Most private hunting leases we have looked at ask somewhere between $10 and $40 an acre per year, and the biggest single factor in where yours lands is how many acres you have. Small tracts ask more per acre and less in total. Large tracts ask less per acre and more in total. Region, habitat, access and how many hunters you allow move the number from there.
The figures in this guide come from our own research into asking prices on private hunting leases across the country. They are rough estimates, they vary widely from one county to the next, and they should be taken with a grain of salt. They get you into the right range. Your property decides where in it you belong.
How much should I charge? Get your number in a minute. Price your land with the free estimate →
Start with acreage
Per-acre price falls as a tract gets bigger. A hunter will pay a lot per acre for a 40-acre spot close to home, but nobody pays that same rate across 1,000 acres. In our research the gap between the smallest and largest tracts was large, often three times or more on a per-acre basis.
Here is roughly what we have seen by tract size. These are typical asking ranges for a full season, not guarantees.
| Tract size |
Typical ask per acre |
Typical ask for the whole lease |
| Under 50 acres |
roughly $30 to $55 |
roughly $500 to $2,000 |
| 50 to 99 acres |
roughly $20 to $35 |
roughly $1,000 to $2,500 |
| 100 to 249 acres |
roughly $15 to $30 |
roughly $2,000 to $4,500 |
| 250 to 499 acres |
roughly $12 to $25 |
roughly $4,000 to $9,000 |
| 500 to 999 acres |
roughly $5 to $18 |
roughly $4,000 to $10,000 |
| 1,000 acres and up |
roughly $5 to $15 |
roughly $8,000 to $18,000 |
Two things to know about this table. First, these are asking prices, and what actually gets signed can come in lower. Second, the large-tract rows are where our research is thinnest, so treat those ranges as especially loose.
Found your row? Narrow it to your state and acreage. What is my land worth? Run the free estimate →
Then adjust for region
Where your land sits matters almost as much as how big it is. As a broad picture of what we have seen:
| Region |
Typical ask per acre |
Notes |
| Deep South (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas) |
roughly $8 to $25 |
Strong demand, lots of available land. Well-managed ground can ask more. |
| Mid-South (Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina) |
roughly $15 to $35 |
Varies a lot between mountain and farm country. |
| Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan) |
roughly $15 to $45 |
Trophy whitetail counties sit at the top of this range and sometimes above it. |
| Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota) |
roughly $10 to $30 |
Bigger tracts pull the per-acre number down. |
| Northeast (New York, Pennsylvania) |
roughly $20 to $50 |
Small tracts near population centers. |
| Texas |
from under $10 to well over $50 |
Depends heavily on region and tract size. |
A regional range is wide by design. The free land value estimate uses your state and your acreage and gives you a range in about a minute. Want a person to look at it with you? Book a call or ring us at (804) 424-5233, answered 9am to 10pm Eastern, seven days a week.
Why the big timber and club leases are not your benchmark
Many landowners anchor on what a timber company or a long-running hunt club charges. That is a weak comparison. Timber-company ground is managed for timber first: harvests, spraying and prescribed burns land on the forestry calendar, sometimes mid-season, and whole blocks can close. Terms are typically annual, renewal is not guaranteed, and the tracts are priced flat across huge acreage, which drags the per-acre figure down. Club leases add another layer: one leader collects the dues, rosters fill up, and members live under a rulebook they never negotiated.
Hunters who are tired of that will pay for a private property with one party on it for the season. That is the lease you are pricing, and it should not be priced like a crowded club tract.
The informal route has its own problem. Facebook and classified-ad leases are where hunters get burned: stolen photos, land the poster does not own, deposits sent by Venmo, Zelle or CashApp to someone who never shows up. As reported by CBS Miami in August 2026, a Georgia inmate was charged in Florida with allegedly posting fake hunting lease ads for land he did not own or control and collecting deposits from hunters across 15 counties. Careful hunters know the stories, and they are wary of an unknown name in a classified.
