HUNTING LEASE PRICE INCREASE

I leased a tract for 6.50 an acre. the lease went up to 7.50 an acre the next year. now this year it jumped to $10 per acre even though I was told last years increase was to make the price level off with other properties and it wouldn't increase much this year. Ive leased land in this area for years and I have never seen anything like this and btw it is a timber company lease. give me yals take on this

Unfortunately have to pay it or someone else will. They are greedy like everyone else . Someone might have offered that price to lease it and since they figured could get it then why not ask. Just my thought

I'd try asking them in the nices way possible wth there problem is and how come they lied to you bout going up on price.

Who is it leased through

We just had a huge increase in some of ours as well. We lease from three land owners, all adjoining properties. This particular piece of property has went up every year for the last three years. After the dollar per acre increase this year, it is almost five dollars per acre higher than the remaining property we have. There is no difference in the property other than the owner. It is hard for me to go to my members every year and ask for more money when we already pay to much as it is.

jsmith, what company and part of the state are you hunting if you don't mind saying?

Got it worked out. Leasee said they made a mistake on the lease. thanks for the response. Everyone check if you had a huge increase

Or maybe they was hoping you wouldn't catch it?? Maybe not. But could have

I remember going up on mine 100%. Made a bunch of folks mad but it is a business...

Get used to your price going up usually every year you have the lease most of the time. We have leased the same tract for over fifty years and I have only been able to get them to drop the price once. I have learned to just accept it until I guess I can't find members willing to pay it but until then I will just enjoy the ride while it lasts. When it does end I will probably be done leasing land in Alabama though it is just getting to where it is not very cost efficient considering the alternatives....

x100, I've about had enough. Its just not as fun as it used to be.

It is a business but the leaser has a lot invested other than the lease amount. A year to year lease is fine but they should atleast give 3year projections so clubs can base there memberships on something. if a property turns over every 1-2 years it isn't worth hunting.

I personally wouldn't sign a lease unless it was at least a three year deal....

It's cheaper to trespass

Every year I consider dropping my clubs...
Im getting closer for sure.

I have spent at least 20 hours looking for something to lease on my own close to my house or job and have found NOTHING. I would pay 15 an acre if I could find something, anything decent. I'm in a club with over 4900 acres and 32 members, and we pay a very small price per acre, but the land we hunt is worth what we pay, maybe less. It's a big briar patch with some open sweetgum and poplar bottoms and about 3900 acres of thinned pines with about 16 inches of pine-straw on the ground. Hasn't been control burned in over 21 years. We have 3 year agreements, and actually had a group contact one of our landowners this year and offer double per acre what we pay for one tract. It's a competitive world of hunting we live in. People will pay anything for acreage regardless of what's on that acreage just to have somewhere to go.

Deep pockets are killing a sport that you shouldn't have to work a second job or sell a kid to enjoy. I understand that its a business, but running a club is like a business as well. When you have more money going out than you have coming in, your gonna fail. I have no problem paying the average per acre price for the area. Its paying double the average for an acre that I have a problem with. IMO they know what the other investment you have in the property like land and wildlife improvements, and they take advantage of this. To me its price gouging since they have you by the balls.

There is no future in leasing pine plantations.

If you can find the right small tract while rates remain low, the time to buy is now.

Maybe it is time to some to consider consolidating smaller clubs into much larger clubs and returning to weekend dog hunting? You would have more acreage in the consolidated club, better control over the dogs to prevent encroaching upon the property of others, a better social aspect to the hunt when you have drives, and probably a whole lot more fun. If a member likes to still hunt, that could be done during the week. I believe that as long as they are not disrupting others, people should be allowed to hunt however they like, and shoot whatever they like that is legal. The wide prevalence of "Trophy" clubs are having a negative long range impact on hunting in Alabama, IMO. People have every right to place whatever harvest restrictions they like on land that they own or lease, but it is mighty difficult to get young hunters interested in the sport if all they do is sit and watch and be bored -- too many others activities around for them these days.
Disclaimer: I have not been on a dog hunt in at least 30 years.

It's hard to get good tracts of land and it is hard to keep them also. REITS sell land all the time, usually without any thought about hunting lessors. Heck, we had a member this past year that tried to lease one of the clubs tracts out from under us. He is now an ex-member.

I feel y'all's pain. I'm bout at my wits end trying to find something more than a pine plantation within a couple hours of Pensacola. Only thing so far was a friend of a friend has 1,200 acres in pine orchard but damn it's too high for his poor white boy.

Says volumes about you

I was in a local club a few years ago that was run pretty good. We were constantly improving the land to the point that a developer got some of his cronies in the club who were able to bring him to hunt as a guest. You guessed it, he bought 1/3 of the acreage out from under us that included our actual camp house and cut us off from hunting this area following Christmas. After the season went out he went and bought another 1/3 of the property and we weren't allowed to turkey hunt it. We asked landowner for a refund with no success. That property had a lot of sweat equity in it, all for naught. It sucks but that's life.

Really

Good post PapaJ!

The club I'm in lost a 1,000 acres about 4 years ago.. An adjoining landowner outbid the club by almost 7 grand..

Get 2-3 buddies and find a 1000 acres somewhere. That's what we do and it works out great.

We have been paying 12.00 per acre on 3000ac. this year will be 17 years consider your self lucky???