Reasonable offer to lease hunting land

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waterwheel

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I've stumbled across a kijiji listing for a local farmer looking to rent his land in one week blocks, we can choose to hunt deer/geese/ducks etc. My son and I are novice hunters and have no private land to hunt on this year so the idea of just straight cash for land use attractive. Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea what to offer the farmer - he's taking offers and I think taking the highest bid. What's a non-insulting/reasonable offer to have sole access to hunt a 100 acre farm in SW ontario for one week (WMU 80)?

Thanks for your input.
 
It's so bad in Ontario that people drive to the middle of nowhere on the weekends and while doing so if they hear gunshots they will pull over and find someone to complain to that people with guns are ruining their weekend drive.
 
mossyhorns said:
I wish you luck but think it is very sad that hunting in Canada has come to this.
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Hold on a sec. It's always been that way in SW Ontario for hunting. That was one of the reasons I left it. Owning a quad, sled, etc. is also a waste as there a few places to use them unless you drive 4 hours north of Toronto.

Where I live now, I just jump on my quad with my firearms strapped to it, open the garage door and 30 seconds later I'm in the woods with unlimited crown land to explore and hunt.
 
DJdeadlyDALEK said:
Maybe the farmer has fallen on hard times and just needs to make a few bucks
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Have you met a farmer who isn't?

As a former farmer, I was embarrassed at how my cohorts played that card. A farm is a business, run it like one or do something else.

Drive the hardest bargain you can, show up at his house at the beginning of each block and ask if it's free, have half the asking price in your hand, tell him to take it or leave it.
 
Surrey Boy said:
Have you met a farmer who isn't?

As a former farmer, I was embarrassed at how my cohorts played that card. A farm is a business, run it like one or do something else.

Drive the hardest bargain you can, show up at his house at the beginning of each block and ask if it's free, have half the asking price in your hand, tell him to take it or leave it.
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And be polite about it. Don't make a mess, don't break anything, don't go where he asks you not to, etc. In other words, be a good customer and he'll be glad to have what you paid and may decide next season it's a good idea to have you back rather than risk the unknown for more money.
 
I think he should be paying you for saving some of his crop I live in sw ontario and have no problems finding spots to hunt for that reason alone there are so many deer and turkeys in some areas and they do a number on the crops
 
There was a thread on the ofah website last fall, offering to lease a sizeable chunk of land for the moose hunt, $1500 for the week. The catch was, only for the week of moose season, no chance to scout or put out cameras or even get the lay of the land. A lot of money to drop for going in cold and little chance of success. If I"d wanted to hunt deer, that was an extra $1500. I'll stick to my little chunk of crown... it might be crowded, but at least it's free.
 
mossyhorns said:
I wish you luck but think it is very sad that hunting in Canada has come to this.
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It's a reality, unfortunately.

I lost access to a farm that I had hunted since my teens just last year! A couple lawyers & doctors noticed lots of geese on the property and offered the farmer cash for exclusive access for hunting. When I chatted with him, he said that they offered him quite a bit of money, so he couldn't turn them down. Can't really blame him, as disappointing as it is...

Cheers
Jay
 
Right or wrong, I'm more comfortable with a cash arrangement than going with (what I perceive as ) begging. I'm quite happy to have a cash for access transaction, both because it eases my concerns with finding places, and because I find it perfectly acceptable that a farmer should get a bit of cash for my using his land for my recreational activities.

Not seeing much in the way of numbers though. Is $500/week a number people have seen? Is $250/week too low? I'm pretty sure $100/week is going to be dismissed. I think $250/week is the tippy top of what I'd be prepared to pay before I say to heck with it and go hunt public land, but I think that may be on the low end of what someone would accept.

Thoughts?
 
A lot depends on what week it is. If you want Opening Turkey, Opening Goose, opening whitetail archery, opening Black powder whitetail, you must pay a premium. Quality of hunt decreases rapidly on Ontario farms as they are hunted. How many acres are we talking? I'm a farmer and EVERYBODY wants opening day. Hope this helps. Make sure you specify what weeks you are dealing with before you strike a deal. Respectfully Jim Mansell
 
Well for waterfowl unless there is a pond on the property holding birds its useless to pay for land other than the day of because you have to scout in advance to see if the birds are even using the land.

I know that the guys that lease the farm land around here for guiding are not paying $100-250 a week, thats nuts and would be impossible for them to ever make a profit.
 
Unless the farmer really wants a little extra cash, if you take the time to keep up some kind of relationship other than the initial knock and show some kind of thanks at the end of the season then you probably don't have anything to worry about.

I don't disagree with the leasing idea at all though. Depending on the price it might actually be a very affordable way to get access to new hunting property that was being used by someone the farmer couldn't really tolerate. Who knows, the farmer might be willing to waive the fee for the right person.
 
Coming to a theater near you "When regulars citizens could afford to hunt"

My crystal ball is telling me that as land diminishes and population increases only the very wealthy will be able hunt, it will become prohibitively expensive to hunt in the future, unless hunting is totally banned before that, but whoever has the gold once again will make the rules.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
Coming to a theater near you "When regulars citizens could afford to hunt"

My crystal ball is telling me that as land diminishes and population increases only the very wealthy will be able hunt, it will become prohibitively expensive to hunt in the future, unless hunting is totally banned before that, but whoever has the gold once again will make the rules.
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It will just drive up the number of trespassers, drive people out of their traditional hunting spots and make more people leave the sport. In the long run lease hunting is good for no one.
 
thing said:
It will just drive up the number of trespassers, drive people out of their traditional hunting spots and make more people leave the sport. In the long run lease hunting is good for no one.
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Meh. There's already enough crap going on as the result of all the stuff you're suggesting. I had a nice quiet spot last year for my son and I to hunt deer locally and we got kicked out because there was too many other people trampling through the land - so they decided to let nobody hunt. The trespassers and folks like are the reason I've had to look at leased land, not the other way around.
 
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