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Is the day lease dying?

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    Is the day lease dying?

    Years ago it seemed there was a lot more activity on forums about day leases. I know there were several hunts a year with waiting lists on TBH and THF. Seems the last few years the interest, or at least the excitement about them, has dwindled.
    Maybe it's me and a lack of awareness or the fact that I have a friend with a place i can go shoot exotics and pigs most anytime. But even his business has slowed the last few years.

    Anyone else notice this?

    Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

    #2
    I remember about 6-7 years ago it was huge and the Rate the Day Lease forum was constantly busy and now it seems like not much activity... seems a lot of the ranches have disappeared as well

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      #3
      Originally posted by DRT View Post
      Years ago it seemed there was a lot more activity on forums about day leases. I know there were several hunts a year with waiting lists on TBH and THF. Seems the last few years the interest, or at least the excitement about them, has dwindled.
      Maybe it's me and a lack of awareness or the fact that I have a friend with a place i can go shoot exotics and pigs most anytime. But even his business has slowed the last few years.

      Anyone else notice this?

      Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
      As someone who owned one I would say yes.

      7 or 8 years ago by august we would be booked solid through may of the next year.

      The last couple of years we were never booked up solid but still managed to sell plenty of hunts on short notice

      This year, I have several friend that only have one or two hunts booked for the entire fall.

      I think two things happened to cause this.

      They changed the tax codes and made it difficult to write off hunting as entertainment and the biggest is that where a man will shoot two deer every year, most folks only want one of each of the exotics.

      After they get a good Fallow, Axis and Black buck, they tend to not want to shoot another.

      It has become a difficult business and even on good years I never broke even. Fortunately for me It was just a hobby and I enjoyed doing it.

      While I really miss taking folks hunting (That is always how it felt to me) I am glad to be out of the business

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        #4
        Is the day lease dying?

        Here’s my theory on it. Back then, exotics were much cheaper because it wasn’t that popular. $500-$750 for an axis or fallow. A guy could buy livestock and let them get hunted and buy more here and there as needed. Lower hunting interest enabled some of the livestock to breed before being killed by customers. Not too terribly difficult to offer a decent hunt and still get by on those prices with the other ranch management and maintenance costs.

        Then it became popular, and the price of livestock skyrocketed. Now, the ranch had to recover their cost on the animal and buy more to keep up with the interest. Animals are shot out before they can breed so they are basically bought to be killed. This exacerbates the price, which takes some day ranches out by itself. Others fall as the sustained need for sourcing high turnover livestock becomes a full time job itself in addition to the ranch management. More ranches fall as customers expectations increase with the sharply increased hunting prices. For $500-$750, folks are a lot more forgiving than they are at $3000.

        The happy medium, equilibrium point, is to manage a herd and only sell the number of hunts that the herd can sustain to stay stable. But this approach doesn’t offer enough hunts for a small ranch to survive, and the exotics hunts almost would have to take a back seat to some other purpose for the ranch.

        I think the exotic prices have hit a point where some people seriously question whether it’s worth it. I don’t predict that prices will come back down necessarily, but I think they have hit their critical point.
        Last edited by txpitdog; 08-24-2018, 08:23 AM.

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          #5
          Originally posted by txpitdog View Post
          Here’s my theory on it. Back then, exotics were much cheaper because it wasn’t that popular. $500-$750 for an axis or fallow. A guy could buy livestock and let them get hunted out and buy more as heeded. Lower hunting interest enabled some of the livestock to breed before being killed by customers. Not too terribly difficult to offer a decent hunt and still get by on those prices with the other ranch management and maintenance costs.

          Then it became popular, and the price of livestock skyrocketed. Now, the ranch had to recover their cost on the animal and buy more to keep up with the interest. Animals are shot out before they can breed so they are basically bought to be killed. This exacerbates the price, which takes some day ranches out by itself. Others fall as the sustained need for sourcing high turnover livestock becomes a full time job itself in addition to the ranch management. More ranches fall as customers expectations increase with the sharply increased hunting prices. For $500-$750, folks are a lot more forgiving than they are at $3000.

          The happy medium, equilibrium point, is to manage a herd and only sell the number of hunts that the herd can sustain to stay stable. But this approach doesn’t offer enough hunts for a small ranch to survive, and the exotics hunts almost would have to take a back seat to some other purpose for the ranch.

          I think the exotic prices have hit a point where some people seriously question whether it’s worth it. I don’t predict that prices will come back down necessarily, but I think they have hit their critical point.

          BEAT ME TO IT, agree

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by txpitdog View Post
            here’s my theory on it. Back then, exotics were much cheaper because it wasn’t that popular. $500-$750 for an axis or fallow. A guy could buy livestock and let them get hunted and buy more here and there as needed. Lower hunting interest enabled some of the livestock to breed before being killed by customers. Not too terribly difficult to offer a decent hunt and still get by on those prices with the other ranch management and maintenance costs.

