Hunting lease blues

[Bgoodman30]

So I picked up a new lease last summer with some buddies offered up by the new landowner. It's an incredible property around 300 acres, .5 mile river frontage, creek, multiple springs, 2 ponds, slew, pasture, cattle, fence rows, steep ridges, tons of white oaks and dense cover (blackberry, persimmon and honey locust). Also not hunted in many years and TONS of game. It's not cheap but has year round opportunities including camping and fishing.

Since then the landowner removed the cattle, pushed down the fence rows, cleared all the cover and even pushed down the big oaks that dotted the fields.... Basically he opened it up for ag fields corn and beans. It's still about 1/3 wooded with steep ridges and holler.

We killed two nice bucks and saw tons of deer all season. We also always saw multiple groups of turkeys and big groups of toms.(12+). Since the clearing and planting I have 1 Tom on camera and not a single bird has been taken off what used to be prime turkey property....

My partners seem to think that crops will mitigate the damage but I am not convinced? The habitat loss and manipulation has run most of the game off for now...I am in it mainly for the turkeys and it has been terrible with barely a gobble. Whitetails are secondary to me.

Also the farmer is considering logging the place.... What should I do? Ride it out? Ask for price concessions? Or let it go? It's a considerable chunk of my hunting lease budget.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[rocky fork]

I would ride it out. It's getting harder and harder every year to even find a lease for most people. Work with you got and do whatever it takes to draw in and hold the game on the land. The land I hunt got logged a few years back and while it initially messed the hunting up, it got really good about two years later and continues to be good seven years after they logged. You did say that it is an incredible property so I would give it at least one more year. The way you describe the place, I know I would.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bgoodman30]

I would ride it out. It's getting harder and harder every year to even find a lease for most people. Work with you got and do whatever it takes to draw in and hold the game on the land. The land I hunt got logged a few years back and while it initially messed the hunting up, it got really good about two years later and continues to be good seven years after they logged. You did say that it is an incredible property so I would give it at least one more year. The way you describe the place, I know I would.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah probably what I will end up doing, I let me other spot go that was about the same but more hunters. Now I wish I would have kept it... I have another 75 acres but just can't take much pressure... I feel as though we are paying too much for what is left. I fell in love with the place initially, hung a bunch stands built a shooting house.. Now I get frustrated and sad when I go out there and see the destruction...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Andy S.]

A BIG component of my satisfaction with a hunting property is how convenient it is to my house. With little children at the house these days, I personally value a property more if I can get easily drive to said property and hunt, and be home same day for other activities/commitments. This was not a priority of mine when I was younger, single, more mobile, and only had my self to look out for.

 

[rocky fork]

I would ride it out. It's getting harder and harder every year to even find a lease for most people. Work with you got and do whatever it takes to draw in and hold the game on the land. The land I hunt got logged a few years back and while it initially messed the hunting up, it got really good about two years later and continues to be good seven years after they logged. You did say that it is an incredible property so I would give it at least one more year. The way you describe the place, I know I would.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah probably what I will end up doing, I let me other spot go that was about the same but more hunters. Now I wish I would have kept it... I have another 75 acres but just can't take much pressure... I feel as though we are paying too much for what is left. I fell in love with the place initially, hung a bunch stands built a shooting house.. Now I get frustrated and sad when I go out there and see the destruction...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I know exactly what you mean. I felt the same way after seeing the destruction that the logging caused. It looked like a tornado had come through the place. I'm not gonna lie, the first season after they logged was difficult. The patterns and travel routes changed but the very next year was awesome after I learned their new habits. The habitat has really improved now and the wildlife is very abundant.
Sounds like you've got an awesome place to hunt, good luck during the upcoming seasons.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[muddyboots]

Welcome to the world of leasing. We don't own so we really don't have a say in what happens to it. With that being said I have found that most landowners will work with you if you express your desires and concerns. Most want to what's best for the dollar and the wild life too. They just need some guidance. Just remember wildlife don't like pretty. Lol. So if it has Hurt ur hunting in the short term it will come back even better. I would ride it out unless I ran up on something better. Turkeys thrive in an area after logging. Hens love it for nesting.

