Leased Hunting Property

[stevenf]

I forgot to mention on our ranch I drew up a lease agreement that although not promalgated by the state has been looked over by numerous universities and legal authorities. This said I carry a very large umbrella policy because its still only paper that its written on and liability issues are only protected if the "legal" system can find no inkling of wrong doing or gross negligence which is probably decided by a jury who would see me as the rich instead of the reality that this is all I have and am making payments on it for the next 30 years. Also even after the season started I have people still calling wanting me to cancel my current leases for which they would be happy to pay double or triple. I'm just not made that way when you shake a man's hand it's a done deal and all I've told the respondents is if they are still interested after the season ends call me early and I will consider them because this is my home and I was very selective on the hunters and turned down the first 3 sets of hunters I showed the ranch to, I'm a believer in gut feelings and if they showed any signs of doing the wrong thing as I was driving them around the ranch my response was as it should be I've got two appointments a day for the next week and I will consider them after having talked to all interested parties. You don't want to be around a bunch of drunk trigger happy hunters especially if they can't behave when their sober.
Steve

 

[ByronBob]

Well being new to all of this lease situation I didn't realize how it all works. The place I hunt on is a dairy farm. He has 500 head and 1300 acres of property spread around 3 different roads. Last year some guys were pheasant hunting up there as they were releasing the birds.
They would post the property as it was their's but that must not have worked very well so they must have come up with leasing as an option. I didn't approach the subject of leasing as it was the farmer who mentioned it to me. I would have to ask how the liability would work and for that matter I don't even know if there is paperwork or maybe just a gentlemens agreement.
I'm sure that there are people who can pay to hunt as you mention. I don't know if I am one of them. I got kids and all the other excuses you hear from most people and I like to take a few days out of the year to go sit in the woods and hunt. If I paid a lease of substantial amounts of money I'd need to live there for that time of hunting season.
Steve sounds like he's got a great situation going and that's great as he's cashing in on a resource he's created. I'd do the same thing if I was him. But Texas must be different than NY because places like his don't exist up here much that I know of.
I guess my question won't be getting answered anytime soon. If I had no other options available to me I'd pay, but I do and that makes it hard.

 

[MossRoad]

I agree. I don't hunt, but I do fish when I have time. I'm also a land owner. I let people hunt my land, but am very selective. I also fish other people's land. Most are free. A few are a couple bucks each time I go. I've had the best success on public lakes that are free. Give public lands a try, or ask some other farmers if you can hunt their properties.