Finding a Hunting Lease

In the past, hunting leases were secured from farmers and ranchers on a handshake and a hastily written check, but landowner fears of liability and litigation eventually caused the process to become far more formalized, with legally drawn lease agreements that are frequently scrutinized by attorneys.

Once far more liberal, game harvest requirements went scientific with the help of wildlife biologists and game surveys, and land management for deer became big business. In fact, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, hunting in Texas has burgeoned into an economic behemoth generating $4.63 billion annually in the state.

According to a Texas A&M University report, Texas also leads the nation for land lost annually to urbanization - around 250,000 acres of mid-size farms and ranches per year. Harlingen resident and lifelong hunter Jeremy Reiley said this creates a simple dynamic for hunters in Texas: there are more hunters than there are leases.

Subsequently, the search for a lease has gotten a lot more competitive and leases are getting fewer and far between. However, TPWD recently made finding a hunting lease in Texas easier for hunters with a new online database, Hunt Texas Online Connection. To be officially launched on May 15, the database is currently operational.

However, Reiley said most leases do not have to advertise, and it is good to play it safe when looking into advertised leases on the Web and elsewhere.

"Leases are a hot commodity," Reiley said. "A good lease almost never has to advertise because of that. When you look into a lease you find that has been advertised, check it out carefully and make sure it's what you are looking for in a lease. However, on the other side are the high-end leases like El Sauz in Willacy County, which is $21,000 a year per hunter. They have 58,000 acres. They advertise because the higher up you go, the more your market shrinks."

Reiley said typical leases run between $500 per hunter annually on the very low end, to $2,000 per hunter per year for good properties. He said he typically finds leases "by word of mouth, in sporting goods stores, with fellow workers."

The right time to start hunting for a lease, according to Reiley, is shortly after the close of deer season.

"Sometimes, although it's rare, you can get in on a good deal right up at the opening of deer season because a landowner will say, ‘Hey, my hunters bailed on me and I need to lease this out quick.'"

At the new TPWD Web site, hunters can search for leases at the site based on the following criteria:

-County

-Lease length: one day, a few days, the season, or the year

-Type of game: deer, hogs, turkey, quail, small game, migratory birds

-Weapons allowed: rifle, shotgun, handgun, black powder, archery

-Number of hunters in party

-Cost per hunter

Reiley said the most important part of a leasing is making sure the group you are hunting with shares the same "ethics and values that you have, like the same game-management practices and things of that nature."

Happy hunting - for a hunting lease, that is.

Laguna Vista-based outdoors writer Ben Christensen can be reached at bc@riograndeoutdoors.com.