 

[Boll Weevil]

The critters likely relocated only temporarily due to all the clearing activity...I'd think they would return to some extent as time goes by.

 

[dgolden]

I've seen this happen on 2 previous past leases I've had. Both ended up being fine in the long run. After the logging, it seemed that both places got significantly better turkey hunting the following year or so. I expected the opposite. All game will change travel patterns though. Its like figuring out a whole new lease again. Good luck!

 

[Mike Belt]

Like Andy, my first consideration is the distance I have to travel to get to where I hunt. 3 hour 1 way drives limit hunting opportunities and can get expensive gas wise.

On any property I've hunted the one thing that has remained a constant pertaining to holding game (both turkeys and deer) was adequate cover and nesting sites. Food will draw them but won't necessarily hold them without that cover. It sounds like your landowner is trying to clear his property and is geared toward farming. Once he cuts the timber is he going to replant, let it grow up, or clear it for more farming acres? My decision to keep the place might stem on that. I might talk to him about a reduced lease fee because of all the clearing going on. I WOULD be looking for another place and WOULDN'T give this one up until I found something else.

 

[catman529]

I think the crops will help after a while but the initial loss of habitat has to hurt. Hope it turns out for the better. They need to leave a field in CRP and can't they get a tax break for that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bgoodman30]

I would ride it out. It's getting harder and harder every year to even find a lease for most people. Work with you got and do whatever it takes to draw in and hold the game on the land. The land I hunt got logged a few years back and while it initially messed the hunting up, it got really good about two years later and continues to be good seven years after they logged. You did say that it is an incredible property so I would give it at least one more year. The way you describe the place, I know I would.

Yeah I here you but I'm paying a premium to wait and see..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bgoodman30]

A BIG component of my satisfaction with a hunting property is how convenient it is to my house. With little children at the house these days, I personally value a property more if I can get easily drive to said property and hunt, and be home same day for other activities/commitments. This was not a priority of mine when I was younger, single, more mobile, and only had my self to look out for.

Yes sir I have small kids too but I live in suburbs of Nashville and every lease I have ever been on happens to be in the same general area around 1 hour from the house... I also have 20 acres around there that I own.. My duck lease is 3 hours.. I would LOVE something closer just still haven't found it..

 

[Bgoodman30]

I would ride it out. It's getting harder and harder every year to even find a lease for most people. Work with you got and do whatever it takes to draw in and hold the game on the land. The land I hunt got logged a few years back and while it initially messed the hunting up, it got really good about two years later and continues to be good seven years after they logged. You did say that it is an incredible property so I would give it at least one more year. The way you describe the place, I know I would.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah probably what I will end up doing, I let me other spot go that was about the same but more hunters. Now I wish I would have kept it... I have another 75 acres but just can't take much pressure... I feel as though we are paying too much for what is left. I fell in love with the place initially, hung a bunch stands built a shooting house.. Now I get frustrated and sad when I go out there and see the destruction...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I know exactly what you mean. I felt the same way after seeing the destruction that the logging caused. It looked like a tornado had come through the place. I'm not gonna lie, the first season after they logged was difficult. The patterns and travel routes changed but the very next year was awesome after I learned their new habits. The habitat has really improved now and the wildlife is very abundant.
Sounds like you've got an awesome place to hunt, good luck during the upcoming seasons.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you sir! I am kind of a semi tree hugger, I love big hardwoods and have planted a bunch of trees on my farm.. The logging hasn't started and its only been mentioned but it might be too much for me to stand.. I have had a lease that was old growth, select and clear cuts and it was tough hunting but if you had good green food plots watch out!

