Costs to get a lease going in the first year

The past couple years I've hunted on buddies land, or on guided hunts. I'm looking to get on a whitetail lease next year, and have a few questions for the experts on here about what I can expect expense wise to get set up. There will be a few buddies, and myself. Obviously, there will be the fees for the lease. Besides that, I can think of the following things that are needed to get set up:

-Stands/Blinds
-Truck/4-wheeler that can get around the lease
-Feeders
-Corn
-Living quarters with water and power
-Any necessary tools for clearing land as needed for feeders/stands

Any advice on costs that I can expect (other than whatever the lease fee is) to get a lease going in the first year, and additional items I missed above would be extremely helpful. I'm trying to get it all budgeted out before I jump into anything.

Thanks!

It costs way too dang much! But i love it!

Materials to build pens around your feeders if there is livestock.
Liability Insurance.

x2

The blind and feeders are one time expense. Many places have cabins or older homes which can be used for shelter. You will probably need a source for heat, electric or propane heater. You may not need more than a chain saw and loppers for limited brush removal. You may not need a 4 wheeler. You may need T-posts and wire for a feeder pen and T-posts or metal stakes for the legs on your feeder. Cows and hogs do turn them over at times.

Blinds can run you a few hundred to a few thousand, depending on whether you build it, or you buy it. Can always get started cheap with a couple tripods. 4 wheeler is probably not necessary, a 2WD truck or SUV will get you around 90% of places when its dry. Feeders, maybe 200 a piece, don't get the mickey mouse feeders with plastic barrels and segmented legs. Corn, depends on how much you spend, how many feeders you are keeping going. I'd estimate 200 a year per feeder, feeding Sept-January, depends on how heavy. Living quarters, hopefully find a place with some, or buy a trailer, can get a cheap pop up or something like it for 1000 I'd bet.

It can be as cheap or expensive as you make it.

Yep, I'd budget about 200 bucks for a feeder pen made of hog panels and t-posts.

Not needs... really none of them are. I usually have a feeder and a lockon stand at each lease.. that's all. $200 max plus corn..

But you need to figure in gas more than anything and go from there

sleep in your truck

I spend around 5K/year but thats feed,gas, and groceries minus stand, feeders, Suzuki Samurai , cost of lease..If I didnt love it I wouldnt pay it.

My thoughts as well. Im thinking road feeder and a couple sacks of corn.

Were did you buy a samurai???? did he have his own sword??

You can make it as simple or as complicated as you like.

Nothing says you need to set up feeders and blinds, but here in TX everybody does. If you camp and each man funds a tripod and one corn feeder you can get out for ~$450 for initial setup and corn, then add gas and food. You can walk in to stands and use a game cart to retrieve deer from place you can't drive a truck. A pair of good lopping shears will go a long way to clearing lanes and trimming roads, and you can skin your deer on a good tree limb.

If you start talking trailers, ATVs, protein feeders, feed pens, elevated box blinds, game cameras, etc the cost goes up from there.

To answer your question, each man at our place spends about $300 per year on corn and another $400 per year on protein. We each have about $400 tied up in feeders (corn and protein), another $500 or so tied up in blinds, and $250 in feed pens. We build alot of our own stuff. Our place has a simple cabin and we stay there. I find that I generally invest about $500 each year into improving the place. After that the spend is all on toys. I built an electric golf cart to cruise around in, so I dropped a little more coin than normal this year.

Fixed it for ya..lol

Sssshhhhh....don't let the cat out of the bag. Everyone needs to finance a 4 wheel drive truck with the biggest off road tires they can find to pull their new ATV to the lease. If you don't, your not cool, you won't be able to tell everyone about your samurai, and you probably won't shoot a trophy buck.

Once you get everything the way you like it, you lose your lease, lol.

On the cheap, probably $750-1K. For nicer stuff, blinds, feeders, feeder pens, etc. Probably $5K or so.

Alcohol can be a considerable expense. And the Smores components really add up!

Seriously though, aside from some standard luxuries (blinds, feeders, ATV/UTV) the only things I purchased were a chain saw and Mr. Buddy Portable heater - neither of which were necessary. Now that I think about it, nothing is necessary except for the land, a gun, a box of bullets and a license. Oh and like somebody else mentioned, fuel to get to and fro. In my case, diesel adds up fast too!