Through us, it works differently. We talk to every landowner by phone before a property is listed. Hunters book and pay by card through our checkout. Every hunter signs an access agreement and liability waiver carrying your own rules before access, leases arranged through us are insured, one party holds the lease for the season, and exact location and access details are released in the member's account only after booking. See how leasing your land with us works →
What pushes price up
Once you have a ballpark from size and region, the property itself decides whether you sit at the top or bottom of it. These are the things hunters pay more for:
- Habitat that holds game. A mix of hardwoods, thick cover for bedding, and edges where cover meets fields or food will ask more than a uniform stand of young pine. Mature hardwood bottoms and ag edges tend to be valued highly.
- Water. A creek, river frontage, a pond or a slough adds value for deer and is close to essential for waterfowl. Good duck ground is often priced in a different bracket from deer ground altogether.
- Easy, reliable access. A gated entrance off a maintained road, interior trails a truck or side-by-side can use, and a place to park all make a lease easier to sell.
- Game quality and history. Trail camera photos, harvest records or a history of managing for older deer matter. Hunters pay for evidence.
- Exclusivity. A lease held by one person or one small group is worth more per hunter than ground shared with a crowd. Fewer hunters per acre usually means a higher price per hunter, even if the total is similar.
- Longer terms with renewal options. Hunters who plan to plant food plots or hang stands want to know they will be back next year. A multi-year term or a renewal option can support a higher annual figure.
- Location. Land within a reasonable drive of a city has more people looking at it.
You do not need cabins, power or other amenities to lease land. Most of the value is in the ground and the game.
Check off a few of these? Your land may belong at the top of its range. Price your land now →
What pulls price down
- Recent clear-cuts or very young timber, which can be hard to hunt for a few years.
- Difficult or shared access, such as crossing a neighbor's land or a road that washes out.
- Heavy restrictions, such as no ATVs, no permanent stands, or a short list of allowed dates. Rules are often necessary, but each one narrows the pool of interested hunters.
- A lot of hunters per acre. Allowing a large group can raise the total but usually lowers what each person pays.
- Neighbors who hunt the line hard, or nearby public land with heavy pressure.
- Ongoing farm or timber activity that will disturb the property during season.
Not sure how much a clear-cut or a shared road costs you? That is exactly what we talk through on the phone. (804) 424-5233.
Pricing per acre, per hunter, or flat
There are three common ways to set the price:
- Per acre. Simple and easy for hunters to compare. Most leases are discussed this way.
- Per hunter. Common when a landowner wants to control the number of people. A price is set for each member of the group.
- Flat annual price. One number for the whole property for the season. This is how most leases end up being written, even when the conversation started per acre.
Which one fits your land depends on its size and how many hunters it carries. The free estimate gives you the per-acre and whole-lease figures side by side, and a call with us settles which structure to list under.
A simple way to set your number
- Find your size band in the first table and your region in the second.
- Decide honestly whether your land is below average, average or above average for your area, based on the lists above.
- Pick a number in the lower, middle or upper part of the range to match.
- Check it against the free land value estimate, which works from your state and acreage.
- Call us at (804) 424-5233 and we will walk through the number with you against what hunters are booking.
- Watch the response. If interest comes fast, you may be under the market. If nobody calls, you are probably over it.
A fair number that keeps a good tenant for years usually beats holding out for the top of the range and leaving the land empty for a season.
Skip the guesswork. Get your number in a minute → or book a call with us →
Terms that travel with the price
Price is only one term. The things landowners most often settle alongside it:
- The length of the term and when it starts and ends
- How many hunters are on the land and whether guests come along
- Which species and seasons are included
- Whether stands, blinds, food plots or ATVs are allowed
- Who handles gates, roads and trash
- What the hunters sign before access
- How and when payment is made
When you lease through us, your rules go into the access agreement and liability waiver every hunter signs before access, and payment runs through our checkout. Requirements differ from place to place, and nothing here is legal advice.
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How many acres, and what's on it? Tell us and we will put a price on it.
