Need info/advice on first lease

[robbyreneeward]

My wife and I own 40 acres in Red River County where we live. Not much chance on that small of a property to hunt mature bucks, especially with so much hunting pressure around here. I was possibly looking into leasing a secondary property within am hours drive or so. Possibly Oklahoma as well. What are good prices per acre for a lease around here and how would I go about finding one? Or would we be better off booking a hunt per year with an outfitter and spending our money that way? Any advice is appreciated.

RW

[robbyreneeward]

Anyone?

[Cam-Mac]

Robby i bet you'll get more traffic later today or tomorrow- usually pretty slow sun mornings. Wish i had some advice for ya... I bet somebody'll chime in here later this evening...

[BrianW]

I think you might be suprised on YOUR land,some monster deer have been taken on small acreage....I'm on a timber lease in Cass Co.,that to far for you???

[mitchbcs]

Personally I think it depends on what your hopes are. If your wanting a trophy buck and not the good times around the campfire with buddies or family or even a group you don't know, I book a hunt with a high success rate. When the farmers/guides have the deer patterned your success rate is way higher and you are not risking "losing your money" so to speak by not killing.( you still run that risk even with an outfitter though) If your willing to spend money on a good place an walk away with nothing I say go that route.

I just spent 10 days I'n KS on my lease and saw a giant. Came home with nothing to show for my money spent except a good time with my friends and a little more knowledge about KS deer. I'm okay with that...

Just depends on what your okay with and what your play budget is. getting on a lease that BIG deer are known to be is usually not cheap. If you go the lease route its definitely good to find something within a few hours. For me 12 hours to KS is more less a two trip, maybe one trip per year lease. Might A's well go on a 7 day outfitted hunt if you can only go 1 or 2times per year... Just depends on what you think. I prefer to spend my week hunting with good friends.

Not sure I answered your question but at least you have something to think about

[snikrah]

If there is a lot of hunting pressure around you, i'd imagine they'd go onto yall's 40 acres to get away from that pressure IMO.

We have a patch of pines (about 8 acres) surrounded by fields. Since we never hunt that patch, towards the end of every season we do a push through them and normally flush out about 20 deer and there has always been nice ones hiding out in there.

Can't help ya on the lease info, g/l tho =)

[tx07]

Average price per acre on leasing is around $7 to $10. In east Texas

[robbyreneeward]

I'm just wanting somewhere close to home where is have more of an opportunity at taking a mature buck. Not necessarily trophy quality, but you get my drift. And its not just this year that's bad. This is just even worse than normal. Of the 4 years I've hunted this property I have only seen a buck over the 13" antler restriction one time, and he was out of range and couldn't get him to come closer. We plant 3-4 acres of food every year and keep feeders full as well. Not sure what else to do on a small property.

[2B4Him]

We lease out some family land in Red River County for about $10/acre.
As for 'mature' bucks, IMO you'll have to try to find a place with enough land to 'manage' for maturity. With smaller acreages, you are at the mercy of surrounding properties and their management practices.