I'm hoping to get on a deer lease for next hunting season and have begun "shopping" around for potential leases. This is my first lease to be on and I want to make sure I ask all the right questions before committing to a lease. Here is my list of questions so far:

How many acres is the lease total?
How many hunters are on the lease total?
How many deer are usually taken from the lease in a typical year?
What do the deer typically score?
Do you have any pictures of deer taken from the lease and pictures of the lease/land itself?
Are there any restrictions on access during the offseason for setup of feeders/blinds/scouting?
What is the cost?

Are there any other questions I should be asking, or anything else I need to know?

Thanks for helping out a noob.

- is it a year-round lease?

- running water?

- electricity?

- standing buildings useful for housing?

- does the landowner have additional hunting restrictions? (over and above the state laws)

- does the landowner lease to other types of hunters (e.g. coon hunters)

- cattle? if so are they the landowner's or a cattleman that has leased the place?
ETA: how many head/acre?

[This message has been edited by ShaggyAggie01 (edited 3/20/2013 4:11p).]

can I kill my deer with any legal method of take?

To piggyback on one of Sh****'s points, make sure you have "exclusive hunting rights" built into the contract. We looked into a lease in Webb county years ago that was going for $5,000/gun. The landowner mentioned in passing that his sons might take "a cull buck and some does", but that they wouldn't hunt when we were there so as to not interfere. To his credit he brought it up, but for that kind of money, we said no way and kept searching.

Does the landowner provide blinds and maintain feed plots? (i have done this arrangement in the past, and prefer the lessee to do it)

all good point

make sure the termination language is very, very clear. A lot of leases will have a list of rules that provide a lot of outs for a LL if they decide they no longer want you on the property. Some can be splitting hair.

Buddy and I started doing some looking before his job cut back and pinched his finances. The place that had caught out eye was going to require a lot of work by us a it had never been seriously hunted by anyone.

We were going to have to likely do some clearing, food plots, blinds, feeders, or own housing, etc. I was either going to ask for financial credit for value added to the place or a guarantee of zzz minimum years at xxx price so ass to not be used for free labor.

Something to protect our potential financial and sweat investments.

I saw one that was "Family Friendly", which meant that one paid gun could also allow a minor child to hunt under adult supervision. That meant to me that 1 gun = 2 guns....fuzzy math.

You can ask some pretty obvious questions to know exactly what comes with the lease. The thing that matters is what you see when you visit.

Typically, you will be able to tell if the lease is a well run property that you would like to be a part of, if it is a maybe type place or if you should avoid it like the plague. If it seems like youre talking to a snake oil salesman then you more than likely are.


If it seems like youre talking to a snake oil salesman but you are also seeing really awesome stuff all over the property then you might have just got lucky and found a great place. I think it really comes down to a combination of luck, how hard you work finding a place and how much you are willing to pay.

FYI, I own and operate hunting leases. The prices are good but every group of hunters that comes around, when there are open areas, arent actually testing me out. I'm actually interviewing them to see whether or not I'd like them on the property. The way you conduct yourself and behave is very important because I don't want any problems and I like to have knowledgeable hunters that are only going to better the hunting instead of taking the easy route and trying to fill their tags without any true objective.