 

[Bgoodman30]

Welcome to the world of leasing. We don't own so we really don't have a say in what happens to it. With that being said I have found that most landowners will work with you if you express your desires and concerns. Most want to what's best for the dollar and the wild life too. They just need some guidance. Just remember wildlife don't like pretty. Lol. So if it has Hurt ur hunting in the short term it will come back even better. I would ride it out unless I ran up on something better. Turkeys thrive in an area after logging. Hens love it for nesting.

Yeah the landowner is a nice guy I guess but he is big farm, he is all about the ROI right now...

 

[Bgoodman30]

Like Andy, my first consideration is the distance I have to travel to get to where I hunt. 3 hour 1 way drives limit hunting opportunities and can get expensive gas wise.

On any property I've hunted the one thing that has remained a constant pertaining to holding game (both turkeys and deer) was adequate cover and nesting sites. Food will draw them but won't necessarily hold them without that cover. It sounds like your landowner is trying to clear his property and is geared toward farming. Once he cuts the timber is he going to replant, let it grow up, or clear it for more farming acres? My decision to keep the place might stem on that. I might talk to him about a reduced lease fee because of all the clearing going on. I WOULD be looking for another place and WOULDN'T give this one up until I found something else.

Mike you and I are definitely on the same wave length.. The reduced fee is what I am hoping for but I don't know if he will go for it..

My 75 acre lease is almost identical to what this place use to be and its definitely the better turkey spot right now.. 1 bird has already been taken off it.. The best turkey property I know of has some hardwoods with thick and nasty low cover, cedar, blackberry and privet with narrow food plots. This property had that now its all gone..

I don't know what he is going to do after the logging but most of the timber is on ridge tops and hollers and not suitable for planting? I have had heartburn ever since I first heard the logging mention... :bash:

 

[Bgoodman30]

I think the crops will help after a while but the initial loss of habitat has to hurt. Hope it turns out for the better. They need to leave a field in CRP and can't they get a tax break for that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah it hurts I thought this place had the potential to sustain 6-8 bird harvests annually.. Yeah I don't know the upper field is rocky(chert) and more suited for cattle or CRP IMO...? We will see how this corn makes?

 

[Bgoodman30]

The only times I've seen logging done productively for the short term was when the landowner was heavily involved in the select cutting decisions and on location regularly to supervise. In one case, the landowner brokered the timber himself and instructed the loggers to pile up brush and trees in ways that he saw fit for habitat as well as picking up their trash. Left to their own devices, loggers will destroy the aesthetics of a property and throw their trash on the ground in a manner that almost seems to be intentional.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

YEP! My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it..

 

[catman529]

I think the crops will help after a while but the initial loss of habitat has to hurt. Hope it turns out for the better. They need to leave a field in CRP and can't they get a tax break for that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah it hurts I thought this place had the potential to sustain 6-8 bird harvests annually.. Yeah I don't know the upper field is rocky(chert) and more suited for cattle or CRP IMO...? We will see how this corn makes?

yea I'm no farmer but I don't know if I've seen many crop fields in chert...bet it will grow over again at some point. And turkeys seem to love cattle farms.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Spurhunter]

I had a property several years back that this reminds me of. Landowner's son decided to get in the cattle business. Cleared all the fence rows, cleared all the small wood lots, and ruined the best hunting land I ever had.

 

[Bgoodman30]

I think the crops will help after a while but the initial loss of habitat has to hurt. Hope it turns out for the better. They need to leave a field in CRP and can't they get a tax break for that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah it hurts I thought this place had the potential to sustain 6-8 bird harvests annually.. Yeah I don't know the upper field is rocky(chert) and more suited for cattle or CRP IMO...? We will see how this corn makes?

yea I'm no farmer but I don't know if I've seen many crop fields in chert...bet it will grow over again at some point. And turkeys seem to love cattle farms.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I am curious to see these corn yields on the upper field.(used to be fields...). The bottom field is good soil by the river it's going In beans..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro