The people I lease from doesn't jump a lot from year to year and I'm glad. And it could be worse. I am able to continue as of now. But I do feel that lease - club fees are not in line with our economy .

I gave up on leasing/club thing years ago. Hunted my small acreage behind the house mostly. Still hit it some but did most of my hunting on public land this past season. It was slow and tough. But I'm learning more about the place all the time and maybe one day it will produce. It keeps me in the game anyway. Think I'm going to do more bowhunting late season next year. Didn't really see crowds in my area until January and that was after some doofuses talked up that particular hunt on here. Best to walk softly and carry a big stick. You get company when you advertise.

This is absolutely what the problem is. As long as people keep paying, they will keep going up. Same with houses and automobiles.

Most of the large landholders in the state are interested in the bottom line. In an environment of rising costs they are looking for ways to improve revenue. Property taxes rise, costs more to maintain landlines, site prep & replanting costs also increase. As profit margins are reduced in the timber industry expect lease increases.

I don't like it but expect the increases to continue.

They will continue to rise at least for the foreseeable future. Maybe at some time when the number of hunters decrease far enough that there are not enough hunters to maintain the demand side of this equation prices will falll. Problem is at that point there will probabbly be to few hunters to fend off the anti hunting crowd and the right to hunt at least without a lot of hoops to jump through will be lost. I pay more now than I ever thought I would but I can not hunt in places that are cheap where there are to many members and deer sightings are rare due to over harvest. If I have to go back to those type places I will just quit and fish 12 months a year.

There is a lot of buy a deer mentality going on too. And to a great extent a lot of hunters are very vulnerable. I mean you can show a few big buck photos to some and the billfold starts flying open. But the reality is that in Al.it typically is a pretty hard road to a trophy . That's why I draw the line on what I will pay to hunt here. My lease expense is shared and I at this point am okay with what I pay. It is the future that is in question. I think if you get the chance a guy should go at least once to the Midwest . It can change your perspective on deer hunting. We are fortunate for our setup. And it wasn't easy nor was it just about money. It was about hunter - landowner relationship. Something that is about a lost art here. So when I see guys paying 2-5 grand to maybe get a 130 in. buck in a season when give me 3 days on our farm, I do a double take.

This right here^

My son is 5 and loves hunting. He would rather be hunting than anything. With this said we logged a ton of hours and leg work on public and private in MS and seen 1 doe. I drew a tag and shot a small 6 but that was with my gun. He shoots a crossbow so must be set up perfect. The thing about public is, when you think you are isolated someone else is knows it is there. I had a plot 2 miles in and it held deer. 6-8 some evenings. I pulled my son in on a pier cart with all our gear. We hunted back there 4 times and saw 0. I put a cam up and got 3 hunters on cam and a 4 wheeler with 2 guys looking around. My cam was not stolen because i posted a note on the vehicles. They tore down signs and road all the way in from another rd. Game wardens came and all but it was to late. Not even gonna go into turkey season. What I am trying to say is 2500.00 for a good lease where I can place blinds and not get messed with, drive a buggy in, and at least see a few deer for my son. You cant put a tag on that. I tried the club when he was 3. It was fun to run cams etc, but no deer down on coast. It is either pay 3k for an outfitted hunt for a week, or the same for a year of hunting.

About beat this dead horse enough but I would like to share a story about how it pays to show a little Southern hospitality .We hunt several farms in Il.But when we started leasing property several year ago, we went through an agency .Paid too much and we were just a number. I got to digging in the Plat book and found out who owned the neighboring property. It was a lot better piece than we were leasing. Ended up making friends with one of our other neighbors who knew the landowner personally and he helped us lease that property . Couldn't have done it without him. So we told him he hunts free for helping us out. Some folks sure wouldn't be too keen on letting another guy hunt for free.But it felt like the right thing to do. Well our free hunter converted his barn into a first class hunting cabin, complete with power and water.He said .No charge. A few year later he had the opportunity to purchase this land. He did. And you know what he said to us. No charge to hunt.