The Noble Research Institute Wildlife and Fisheries staff receive numerous inquiries each fall regarding recreational leasing. These inquiries are from landowners that are interested in leasing their property and from hunters looking for a place to hunt.
Whether you are trying to lease land that you own or you are looking for a place to hunt, timing is essential. We have learned this from our experience in advertising recreational leases and from discussions with landowners and hunters. Usually, if you wait until September to begin advertising or looking, you are too late.
June and July seem to be the best months to begin advertising property for lease hunting or looking for a place to hunt (with the exception of spring turkey hunting). This allows for three things: Hunters and landowners have time to locate each other and become acquainted; hunters have time to evaluate habitat quality; and there is time for hunters to arrange the necessary finances to secure leases.
Grant Huggins compiled the following list of primarily packaged hunts from advertisements on the Internet. Information obtained from these sites will provide an idea of prices associated with packaged hunts (assuming the sponsors are successful in obtaining hunters).
Landowners that choose to lease their property on a year-round basis and include all game will probably not find this list useful. However, based on our experience, landowners leasing in this fashion and emphasizing deer hunting can expect an average of $2.00 to $3.00 per acre in southern Oklahoma.
Deer
Andy Popejoy Outfitter
www.sportsmansdream.com/popejoy
BB Hunting
www.bbhuntin.homestead.com/page13.html
Chain Ranch Sportsman's Club
www.chainranch.com
Split Rail Outfitters
www.splitrailoutfitters.com
Wayne Mead Guide
www.jim-r.com/hunt.htm
Wing and Rack Ranch
www.wingandrack.com
Selman Ranch
www.selmanranch.com
Pheasant
Flynt Farms Upland Hunting
www.flyntfarms.com
Predators
Cedartop Outfitters
www.cedartopoutfitters.com
Wayne Mead Guide
www.jim-r.com/hunt.htm
Pronghorn
Andy Popejoy Outfitter
www.sportsmansdream.com/popejoy
Quail
Gilberts Outback Inc.
www.angelfire.com/ok3/outback
Selman Ranch
www.selmanranch.com
Wayne Mead Guide
www.jim-r.com/hunt.htm
Wing and Rack Ranch
www.wingandrack.com
Turkey
Andy Popejoy Outfitter
www.sportsmansdream.com/popejoy
Selman Ranch
www.selmanranch.com
Split Rail Outfitters
www.splitrailoutfitters.com
Wayne Mead Guide
www.jim-r.com/hunt.htm
Wing and Rack Ranch
www.wingandrack.com
Waterfowl
Curts Guide Service
www.curtsguideservice.com
Duck Club of Oklahoma
www.ionet.net/~jtw/duckclub
Selman Ranch
www.selmanranch.com
Wing and Rack Ranch
www.wingandrack.com
Western Oklahoma Waterfowlers
www.westernoklahomawaterfowlers.com
Mike Porter compiled the following list of websites for landowners to advertise their properties for hunting in Oklahoma and Texas. Like the list above, landowners can obtain an idea of pricing by viewing some of these sites.
www.agweb.okstate.edu/fwa/lease.html
Both listing and examination are free. This site is provided by Oklahoma State University Wildlife Extension. It emphasizes Oklahoma listings.
www.huntinglease.com
Listing is free, but potential lessees must pay $14.99 for six months of access to examine the listings. It lists leases throughout the US.
www.hightechredneck.com
www.huntingtexastrophies.com
www.texashuntinglease.com
www.deertexas.com
Both listing and examination are free for these sites and private individuals provide them. They list only Texas leases, so they are not suitable for advertising Oklahoma hunts.
If you are planning on leasing your property, late winter or early spring is a good time to prepare. Remember, the early bird gets the worm.