Question About Leasing Hunting Land

[wchancey]

I have some questions about possibly leasing some land for Deer hunting. I am not a deer hunter myself so I really don't know what people are looking for.

1. I have 8 acres of excellent deer land that backs up to 100's if not 1000's
of acres of state forest. I just bought this property and the previous
owner has shown me pictures of some of the Bucks that he has taken off
of it. I have seen lots of huge tracks and piles and piles of deer poop.

2. I am going to put a 28ft older travel trailer on it as soon as all the snow is
gone. I have just bought this but was assured that everything works.
Furnace , lights , stove . it will not have running water, but I will be
building an outhouse this summer, also it will have a generator. Sleeps 3
maybe 4 comfortably.

3. Is this a big enough section of land to rent out to hunters for the week
or weekends during deer season ? And what would be a fair price to ask ?

4. It is in Missaukee County just across the Clare County line near Leota.

5. I do not believe that there would be much other hunting pressure nearby
as it is mostly by itself.


I am not sure it this will work but here is a satellite view of the area , all the green is state forest.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=leota+mi&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.122306,54.316406&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Leota,+Clare,+Michigan&ll=44.167368,-84.904747&spn=0.015084,0.042872&t=k&z=15

If you zoom out you can really get an idea of how much state forest there really is.

[Daniels]

I have some questions about possibly leasing some land for Deer hunting. I am not a deer hunter myself so I really don't know what people are looking for.

1. I have 8 acres of excellent deer land that backs up to 100's if not 1000's
of acres of state forest. I just bought this property and the previous
owner has shown me pictures of some of the Bucks that he has taken off
of it. I have seen lots of huge tracks and piles and piles of deer poop.

2. I am going to put a 28ft older travel trailer on it as soon as all the snow is
gone. I have just bought this but was assured that everything works.
Furnace , lights , stove . it will not have running water, but I will be
building an outhouse this summer, also it will have a generator. Sleeps 3
maybe 4 comfortably.

3. Is this a big enough section of land to rent out to hunters for the week
or weekends during deer season ? And what would be a fair price to ask ?

4. It is in Missaukee County just across the Clare County line near Leota.

5. I do not believe that there would be much other hunting pressure nearby
as it is mostly by itself.

Honestly, I don;t think the 8 acres would be appealing but all of the state land around you would. You'd for sure get hunters that'd want to lease it just to stay on the property to hunt yours and the state land I'd think. I'd for sure rent it out by the week Saturday to Saturday if you where doing it by the week. But most people that lease land to hunt lease it for the entire deer season. I'd think that would be your best and easiest bet.

[Mark Ely]

Most hunting leases are for 3 months October,November,and December. The one's ive dealt with the owner tries to get the lease to pay his taxes for the year.

[wchancey]

I would like to bump this back up for some more opinions.

[dpgperftest]

Honestly, I don;t think the 8 acres would be appealing but all of the state land around you would. You'd for sure get hunters that'd want to lease it just to stay on the property to hunt yours and the state land I'd think. I'd for sure rent it out by the week Saturday to Saturday if you where doing it by the week. But most people that lease land to hunt lease it for the entire deer season. I'd think that would be your best and easiest bet.

WTF you kidding right??? you site on his land and let the yahoos push the deer to you :rocketla:

[1gunnyman]

WTF you kidding right??? you site on his land and let the yahoos push the deer to you :rocketla:
right on!:idea:

[dpgperftest]

we have 120 acors farm land only a couple acers of woods and the deer Run in and out all the time

[Daniels]

WTF you kidding right??? you site on his land and let the yahoos push the deer to you :rocketla:
He said there was not much hunting action going on.

[jlove70]

He said there was not much hunting action going on.


He also said he just bought the land, so he's not positive on how much pressure there would be from other hunters.

As a hunter I might give something like that a try, but a couple things come to mind. With it bordering State land, how many other hunters will be on that land, what kind of hunters are they. Gun season I'd have plenty of orange to make sure they knew I was there. Is the property going to be sufficiently marked, are the other hunters going to obey that or trespass and ruin the hunt for the lessee? 8 acres is a very small chunk of land to lease for hunting, it would be ok for one person, maybe 2 like a father/son or a couple friends. I don't know what to tell you on price though. I wouldn't pay very much. You can't figure in the State land cause I could hunt that free, you'd just be paying for that extra 8 acres. Maybe $400 max for bow and gun to start. After a person knew more of what was going on as far as animal quality, property quality, and hunter interference, I might pay a little more. It still wouldn't be much though because of the small size. This is just me though, there may be others who would feel it was worth more to them.

After re-reading your post it sounds as though you're thinking on setting this up as a deer camp maybe? Is the trailer for the hunters' use? If so then someone that lives aways away and leases it for a week to stay there might pay $600 or so since they don't have to worry about the work involved with tent camping or renting a motel or something. Hard to say really. All you can do is advertise and see what happens. If it's getting close to season and you haven't had much interest lower the price some. Biggest thing will be getting good exposure to a lot of people.

