Pike County, IL Lease


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A freind of mine has been leasing 200 acres in Pike County for 9 years. Last year he paid $2,400 for the lease. He got outbid this year. The land owner got $13,000 from an outfitter! That's $65 per acre. His buddy lost his lease this year on 1000 acres. It went for $27,000 to an outfitter. It looks like I'll scratch off the state of IL for places to hunt. I hope that kind of money stays in IL.

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Guest gastj

And they wonder why hunter ages are growing older and recruitment is down to 68-69% for every 100% lost. I come to believe if you don't own it someday you probably won't hunt it. We have "outfitters" here in Ohio springing up and they are paying individuals and farmers BIG $ for ground locking people out. Great for the owners bad for the overall health of the sport. What is all this going to do in 10, 20, 30 years?

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Guest realtrhunter

That is sad to hear. It is true though the only places that us little guys are going to have to hunt is public land if they dont take that away or make it privatly controled also. All this is starting to look way to similar to the Eorpean system, when the rich own all the land the peasant had to poach to get some meat and more recently you have to pay the big money to be able to hunt.

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I lost my hunting land also to an outfitter in 05'. What really ticked me off was that I had done my scouting through out the summer and then 2 weeks before season they told me. So I had to go get all my stands out which they took down and replaced with their own in the same spot.

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A freind of mine has been leasing 200 acres in Pike County for 9 years. Last year he paid $2,400 for the lease. He got outbid this year. The land owner got $13,000 from an outfitter! That's $65 per acre. His buddy lost his lease this year on 1000 acres. It went for $27,000 to an outfitter. It looks like I'll scratch off the state of IL for places to hunt. I hope that kind of money stays in IL.

It's a fact of life all over the State. Imagine how you would feel if you actually lived here and it happened several times. Don't be so sure the money came from Illinois. Lot's of non-residents are buying up/leasing land here in Illinois. Our reputation for big bucks is becoming more of a curse than a blessing. :(

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Thats pretty rediculous to write off the whole state of IL because of one county and all the leases filling up ... If we did that in Iowa I wouldnt have any place to hunt at all ... quit complaining about something you have absolutely no control over and start knocking on some doors ... I guarantee you the outfitters dont have it all locked up ... Pike county would be one of the most popular counties in IL ... and I guarantee you that its not the only place to find huge deer

Steve

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It's a fact of life all over the State. Imagine how you would feel if you actually lived here and it happened several times. Don't be so sure the money came from Illinois. Lot's of non-residents are buying up/leasing land here in Illinois. Our reputation for big bucks is becoming more of a curse than a blessing. :(

It is true, espcially for Pike County. I do have a buddy who owns a little bit of ground up there. We get allot of non-resident outfitters buying it up and High Dollar Chicagoans willing to pay to hunt it...

BTW Randyman...we are practically neighbors! :cool:

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Yep,it's happening all over the state.It's getting harder and harder to find good places to hunt.Fortunatley I've been hunting the same the same properties for quite a few year,but that could change any time.It stinks,but you can't hardly blame a guy for trying to make as much money as possible on leases.

Where you from xOZx?I live in Highland.

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Pike County is a great place to hunt whitetails. I've never seen anything quite like it. As it's reputation continues to grow the available ground will become increasingly scarce. The trick is to find those honey holes in other nearby counties that don't get quite the fame that Pike does and have you fun there.

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Guest OHjk

It is getting crazy here in Ohio to get permission to hunt. It's great to see that outfitter doing so well, but of all the places he leases, I'd like to know how many people have lost permission to hunt that have left the sport now.

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It is very common for leases to be $70-75 an acre here anymore. I used to lease a couple of farms(years ago) that my brother & I hunted. Paid $6 an acre then. That was when the outfitting was just getting started. I still have one lease that is just for me to hunt. I get a good deal on it because I am friends with the owner who does not hunt. But he is thinking about selling. Can't blame him with the prices way they are. Of course I hope he doesn't. We still lease around 1500 acres for outfitting. It isn't a big money maker because of the lease prices,etc. No we on't pay what the big guys do. We only hunt a few. Enough to pay the leases & make a few dollars & have a couple places to hunt. Thebig outfitters around here are the ones that have driven the lease prices way up. They want a piece of ground they pay what it takes to get it. Days of the individual/small outfitter are about over , unless you are a farmer that has your own ground & outfitting it. Some of them have gotten out of it because they can make good money without the work by leasing it to one of the big operations. I know some good outfitters that have gotten out of it because of the prices. Hard to make money in the business at todays prices. I think in the future there will only be a half dozen or less outfitters in the whole county(except for the farmer doing his own). The big guys are driving the small guys out. Don't think it will end hee either. Some gys I know that got out of it here have went elsewhere. Some have went to Kansas,Iowa & Kentucky. It will happen in other states also. Probably already has.

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I have never hunted Pike county so I can't comment on the hunting there but where I hunt we do kill some decent deer and its free. Trying to find a piece of private ground anywhere anround here is almost impossible but if you put in the time knocking on doors and talking to people it is possible.

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Guest AReed

Myself and ten other guys lost our lease of ten years here in Missouri. We didn't even get a chance to pay more money. Some doctors and lawyers came in and leased it from under us. We were just getting to where we were seeing nice bucks every year. I know how you all feel.

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