I had a couple bad experiences on Public last year so I'm looking into some private leases. They run a little more than I'm willing to burn by myself, so the question is...how many acres per hunter?
You gotta figure that out. Each situation is dif
As many as you can afford...
Quote from: Bowguy on March 02, 2017, 08:31:23 PM
You gotta figure that out. Each situation is dif
Can you give some examples please?
Depends on on how many hunt the place and how often.
It's amazing how small any given acreage becomes when hunting spring gobblers. IT'S a whole different ballgame than hunting deer on the back 40. WE have an 1100 acre lease in ohio that is all wooded. 3 guys get crowded there real quickly.
Thanks, that is kind of what I was wondering. Anyone out there sharing a measly 60 acres of woods with a ton of field?
Four of us hunt 1000 ac and we divide it up into sections and draw for those 4 areas and we don't over run each other at all ...Just because you didn't kill one that morning doesn't mean you want another day..But what really helps us is we don't do all that running and gunning like a lot of younger hunters do...we do move around but it's just to relocate to another part of that area...
640 acres per hunter as per Ben Lee and I agree.
I am in hunting leases that average about 100 acres per member. About 80% deer hunt on opening weekend. This is really too many but it's all many in the club can afford. For turkey hunting it is totally different. I like the 640 acres or square mile as stated above. More is better. As many have said properties can seem very small quickly chasing Spring gobblers. Every property is different. Acquire all you can.
Quote from: silvestris on March 03, 2017, 09:15:34 AM
640 acres per hunter as per Ben Lee and I agree.
I can agree also. The way turkeys move around, a tract of land can get small real quick.
If you put 1 more hunter inside that 640 and birds only roost in 1 or 2 spots, or you only have 1 field on your tract, you are on top of the other guy real quick. You have to consider that some of the land inside your boundarys aren't a place a turkey would be, that makes it hunt smaller right off the bat.
Lots of deer leases in my area are big but the members also turkey hunt, the leases aren't big enough to support the member population, I prefer to hunt public for that very reason. I gots to have room to roam !
I would like to throw in the variable that I would be the most interested in. For me, it is not about the number of hunters I share a spot with, it's the TYPE of hunters I share it with. I have a few good friends who are seasoned hunters that I share an 80 acre patch with and between us all, we usually have 5-6 different people hunting it throughout the season, and usually kill 3-4 birds off the place. There are other spots I go to that are 320 acres and one other dumazz hunter can ruin the whole spot if decides he wants to hunt this year. It all depends on communication, proper hunting ethics, and respect for the wildlife and the other hunters in your group.
I will typically run on average 15 hunts a year, between Learn to Hunts, Youth Season and 6 weeks of regular season. I just gained an additional 300 acres to the 1600 acres I hunt. We have great success and I would consider "my" ground prime turkey habitat. If you figure that out it's right about 125 acres per hunter, now no one else hunts this ground so birds are only seeing "pressure" from me/or who's with me, and I do rotate where I hunt from day to day and through each of our 6 weekly seasons. I also believe that has a lot to do with it, I was on a lease (turkey only) with some other "hunters" and they had them birds so buggered up it wasn't funny, they spent very little time scouting and learning those birds, they bumped them all the time called from all over and.... you get the picture. We had a self imposed 3 bird limit each (12 birds from 1200 acres) I killed 1 gobbler myself and 2 others with a couple of friends, other than that 1 other tom was killed. I dropped out of the lease the next year... I really think how hunting pressure effects the birds and if you hunt a property (private) "right" you can kill birds from seasons start to seasons end.
MK M GOBL
Lot of variables there biggest being what type of land where its at the species your hunting 600 acres in Ria or Merriams country might be only big enough for 1 or 2depending on who and how you hunt it like not busting the roost sites and lightly pressuring the birds so they don't move on. Say with easterns again really depends on bird numbers and amount tags your state hands out but I myself can hunt 600 plus acres pretty easy so any more than 1 unless its covered with birds wouldn't work for me I'd rather do public land and big land so no worries about property lines that is the one thing I hate is birds that won't cross a line and just gobble their heads off
Quote from: ruination on March 02, 2017, 09:15:32 PM
Quote from: Bowguy on March 02, 2017, 08:31:23 PM
You gotta figure that out. Each situation is dif
Can you give some examples please?
Ok says its 1000 acres n you wanna turkey hunt it n the birds roost in one area. It's kinda good for one guy. Say it's 500 acres n mostly cow pasture w a few tree lines n a big wood lot. It might be good for 2 guys deer hunting, maybe 3 or 4 but it so depends on neighboring prop. Say you have a long strip of woods that backs to someone else w fields in front. You can't hunt that in the morn without spooking everything in, going out you'd have to hug a edge imo and wind's a giant factor. Again limits you.
Not trying to sound negative but this has to be all thought out or it could be worse than state land.
Now say it's perfect for 5,10, 50 guys divide the cost, plus insurance, plus posted signs into the number n you'll get a price.
If you can afford more knock the number down.
I agree that there's no easy answer. I have access to a 120 acre farm that has enough food and terrain for 3 or 4 hunters to tag out on...and an 860 acre farm that MIGHT only support one.
Depends. Are you hunting them like deer or turkeys ?
Thanks for the insight guys.
Would you feel differently if it was pretty much only field hunting?
or Field with some shared woods?
I am in a mix of hardwoods and fields, one of the bigger properties is 600 acres, with 400 acres of corn in one continuous field surrounded by 200 acres of timber around its edges and we kill a number of birds of this farm.
