I thought I had heard about some high priced land, $20 or $25 per acre for some very nice land with a cabin, but I talked to a real estate guy yesterday about a tract and he said he had it leased for $43.70 per acre, Pike county Alabama. It is about to get to the point that the po man won't be leasing anything.

I didn't know Mark Zuckerberg hunted. Oh well. Some have more money than sense.

Dr. B

I believe I'd just buy some land.

Actually he does

http://fortune.com/2011/05/26/mark-zucke...mean-literally/

There places in MS over $30/acre years ago....but you do have a chance to at least see a REAL BIGGUN...NOT JUST AN IMITATION!

There will be VERY little leased for near that number. And it will include more than just deer...like plots planted, camp house, etc.

I'm sure not all real estate agents lie, but if I had a dime for every time I heard "someone else is really interested, if you want it, you better make an offer soon" or "I already have some offers on the table so you need to hurry" I would lease that $43.70 land myself.

It's already cheaper to be a poacher, with the enforcement like we have here. How could it get any worse?

Most honest, law abiding hunters have long since been priced out.

Lots of poor folks hunt wherever, whenever, however, and get along just fine. That's the root of the problem that's been created. But look at the lease forum. It's gotta have it, gimme all you got at all costs. Just furthers the divide.

Poor has nothing to do with it. There are plenty of public lands available to hunt for free. Poor is no excuse to steal from others working to improve their on hunting land. They are thieves and poachers by preference, not by financial status

I searched for months about different leases and clubs. I looked at land all over north Alabama but ended up in a club in Tennessee. I personally know a farmer that has farm land all over southern Tennessee some of it leases for $8 a acre and other farms lease for $20 a acre. The $20 acre place is due to a bidding war between two different groups and the fact it produces good bucks every year.
I wanted a club with a camp house and some amenities but I settled for a 1800 acre club a hour from my house for cheaper then I could lease on my own and it has very few rules and members.

The average outlaw poaching activity is not white collars crime rings I wouldn't think. They may be poachers by preference, but it's also highly due to financial status IMO. Simply having the time to do certain things is part of it. I don't have the time or energy to be a good outlaw after working 50-55 hours a week.

Maybe I'm missing something. Is there some data to back up what you are saying? Is a night hunter/poacher just as likely to be a CEO of a successful company or a poor country folk just the same?

Its called morals. I know a lot of poor people who don't steal. Its right and wrong. Poachers are thieves. A lot of people hunt wmas for various reasons but the top three I would guess is they want to spend their money on other things, very limited hunting days to spend money for a club, or poor. No of those are good reason to steal.

That's a crazy high price. Was it a really small tract or something? I couldn't imagine anyone leasing 1000 acres or something at that price.

You don't think there is a correlation between financial status and being a thief?

Not saying there aren't honest poor people or dishonest rich people, but I'm pretty sure you could determine some trends. Even if out of necessity

There is no correlation between poor and poaching (stealing) with all the available free hunting. Its a choice to poach over going to public hunting land. Please how being poor makes a person to choose illegal hunting over a WMA because of money?

He's not saying that specifically. He's saying there's a correlation between socioeconomic status and crime in general.

In your scenario, being poor could cause them to poach because they don't have money for a WMA permit and hinting license, they don't have the ability and resources to travel hours to a WMA if they don't live near one, those are just to name two.

About 600 acres, people from Tampa have it leased.

Don't be tellin everybody!

Poachers that Officer Thad Holmes and I caught a few years ago on my property owned oil wells in Monroe county. He saw the big bucks on my property and couldn't help himself.

There is definitely a correlation, but it has nothing to do with money. The same qualities that define their financial decisions, typically influence other areas of their lives, including being a pos poacher. Being poor, making poor decisions, those are symptoms of the persons issues, and often they go hand in hand.

Ex. The guy walking down the street with his pants sagging on government assistance. Is he more likely to be a seller/user of drugs than an upper middle class man? Yes. Why? Because he more than likely possesses character traits which steer him towards being a bum, thinking it's acceptable to wear his pants around his knees, and having no moral objection to living off my tax dollars.

