The Negatives of Daily or Short Term Hunting Leases For Hunters

By: Patrick Long

Hunters are always looking for better hunting land and more accessibility to private land that could offer much better hunting opportunities than public land. While daily and/or short-term hunting leases would logically make sense to check off all the boxes that a hunter could possibly want, they aren’t always as they seem. Daily and short-term hunting leases are not without their pitfalls that could ruin the hunt!

Daily and short-term hunting leases tend not to be cost effective and can have adverse rules, regulations, and expectations. In terms of hunting, they limit scouting and preparation while also creating many unknowns about other hunters and pressure on the game, thus leading to less successful hunts.

Let’s take a deeper dive into uncovering the real truths about daily and short-term hunting leases, along with their pitfalls. Don’t miss out and fall into a bad situation that looks too good to be true.

Cost In-Effective

Daily and short-term hunting leases almost scream to hunters convenience and bargain prices due to the short length of the lease. But looks can be awfully deceiving when it comes to these types of hunting leases.

While every area will be different when it comes to the cost of hunting leases, most places charge a higher premium for daily or short-term hunting leases. That’s because there is a higher turnover rate of hunters coming in and out, which can increase operating costs and upkeep if the landowner really cares about the quality of their lease. Others will just price gouge and try to make a quick buck off of hunter’s wants.

These can routinely cost much more than a longer lease. For example, a property might lease for the day at $200, but for the month could lease for say $4,000. That month-long lease would average $133 a day and save a good chunk of money if it was hunted consistently.

Now, I can hear you already…”but $200 for a day is a steal if we are just hunting for 1-day!”

Perhaps! It sounds like an unbeatable deal and we hope it goes that way for you, but there are more pitfalls to these short-term leases than just the cost.

Adverse Rules, Regulations, & Expectations

Cost, while important, shouldn’t be the stand alone factor when choosing leases. Knowing the ins and outs of the lease agreement can go a long way to have a good experience. When hunters are caught off-guard or find out about some less than favorable rules and regulations, it can spell disaster for a fun, successful hunt.

Knowing the rules, regulations, and expectations of the hunting lease is going to be very important to ensure a fun, safe, and successful hunt. Be sure to read these before entering the agreement. If there seems to be a lack of rules and expectations up front, please ask! The landowner may have these established without putting them at the forefront to make sure they don’t scare hunters away. At the same time, that can leave hunters trapped in unfavorable situations.

Find out how many hunters are allowed and if your party is the only one that will be there. Sometimes landowners will have more than one party hunting at the same time to maximize profit during peak hunting seasons. Depending on the game being hunted, this could wreak havoc on your hunting experience.

Other hunters may not have the same code of ethics or hunting etiquette that your party will and if those run at odds with one another, the day’s hunt could quickly turn sour. Other hunters on other days may also have a difference of how they deal with and treat habitat. If there are a lack of rules for these actions, there are bound to be issues that then affect you as well.

So be really particular about knowing the rules, regulations, and expectations of each daily or short-term hunting lease being considered.

Limited Scouting & Preparation

These daily and short-term leases also present a very important issue that many dedicated hunters will find issue with–socuting and preparation.

If it is a new property that you have never hunted and know very little about, then scouting becomes an issue and finding the right tactics or methods to hunt the property could take up all your time, depending on the game being hunted. Not all hunters like the “fly by the seat of your pants” method of hunting, which might be the case if it’s your first time putting boots on the ground.

Showing up prepared or wasting time and energy being over prepared for hunts could really be a huge road block to these daily or short-term hunting leases. As the hunter, you now have to time crunch to get scouting done and still fill your tags or hunting limits for the day to maximize your investment. Do you really want to feel that type of pressure instead of enjoying your hunt?

The only way you could negate this is if you decide to hunt that lease frequently to gain some long-term knowledge of the property. At that point, a short-term lease becomes counter productive in terms of cost and having more access to the property versus the better options of more long-term or seasonal hunting leases.

Is it Really Private Land?

These daily and short-term hunting leases have to maximize the hunting seasons to make as much money as possible, especially if the landowner is running it as a legitimate business. This could lead to issues that hunters are trying to avoid with public land.

A short-term lease might allow for more than one hunter or hunting parties. That means there could be a lot more hunters on a property that may not be suitable for that many hunters. This situation could also change hunting tactics and plans for the day.

Smaller properties with more people could really disrupt the natural flow of the property and change the whole dynamic of the day. This ends up in ruined hunts, frustration, tension between hunters, and ultimately a waste of time and money on a short-term hunting lease.

While not all daily and short-term hunting leases operate by jamming in as many hunters as possible, hunters also don’t have any control over who hunts the property previous to their arrival. Take a weekend lease for example. Who is to say there were not other hunters who hunted the property all week leading up to that. That pressure can’t be accounted for when planning hunts, which is just another uncontrollable negative aspect of these short-term leases.

Avoiding Short Term Leases

The pitfalls and negative aspects of daily and short-term hunting leases largely outweigh most of the benefits that hunting leases typically bring to hunters.

Cost can be deceptive when comparing short-term and long-term leases. Couple that with rules, regulations, and expectations that may or may not be spelled out in the lease agreement, and you get a recipe for a giant headache and waste of money.

Even if you decide to go that route, scouting and preparation to make the hunt successful are very limited, especially if it is an area you are not familiar with and/or putting boots on the ground for the first time. Add in the lack of knowledge about the property, who has hunted it previously, and the amount of pressure on the game and now you have all the ingredients for a hunt that is going to be full of tension, indecision, and an overall poor experience.

So be very tentative and thorough with your search and use of daily or short-term hunting leases. Don’t let them ruin your hunt and waste your time and money.