Growing up in rural northeast Texas back in the late fifties and throughout the sixties, the idea of leasing land for hunting was still a relatively new concept, at least in Red River County. Deer numbers were very low, this was before the boon years of the seventies and eighties, but a devout group of hunters would set up deer camps on the big ranches in the northern part of the county and each year a few bucks were harvested.
The years where the word “deer lease” would be synonymous with deer hunting in Texas was yet to come. I’m sure a few people back then paid for hunting rights but the practice would definitely have been the exception rather than the rule.
I remember the first “least” that I was on. The year was 1981 and I was invited to join a hunter buddy and his family on a 640 acre lease up in Jack County. I’ll never forget the cost. The total price for hunting deer, turkey and hogs which included camping rights year around was a whopping $184! It would take a large book for me to describe to you all the good times my family had together on that piece of property. We kept the lease for about eight years until the elderly gentleman that we had the agreement with passed away and the deed to the land passed to his daughter and her husband, who was an attorney.
I remember receiving a letter from the new owners that stated terms that caused me to instantly drop off the lease. The price had been raised to $600 per year which was way more than I could afford in those days and the liability clauses I would have to sign had the potential to put everything I owned in jeopardy should there be a wildfire on the place. We had grown to love the land almost as much as the gentleman we leased it from and it was tough to leave it.
Trying to find a good piece or rural land today for hunting can be likened to looking for the golden egg on an Easter egg hunt. Even marginal hunting lands usually come with a hefty lease fee and are very often next to impossible to fine. Leasing hunting rights has definitely changed in the past couple of decades.
For many years, I’ve enjoyed hunting at Ranger Creek Ranch, up in Knox County west of Seymour near the community of Vera. This sprawling ranch encompasses land in the rugged Cedar Breaks as well as agricultural and ranch land. Hunting has always been good here for whitetail, turkey, javelina, feral hogs, aoudad and when water is abundant, waterfowl.
Ranch owner and manager Ranell Walker says she began offering hunters a new option. “A couple decades ago, it was easy to find excellent hunting land to lease at a reasonable price,” says Walker. “We have families on some of our property that have leased from us for many years and I get calls almost on a daily basis for people inquiring about hunting leases. We simply don’t have available season leases to offer them but we have developed a new 'hunting lease' system that is becoming very successful.”
Here is the way the new deer lease plan works: There are several houses scattered over the vast ranch that will serve as “camp houses” for hunters.
“We have found that most families can only hunt two or three times each season," continued Walker. "Most don’t have the leisure time to set up and keep feeders filled, etc. We lease tracts of hunting land around these houses and schedule our hunter’s times to hunt throughout the season. We plant the food plots and keep the feeders going. When the hunters show up for their hunts, all they have to do is enjoy their camp and the hunting. It’s a great way for busy hunters to enjoy some quality family time."
These part time lease agreements can be tailored for families to hunt deer during the rut in the fall or hogs or turkey throughout the year. Walker says she is getting great response on the new system for leasing land and she expects “part time” leases to become more and more popular and more hunters learn about the option.
“We still offer hunting packages for folks that want to enjoy a three- or four-day hunt and stay in our main lodge with lodging, meals and guide furnished but these trophy type hunts can be costly for an entire family," Walker explains. "The part-time lease fills the bill for families that wish to do their own cooking, drive themselves to their own private hunting area with food plots, feeders and hunting blinds.”
For more information on this new lease system, contact Ranell Walker at Ranger Creek Ranch via the web site www.rangercreekranch.com or call 940-256-3464.
RAINFALL BENEFITS LAKES AND FISHING- The recent influx of fresh water due to heavy rainfall has caused most lakes to rise several feet in elevation. This timely rise coincides perfectly with the spawn and should greatly benefit the fisheries in upcoming years. The newly flooded vegetation will provide ideal habitat for the spawn and up at Lake Texoma, the fresh water coming down the Red and Washita Rivers will provide near ideal conditions for an excellent striper spawn. The stripers are about to make their annual spawning run up the rivers and moving water is essential for the eggs to hatch. The runoff from all the rains will create plenty of current to insure a good hatch and plenty of fry to restock the lake.
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