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  1. #1
    MGO Member
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    First Time hunter...going public route this time

    ..wondering how much a lease costs?

    I will be hitting public land in the shotgun zone as I don't have any other options (no hunters in family / no land up-north)
    I am fully expecting opening day to be **** show when i find all the public spots I scouted to be shoulder to shoulder.
    So in anticipation of a fun yet unsuccessful time this year - how much would someone expect to pay for access to private land?
    Last edited by MrBAMF; 11-11-2018 at 09:16 PM.

  2. #2
    MGO Board of Directors

    Trustee Jackam's Avatar


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    It may not be the show that you're expecting. LOTS of bucks are taken on state land.

    Most guys that lease their land are getting at least enough to pay their property tax. A friend of mine leases his 90 acres of wooded land in Ogema county for 1200.

    Jackson County, where most record racks are taken, seems to fetch more for some reason

    Good luck, by the way!

    When I hunted State land many moons ago, I would get in place at least an hour before I thought the first hunters would show up. I would then flashlight them as they arrived so they would know that "their spot" was already taken. Most times they moved on. Nobody wants to hunt next to someone else.
    "But then there are plenty of gun folks who think no one should rock the boat because it might piss off the anti gun crowd/politicians and cause even more gun control." - Bikenut
    Submissive gun rights advocates need to lose their submissiveness before we lose our 2A rights.

  3. #3
    MGO Member Moleman-'s Avatar
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    I grew up hunting family and private lands. It was an eye opener to hunt state land for the first time in 2010. Archery season I saw a couple other guys had parked their vehicles and were hunting, but the first day of deer season the seasonal dirt road had trucks and cars at every turnout and some in the ditch. My neighbor took pity on me and let me hunt his sons stand who was in college and wouldn't be able to hunt. It was a decent walk and it seemed most of the other hunters hunted within eye sight of the road or at least within 100 yards of it. About a third to half of the guys didn't return after lunch. On the 2nd day there were likely about half of the guys that had hunted the first day and only about half of them hunted in the afternoon. By day three there were only about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the original hunters. By day 4 only a few more guys than during archery season and it stayed that way except on the weekend and the last day when more guys would show up.

    So it was like that in that spot. Lots of guys the first morning, sort of dwindled down fast with slight increases on weekends and the last day. Tried a couple different spots and about the same. 2014 was the last time I hunted state land. We'd found a decent spot that wasn't hunted as heavily the couple years prior and and archery hunted it again. Went out the day before opening day of gun season and apparently putting up a two man ladder stand was the beckon call that summoned a lot more guys to our area than the prior years. We were about 250yds off of the road but could still see parts of it. From our stand we could hear someone making a breaking brush about 50 yards behind us. There was a moron with a piece of paper in his hand tying surveyor tape every 10 yards from the road to somewhere over the hill we were on to our left. A guy was putting up a big aluminum treestand about 75 yards to our right but eventually couldn't get it set right in the tree so he disappeared to the other side of that ridge. Opening morning the weather was nice and we had a light steady snow. At sunup two guys showed up and back off the road, left their trucks running and just stood around with shotguns and talked while they set up a shade tent. The idiot with the surveyor tape came in about a half hour after sun up and got lost. My son started laughing when he started flipping his trusty piece of paper round and round trying to find out where he was while making a big circle. The ground was whit by now and the orange tape really stood out. He ended up about 40 yards in front of us and I mentioned that his blaze orange trail was to our left which got me a smile and a wave. His buddy who I recognized from his big puffy silver coat came in a little later and managed to find the marked trail. Had several guys walking around come by within bow range. By 9:30 we were up to 10 guys that had come by within 50-60 yards. One guy sat on a bucket to our right, ate a snack and made a few grunt calls before moving on. Sometime around 10:00 or so it happened. We started hearing this loud sound coming from behind us far away. As it got closer the sound was unmistakable and after a while our buddy with big aluminum tree stand came trudging through the brush up over the ridge we were on to our left, made a big circle between us and the guys standing under the shade tent to get out of the snow with their trucks finally turned off and continued on up and over the ridge to our right pretty much as he had done the day prior making no effort to not hit every treebranch, sappling or sticker bush with that aluminum treestand which made quite a racket. The ridge he went over was at a 90 degree angle to ours and ended in a drainage before meeting up with the ridge we were on. About the time he would of been to the next ridge over that (we could still hear him) the three small bucks we'd been seeing during archery season came running down the drainage towards us. The two 4pt bucks wrapped around the ridge to our right and ran towards the road, but the 6pt was headed on an angle towards the guys under the shade tent who were still talking and telling jokes which caused the buck to turn towards us. About 60yds out I was able to get him to stop for a slightly angling heart/lung shot. That little thing was the biggest buck I'd seen in the 5 seasons hunting there. We carted it out and weren't able to hunt that afternoon which was ok as the snow eventually turned to freezing rain. The next morning the truck guys were back. After we had left someone had made a ground blind about 30 yards to the right on the trail to our treestand. It was easy to see from the frozen white toilet paper it looked like they had hung in the trees around them and soaked with doe scent before leaving the bottle lay. Some of the tp was still stuck to the trees but most of it had been knocked down from the rain. Didn't see any deer out of that stand the rest of gun or ML season.

