15 Steps to a Big Lease Property Buck

How to lease hunting land and shoot a big whitetail.

Most of my biggest whitetails were products of lease properties. The 165-inch mainframe Kentucky 12-pointer. A slew of 130- to 140-inch Kentucky bucks. Numerous of the same caliber from Ohio. Many of my biggest deer were from lands that I leased, scouted, and hunted for at least a year or two, sometimes longer.

Killing mature deer isn’t easy, though. That said, follow along for the right steps to take to lease a piece of hunting ground and shoot a big buck.

1. Determine Your Leasing Strategy

Everyone needs a strategy for leasing hunting land. Some choose to lease directly from private landowners, but that can pose significant challenges and issues. Instead, by leasing through a hunting lease agency, such as Base Camp Leasing, hunters can gain access to a better selection of properties. It also offers better protections for lessors and lessees and a more streamlined process.

With Base Camp, secure the membership level that’s right for you. Of course, you can certainly find leases via the free, Fork Horn ($29), and 8-Point ($69) membership levels. That said, a Wall Hanger membership ($249) gets you the fastest look as soon as properties become available. Oftentimes, some of the better properties are selected before 8-Point, Fork Horn, and free members have a chance to see them.

If you choose to start with a cheaper membership, and still aren’t seeing the right property for you, bump up to a Wall Hanger. Personally, I’ve found great leases available with each option.

2. Choose the Right General Location

Choose the right state for a hunting lease. Are you leasing in state? Out of state? Choose the right destination for you. Then, pick the region within the state that makes the most sense. Are there specific counties of interest? If so, determine a focus area, and look for leases within that particular zone.

3. Scan Available Listings

Base Camp Leasing sends e-blasts throughout the week with new lease listings. Or sign into your account and be waiting at the particular time each week that your membership levels first see new properties. Each listing includes detailed descriptions of the property, photos of various aspects of the lease, and more. Study the property details and photos for important factors and characteristics of good hunting properties. Observe the acreage, habitat, topography, and more. Additionally, if possible, study the greater area around potential leases remotely via available apps and maps.

4. Walk Listings of Interest

Unless someone makes a deposit before you can walk the farm, study potential leases in person. Verify the existence of key whitetail requirements on the property. These include bedding areas, food sources, and water sources. Ensure the lease checks the necessary boxes.

4. Chaotic Leasing Processes and Procedures

Base Camp Leasing also has a reputation for a streamlined leasing process. The step-by-step procedures are designed for utmost convenience for landowners and hunters alike. When this is absent, it leads to a chaotic leasing experience. That’s especially true with certain platforms where landowners post their own properties. Oftentimes, these do not provide sufficient property details and photo depictions.

5. Gauge the Access Availabilities

Study the quality of property access. The access direction should work on multiple levels. Your entry and exit should work in relation to the locations of bedding areas, food sources, wind directions, and more. If deer can see, hear, or smell you arriving and departing, it won’t work. (Fortunately, Base Camp Leasing agents assess these same things when evaluating potential leases to offer.)

6. Assess the Neighborhood

While you can’t walk on neighboring properties, you can guestimate the details of the neighborhood. By studying the area via a hunting app, determine if the lease is surrounded by smaller or larger tracts. (Larger tracts are usually more desired as it typically equates to fewer neighboring hunters and less hunting pressure, but that isn’t always a direct correlation.) That said, lower hunting pressure usually equals older buck age structures.

7. Give it a Grade

While a literal grade isn’t necessary, determine if it satisfies your personal requirements.

Rate the overall quality of the land. Assess the hunt-ability of it, which is the term for how well it lays out for hunting. For example, does the bedding cover, food sources, and watering areas lay out in a manner that’s good for accessing the property, staying off whitetails’ radars, and seeing them during daylight hours.

8. Make Your Deposit, Pay the Balance

Once you decide to lease an available listing, make the initial deposit. Then, sign the lease contract and pay the remaining balance before the one-week deadline. If you don’t complete the contract and payment process in time, the listing will become available again for others to lease.

9. Boots-on-the-Ground Scout

With all contracts and payments processed, you’re free to use the property as outlined in the agreement. Now, put boots on the ground and scout the property. Learn as much as you can, and see as much of the tract as possible, in that scouting trip. This will help make wiser hunting decisions than if you don’t scout the entire farm.

10. Hang Some Cell Cams

While scouting the property on foot, or after the initial scouting process, consider hanging come trail cameras. If desired, use cell cams for faster, real-time scouting results. This will assist in taking a property buck inventory, patterning deer, finding the best spots, and more.

11. Deploy Preliminary Treestands and Hunting Blinds

Once you’ve scouted the property, and located the best spots, deploy preliminary treestands and hunting blinds. These stand locations can be fine-tuned as you learn the property better. Until then, it’s good to keep a lightweight, mobile treestand on hand for hang-and-hunt missions.

12. Pattern a Target Buck

Cell cams. Traditional SD cams. Scouting on foot. Glassing from afar. In-stand sightings. Use whatever scouting intel you have to piece together the big-buck puzzle. Pattern your target buck and make the appropriate moves.

13. Find the X

Part of hunting mature bucks is finding where you can intercept them and get a shot opportunity. This requires knowing where bucks bed, feed, and travel in-between. Then, find the spot(s) that are close enough to see the deer in range and during legal shooting hours. The spot must allow you to get in and out of the stand location without being seen, heard, or smelled. The same is true for when deer travel past your stand, too.

14. Time the Strike

If a deer is on a consistent, day-to-day pattern, go ahead and move in. If the deer isn’t moving through every day, there’s a chance it prefers a certain wind direction to do so. Oftentimes, mature bucks use the wind in their favor. Therefore, they might only travel certain areas when the wind is favorable for them to do so.

By hunting a “just-off” wind direction, which is largely in the favor of your target buck, you increase the odds of seeing it during daylight. However, your stand location is micro-tuned so that slight separation remains between the buck’s line of travel and the edge of your scent cone.

15. Fill Your Buck Tag

Finally, when the buck walks by, take your shot. Make it count. And fill your buck tag. You’ve successfully bagged a big, lease property buck, and the feeling is mighty sweet. But the process starts with Base Camp Leasing.