Finding Land to Hunt: It’s Not As Hard As You Thought
June 6, 2019 How to Guides, Duck, Elk, Mule Deer, Quail, Turkey, Whitetail Deer, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Bow, Muzzleloader, Rifles, Shotguns
When you begin the search to find hunting lease land, you’ll find that there are more options than you realized.
In our humble opinion, hunting clubs, in some form, have been around as long as there has been hunting. In the beginning when humans began to hunt, they must have immediately come to the realization how important community was to the pursuit and its subsequent success. In all these years there may be no better way to be a part of the hunt than becoming a member of that community in some form or another, if for no other reason than to gain experience and success.
We understand that this is not the same as finding a lease or buying land of your own, but almost everyone and anyone willing to put down some hard-earned money for a hunting opportunity will find that the money paid to be a part of a club will get them much the same thing.
Out 5 Favorite Resources for finding hunting land
On the other hand, when it comes to hunting property, especially for deer hunting, quality land can be difficult to come by for many folks who just don’t have easy access to it. For some, the simple excursion to public access land may be longer than they care for, or they just don’t want the struggle of being elbow-to-elbow with other hunters that comes with it. Many times, the struggle to find a place to hunt starts with these issues that stall our process and stop us from the work that it takes to find such land.
Now, organizations such as the American Hunting Lease Association (AHLA) are at the cutting edge of helping to finding good, solid hunting property for hunters from the east coast to the west coast of United States and all the way through Canada to Alaska.
With the overall number of hunters on the decline, this is the time to use this information to get the ball rolling towards finding that lease or club that you’ve always wanted to be a part of. While it always seems to start these searches on the internet, eventually the time comes when we have to do it the old-fashioned way by knocking on some doors, and making some phone calls.
Included herein is a review of your search parameters and some advice as to how it all starts. We as hunters are an interesting breed. We use the tools and reasoning of the hunt wherever we go, and in whatever we do. From the things that we decide to procure to the way that go about finding them, and the hunt for land to use is no different: we have to scout them out, and hunt them down.
Here are some good starting points that we found to give you a head start towards that dream land you always wanted to hunt.
1. Lease Networks for Hunters
One great place where hunters can find and even share hunting land lease information is our own Hunting Locator. A simple trip to our home page and you will find there listed every single state in the United States. Clicking on any state will quickly find you looking at many real-time locations including how many acres the area offered has, the county that it is located in, the type of lease, (for instance yearly) and what kind of wild game exists there.
The site is up-to-date with the included date of the post, or updated. All of this includes the price of the property, be it for sale or lease. Even a quick visit to your state’s own wildlife resource page can help a hunter to find such information as draws on public hunting land and even the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) interactive map.
2. Federal Reserves can help
If your search doesn’t improve, try finding information at the state level, or even the national level. The National Wildlife Refuge System has a searchable database of reserves and refuges that most hunters can find in their own state. Wingshooters can even scope out possible locations by using the Wingshooting USA organization’s search site which couldn’t be easier.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website can be filtered to search specific game from elk and deer to pheasant and waterfowl with a simple click on the map to explore hunting opportunities.
3. Online Classified Ads
Sites such as Craigslist and Kijiji (a Canadian based classified) can offer another opportunity to find land and lease hunting possibilities, but it can be competitive and pricey. Don’t rule out using your local newspaper to find something either. It may seem old school or drab, but since many may also feel that it is worthless, you may just find yourself that land you’ve always wanted.
Don’t forget that all or most newspapers have internet sites and data bases as well, and more importantly even the most cautious folks can get scammed, so be alert with the questions you ask and the responses you get.
4. Online Chat Rooms
Hunters, fishermen, and outdoors men and women everywhere have been using these social forums since we’ve had internet access. Sites like HuntingNet even have regional forums that span many states from Texas to Missouri, and from Alabama to New York just to name a few.
As much as these sites can help, you will still need to do your homework and find one that is not only specific to your needs, but is good to hunters coming in “off the street” so to speak. In other words, you will need to take some time to let others in the room get to know you, and just as important see that you can and value to the room.
It goes without saying that you will need a decent search engine to get going. Since Google seems to be the most popular and with a G-mail account you can set up “Google Alerts,” it is a good starting point. You can set the alert frequency to notify you daily or weekly by typing such items as Craigslist or hunting lease available into Google alerts search query box.
5. Social media
Facebook, Instagram, and other like social media outlets such as Twitter are replete with similar hunting forums that cater to like-minded individuals to create a conversation about all things hunting. Facebook alone is so packed with hunting and fishing groups and pages that it would take a lifetime to look at them all. Start by checking your local state—especially their DNR, DEC, and other governmentally appointed wildlife sites—for insights into your regions most sought-after hunts.
Never doubt the power of social media to help you find these things, and even bring these things to you. There are enough folks out there trying to sell or lease hunting land that want to get your attention, it bears mentioning that it might fall right into your lap.
6. Ask a Realtor
Everybody knows a realtor. Since you’re just doing your homework at this point, you must know that questions are free. Slow down on that road you go down every day and pay a little closer attention to that sign advertising that chunk of land for sale. A couple of phone calls later, an interested realtor will be happy to give you some simple info like how many acres, the name of the seller, and yes, the price.
Above and beyond that, you may just feel free to contact the seller and discuss a lease. Perhaps the person giving up the property could be persuaded to keep it if they knew that someone was interested in using it as a hunting property. Even if they are determined to sell, the new owner may feel the same way.
As hunters, we have asked a lot of farmers and land owners over the years for permission to hunt their land, and if you’re like us, you got turned down a lot, but there was always that one or two that were happy to let you hunt.
The bottom line is that you will never know unless you ask!
At some point, it will be time to stop looking and ask some basic questions. There are many hunters who desire and seek out hunting land leases as a way to create a situation for themselves that includes exclusive hunting rights to an area that they finally can call “their own.”
Since your dream spot isn’t going to happen without some kind of effort, and yes, money, you will need to start by asking yourself the hardest questions. The least of which being “am I ready to own or lease?”
If the answer is yes, then it’s time to get off of the couch and start doing the footwork that will result in that prime land that you’ve always dreamed of. Starting right here at Hunting Locator is one of the best ways to do it, but it starts with you.