So a couple of buddies and I are looking to lease our own property this coming up year. Yeah I know it is hunting season but I am already tired of the big clubs and too many people and drama. I simply can't stand the fact that 4 of us have scouted planted and worked our tail off and someone draws a higher number than one of us and they can go climb a tree next to our stand because they know how muh effort and work we put into it. So anyway 5 of us are looking to lease around 600 acres and manage it ourselves. Make it a place to take their wives if they choose take their kids if they choose. An not have to deal with the BS. So is there anything that I need to be careful of? Or stay away from. We have a couple of tracts we are going to look at in the next couple weeks. Thanks for any advice. And no this is not going to be QDMA managed but it will be managed erll but still be able to take a young kid out there and let them kill a deer without having to worry about someone else bitching at you.

Good Luck....Hope you find it....

You may just wanna Lease a few hundred acres yourself..You say your tired of too many people, well 5 guys + wives and kids will get crowded real quick in 600 acres..

Yes, big clubs are a mess most of the time.
1. Make sure you and your buddies are all on the same page.
2. If it's paper or timber company land, or even privately owned, DON'T spend a ton of your money trying to make the place look like a blackbelt plantation, because you can lose it in the amount of time it took you to sign the lease, and it will all be a waste.
3. If it's paper or timber company land, make sure you get in writing what you can and can't do to the property.
4. Try to find out as much as possible about the neighbors if you can get any info.

Good luck. I have been looking for an affordable place somewhat close to home to for 2 seasons with no luck

Don't have any advice but will tell you its damn nice have your own lil piece of property you can do what you damn well please on.I've had one tract leased about 5 years and another right beside it for two years.I have killed zero deer there and not from lack of seeing deer just always enjoyed sitting back watching em but we've had a few kids get their first bucks and even adults take their first deer there and that's all I care about.Ifn I get the hankering to shoot a 3 point one day I will and won't have to worry bout rules, fines or any other bullchit from killing a legal deer.Just have fun and don't get caught up on deer management chit and you'll really enjoy your own lease.

The smaller the better.

I've leased from a couple of different companies and have had mostly positive experiences. One of the timber managers, not one of the guys on here, told us that the timber wouldn't be cut for at least a couple of years. Opening day of bow season and they had a guy out cruising timber and cut through the whole first season. He wouldn't return phone calls and pretty much just acted like a jerk. The next year the main road on the lease washed out and we couldn't access the back of the property. Land manager told us he would have a Dozier out there next week . . . After months of phone calls and messages that were never returned we never saw a dozier. Anyway, just remember the timber companies are in the timber business. If a tract us available do your best to find out why.

That's the main point of it all. Just to enjoy it and with a ton of people it makes that difficult.


You missed the point entirely. The point is that 5 of us hunting 699 acres is plenty. But if my buddies wife sees and wants to shoot her first deer that's the best part of hunting. Taking your first right? That was the best memory for me. Surely for most as well. We want to make it small a couple of guys hunting killing a half ass decent deer if the opportunity presents itself but having fun hunting not dealing with the drama an BS of big clubs. I'm in one with 84 members.....

Geezzzz.... just join a good club that manages and allows for first-time-buck-hunters to kill any buck of choice and holds ALL member's feet to the fire on work days! Join a club that has good rules on buck harvest as I don't and will not join a hunting club that lets its members shoot immature bucks as they're easy to kill and you can wipe out a large percentage of of 1.5 and 2.5 yr olds.

Remember, if you have X number of hunters (not members BUT hunters hunting when you include family members and guests), then you have to multiple any allowance by the number of hunters (not members).

Bottom line... join a club that matches your hunting style and philosophies. If you like shooting 1.5 yr old bucks, then join a club that allows that.

There are good clubs out there. They just have to have great leadership and well thought-out rules that are adhered to.

I sometimes think the worst people of hunting are the presidents of hunting clubs as the leadership of most clubs seems to stink!!!

You are on the right path. A couple buddies that are like minded and agree on harvest is the first step. Knowing what to expect from each other as far as working on the land is the second step. Patience waiting on the right piece of land is the third.
When you find the land keep in mind that hunting should be fun not work.

I have a little advice for you regarding you and your other hunting buddies...