Thanks everyone. A lot of good advice here. It's good to know you can basically get started for relatively inexpensive, and add in the luxuries as time goes on.

Can you please expand upon the liability insurance? I haven't heard of anyone mentioning that before.

-Protein feeders - Outback makes some good ones... we have a 3,000lb gravity one
-Corn feeders - Sweeny makes the best IMO
-Interlocking panels for feeders if you have cattle and or pigs
-Tower blinds - Boss makes the best IMO
-Trail cams - Reconnex makes the best...period!

My real answer should have been "immaterial in the grand scheme of things"; once you make that harvesting shot on a nice one, all is forgotten..

Minimums
Stand/blind: $100-300
Feeder and corn to fill it: $150. Add $50-100 if you need a pen.

Everything else is extra. Go Bears.

Craigs list can be your friend when finances are tight. Also the classified's here and on the TFF can help with ezpenses. You don't have to have all new stuff to get out and enjoy youself.

This ^^^^^^^

If you start cruising Craig's list after deer season you can get some decent deals on stands and feeders.
I still have a 4x4 blind with plexiglass windows I bought 7 years ago for $50.

I would say at to plan on at least 1K for basic stuff. 5K would be on the high end and would get you started with some really nice stuff.

Buy nice or buy twice.

Or don't buy at all

Hunted many a years out of a 10x20 tent, just find a "3" season type, electricity is available you can use a heater, couple light on the inside, sleep on the ground or on a cot. You could get by on $300 for the set up.
Agree on getting a good feeder, around $200. No plastic barrels
Pigs or livestock- feed pen can be barb wire or panels or field fence, try to stay around 42+ inches fyi- goats can jump 45"..... but not 48"

You can go as cheap as you want to. Start looking now for things on sale

Our lease we have to include power and water bills.

depends on what you want - do it on the cheap and buy cheap feeders and blinds - nothing wrong with that. Or go high end and buy nice tower blinds, feeders etc - there is really no way to do all you mentioned though and not spend some cash

A lot of great info here. I'll probably build a stand, and start looking now for equipment, feeders, etc on sale. Living quarters will be on the cheap side for a while unless where ever I end up finding a lease already has something in place.

X2

At $3 per gallon it's $70 round trip for me, every trip.

Excellent advice. As the season ends and leases begin to expire guys will be looking to unload equipment they don't want to move or they may want to liquidate to try to upgrade for next season.

I'll be posting some stuff for sale in a couple of weeks. I'll make you a good package deal on a older pop up camper with A/C, shower, stove, feeder with built on ladder, a 4x6 wood blind with plexiglass windows, a 4x4 blind on a 4 ft stand and a hog trap. Just pm me.
Gonna give the lease thing a break for a year and don't have room to store it all.

good thread just what i was looking for

my how the times have changed since I began hunting 50+ years ago ... LOL ... thankfully I have changed along with them.

but if you want to go cheap ... 3 2x6s nailed up in a tree will serve as a elevated stand and a hollowed out brush pile with a folding chair as a ground blind. Make your own feeder out of a piece of large diameter PVC w/end caps on both ends with holes drilled in it hanging from a tree, wind movement distributes corn. Sleep in a tent or your vehicle, walk to your blind, pee/poop in the woods (just be sure you take toilet paper from home) ... pretty inexpensive route!

I like the advice about roughing it, at least at this point. I'm sure someday I'll want to hunt in luxury. Until then, I like the whole tent thing.

Now...if I could only find a lease...

sounds like place i hunt. only thing, not allowed ta feed an the dang bears keep steelen my charmin

They tough, & fun ta drive, enjoyed ours. people who have ridden in mine in winter, complained about the heater

whatever you think, add a grand.

