein but for entertainment it's not terrible.

With that said I would reach out to him and at least state your points and give him a chance to respond. He may not have thought of it from your perspective…..or he may tell you to F off and find someone else to pay the premium.
clarythedrill
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Mas89 said:

So y'all aren't trophy hunting but basically hunting hill country type deer. 8 guns on 2,400 acres is not too many. Many hill country leases have around 1 gun per 100 acres or less, including ours with 10 guns on 700 acres in Mason County.
What you've been paying isn't as important to the landowner as what he thinks the Current market would pay.

For what you describe, I'd say 3,500 per gun would be a price the landowner could get. Even with more guns or he could possibly have several different leases/ groups that close to DFW.

Have y'all/ the landowner considered adding more members to the lease?

The landowner doesn't care how many guns are on the lease, just the overall price per acre. We limit the number of people on the lease to eight right now, but we have been as high as ten in the past.
clarythedrill
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ag0207 said:

With that said I would reach out to him and at least state your points and give him a chance to respond. He may not have thought of it from your perspective…..or he may tell you to F off and find someone else to pay the premium.

We plan on talking to the owner in the near future and hopefully he understands and doesn't tell us to hit the bricks.
warrington74
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AG
30 k a yr
Corps_Ag12
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My group pays $10/acre and we maintain everything but the roads. We also pay our own electric bill for our camp.

I still think it's a hell of a deal
Yesterday
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Is he charging 7k per gun or 7k for the lease? Of the latter then I'd say count your lucky stars and ask for a long term lease.

A lot depends on how far you are from DFW/Abilene etc. but $30-$40k for the lease isn't out of the question.
giddings_ag_06
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I'd be happy with just finding an available lease for any price.
clarythedrill
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Yesterday said:

Is he charging 7k per gun or 7k for the lease? Of the latter then I'd say count your lucky stars and ask for a long term lease.

A lot depends on how far you are from DFW/Abilene etc. but $30-$40k for the lease isn't out of the question.

He is charging by the acre and doesn't care how many guns are on the lease. The cost per person is just over 3k, but that could go down if we added more people, which we are not. Doubling to 7K seems pretty hard. We will see I suppose.
Maverick06
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1200 aces north of Bowie has a house with ac/heat and a barn we can use. House is not a nice house but it works for weekends (wife won't stay there). We supply everything. Large conservation late in the place that holds ducks/geese. Cattle rancher has cows/calfs. $28k/year.

Just to give you an idea. We're closer to DFW so probably demands a higher price. We're 9 miles south of the Red River. Deer are 140's with an occasional 150+.
SanAntoneAg
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giddings_ag_06 said:

I'd be happy with just finding an available lease for any price.


Meant to post on your other thread that Texas Bowhunter classifieds has lease openings pop up from time to time.
DVM97
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AG
Leases run from $15-$30/acre and up depending on improvements.
So $48,000 wouldn't be out of the question.
TarponChaser
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Maverick06 said:

1200 aces north of Bowie has a house with ac/heat and a barn we can use. House is not a nice house but it works for weekends (wife won't stay there). We supply everything. Large conservation late in the place that holds ducks/geese. Cattle rancher has cows/calfs. $28k/year.

Just to give you an idea. We're closer to DFW so probably demands a higher price. We're 9 miles south of the Red River. Deer are 140's with an occasional 150+.


That sounds like a pretty solid deal.
Maverick06
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Until you realize there's only two of us on the lease!

But…it's an hour from my front door. Day trips, half day trips, weekend trips all doable and allows flexibility with my kids sports schedules. We treat it like it's ours. Fishing, predator calling, pigs, deer, turkey, just driving around in the sxs…always something to do and gets us out of the city. I've never even personally killed a deer out there. My son killed his first deer there and he's a pig slayer! Worth it.
Lonestar_Ag09
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AG
All about value to the person I don't think there is a real answer most of the time. The lease is worth…what someone will pay for it.

I'm on the same property that I've hunted for 16 years. About 2k per gun. We use it as a family. It's near another property we hunted with extended family for 6 years before that. The owner just passed and we have no idea what is going to happen now.

Issue is, hunting really is a key feature of my life and my son is just getting old enough to participate as well, but I couldn't afford to double my rate and I especially couldn't afford if I had to pay for him as well.

I'm dealing with a very real chance of never consistently hunting again unless I own my own small ranchette in retirement
Aggie Hunter
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I pay $14 an acre in Webb county for 5k acres.
Furlock Bones
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I'll bet you dollars to donuts that one of these **** heel lease brokers got in the landowners ear.
Maverick06
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This is what happened. I know one who is infamous up in that area for doing this type of thing.
AggieTailgate84
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We pay 40k for 2200 acres in San Saba County. Owner has a cabin (that we have upgraded) and a storage barn for vehicles and we provide all the feeders and feed. Water and power onsite. We pay electric bill. Year round access. Oct-Feb hunting low fence. Going on year 7 of a 12 year fixed price contract. Everyone is happy.
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