Don't assume that you five can hunt together without any ground rules. When more than a few people hunt together and they all think that they don't need any rules or at least, a general understanding of how things are going to be, then someone always seems to get upset or one of the buddies does something that the other four don't like.

When work, money and time are invested, it's not just a "a goat with horns" anymore as it's work, money and precious time invested.

Even if all of you are like-minded, y'all need rules, IMO. "What's wrong with letting my uncle hunt? He helped us that day last month!" Reply: "Well, he's hunting by himself and without you being here!!!"

I've seen a group of buddies become a group of dissatisfied individuals and ruined friendships. When someone says, "I don't want a bunch of rules!", that tells me that they want freedom from restrictions of doing what they want to do.... and that ain't good.

IMO, as we're discussing this topic. Good luck!

Having land with just a few people is great. I don't know if I will ever want to be in a club again. If I do, it would have to be a special type place.

Best decision you'll ever make..... Sometimes it takes a little luck.... But it will allow you to keep all the hypocritical jealous chit stirrers out....

that's the main reason I dropped out of the one I had been in. It started as just me and 2 other guys, one of which is family. our place wasn't huge (400ish acres) but it was plenty for 3 guys and the occasional wife tagging along. good mix of green fields and timber.

Then a couple more people started joining in. then a couple more. I dropped out at the end of last season. This season, there are 6 people hunting that 400 acre property, not including spouses/guests, which means had I stayed it would've been 7.

When you have that many people, especially on such a small piece of property, it gets very difficult to avoid stepping on toes when it comes to ideas/opinions about pretty much anything.

I hunted every weekend of bow and rifle season last year, as well as several vacation days I took. I saw less than 10 deer all season. The only buck I saw was the little 1 horn spike I killed with my bow in November (first and only bow kill so far). 2 other guys didn't kill a single deer all year and the others killed a doe or 2 each and one also killed a decent 8pt. that's it.

It got cramped and crowded and I'm convinced the pressure significantly hurt the quality of hunting. you could also cut the tension between everyone with a knife by the end of season.

It became zero fun, not to mention all the time, energy and money invested to see 7-8 does and a 1-horn spike in an entire season.

My advice is take that number from 5 down to 2. Pay the extra money and get it where there are just 2 and know that you can count that other member to pull their share of the work load.

Yeah I hear ya guys. Especially on the gettin crowded thin. But that is the reason we are goin it. One guy I have been friends with since the army and another since college. I'm the only married one in the group and the oter guy is married and only hunts 2-3 times a year but wants to be able to take his kid or wife with him and it be close to the house that's the only reason he wants in. We all just want to hunt deer and have fun. If a monster gets killed great. If all that gets killed is does that's ok too most of us are serious into bowhunting so rifles will not be the main weapon used. And on too of that we have hunted together enough to know what we want out of a piece of property and we are going with a small lease so we won havd to get more people. If we need more people we will downsize end of story.

Leasing your own spot is great. Owning your own spot is best.

Not trying to hijack but Southwood's post hit a raw nerve.
For the record, once a timber company gets the timber out, you will NEVER get them back out to repair a road. Had a road that a Sherman tank couldn't get through after the skidders and trucks left. I tried for over a year to get them to come back out. I kept getting promises they would be out there next week. Then they just stopped answering calls and emails.

I never could and no one else I know of has ever been able to get a timber company to come back once they leave. Don't waste your energy. Drop the dime and hire a dozier yourself.

Just a FYI. I have had several tracts where the timber buyer came back & constructed water bars, seeded grass and covered seed with hay. A damage deposit in the timber contract is key in these situations. They don't get the deposit back unless conditions are met.

This won't help a leaseholder but hopefully will make a landowners timber sale more palatable.

I've been hunting with my wife's 1st cousin for over 5 years on 450 acres he and his dad have leased for over 20 years. his dad passed away and he and i are the only ones that hunt it. Real sweet setup and the Lord has truly blessed me with this set up at this time. Never had a problem other than crackheads stealing our gates and an occasional joy rider riding thru property.

Speaking of timber company's fixing roads I call bulltrox..One lease I got is through Rms.I had a talk with them about a few spots on our lease..Two weeks later they had a dozier out there and replaced pipes and fixed a part of the road.No timber had been cut either.