Sitting here in the dark thinking about hunting over the years. I recall paying 175 per gun for a lease in leon county many years ago. I thought that was the most money I would ever pay. Any buck with a hard horn was a trophy. I had never heard of B&C score. I was as proud of a 8" wide 6 point as I would be now of a 150. We never heard of ANYONE seeing a buck and not shooting him. If you could get your hands on a doe permit that was the apex of the year. With a doe permit any deer is fair game. Sitting here thinking about sitting up there on those boards nailed on a limb in the cold hoping to see any deer at all, as as opposed to trophy hunting? I don't know I think it was more fun or exciting then. Oh well starting to get light better go Good luck

Hell I paid $100 a year on my 1st lease! My first deer on was a doe and I was pumped!! Didn't see a whole lot of bucks back then either and if you did it wasn't a study him down thing, it was tip him over! I pay $600 now and after lease shopping for years I'm pretty proud of that.

We hunted with a army surplus rifle with open sights (303 British) I still recall when we put wooden pallets in trees and a camp stool to sit on. Now that was first class. No more wet boards to sit in. My first feeder was a one pound coffee can. With holes in it

My first deer rife was also a British Enfield .303 Jungle Carbine. Paid $39.95 for it at Central Hardware in St. Louis circa 1964. That same gun is worth over $1K now, if you can find one at a gun show. Our first lease cost my dad $30 a month and that included a cabin with electricity!.

My deer lease in Mississippi is still $175....... And it's hunting reflects a $175 lease. That's why I come to texas annually. At this particular lease any state legal buck is a borderline trophy. They are few and far between to say the least. FYI state legal is a 12" beam or 10 inch spread. Pretty pathetic huh?
I shot a 4.5 year old 8 point with my bow that had 12" spread and 15" beams and people went nuts thinking it should be a shoulder mount.

We paid a $100.00 for a lease in Mason county back in the day. After about 10 years it went up to 150.00 and we thought it was the end of the world. After about 10 more years it was 200.00.

Really? I have one in near mint condition, had no idea it was worth that much.

175? that would be awesome, mine cost me $700 this tear.

My first rifle was also a British 303. I bought it at Montgomery Wards in Ft. Worth for $17.00 in 1962. That rifle has killed lots of deer and I still have it.

Loving this thread

Me too...makes me feel young

I pay $150 a year for my lease now. Killed those 6 to 8 point 9" spread bucks until 3 years ago with AR going into play. Kill many doe. Dont have any trophys hanging on wall but I always have venison in freezer.
Only lease I've ever been on. I may not get to brag about the deer I shoot, but a big rack ain't all its about, unless its on a woman.

Makes me wish it was the same now as it was then. I'm just happy to shoot at a deer, doesn't have to be a 150" or what have you. I killed my first buck last year 3.5 year old 8 point with a 12.5" spread (management disabled veteran hunt on Tx DPS training facility outside of Georgetown) if I could have afforded it I would've had a shoulder mount done. This year I'm begging for places to hunt, thank The Lord for good people like csdarden, and hoping each week I'll find a place to hunt that weekend. I'm not old but I'm told I have an old soul, I listen to Johnny cash and Merle Haggard when I blow glass, and I've seen a lot in my few years. I'm looking for a lease maybe for next year and 1500-2500 is very common within 3-4 hours of dfw. I'm gonna have to take out a loan on my house to pay for a lease and all e stands, feeders,cameras, etc etc I will need to get started.

Our first leaase cost the family $125.00 in Henly Texas. We bought a sack of corn at the start of the season (between two families) and that lasted all season. Melvin my dads best friend would be in charge of trickling it down the road a little at each stand. No feeders on the place for our first ten years or until around 1983. No game cameras. Always had a big buck pot for opening weekend (I won it once with a 11 pointer that had about a 11" spread (still have it proudly displayed on the wall it just so happened to be my first buck shot with 270). My dad at first used Winchester 94 open sights and was a deadly shot. I killed my first deer (a doe) with that rifle on this lease (80yard shot, deer piled up out of sight and I thought I had missed) as well as my brother did also. I now own that rifle and it will never be sold. Every weekend we played the old men in Horse shoes and always lost. It seemed the weather was colder then. I know I would do anything to go back to that time, hunting was a lot funner. Damn fixing to shed a tear with the many memories coming back.

I recall my Dad showing me a deer track (A REAL) deer track what a thrill I could not wait to tell everyone We found a deer track!! I am not kiding I was more excited over a track than I am now over seeing a whole herd of deer. Years later I recall driving the dirt roads in public hunting areas and stopping to look at a set of tracks where a deer had crossed, thinking if I could have just been here when it crossed!! Wish I had that again.

Hell I paid $130 to be on the lease I'm on this year

I grew up in southwest new york state and nobody ever heard of a lease. There was 3 state forests within miles of my dads land and back then if you asked and promised to close the gates you could hunt lots of private property. My first deer was a 4pt buck that i got with my dads old 12 gauge side by side with slugs and even tho dad has passed away i still have the shotgun and the great memoreys

That just means you've been paying a lot more for your lease, unless of course you own the land.

And it means you're a youngster...

Great thread. Sure makes me miss deer came. I was proud to be invited on several great leases and had one of my own outside of Zavalla for a season.. Great times in deer camps!

Great stories, thanks for sharing. The first year I was on a lease I paid 250-300 and that was a lot of money back then. And like most of you guys if you saw a track you got incredibly excited. And when we hunted we always tried to hold out for an eight point....there were years that went by and we never saw an eight point and although disappointing at times we still has great times sitting around camp telling our stories of the ones we thought we heard or about the does we saw and talked about the next day and the build up of the anticipation.

Wow in those days where I hunted NO ONE passed a male deer if he had a hard nub we shot em. Legal was all we needed. If you said you saw a deer and did not shoot at him I think those old guys would have thrown you off lol. Things sure have changed some for the better some not? Who remembers the string you tied across a trail with a clock on it to tell you what time the "DEER" came down the trail ?

bdotson, your experiences sound almost identical to mine, from the gun (303 Enfield), to the boards in trees, to the coffee can for the feeder, to the fact that ANY buck was a dead buck, and to the fact that doe permits were cherished and hard to come by.

I remember knocking on doors and hunting for free, and this was in the 80's and early 90's! It cost me $175 in diesel to just get to the lease and back now.

I started archery hunting as soon as I found out you did not need a permit to kill a doe. Now any deer is fair game!!!!

Someones back yard?