Wounded animals happen to all of us, paid members or not. Any decent group worth being a part of would understand that.

Again, there doesn't have to be drama over anything. Bad enough for a guest or kid to lose a deer, no need for drama on top.

Man, I am 60 years old, not sure how many years Ive been on a lease but its a long time. Always been allowed guest. Very few problems. each paid member is legally allowed 5 deer. 2 bucks, 3 doe. We have 6 paid members, so legally we could kill 30 deer. That has never once happened. Guest shoot off the paid member 5 deer. If that guest shoots a big buck it means the paid member cant. If the guest shoots a doe, its off the paid member's legal allotment. Problems have been very rare. No one brings guest on opening weekend. Guest include family members. Kids old enough to hunt alone are guest.

as for sleeping. I have a bed, that's my bed. If I am there thats where I sleep. Guest are gonna take a bed from a paid member.

OP you dont have a guest problem you have a bunk house problem. Get rid of the bunk house as a general lease use, offer it up to one or two close families at an increase lease price. Rest figure out other means.

We have a pretty family inclusive group. All our kids play sports together and we all hang out outside of the lease. Our lease is all about Kids. We basically have two with out kids and they spend more time helping our kids out then they do hunting for them selves

All trophy and management tags are shot from lease holder allotment, no culls for guest until after Christmas. Guest are non immediate family member.

Agree. Asking what's the guest policy is one of those questions that can send up a red flag when speaking with someone looking to join a lease, especially when they bring it up early in the conversation. Can I just pay a fee rather than show up for work days is another.

Best lease ever. To me it's not about pulling that tape on some antlers anymore, even though it's really cool when that happens. It's about the people that you choose to bring your family around, to me, and the meat. First time I brought my kids there everyone dropped what they were doing to help them in any way. True good hearted people. Hey, hunt my stand! There's so & so there let one of your kids kill that deer etc.

It's taken me 3 decades of leasing before I finally found my people.

Im surprised it doesn’t seem like there are as many threads on guests as there are HF/LF, rifle/archery, Trophy/meat, etc. It seems it should be just as torn an issue. It just seems so obvious to me that your view will DEPEND. It depends, it depends it depends. Almost every two sided discussion comes down to each persons mindset and what he wants out of the experience. A man that likes to hunt with family and friends is gonna want a lease that allows guests. A person that is fine hunting alone may not want on a lease that allows guests. I make the rules on my leases and I always allow guests, but with very specific rules in place. Personally, I almost always hunt alone but I want the other members to enjoy themselves and often bringing family/guests helps that. My previous lease we had lots of family/guests and all went great. My current lease almost no one ever brings anyone and it’s great as well.
Bottom line is just make sure everyone on the lease is like minded in every way that is practical.
Maybe it’s an aside to say that I feel we all should have some obligation to recruit and encourage others to hunt.

Hunted in Beevile for fourteen yeears and stayed in a metal bunk house we erected with used materials, started out with no water, ran lights off generators, cooked over flames and had a privy. The DD's went down starting at five and it didn't matter where they slept. Plain & simnple, wouldn't give that up for the world. They learned a lot down there about mother nature, life, death and other useful things. They still fondly recall memories about the place.

Where I am at now, we have sort of a little RV Park/mobile home camp setup and all lease members are responsible for their own sleeping arrangements. When I got down there originally (18 years ago), I paid $2,500 for what was then a 25 year old Streamline travel trailer - think Coors can with a gold racing stripe. Upgraded as time when on. Two seasons ago I paid $12K for a 10 X 40 job trailer that had been converted into living quarters with 2 BR. Put in my own lil' septic system and get camp electricity and water. As stated prior, we are allowed to bring direct family members at will and as long as the lease member is there as well as 2 guests per season for 2 1/2 days each. Seldom do I bring down the two guests, but I don't think I would be on a lease where I could not bring direct family members. For me it's gotten down to the SIL's as my DD's don't pull the trigger at this stage of their lives with small kids at home. When those grandkids get bigger, that might change. To my personal detriment, I model the season to make sure the SIL's have oportunity and I am not sorry for that.

Plain & simple, I don't want to hunt with the guy who begrudges my family.

We have a no guest policy per the LO. My rule as the lease manager is I prefer you to not go alone as we have had a few past members have medical issues out there that required another member to get them to the paved road to meet an ambulance. So, from a strictly safety perspective I will allow guests during the off season, there’s almost always another member from September-January.

