Anyone lease from Ward Whitworth?

[Swampa]

That's a LOT of hunters for those acreages.

[texaslammer]

I figured we would get some good feedback from some good tbh guys . Thank you for all the info guys

[8pointer]

Is it just me or does it seem like a lot of hunters per acre?

It is not just you..... that's an insane amount of hunters!

[systemnt]

I leased from him for one year (2016 season, 2500 acres lease ) and just recently got off the lease due to mostly my job but also because of some of his rules. He did have a few people on the 2500 acre lease that needed to go but he had folks that were on the lease for 20+ years that were actually managing the deer herd. He offered me and one other person the option to stay for this season and I was initially going to stay and help manage the lease but his rules had changed so much it was hard to find people to join the lease. He did say he was willing to go back to MLD in the future but that would cost $4K per member , he initially told us that 2017/18 season would be TPWD rules but changed that and said no culls unless preapproved by him. Past exp with him and culls he did not think any buck was a cull regardless of age or antler size. I had pics of one obvious 5.5 + yr old buck with non typical antlers that needed to be thinned from the herd but Ward did not want him shot. There is an obvious gap in age class for the deer there , I had some very promising 2.5 year olds but only saw one trophy and one cull 5.5 + yr old the entire year I was there and I only had him on camera once. I talked to the biologist and he said the drought had really affected the property for 3-4 years. No predator or varmint hunting he reserves that right for his family and there have been times during hunting season when they have come to the property and predator hunted at night all around the property. 2013 season the lease cost was $1300 & MLD , 2016 the lease cost was $3100 & MLD, 2017 cost was $3500 & not MLD. Of his four leases in the area he has had 43 hunters leave in the last 2 years. There is a lot of deer and axis there and this is the first year that you were only allowed either a trophy Axis or whitetail but not both. Any whitetail or Axis buck is considered a trophy. Most of the Axis stay in the front of the property although I was hunting the middle of the property and saw a few axis once or twice . Axis had been spotted very infrequently on other parts of the property but the majority of the sightings were around the front 4 stands.
The good , lots of deer , I hunted an area in the middle of the lease that was on the edge of the lease and had no one passing by my stand on the way to their stands. I averaged 20 - 25 deer a day. I saw one mature doe the entire season , again a lot of of 2.5 yr or younger does and bucks. With my job and travel schedule I personally was not willing to spend another 3 years hunting the property and wait on the 2.5 yr old deer to age to a trophy, especially since the lease price has steadily been increasing the last few years. This is just my experience but after talking to folks who had been on the lease for years it has been the same thing for many years.

Thanks.
good info.

[Williams4298]

We hunted out in west Texas on 17,000 acres and had 10-15 people and at times that felt crowded, can't imagine this place.

[Slew]

4 guns on 500 acres in that country ya'll are all gonna be waving at each other from the stand! He's gonna be looking for folks every season.

[7m STW]

My golden number is a min of 500 acres per Hunter but on my place it's more like 1200 per member. Sounds like he just likes to stack people on top of each other

[elliscountyhog]

I talked to him as well. The Trophy Buck OR Trophy Axis thing got me as well as the number of hunters at that price. Half the hunters, same price, and allow same amount of animals and I would have jumped on it for sure. Ward seemed like a great guy but just as mentioned above too many people and too much money for what is offered.

[alec73065]

I talked to him as well. The Trophy Buck OR Trophy Axis thing got me as well as the number of hunters at that price. Half the hunters, same price, and allow same amount of animals and I would have jumped on it for sure. Ward seemed like a great guy but just as mentioned above too many people and too much money for what is offered.

He really is a nice guy , every rule he has is a result of someone taking advantage of him over the years. We tried to negotiate a few things with him and he is dead set on them. I can understand I guess but would have liked some more flexibility. I am not on a lease to kill a trophy every year and if I had a guarantee the price would be locked for 5 years I more than likely would have stayed on. The place really has some potentially very nice trophies.
I was initially worried about the number of hunters on that size property but as I said earlier it does feel much bigger . I could see one stand on a far distant hill but only with binoculars. The more dedicated hunters saw a lot of deer , the jackwagons that would corn their area at midnight with a loud vehicle and drinking saw hardly nothing. Again the added job responsibilities were a major factor for me as well, the MLD season seemed a better value because I could go out once or twice a month and still feel like I had a good season. The TPWD season I would have missed most of it. I am not running him down just to clarify. Someone will pay that money out there but for me just did not work. I did see some huge Axis out there as well as Auodad (sp) . A couple of years and there will be some very nice whitetail bucks out there . My thinking was if I could kill a nice Axis or some other exotic and wait out a nice whitetail it would have ben worth it. One or the other really took a lot of the shine off the place.

[txwhitetail]

Hes getting a good $ per acre price!

[r_u_sharp_2]

Hunted on his place in Jumction for the last 3 years.

What he said about the hunters cooking the books was BS. His biologist aged every deer. I wrote every age down as he aged them last year at end of season.

Some folks needed to go.. but there were a few of us that truly managed the deer herd, and 6 or 7 were allowed to stay. Only 1 has that I know of. My trophy this year was a 6.5yo 8pt that scored 114 and change. Two years ago.. that was a mangement buck, but he did away with management bucks.

He cut the season short the last 3 years. All while changing the rules each year.

He wanted more money for less this year.

I loved the place, mainly because of a good group of guys that I hunted with.

It is pretty spread out and 16 people actually fit ok on the place. Not ideal, but it worked for us.

[Possum 1]

What is the going rate $$$ for leases MLD and Non MLD in the Junction / Sonora area?