    I enjoy deer hunting and realize that those other guys had just as much right to hunt that area as I did. I just didn't like watching more people walking around than deer and started looking for a hunting lease. I found a place big enough for several guys and get a year lease so we can hunt anything in season. Had to kick out a neighbor the first year who "had permission from the lady on the hill". Wasn't rude about it but let him know that the lady doesn't own the property and the hunting rights have already been leased. Haven't seen him on the property since and he hasn't shown up on any trail cameras. Had a guy walk in from the north last season opening day about 100yds into the lease, and then turn around and head back to his spot. Didn't hear any shots that way or see any deer come running from there. Figure he was just being nosy. Got a nice 8pt about an hour later.

    Leases depend on the area it's in, how good of a spot it is and what/how long it is for. $10-$20 an acre is pretty standard. It'll be more closer to a big city or a spot known for big bucks ect. For you since you're down to the wire. Go out on thursday as far from the road as you can get and just wait them out. After a few days the number of hunters will be much smaller.

  4. #4
    MGO Member josey wales's Avatar
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    88 acres in Saginaw county, I pay $2000.00
    "dying ain't much of a living boy"

  5. #5
    MGO Member josey wales's Avatar
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    I hunted state land for years, Most hunters wont get to far off road or trail, find the spot on state land farthest from the road with the thickset cover, the bucks will find there way there later in the morning,
    "dying ain't much of a living boy"

  6. #6
    I am a Forum User
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    take from experience , when you do your scouting, make sure you have multiple hunting spots. I had people come right up to where I was hunting with bait piles and markers all over the place . so a day I don't hunt , I come out the next day and there is a tree blind right over my bait pile and the guy in the tree blind hollers that he is hunting there, or you will go out and find all your markers gathered up and piled up at the start of the trail where you go in." like you don't need to hunt here" or trying to run you off. take care and most important be courteous , remember you are hunting in areas where everyone has a weapon. be safe

  7. #7
    MGO Board of Directors

    Trustee CyborgHunter's Avatar


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    Quote Originally Posted by MrBAMF View Post
    I will be hitting public land in the shotgun zone as I don't have any other options (no hunters in family / no land up-north)
    I am fully expecting opening day to be **** show when i find all the public spots I scouted to be shoulder to shoulder.
    Depends.
    If you go to the heavily hunted public lands in the lower half of the lower peninsula (shotgun zone, as you put it) you will indeed be shoulder to shoulder.

    I can assure you that vast stretches of the Huron and Manistee national forrests, as well as some state forrests see virtually no pressure.
    You could also find yourself quite alone in much of the UP.

    All it takes is some gas and a tent.
    Last edited by CyborgHunter; 11-12-2018 at 01:27 PM.
    DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in my posts are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, or official policies of Michigan Gun Owners.

  8. #8
    MGO Member JohnJak's Avatar
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    Always had success on state land. Early in and late out. We always took empty whiskey bottles and beer cans placed them on the hood of the truck/car when going to our blinds. Opening day we always stayed hunkered down for the entire day(pack a lunch).

    Always take a wizz around your blind.
    Teachers leave them kids alone
    Hey! teacher! leave us kids alone!

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by JohnJak View Post
    Always had success on state land. Early in and late out. We always took empty whiskey bottles and beer cans placed them on the hood of the truck/car when going to our blinds. Opening day we always stayed hunkered down for the entire day(pack a lunch).

    Always take a wizz around your blind.
    Whats the message with the bottles ? I never hunted on state land before.

  10. #10
    MGO Member
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    Drunks with guns.

    Have any success yet? Or just seeing wandering pumpkins?

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