This is the lease I've been going to for the last 8 years. Here are a few notes (28 can correct anything I'm not quite right on, as we've only visited briefly about all of this):
1. When he says 5k per gun, that is for the Texas firearms season. For Okies unfamiliar, that is way different. Gun season runs from Nov. 2 through Jan. 6th this year. Additionally, there is a youth-only gun hunt on Oct. 27-28. Finally, there is another three weeks of rifle season from Jan 7-20, though only spike bucks and anterless are legal in the late season.
2. The 5k does allow for bringing family and/or friends along. The ranch bag limit applies per gun, though. Say you bring a buddy and he shoots a trophy 10. That takes off the trophy from your limit. Or shoots a doe, there's two doe left. I will visit with Robert, but I see the possibility of instituting a trophy fee. In the example above - you paid the lease, but your buddy shot the big one - well there might be an option to where he could pay the trophy fee for his buck and leave you with your full lease limit. Get back to you on this one.
3. 5 guns on this lease is very far from being crowded. We've had as many as 12 people hunting on previous trips, and there is no sense at all that you're crowded. At one time there were over 30 separate stands and I'm confident that you could have had a gun in every one of them and no one would have been in the slightest amount of danger, or feel like someone was right on top of them.
4. For my Okie buddies - most won't be able to really take advantage of the super-long Texas gun season, just due to distance. I've discussed shorter, cheaper options as a possibility with 28. That's entirely his call. If you'd be interested in a week-long or weekend sub-lease, let me know and we'll go from there. I might even be able to guide you on a trip like that. I'm no super hunter or anything, but I do know the lease extremely well. Actually, I'm a pretty good hunter...not so good as a shooter.
5. Lease is not overhunted at ALL. The last 3-4 seasons, it's barely been hunted. If anything, I think it's underhunted a bit. It could stand more trophy and management bucks being harvested without much problem. A lot more doe coming off would be a good thing.
6. It is low-fenced and is not an exotic ranch. There are exotic ranches all around though, and fences don't last forever. There is at least one resident flock of sheep (I suspect it's more like 3 seperate ones), and there has been a trophy ram taken pretty much every year since I've been going. Hogs are thick and if you were to specifically hunt for them, you would likely kill (or trap) a bunch. I shot two boar last year, and four others were shot by our party in less than a week.
7. The lease is a little north of "brush country" and a little south of the "hill country." What you get is in between the two. That means bigger bucks than average hill country (by quite a bit), but not as big as far south Texas. You'll generally see a bunch of bucks between 115-135 inches. 135-150 is a little more rare, but if you hunt hard and are selective, you'll see those. 150+ are rare, but are out there. 170ish is the biggest I've seen. I missed and so did several others that year....all attested he was huge.
So there's a lot of info. Feel free to post questions here or email 28 or myself. He's had the lease for 15 years or so. This is the first time he's ever had an option for subleasing. Otherwise it's been for customers, family and friends only. It's a good opportunity, and his pricing is well in line with the surrounding area I believe.
This post was edited on 9/7 6:43 PM by Jeff J.