MK M GOBL
Quote from: 1iagobblergetter on March 02, 2017, 08:43:15 PM
As many as you can afford...
actually as few as you can afford
I hunted with a friend on his lease last year and I promise you it was as crowded as the public land I hunt.
I like to roam. I think you can get away with more hunters per acre in the hills/mountains vs flat country.
i can't speak for other areas but finding a property that is one hunter per 640 acres good luck! We hunt properties as small as 40 acres and as large as 200 continuous acres. We are very successful. In fact the smaller properties we getbpermission easier because most people over look them. The larger tracts get asked more. One of my best spots is under 50 acres. When hunting smaller properties patience is key.
According to these numbers, I don't stand a chance. I hunt public ground river bottoms and do ok. Most of these are couple hundred acre chunks that scattered up and down the river as the owner sells to the county or state. Have to be careful knowing where the boundaries are! Yeah, other folks can mess up a hunt. Last year it was mushroom hunters. I hunt hard and often to get my birds and I love it.
I don't go to the popular Public Areas, and you got to be resourceful. Either go remote or go where no one expects, like a deer/turkey trail that is legal distance from an access rd and the Forest HQ. Plenty of sign and never ran across another hunter. (Can't see it from the rd or from HQ, woods and brush) Too obvious. May not get a bird there every year but I have other spots like it. And this in Massachsetts, a lot of hunters.
Quote from: ruination on March 03, 2017, 03:59:28 PM
Thanks for the insight guys.
Would you feel differently if it was pretty much only field hunting?
or Field with some shared woods?
Well maybe you're fellow member also only field hunts n keeps beating you there. What if 5-6 guys think this way? What if you decide to run n gun? Or someone else does?
We've got a 1200 acre farm. It's mostly woods. Walking from one side to the other w no one else there to avoid trying to locate birds, so obviously we're moving, takes only an hour or so. Now what?
Many guys bash state land or feel handicapped. I don't get it. I live in the most populated state in the in an area lots come to hunt.
Since the early 80s I've seen 1-2 other hunters.
Just walk a little, cross a brook, swamp, climb a mountain.
Private land is cool but often less exclusive than correctly hunted public. Least where I live.
But think it all through before you decide if and how many.
Good luck
If I had to go this route I'd figure out how much money I could spend and how many acres I could get for that. Then figure out how many other guys it would take to lease a property. If it took very many guys to make it happen and your going to be crowded anyway what's the point. Might as well hunt public then. If you had a calendar and everyone agreed and you picked your days to hunt before season where you could have the place to yourself or with maybe one or two other guys and not be hunting where it's messing eachother up then it would be worth it. Hence lease as many acres as you can afford with as few guys involved or a property that might not be huge that holds alot of turkeys that you yourself can afford. Myself I'd just as soon hunt a small property that holds turkeys myself than a big one with a bunch of hunters worrying about who was going to possibly shoot me.
Quote from: Bowguy on March 04, 2017, 09:28:38 AM
Quote from: ruination on March 03, 2017, 03:59:28 PM
Thanks for the insight guys.
Would you feel differently if it was pretty much only field hunting?
or Field with some shared woods?
Well maybe you're fellow member also only field hunts n keeps beating you there. What if 5-6 guys think this way? What if you decide to run n gun? Or someone else does?
We've got a 1200 acre farm. It's mostly woods. Walking from one side to the other w no one else there to avoid trying to locate birds, so obviously we're moving, takes only an hour or so. Now what?
Many guys bash state land or feel handicapped. I don't get it. I live in the most populated state in the in an area lots come to hunt.
Since the early 80s I've seen 1-2 other hunters.
Just walk a little, cross a brook, swamp, climb a mountain.
Private land is cool but often less exclusive than correctly hunted public. Least where I live.
But think it all through before you decide if and how many.
Good luck
There really is not any public land like this around me.
I want a bunch of different properties, sometimes even a big place can be silent. If I only had one place I'd want it big so I can cover lots of ground.
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I was spoiled in the early 70s through the late 80s. Never had less than a section to myself. I needed it too, cause there is nothing more pitiful than a beginning turkey hunter. Chainsaws put an end to that along with the never ending growing number of turkey hunters. I will never be consistently spoiled again.
I'll have to read the sign-in list this year for the 1700 acre public land I like to hunt. I know it will get 50+ people easily on sat & sun mornings.
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More acres the better Id hate to be limited to a set acreage I prefer NF with plenty of room to roam.
I now have a 125 acre piece with my 2 nephews. It is good for 1-3 birds per year. We get together before we hunt and know where we will be and discuss where we will reposition to depending on where the birds are. I am perfectly happy if they kill the bird instead of me.
I hunted 1100 acres of mostly swamp with 20 guys, only 5-6 of which were real turkey hunters. Most of them were selfish and would use any excuse they could to move right in on you. I killed birds there, but did not have as much fun.
I hunted 1000 acres with 10 turkey hunters and was friends with all of them. We would hang a peg and stay within sight of where that peg was located. If the bird gobbled near them, it was game on for them. If it was near me, it was game on for me. We ate breakfast together once a month. Loved it.
I hunt a 350 acre tract alone as well-no one else allowed and I can only take my son or daughter, no other guests. Also hunt 550,000 acre public tract and it can get crowded. I usually stay away until midseason or so. Hunt there a lot more during the week.
If I had to just hunt with unknown people, it would have to be stellar hunting, as it would be no different to me than public land. I would much rather be more crowded with people I like. But that is just me. I would (and have) get a group together of close friends and family (big family) and then figure out a budget and then look for land that fit my budget.