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I can see the day that if you don't have a hunting club of guys and a lease that it is going to be hard to find quality hunting area that is available. That has happened in many states. That would also put even more pressure on public land and in turn more accidents there. We should enjoy what we have now because these are the good ol days.

I agree RB. You had better hope that you own property or have a standing lease for sure in the very near future. The days of being allowed to hunt the same fellows land year after year will soon come to an end due to one reason or another. Even an active lease is not 100% secure with respect to hunting rights year after year. All of the time you hear of fellows losing their lease and looking for another.

There were about 4 guys from St. Peters hunting up where we hunt and they had leased about 400 acres to hunt....What they didnt know was that most of it was open soybean and corn fields with about 3 or 4 areas of woods...They didnt have a lot of place to hunt on it...
Where we do hunt, it is a friend who owns it, but I dont know how good of a friend they would be if someone came and offered x amount of dollars to allow them to hunt....RB, it sure is a shame in that it is becoming just like a lot of other things......MONEY

Well, you can't blame a fellow for making $ for sure. Nor can you beat a fellow who is going to spend it. You can bet that some of these "buddies" will certainly have their eye on a greenback if someone offers it up. That is, unless you are a gazillionaire like me.

I hear ya, and such.

Triton - Don't be too hard on those landowners. Look at the shape of the family/small time farming operations. They are on their way out and I know of folks losing or having to give up farms and land that has been in their families for generations. Often times, it's a hard choice between taking $$ from the government or figuring a way to make up the $$ other ways. Unfortunately leasing land for hunting sometimes is the only answer. Yeah, it sucks but like PS said, you can't blame a dude for doing what he has to.

Wasnt being hard on them, but on the middle man who charges folks for hunting on an area that is almost unhuntable...
Although, the people who lease it from them should go look at what they are getting, huh?

Triton said:
Wasnt being hard on them, but on the middle man who charges folks for hunting on an area that is almost unhuntable...
Although, the people who lease it from them should go look at what they are getting, huh?

Well, that is the fault of those dumb mother fornicaters from St. Peters that didn't have the common sense to at least go check the place out.

About ten years ago I was offered a lease on a place that was, according to the owner, a honey hole. Went out to check it out and it was one 30 yd strip of woods between two fields. We did see deer sign but how can three or four guys hunt a place like that with out cutting each other off. Passed on that one. I live on my own land to hunt and am glad I do. One of my buddies had a "good lease" with a farmer in north Mo and had a good price. Some slickers from St. Louis came up and offered the farmer triple what my buddy was paying. He couldn't afford the new lease so packed up his camper and left. Now he is stuck on public ground. I don't begrudge a guy for making what he has to off his land. A friend of mine in Maryland formed a hunting club with 25 people and they leased a big piece of land. Well the owner died and now the heirs want to sell it and the club can't afford to buy it. I hear the lease problem stories in all the states I visit where I know hunters. Who knows what the answer is.

It was kind of funny on Monday, near the house where we were staying, this pickup comes up a lane where I was walking around a pond...This pond and dozer pile werent 500 yrds from where we were staying and they stop and ask basically why I was hunting on their leased land...I had checked this area out for about 7 years and thought it was part of my landowners land....Found out later it wasnt, but I felt kind of sorry for em cuz it was a very small area and no way to put a stand or anything else up there....Im not kidding you, the amount of land they could have hunted out of the 500 or so acres would have amounted to about 3 or 4 at the most....and there were 4 of em...

They should have nailed you for trespassing Triton. BTW, I think a lot of folks are taken more often than you think with deals like this. They see 500 acres listed for deer hunting in the Classifieds, and jump on it only to find out they bit the big one.

PS, I could not agree with you more but the dumchits who do a deal without looking at it should get taken. You used to be able to lease good hunting ground for a buck and acre, not any more. Some of the guys I know pay $7 and 8 an acre and feel lucky to get it. Hang on to what you have and make it attractive for the deer to stay on it. With land prices soaring in Mo there is no end in sight to this.

If everyone stopped paying leases, after a year or two farmers would be flagging down trucks on the road trying to get someone to come shoot deer off of their place. The farmers benefit from having deer killed, more than just from the $'s that they get from hunters.



I will hold out on leasing for as long as I can, but the sad part is, I don't think I would be happy with just an 80-100 acre piece of land to hunt either. My time may be comming, but I'm going to fight it tooth and nail.

Sure they would dave. Just like PS's neighbor is begging people to hunt all his nuisance deer.

dave, good thought but not realisitic. In some parts of the state there are waiting lists for leases. If some quit others would just take their place. Too many hunters for too little land.