            Then it became popular, and the price of livestock skyrocketed. Now, the ranch had to recover their cost on the animal and buy more to keep up with the interest. Animals are shot out before they can breed so they are basically bought to be killed. This exacerbates the price, which takes some day ranches out by itself. Others fall as the sustained need for sourcing high turnover livestock becomes a full time job itself in addition to the ranch management. More ranches fall as customers expectations increase with the sharply increased hunting prices. For $500-$750, folks are a lot more forgiving than they are at $3000.

            The happy medium, equilibrium point, is to manage a herd and only sell the number of hunts that the herd can sustain to stay stable. But this approach doesn’t offer enough hunts for a small ranch to survive, and the exotics hunts almost would have to take a back seat to some other purpose for the ranch.

            I think the exotic prices have hit a point where some people seriously question whether it’s worth it. I don’t predict that prices will come back down necessarily, but i think they have hit their critical point.
            x10000

            Comment


              #7
              I agree the prices have hurt many working folk. However I have a fairly expensive deer lease that if I didn't have I would spend the money on a day lease hunt or two more a year.

              Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

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                #8
                Originally posted by DRT View Post
                I agree the prices have hurt many working folk. However I have a fairly expensive deer lease that if I didn't have I would spend the money on a day lease hunt or two more a year.

                Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
                My thinking is why pay $3000 for a 3 day hunt when you can spend the same for a YEAR ROUND lease.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by txpitdog View Post
                  Here’s my theory on it. Back then, exotics were much cheaper because it wasn’t that popular. $500-$750 for an axis or fallow. A guy could buy livestock and let them get hunted and buy more here and there as needed. Lower hunting interest enabled some of the livestock to breed before being killed by customers. Not too terribly difficult to offer a decent hunt and still get by on those prices with the other ranch management and maintenance costs.

                  Then it became popular, and the price of livestock skyrocketed. Now, the ranch had to recover their cost on the animal and buy more to keep up with the interest. Animals are shot out before they can breed so they are basically bought to be killed. This exacerbates the price, which takes some day ranches out by itself. Others fall as the sustained need for sourcing high turnover livestock becomes a full time job itself in addition to the ranch management. More ranches fall as customers expectations increase with the sharply increased hunting prices. For $500-$750, folks are a lot more forgiving than they are at $3000.

                  The happy medium, equilibrium point, is to manage a herd and only sell the number of hunts that the herd can sustain to stay stable. But this approach doesn’t offer enough hunts for a small ranch to survive, and the exotics hunts almost would have to take a back seat to some other purpose for the ranch.

                  I think the exotic prices have hit a point where some people seriously question whether it’s worth it. I don’t predict that prices will come back down necessarily, but I think they have hit their critical point.
                  hit the nail on the head

                  Comment


                    #10
                    When was an axis or fallow 5-700 ?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by cantexduck View Post
                      When was an axis or fallow 5-700 ?
                      About 10-12 years ago.

                      Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

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                        #12
                        When I first moved to Texas in the early 90's I remember seeing an ad for a Whitetail day lease for $25 a day.............I thought that was outrageous.

                        DJ

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                          #13
                          I don't think the younger generation is into hunting as much as people that grew up pre-social media(pre 2000). The old folks seem to mellow and not hunt as much, and the new folks aren't as diehard as we where. I think this is a trend that will continue. in 20 or 30 years, I doubt we will recognize hunting that we see today.

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                            #14
                            I think it’s been a bad cycle where the availability of exotics has desensitized everyone to want the bigger and better stock. That means breeding becomes more expensive and consequently, the cost to hunters has exploded to where only a small percentage of the population can even afford it.

                            Plus, as it was mentioned, once you have a real trophy Blackbuck or even something like a Gemsbok, are most people willing to drop a SECOND $12k?

                            My feeling is that trophy seeking has created so much demand for BIG animals that you can’t even maintain a ranch of what would have been acceptable 10 years ago.

                            Hell, when I was a kid in the 70’s, ANY 8 point was considered a great deer...now, if it doesn’t have 6” drops and a huge base, it isn’t even considered worth mounting (I don’t think that way, but we all know a ton of folks who do).

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Day leases are declining in popularity because most day leases are a rip off. The only good day leases are the ones that frequently restock animals to keep the numbers up and/or book fewer hunts to keep the pressure down. Usually, the cost of restocking or conducting fewer hunts will be reflected in higher kill fees.

                              Too many folks have been burned by or got fed up with crappy day leases that run hunters every day of the week all year long...where the animals are so educated and spooky you have to be extremely lucky even to see one in the daylight. We all know those places only make their money when hunters don't kill anything.

                              Even though a reputable kill fee ranch might offer a higher success rate and better overall experience, a lot of people are just not going to budget for it...at least not on an annual basis.

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