[wchancey]

You are right I just bought the property this winter , it was actually 20 acres that was split , I bought the 8 acres and the other 12 has not been sold yet.

I am trying to work a deal for that , don't know how that will go yet

The whole 20 acres is surrounded by state forest on three sides and the other side of the easement is another 20 acres that has a house on it on the far end. And there are no other houses anywhere near.

My side has always been a deer camp , I bought it just to put a camper on it and have a nice secluded place to go camp and shoot my guns this summer , the only hunting we do is for mushrooms. And I think I may have a gold mine in shrooms.

I haven't been able to walk it all yet because of the snow , but every time I have been there I have seen turkeys , and deer most of the time, and some of the biggest coyote tracks that I have ever seen.

The idea of leasing it out for deer season was just a quick idea that popped into my head , because of all the state forest , and the pictures of some of the bucks that have been taken from it.

As I said I am not a hunter so I was just trying to get a feel from hunters on the board if it would be a good idea or not.

I really have no idea what kind of hunting pressure is on that area , there is just so much state forest around that I didn't think that the pressure could be to heavy.

I was trying to think of ways to finance building a roof over the camper with a covered deck and some other things that I would like to do.

If it isn't a good idea that is ok too.

[wolfeman5]

A couple things that come to mind are:
How easy is it access the state land? If it is easy to access then there will be alot of hunting pressure. I know that there are alot of atv and snowmobile trails in that area that make access to state land very easy.
Is the property currently posted?
If it is not then other hunters have probably been using it for a while and they will return expecting to use it again. If they cant they will just set up right on the property line.
You could probably rent the trailer out for the deer season and do ok. Might be able to make a couple grand renting it week to week, but you run the risk of having someone tear your trailer up. You would need to get a security deposit and then you would need to go in and clean the trailer after a group leaves.
Might be a lot of work on your part but it still may help you pay for upgrades to the trailer.

[jlove70]

It's not a bad idea, there's just going to be pro's and con's to it. Since you're not an avid hunter yourself, and without knowing things first hand it's going to be trial and error to start with. Anyone that's interested in leasing it will want to know what type of hunting pressure there will be as soon as they hear that State land borders it. Reason being is that hunters know a lot of other hunters flock to State lands since it's free to hunt and hardly anyone lets you hunt private land for free anymore. Lease costs are to the point now that people can't afford a lot of them. So if they want to hunt there only option is State land. When a potential lessee asks that, and since you can't say positively, they probably won't be inclined to pay very much risking all that money for a hunt that could be worthless if there's other hunters all over the State land.

If you do lease it out, whoever takes it will have to be an informant for you and report all these types of things with number of hunters they encountered, number of deer seen, size of the deer, problems with trespassers and so on. Then you'll know this info come the following year. If there's very little to no pressure, and some nice bucks are taken, then it may be worth a little more the following year.

Since you've saw turkeys that's another option for leasing. Couple hundred bucks for a weekend maybe. That's coming up fast though so if you were going to do that you better get your ducks in a row.

[Done Deal]

Since you've saw turkeys that's another option for leasing. Couple hundred bucks for a weekend maybe. That's coming up fast though so if you were going to do that you better get your ducks in a row.

Seriously? My word....without any guarantees by a guide or on the birds...even the first weekend would be a trick. So, a hundred bucks a day is crazy...at least from my perspective.

But, on such a small parcel....once a tom survives attempts at calling, odds are, he isn't gonna get fooled again.

And, a smart hunter should know that laying out that kinda money on such a small parcel is probably not a cost effective means of getting Tommy Three Toes to pay a visit---especially if it has been hunted.

[jlove70]

Well there again it would depend on hunting pressure on that State land. If there wasn't much, then chances are there'd be more birds to work, and they wouldn't catch on as fast. Since a lot of hunts are a week or two long maybe a better route would be to lease it per season. Then maybe a couple hundred bucks wouldn't be so bad, especially if you get two hunters.

[Done Deal]

No way to know until the woods comes alive with a bunch of callers in camo.

[keen one]

I promise you there is hunting pressure there. Our farm is in the south west corner of Missaukee County. The deer there are hunted year round. The 'residents' of the community view deer as their property and tend to harvest after nightfall with the aid of a spot light.

Any property with a road nearby will be hunted typically without your permission.

Spend a week on your property (most noticeabaly in the fall) you will know of what I speak.

[GPintheMitten]

My thoughts are that it is more of a deer camp rental than a hunting lease.

Check your competition for cabins to rent/lease. They will have running water, you won't. Might be something you can get some money for. Try it.

But on the other hand, invite a friend to come up and teach you to hunt. You might like it.

[bk17]

But on the other hand, invite a friend to come up and teach you to hunt. You might like it.
that i think is the ticket. you like guns, you like the outdoors and if you like meat you're already on your way to being a hunter. if nothing else try it, you don't like it maybe you can rent and you'll know the whole deal about hunting there. i personally would not like renting to people, some are good some are bad. they may trash your place.