I was just curious if those of you that lease from private landowners ever find that the landowner retains the hunting rights for his family to hunt the lease that you are paying to hunt. I know you never come across this with timber company leases but was trying to see how you handle such a situation.

And, please don't say, "I would just have them take that out". This is not an option. Or, "I just wouldn't lease the place". They have indicated that they wouldn't hunt that often and would sign out just like the rest of us do. My biggest problem is that we put in all the work, put up the stands, buy the seed/fertilizer, stands and they just show up, possibly with a guest and well you get the picture.

how much are you paying per acre

I have a similar situation, but not a lease. He lets us hunt, I pay him with meat and any help he needs. I don't think I could fork out money to lease the land not having any say so or knowing who else is hunting the property. it takes a lot of money and work, and sounds like your landowner is having his cake and eating it too. Sounds like it could turn into a really bad deal with just one grandson or son of the property owner basically having run of the property at any point and you can't say squat about it.

We lease from private owner. Only stipulation with is aside from no turkey rights,is about 400 acres is used for guided horseback quail hunts every so often. Not happy about it,but if thats the only issue,I'm ok with it. If the property is what youre looking for terrain/topography wise, I wouldn't mind it if the landowners fam hunted it every now and then. If it's said landowners extended fam and their friends,and their friends friends coming every week/weekend,I'd address it.

I got a lease and landowner is pretty laid back. He doesn't mind what I do on property. I pay him with money and meat.I am only one that hunt,none of his family will hunt it,he has another piece just for him family to hunt.

If it was really good land, I would consider it. What I would do, is have a complete list of what family members are allowed on the property. Then I would have each family member sign a rules contract, just like a normal member. I would also demand a reduced price

Lets just say it is in excess of $15 per acre but under $20. It is very desirable tract of land and has several deer and turkey, good roads and areas to plant.

I plan to set up a sign out book, so I will be able to get an idea how often the "family" hunts. I guess if it gets too bad I just wont renew the lease.

I was on a lease for 33 years. The LO only hunted squirrels. But during that time his son grew up, got married, had two boys. As the grandkids got older they wanted to hunt PawPaw's place. We came to an agreement they could shoot does only. No problem. Three years ago when the fracking boom hit West Texas he got a $85,000 mineral rights check. He told us he wanted to return his ranch back to a family only place and gave us a year to find another place to hunt. That's when we pooled our resources and bought 620 acres for ourselves.

Have leased from many private landowners over the years.
If they are leasing out to you the hunting rights but still want to hunt it I would want a big reduction in the price. And even then I would still only accept that if it was incredible property and after understanding the situation. It has been my experience that the landowner retaining rights to hunt IS ALWAYS A PROBLEM. And if they actually live on the property I would not accept under almost scenario because they will ride the roads and etc, do what they want when they want while you pay for it. I'm sure there is an exception where there is an 80 year old cattle farmer that never goes on the woodsy side across the road, but 95 times out of 100 that is going to be a problem.

Be careful muzzie. Sometimes they do that to get someone else to do all the work on the place, and the family hunts for free. Tread carefully. I would only agree to it if I KNEW who the family members were beforehand, AND I would pay a discounted rate per acre for the family hunting on land I was putting time and resources into. I would only do these under certain circumstances. It would have to be a highly desirable place.

If you have rules such as size limits on bucks, what are you going to do if family members break the rules?

We have two private tracts leased and we have 100% of the hunting rights.. If the family wanted in I would work out a membership(s) in the club for the family members that want to hunt and they would have to abide by the club rules. I'm not in favor of doing all the work for them to hunt.

On that note what if they shoot the place up, brown and down style, you can't do or say anything. BAD DEAL , especially for that amount per acre, that is sole hunting rights money IMHO. If this is a new development you need to renegotiate your lease cost.

I lost a lease due to this. Land owner son and grandson had the right to hunt during Thanksgiving and Christmas only. Wasn't a problem at first. Son didn't like to hunt and grandson couldn't drive. Grandson turned 16, land owner said he wanted him to have full rights now that he could go when he wanted. Tried it for a year and it didnt work. Grandson loved hunting and wantd it for himself. Be careful if the family members live within an easy drive.

This will turn on you. Always does and I mean always. May take a while and you get some good years but you will always have some kind turmoil. Been there done that.

We did this for 10 years. The land owner and a guest would hunt three to four times a year and shoot everything they saw in their time there. We had a six point or better rule and they shot fawns and spikes. We got to where we would not even go hunt when they were going to be there. The land owner did pay a membership just like the rest of us but our rules didn't apply to them and there wasn't anything we could do about it either. They hunted our plots and houses and shot whatever they saw. It was a deal that would jerk your nerves for sure. We only paid $5.00 acre at that time. Since then the land was sold we were able to keep the lease it went up to $8.00 acre and nearly all the trees have been cut. We have full rights now and it's much better.

Pretty sure you could copy and paste that in 99 out of 100 posts in the club forum.

My experience to a 'T'!

It is fine until the hunting gets really good and that one guy comes in as a guest and starts working an angle to get the place for himself! Happened to me twice. It will nOT happen again!

I have a buddy that leased property in Mathews with the same scenario as muzzie had. After five years this is finally what happened. At first he thought the great property and it was because I saw the bucks it produced and high lease price for it would be worth the hassle but it wasn't.

I passed on a good lease two years ago because of this. The man and his brother and his brother-in-law were to be included in the hunting of the property, but no work was to be offered and no relief on the lease price. All three lived within 1 mile of the property. I had to tell him no. It just wasn't right for me. I rationalized that in essence....we were paying all three of them to hunt their own property. I just couldn't get past it, lol. After I declined, I ran into his cousin who also owns property adjoining this land and he told me that I may a good decision. He said that the primary guy liked to cruise around on his golf cart late every afternoon hunting and "they hunt ALOT". I do not regret it one bit. They did talk some Florida guys into leasing the property tho.