Cost is a trick question. You can spend as much as you want, or as little. The cost of the lease, although high, can end up being just pennies compared to the final cost. I feed year round and can feed as much as 200-300 lb a month per feeder. So minimum that is 40$ a month per feeder. So estimate $500 x 3 feeders per year if feeding year round minimum. Then driving cost to keep up with it year round will cost me that much more in just gas and food. I already have my towers built, but plan on building one more this year, which will cost about $1000 in just material (I build my own so it may cost more if you have someone build for you, and I also go a bit high end on my stands). On housing, I have a house to stay in on my lease, but may purchase a trailer for the next season like all the other cool kids on my place which can run as high as you want, but we will just say another 1,000. (which is my own problem but may also be part of your expense). Now on the extra part. We are going to start protein feeding this year. The feeders I am building will be costing the crap out of me, just say 800 or so minimum for them. But is cheap compared to the protein. Im "guessing" 50 lb a day per feeder at a minimum of 10$ per bag. That is 3650 per feeder minimum X 3. That does not even start on the cost of the lease. SO.... I guess what Im saying is some of us have to get second jobs to just cover part of our hunting habits and obsessions. Cant let fear control your decisions. IT will cost you no matter what your extras you put in are. I have hunted out of my truck and eaten bologna and water for a full season and only got to hunt without stands and feeders because I was too broke to get started. Slowly and yearly I have built my setup to where I can actually start not only killing deer, but now managing and growing them. A lease is a long term investment if you are going to do it correctly.....

Like others have mentioned, definitely check out Craigslist if you're going to look for feeders, blinds/stands. I've also been able to trade for a few things to keep my cost down. The first lease I had, I spent about $500 on 2 feeders, 2 game cams, 1 tripod, 1 popup and a ladder stand.

I had a similar set of requirements when I got on a lease 4 years ago. When I was much younger, I would have gotten by with a rifle, backpack and tent.

Trailer: $3500
Hot water heater and furnace: $800
Water and Electrical Hookups: $300
Blind: $500
Feeder: $400
T-Posts: $100
Tacoma: $12000
Gas to do all that: $500

Since then I've added:
Blind: $1400
Feeder: $300
Ranger: $5000
Trailer for Ranger: $1400
Replaced Camping Trailer: $14000
New Rifle: $1500 (just cuz)
Sold Tacoma & got GMC (bigger): $2000 difference
Gas: $I should own a large part of Quick Stop & Love's by now.$

Please don't show this list to my wife. However, she enjoys the lease and requested the larger trailer. Heck, she even paid for it.

The bottom line is to estimate what you think it will cost and triple it.

This is so true. If mine just had the slightest idea what cash flow goes into my obsession, she would demand her half for crazy crap like Scentsy and perfumes. She does not understand how that kind of crap messes with my Scent Prevention. Just saying.... Glad Im not the only one with these kinds of issues....

Our first "cabin" was 2 moving crates, each was 4x8, together it was 8x8 shack. Our power was a 12 volt battery, we had 2 RV lights, an RV water pump and a bar sink. All of that cost about a $100 and lots of labor, a LOT of LABOR. We already had sleeping bags, Coleman stove, lanterns etc., so there really wasn't any extra cost in that equipment. Today that same "cabin" would be about $200, and still a LOT OF LABOR.

Feeders back then were expensive, damned expensive, so we converted 55 gallon drums, made legs out of pump barrel pipe for them and used a Klockit 12 hour clock for the timer with a large capacitor. Back them they cost us about $20 each, equal to about $60 now. We didn't feed year around, and we still don't, I think that is why we don't have a hog problem while everyone around us does. So today, $100 per feeder and another $100 for corn.

We used my pickup as the lease vehicle, nothing extra needed.

When the wife starts to nag about the cost just tell her you are bringing home meat that is worth $185.00 per pound and its very very healthy for the family.

I no longer have a lease but own my property. Spend what you want on the things you need to survive and be comfortable. I spent many a days sitting on 2 2x6's in a tree in Dec overlooking a wheat field in SE Kansas as a boy growing up. Froze my butt off but killed a bunch of deer. Now, 30 years later I enjoy my own property with a stand that has a buddy heater, corn/protein feeder 80 yards away as well as a cabin with all of the amenities to live. 100 yard walk to the stand. 1st year on my property and have harvested 2 deer. Lot's to shoot but have been selectively hunting. It all depends on how much you want to spend for the thrill of the hunt and comfort of the hunt. I have spent about 90K for my place with upgrades to the land and cabin and it has all been worth it. May want to think about your own property. Whatever you decide it is gonna cost a lot more per lb for deer than in the grocery store for beef, but being out in the woods is worth the price. It is PRICELESS.
Have a buddy that lives in this while hunting.