Hunting leases - land owners and hunters . . . friends or foes?

[BobbyV]

There was a post on the hunting sub-reddit that got me to thinking about how land owners handle allowing hunters on their places and what happens when other parties get involved.

The version of this posted on reddit is basically as outlined below:

Land owner allows hunter to hunt his place without charge for 3 years.
Hunter pays for the protein/corn, etc.
Hunter puts out cameras, stands and scouts locations.
Hunter kills deer and gives the owner his choice of cuts.
Hunter shoots his biggest deer to date and as he's leaving shows the land owner.
Land owner calls shortly after and tells hunter that he needs to pull all of his stuff because the land owner's son wants to hunt their place now.
The hunter knows the son and that the son has access to 2 other leases.

I have no idea why the son was paying for leases when he had access to family land.

The replies are full of hunters saying stuff like:

This is why you never tell people what you've shot.

To which several land owners replied:

I make hunters who I allow the privilege of hunting on my place to tell me what they see and what they shoot. They can't just place a stand anywhere they want. They need to ask where they can hunt, etc.

Then some idiots are actually telling the hunter to completely ruin the property so the son can't hunt it.

I guess my question is . . . if you're a land owner how much do you micromanage those you let hunt on your land? And if you're someone who's been given permission to hunt private land how has that relationship been with the land owner? Does the extended family cause issues?

I'm very thankful that my brother lets me hunt his place and fully understand that it could be gone tomorrow if he ever decides to sell. It just seems that there are some pretty shady hunters and likely just as many shady land owners who love to bash the other.

 

[Okie4570]

Each landowner/lessee/lessor/permission only situation is going to be different imo. Everyone involved has different personalities, reacts and responds differently to different circumstances, etc. Humans in general are shady and will bash each other over just about anything when given the chance, hunting included. I hunt on several different places and no two landowners are the same, or have the same stipulations or have the same considerations. Some are interested in what I shoot, some could care less, some have no idea I'm even still hunting their property still until I ask them for permission again during the summer prior to fall. I usually try to park and hunt where I can't be seen, stands and feeders where they can't be seen, don't take guests, etc. No harvest pics on FB, etc. OSA is the only social media where I post a harvest pics now and then. I've got one landowner that texted me a month ago and wanted me to do him a favor, I said sure what can I do? He wanted me to shoot a deer with his S&W Custom Shop .460 because he'd owned it a few years and still hunted with it lol. Like I said, each situation varies greatly.

 

[joegrizzy]

just give us another land run and it will all even out.

i'm faster than most of ya'll. i'll be alright.

 

[HarryBear]

Hunter can build a house and become a squatter, boom done deal hunter wins!!

Now, can we investigate the other "Hunter" Congress where you at????

 

[retrieverman]

I haven’t leased land or hunted anyone else’s place in MANY years, but if I understand the scenario and the person isn’t paying anything to hunt, I don’t see that he has much room to complain if he’s recieved 3 years of free hunting. In my opinion, the fact that the hunter scouted and put up stands, cameras and feeders is totally irrelevant.

When I first started hunting in OK, I went through a situation with a guy I brought up to hunt a few times, and it broke me from sucking eggs. I learned my lesson and just hunt by myself now.
I let an outfitter duck hunt on the river on my place last year when everything else was frozen, and I won’t make that mistake again either.

 

[BobbyV]

I don’t see that he has much room to complain if he’s recieved 3 years of free hunting. In my opinion, the fact that the hunter scouted and put up stands, cameras and feeders is totally irrelevant.

I can understand that perspective, but I don't know that I'd say the hunter's stance and/or the amount of effort/work he put in to be totally irrelevant (unless he's damaging the place of course). I don't know why the land owner didn't ask for payment or any of those details. 3 years of not having to pay for a hunting lease is definitely a sweet deal.

But I can also understand the hunter being upset about feeling like he's getting kicked out because he killed a big deer. Definitely seems a little fishy to me if it happened like he claims.

I just didn't quite understand why so many land owners wanted to micromanage things without what appeared to be a written agreement in place.

 

[WoodsCraft]

As I read through this thread and reflect , it is hard not to look at this from both sides of the page so to speak, when I was a kid we roamed far and wide and hunted on everyone , and they also hunted on us as well. My Grandad and others like him were people of the depression and WWII eras and understood doing without in ways people do not know and have not known since the end of WWII .It was definitely a more community minded spirit I do not care what anyone says now days about it, as the statement none the less remains the truth. Our society has also changed in other ways as well, people are for lack of a better term greedier than they used to be, and do not have the same level of respect for the property of others anymore as a rule.


Understand I am a dyed in the wool capitalist and I do not begrudge people making money from the resources they own, but the above are none the less the observations I have made in my life to this point and they are telling in how our culture and society has changed and not for the better . Having said all this I would be very reticent to allow someone to come on to my small piece property to hunt , hike, camp , fish or just hangout unless I knew them exceptionally because of the previously mentioned lack of manners and respect so many have now .

 

[Bocephus123]

just give us another land run and it will all even out.

i'm faster than most of ya'll. i'll be alright.

wanna Bet?

 

[joegrizzy]

wanna Bet?

not all but enough yes.

 

[OKRuss]

For our private land, any hunters besides the owners are limited to doe only during deer season. Turkey has to be a tom. Fish have to be catch and release.

Had an almost identical situation happen to me when on a lease in CO. The property wasn't very big but in a strategic area where water, food and cover were great! I hunted on maybe 40 acres out of a 200 acre parcel. The homestead was another 1600 acres but again my focus was on a small piece of that. The landowner has relatives who hunt but never thought it was very productive(not in the right place). I had the lease for 6-7 years and only one who hunted the month of Sept. I could bring a buddy if tags were available. I paid under $1000.

I killed a bull elk every year other than one when I could only get a cow tag. Rifle and bow. After about the 5th year, the nephew is getting wind of how bulls are being killed every year especially on the small ranch. Nephew convinces the landowner Uncle to let him manage the elk hunting and I got pushed out. If I were to push for getting a tag, I bet I could go back and hunt it but would feel uncomfortable. Ranch hand who I stay in contact with said it's been horrible and few, if any, elk are being killed now.