Lease Bosses. members, the good the bad and the ugly thread

[CrookedArrow]

So watching particular threads from Kuma, Casey's and the classifieds etc. there will always be some sort of "differences". A little run down for me anyway. I am about to turn 53.

I have hunted for a very long time but I have only been on THREE (six total yrs) leases through out my entire life. So in a sorts I am a newby when being a lease member comes to play. Most of my hunts were swapping guiding for hunting or I did day hunts.

So do I know everything about being a lease boss, member etc? Nope, not like some of you might. To keep a LOCK off this thread and name calling etc. DO NOT PLACE OTHER MEMBERS NAMES ETC IN HERE NOR CALL THEM OUT. I know it can and has gone south really quick on similar threads.

So let's begin in the past, the present and the future.

[Pushbutton2]

I'm a member:
Lease boss let his Grandson shoot my target buck. Which I was ok with.

My issue was he asked me. After they ground checked it.

[Acameron52]

Only ever had one real problem, after i found out the kind of guys I was on there with I left. Only hunted that place two years which sucks because it could be an awesome place. Long story short, homeboy thought all the deer on the place were “his”. Anytime you did anything different, moved anything around etc you were stealing “his deer”. When we got the place there was an old box blind close to camp that nobody was using. We all agreed that I would put an extra feeder I had out there and call it a guest stand. His stand was the next closest but well over 500 yards away. You guessed it, it was stealing his deer. So we moved it, still no good enough. Finally I brought it up to where it wasn’t even 200 yards from camp which he still didn’t like but he put up with it. Well one day I took an unexpected week day trip out there and I’ll be ****ed if his sorry arse wasn’t sitting there hunting the feeder that he made a stink about. Probably not that big of a deal in reality but it hacked me off. This on top of lies after lies made it pretty easy to pack my stuff once the season was over. I’ve figured it out now... don’t hunt with stupid people.

[Preacher Man]

I just got off the best lease I was ever, or ever will be on (assuming I will ever get to be on a lease again). The deer hunting was good. Decent quality deer. The absolute best part was the folks I hunted with. I’m too old to hunt with idiots anymore. And these fellas are top notch.

[Preacher Man]

Forgot to add, my spot has been filled. Please don’t PM me.

[Royal]

The first lease I was ever on between Bridgeport and Jacksboro was my bad and ugly. It was 500 acres with myself and two other guys. The LO did not allow us to set up feeders, only use the feeders that he had set up. Ironically he stated that he believed people should hunt old school by looking for trails and sign (which I grew up doing in Oklahoma so no big deal at the time). We were allowed to set up stands where ever we wanted just no feeders. It was a bow only lease and absolutely no firearms on his property stating that he was worried about someone shooting towards his house. He also wanted at least one week notice prior to coming to the lease. Being my first lease and being "green" I had no idea that I was being taken. It wasn't until I was sitting on stand one afternoon and had the owners son and a couple of his buddies come blasting down the road shooting their AR-15 randomly that we realized that we had issues. Upon being confronted the LO added a couple addendums to his rules. He said his son and friends can hunt at will and have firearms. He also informed us that he would be running a few pig hunts as well to compensate for the low amount he was charging us. Needless to say it was a rude awakening to the rules of leasing hunting land. We ended up pulling our equipment and leaving before Thanksgiving.

[fbchunter]

Been a member on the same lease for a little over 20 years, I’m 33. Grew up on it so really been there my whole life. I’m the yoingest memeber but have been on it the longest. I haven’t always felt like decisions made were fair, but most of the members are family, and the guy who runs the cows collects, the money, and is in charge but doesn’t hunt, is in same family. It’s close, affordable, decent to good hunting, so I ain’t rocking the boat. I’ve picked my battles carefully and don’t get in the middle of family drama(hasn’t really been any). I live on 11 acres and the hunting is better at home anyway. Be firm and fair, make no exceptions to the rules

[dfkoon]

Been on 5 leases my adult life (55 yo). Coleman lease was great. Good hunting. Big deer. Pigs. Varmints. Ducks. Even fish in tanks. I was on it the longest of the leases. That lease really did not have a lease boss. He didn't hunt it and never saw him. Half the group were out there together, feed protein and all got along for the most part. The other half only showed up during rifle season. I left that lease due to another member hunting and leaving dead pigs at my spot. I would've likely gotten over that except I had made a deal with work to spend a couple months in India in exchange to have the holidays off to spend hunting with my son. Hindsight, I might should've sucked it up and stayed. Good lease are hard to find.

2nd lease only lasted a year and was about 15 miles away from the 1st. It was a startup lease. There just were not enough deer or at lease enough good deer spots. The lease boss was ok, though he had his group. Stayed on this lease 1 year. Saw very few deer and lease #3 looked really promising.

3rd lease was in Goldthwaite. It was a smaller lease. Only 3 of us on the lease including the lease boss (who I later figured may have been bi-polar). We had big plans on that lease. We were going to build cabins. Kept waiting then I finally bought a new camper. The lease did have good deer. There wasn't much of a camp life though (something I do like but really haven't found a good one since Coleman). In the end, they started building houses around the border. Started to feel like hunting in someones back yard.

4th lease was only because I had none (I had said that I wasn't doing another unless it was perfect -- no such thing). It was cheap and I couldn't imagine a year without a lease. It wasn't great but was cheap. Was on it 3 years. It was not year round. Lease boss was good guy, lived local. There was no camp life on this lease. Only 5 members and only 2 of us were not local. It was a good lease if you were local.

Lease #5 only lasted a year. 1st time the lease boss was really part of the reason to leave. To him it was a business. He did not pay for his spot and I think he had a buddy/employee that didn't pay as well (from what I was told). I was always of a mindset that I know what I'm paying and I really don't care about what anyone else is paying. Now I'm thinking that lease bosses should have money in the game. This lease had real potential. There was some bickering between some of the members. I wasn't a part of that. If I had been there more, that might have gotten old. There seemed to be new unwritten rules being imposed every few weeks. There were several things that did not sit well. Closing the lease due to rain. Telling lease members they have to be in camp at a certain time cause they arranged a helicopter hunt (could write a story on that alone). He even told one member that he couldn't shoot a pig in a trap. They should make a spear and stab it to death. I finally decided to leave when they cut the lease short by 2 months. In a matter of a couple weeks at Xmas had to decide to either pay or leave. Payment wasn't supposed to be until March. I even then was on the fence to the day that I needed to put the check in the mail. It was the words of another long term member that said he'd seen folks not invited back. I thought, I'll end up paying and then not be invited back. There was no concern for the lease members. Which I found odd given the lease boss called it a business. Don't like it leave. He had some of the members walking on pins and needles. Why he was upset when most left is still not clear.

I'll keep looking for that great lease with great members. Gonna really try not to jump on a lease unless I think it will be long term. The type of lease boss will be a bit more important. But also looking at buying land now. I may have just had my fill.