FAQ's (AKA the most important page on the website)
Brief Overview
We hope that this FAQ Page will help answer some of the main questions everyone asks. While we often provide personal service we do take calls from almost every state in the country. This page will hopefully help you get some quick answers. A few words of wisdom from our time in this field. 1) DO NOT SPEND THE MONEY IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT! 2) LAND LEASING IS STILL RELATIVELY CHEAP WHEN COMPARED TO THE COST OF LAND OWNERSHIP, HUNTING WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT.
Who's land is this?
While changes in the market may make us have different processes for now all of the land is the owner's land. They are overwhelmingly absentee or investment owner's that do not want to be bothered with dealing with hunting inquiries and groups. They do wish for hunting to occur and be paid for it so they have us handle these things for them. It is very important that you do not interfere with our owner's and our working relationship with them. We are allied with many similar businesses and are collecting and sharing of bad hunters/actors in this market for use in the future.
Why are all most all comunications via email or text
We get a ton of requests on a daily basis. Most requests never result in someone leasing a tract. We have to be efficient with our time and reading/responding when convenient is the most efficient use of our time rather than phone calls that can wonder on and usually cover the topics on this page. Also due to shear volume of people trying to contact, communicate, visit a property or get a lease completed we need a written record to keep track of what we are saying and to whom. Phone calls would require documentation along with the phone call so a written form does that all at one time. Finally, people hear what they want to hear naturally and we like a record of what everyone actually had said. Also keeping things in writing over the years brings up past contacts and conversations so we have an idea how a previous interaction went from many years ago.
Usual Lease process
A lease will be emailed to you with instructions on how to fill it out. You fill it out and scan it back or put it in the mail with payment. The lease is then forwarded to the owner for signatures. A lease is not good until full payment has been received and ALL signatures have been applied. You WILL NOT receive a lease back signed from the owner UNTIL Full Payment is made. For the few that might not understand this, you always pay for something before receiving it in any market.
How do you determine pricing
In general pricing follows the same supply and demand factors in any market. You will see that Kentucky Leases are usually more expensive than Indiana Leases because there is more demand for Kentucky Land. More specifically however pricing usually follows these main factors: 1) Owner (Each Owner Has Different Demands To Allow Access to Their Property) 2) Location (How Many People Are Looking to Get Land There) 3) Access (How Easy is the Property to Access and Hunt) 4) Type (Crops, Woods, Water, Mix etc.) 5) Time of Year (Certain Times of Year Have Different Pricing). There are other Factors as Well but that is a good rundown. I would say that they are in a hierarchical order.
Is the lease price negotiable
For the most part lease prices are the amount that it has already been leased for in the past. Additionally lease prices are usual a close representation of what the owner requires to get to start allowing a stranger to access their property with weapons. In some cases there may be some wiggle room on the price but it is important to know that if you get into a property low it will probably go up. In general we do not like to increase and rarely do increase lease prices. Also if you got on a property too low then someone will come along and give more to bump you off. Owners will get rid of both of us if they think they have been getting a below market price. We rarely see it being a strategy for success to squabble over a few hundred dollars. However, you can always ask.
How Many People can be on a lease
That is usually up to you in most cases. We just work with the owner to make sure it is a safe number but this is rarely an issue.
How long are leases for
Most of them are 12 months long from when they are signed, committed to, paid, etc. We have very few tracts that may only lease abbreviated seasons but you will be notified. Also sometimes during the year based upon openings or onboardings a lease may be slightly longer or shorter to sync it up to the normal lease cycle.
Is the property posted and gated
Some are and some aren't. Feel free to post properties if you want to and/or gate them with owner permission.
What Stands and Improvements are allowed
For the most part only temporary stands that are easily assembled and removed are allowed. Exceptions may be made on a case by case basis. Any stand setup and removal is at your own effort, time, expense and peril. Improvements, when allowed, such as mowing, food plots, mineralization, trail cams and other similar items/efforts are at your own effort, time, expense and peril.
