Post
by M12Gunboy » Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:51 pm
I'm happy for you and it sounds like it works well for you for $6600.00 a year. For me, I'd move outa state before paying that kinda coin for a hunting lease. I have hunted the Morman lease out past Harmony,FL, as a guest quite a few times and enjoyed it. My friends who are members pay in the $8000 a year range for the lease membership and an additional $3-5K for food plots, road up keep, kitchen and cabin painting and upkeep, raised enclosed shooting houses/stands etc, etc etc. They have everything you desrcibed and drink $100 bottles of wine while cooking gourmet in the outside/fully enclosed stainless kitchen. Cable TV, Jeeps, ATV's, Tractors, Swamp Buggies, Air Boats, 4 wheelers, you name it they have it at this particular lease. Three of the cabins are so nicely done in hardwood, carpet, AC, tile, full kicthens in the cabin, three bedrooms, etc that you could live there year around like your were in the suburb. Great guys, most have more money than they have sense, and that's the reason the supply and demand has forced the price so high. They limit there lease to 12 cabins/members per camp on 10K acre tracks I believe. I mostly hunt GA WMA's and Federal Reserves (Fort Stewart & HAAF) and don't have a lease there nor here. It costs me $295.00 for my out of state license and WMA stamp and another $55.00 for my Fort Stewart & HAAF Yearly Hunting Access Pass (280,000 Acres). Costs me about $100-150 per trip in fuel from CFL to Savannah and back. Have family in Savannah, so room and board is free. Add another $100 or so for food per trip. I can make a whole lotta trips and kill and clean a whole lotta hogs/deer for $6-8K a year in GA making trips.
My point is that $6 or $8K a year is alot of money for a lease and it's all because some high rollers/speculators and greedy land owners have pushed the prices into the heavens. Yes, some of it is "Supply and Demand" as Dony discussed and that's another reason why they are getting this kind of money for a hunting lease. Thirdly, this being a SEW happy state, it is very difficuly to get FREE hunting access to land, like in most states north of the Carolinas and west of the Mississippi, in fear of someone sewing you the landowner because they hurt themselves while accessing your property. There was no need to make it personal but since you've decided to go there I'll "so indulge" as we say in the South.
FL is a BUYER beware state and FL is know for it because it's the scam capital of the USA. FL is also one of the SEW capitals of the USA. In 2006-2007 our company had three people/companies who tried to sue our company and we weren't even involved or found at fault/liable for the incident they described. They just thought they'd file a suite against us because an incident happened that the thought we were involved and it turns out we weren't even the right people. Believe that shart! This is why a good lawyer in FL runs $350-500 an hour in FL. BUYER BE WARE! Wonder why we have the second largest foreclosure problem in the nation next to Las Vegas? Did you really think a $150K house would be worth $350K, they sold them and look at what that did to the FL economy. $8K dollar hunting leases for 1 year access, are you kidding me? They would have to be serving 2" thick T-Bones and $100 bottles of Cab Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings with a Waiter and Butler. You can go to Argentina and hunt three bird species (Ducks, Doves and Pigeons) in 5 days, free range, including air fare, travel, lodging, ammo, guns, food, wine, women and song for $6K and shoot until my arm falls off. You pay that just for land access, electricity access, a few stands, cooler, ice, a range, water and a cleaning shred? And you have to buy/have a camper too?
That being said, I'll take your timid advise, take my preceived "attitude", my "money", and my ability to make rational decisions to GA and hunt as I have, run the WMA's of GA and FL until leaving the "land of the mouse" and go buy my own land in the south without having to cut off my pinky toe every year so some jack wad FL landowner can lease me some land and screw me in the a** for $6-8K without even a kiss!