Kids, spouses, and grandkids are allowed but hunt off the member’s allotment. Everybody provides their own sleeping setup.

Well said - as with most lease issues it boils down to what the goals/objectives are and the type of lease that the LO and members want.

That works.

If you do allow guest of any type my advice is that those guest are ALWAYS with a paying member while hunting or being anywhere on the ranch. Put guest in a stand by themselves and IMO you are asking for mistakes to be made

My thoughts exactly. Quite frankly, I think it's outlandish if other members have a problem with family (in my case, my kids) hunting with me. And I'd consider myself a pretty lousy father if I left them at home all weekend while I'm out hunting.

Reading this thread makes me realize how nice I've had it as a guest on many a lease!

(Not saying the rules are unreasonable.)

Perfect examples on here of why I bought my own place. Was tired of all the drama & whining. I was always on a lease where I could take my wife & or kids. They could shoot off my tags.

Reading these make me grateful we own our place, but we do have rules re guests. My Dad and Uncle originally bought this place so they and their kids (now grandkids) had a place to hunt. From February 1st to September 1st bring who you want whenever you want to shoot as many pigs or coyotes as you can/want, with 2 exceptions. My Uncle's brother gets to come the last weekend of bow season, (though now he mostly squirrel hunts), and my childhood best friend (who my parents consider their 3rd son) gets to come the last weekend of muzzle loader season, as he and I are the only front stuffer enthusiasts. There are other occasional exceptions, that usually include taking a kid out (my Uncle is a mentor to at risk kids in his church)\, but they are rare and require everyone to agree, and we usually do. Only remember one time we didn't, dont remember why, so he rescheduled it for another weekend.

Never been on a lease that allowed guest, only family members who hunted off of your tag, and they could not come until Thanksgiving weekend.

After our mother died, I owned a place with my brother for a short time. It was not ideal. I always say that I hope brothers that easily work things out and/or are close appreciate and cherish how rare a thing it is.

Guests
• Lessor conveys access to Lessees only. No visitors or guests shall be allowed unless by prior written agreement by Lessor.
• Lessee is solely responsible for guests and guests’ activities.
• GUESTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HARVEST WILDLIFE.
• GUESTS MUST BE ESCORTED BY LESSEE AT ALL TIMES.

Sounds like the only issue you are having in the OP is sleeping quarters. Are there any areas to put a travel trailer for additional sleeping/bunking?

this. our policy is guests are allowed to shoot off members tags. members get beds first. guests second. now a couple of guys have trailers so its less of an issue than it was in the past. but, i feel like this is a fair set up. last season i rented a trailer because i brought my wife and kids knowing there would several members out there. it was on me to make sure everyone is comfortable.

one more thing. as others have mentioned, i'll never get on a lease that i cannot bring my wife and kids at a minimum. some of my best memories are growing up hunting with my dad. hunting numbers continue to decline. we need to be getting the next generations out in the field.

Last lease I considered, I was told I couldn’t bring my 7 year old son until after thanksgiving. It was a local small lease that we wouldn’t even be staying overnight at. I said thanks but no thanks and found out later that the guy that told me that brings his kids year round. Some people….. I then went and found a place for just my family and couldn’t be happier. But to the OPs question, I couldn’t imagine a situation where the paying members were the ones looking for a place to sleep! I’d pitch a polite fit.

Yeah...I toured a lease like that once. After reading the 5 typed pages of how to clean the cabin, I asked if I could bring my dog during the summer (year-round help filling feeders was expected.) 'Got a long story about why not, then another member rolled up and his loveable, goofy lab jumped out of the truck. Right. I'm out. Tour guide and lease "manager" was a mod on here.

We have no written rules. But, somehow our cabin and camp stays spotless, gates are left as found, guns are handled responsibly, great deer get killed, nobody gets hurt or pissed off, feeders stay full, stands always ready to go...........

Yea, back in college I don’t remember being told about a single lease rule when we hunted. What I do know, is the fear of ole Big Tom, my buddy’s dad (6’6 380lbs) was enough that we kept the cabin clean and the old men didn’t have to do a thing but show up and hunt. We took care of everything because we were happy to have a place to hunt….. and we knew if we screwed up Tom would snap us like a twig!