What crops will be planted and when will they cut them
Most of the time we do not know what will be planted on tillable properties. We also cannot bind the farmer to any crop planting schedule and they have to decide what to plant that benefits them the most. Crop price changes may change what they plant and we have no control over that. We also can't control when they harvest their crops. Weather, business practices, business cycles, equipment malfunctions, potential health and family issues all play a role in what a farmer decides to do with planting and harvesting crops. We cannot know and we cannot make the farmer do anything.
What do you think about the property
We are a bad person to ask because we are positive minded people and would probably find a reason to hunt every property. Hunting is therapy for the most part so give us a tree to climb or a blind to sit in with our kids and we are happy as can be.
Do you know the lease history
In general we do not know how people hunted a property, what they harvested on it, etc. Lessees for the most part do their own thing and prefer for us and the owner not to know about the hunting. For the most part Lessees are worried about word getting out about what they harvest so other people won't poach their lease or the owner drive up the price. What we do know is that the land IS AVAILABLE FOR LEASING.
Do I have first option to renew
Yes. We always try to keep people on their lease tract if they would like to renew it. We like to spend our time developing new lands so we don't like to spend time re-marketing leases each year. If you don't want to renew it then we go ahead and market it to others.
Is pricing based upon "per hunter" or "total price"?
Any prices you see on the website and any negotiated price will be the "total price". The main lessee will be responsible for breaking the payment or price up among the other hunters in their party. All hunters will need to be declared for insurance purposes. Example: If John leases a property from us for $2,000/yearly and he gets 3 other hunters to join his lease then John is responsible for collecting all monies from the other hunters ($500/each hunter) if he is splitting up the cost of the lease. John and the other 3 hunters will need to be named on the lease for insurance purposes. The lease for John and the other hunters is not finalized until all payments are made.
Maps, Acreage, Surveys, platts, etc
We rely on owner provided information for maps, acreage sizes, boundaries, easements, etc. We rarely have an actual survey of the property. We do our best to provide as reliable of information as possible to you but we cannot guarantee, warranty, certify anything. With the advent of some online maps, including tax assessor maps, it has caused some confusion. It is important to know that Tax Assessor Maps always come with a disclaimer that they are not surveyed maps and are not to be taken as accurate as a survey. Often online maps are skewed to the right, left, up, down, etc. as it is not a perfect overlay on satellite photographs. They can be a great tool but we always err on the side of owner provided information.
When I lease a property will other people be hunting on that property too.
All of our leases are exclusive to you unless the owner has made some arrangement with you otherwise. If someone other than you or your hunting party is hunting on your lease then they are trespassing and the proper authorities should be notified.
What game can I hunt?
In general we try to stick with just allowing deer and turkey hunting. Some people hunt squirrel and some might waterfowl a little if water suitable water is on a property. We highly discourage and generally do not allow hunting of game that requires dogs due to liability issues.
Can I have campers, food plots, stands etc. on the property?
If their is a suitable spot for camping and food plots and the owner allows it then YES! Enjoy responsibly! All stands should be temporary in nature and not bring damage to trees and property. Common stands that are allowed are ground blinds, ladder stands, climbing sticks w/hanging stands and self-climbing stands. Be sure to follow all safety rules while using stands above ground level such as SAFETY HARNESSES!
Tresspassing
Trespassing events are rare but are always possible on any property. We do have 1-2 complaints per year on potential trespassing. We do our best to contact the owner in this situation to see if they can provide any assistance or knowledge. Most of the time the owner will have no knowledge of the trespassing event either. In this case we always encourage you to use your copy of the lease to show local authorities that you are the only person allowed on the property.
Refunds
Once a lease starts you are paying for access to the property NOT any certain type of successful hunting or some type of experience you may have had in your mind. Access to the property specifically means is anyone forbidding you from coming onto the property. Various things such as weather, wahsouts, crop planting styles and other factors may make access look a little more difficult but the property is still open for you to access. We cannot know what wildlife, weather, farming, timbering and countless other factors that may affect your perception of hunting which are outside of our control. We allow no refunds of any kind to be considered unless it has to do with the sale of a property where ownership transfer may or may not affect access to the property for hunting. These instances are very rare and have only occurred once or twice in our entire time in operation.
Disclaimer
The above information is for general informational reference only based upon our experiences and general format. Each situation is unique and the above information may not apply. It is your responsibility to personally confirm the tract and potential lease is suitable for your needs.