I didn't intend to have a psychological discussion of social status. I'll try to simplify.

The big money hunting game combined with complicated regulations and little enforcement will directly increase the violation of game laws by the less fortunate.

I had no idea. Well, while he was in Camden yesterday, he could've made some contacts!

Dr. B

That is what I was trying to say!

You did better the first time. Too wet outside to do much. What else is better than having a phsycological discussion on Aldeer

Well yeah, because you're wrong lol.

There's some folks come out of Florida with a lot of jack in their pockets to lease land. I've tracked for several clubs where I was blown away at how many acres some were leasing in prime areas. One club had 8 guys on right at 4500 acres.....in the middle of the good stuff too. I know it sucks from the standpoint of driving lease prices up but how can you really blame folks if they're loaded with money and want to hunt. All of the ones I've tracked for have been very friendly folks just hunting like everyone else.....except seeing a whole lot more!

Still though, $40 bucks an acre is unheard of.

CNC,if I remember correctly you are in Macon Co. My neighbor bought some land there last summer solely for hunting. Had a few things stolen over the summer. He went back after this past season. Pulled up to his gate and it was GONE!! STOLEN!! Went on in to his camp and they had stolen everything but his travel trailer.....but they did get all the wheels off of it. My question is, do y'all have a "cost of doing business" y'all figure into lease prices there?

Yep�..Absentee landowners are prime targets out here. These local guys form �crews� and turn it into a money making venture until they get caught. He�ll have to do something to either catch the folks doing it or do something to keep himself from being easy pickins.

Yeah the guys I know that hunt out there don't even lock the door to there shed/cabin or trailer any more because they were tired of having the door kicked in. Whoever was doing it was only steeling liquor in food so they started peeing in the empty liquor bottles and took the rest home with them needless to say they haven't had a problem with break ins recently

Try and get into a hunt club south of Orlando for less than $8-10K per year. I was blown away at how much those guys were getting for pine & palmetto savanah with 110 pound bucks. No wonder they come up to Alabama and Georgia, it's a good deal for them.

Seems like a good thread to share this story - I went on a turkey hunting trip in the Midwest and the outfitter was still furious with a hunter he'd hosted earlier. This guy is a starting QB in the NFL and everyone here would recognize his name.

The outfitter showed the QB the property and the lines, and told him not to cross the fence under any circumstances. He picked him up later in the morning and the QB had killed a turkey. He said the turkey was about 300 yds across the fence and wouldn't come, so he crossed the fence and got closer and killed the turkey.

He then couldn't understand why the outfitter was mad at him. He told him, "But I had to cross the fence or I wouldn't have killed the turkey." The fact that he might have caused the outfitter to lose his lease and damage his reputation seemed irrelevant to him; he felt entitled to kill the turkey.

There has no doubt been times in human history when the poor needed to poach in order to survive, but I don't think that happens very often in the USA today. A poacher is much more likely to just be somebody with an attitude of entitlement and no regard for other people.

I'm assuming it wasn't Michael Vick

Only if him and his homeys had started a turkey fighting ring.

Wasn't him.

Poaching is just like stealing... no different. Living outside of town isn't what it use to be. In my lifetime I've seen it go from people who had never locked their doors.... to people not being able to keep anything that isn't bolted and then welded down and sometimes that doesn't stop it.

Why? Alabama's countryside is slap covered up with trash IMO. Both white and black. Everywhere you go.

Need to figure out a way to move them to Mississippi where they belong.

Know what they did to folks that got caught poaching on the King's land in the olde country, right? Hung 'em by the neck 'til they was dead!!

son had a piece of property leased paying $25 per acre. the lease was for 2 years and than it was put up for bid. if you had the piece and someone else bid on it you had the right to match the bid. Someone bid $45.00 per acre and son let it go, he couldn't afford that. There are folks out there or companies out there willing to pay big bucks to lease land.

yall act like folks are stealing from out of your pocket. You may lease the land but them deer belong to the state. If i have a state hunting license and shoot one of the side of the road, thats my business.