Does a hunting lease transfer when land is sold in Alabama?

It depends on the lease's own terms, whether it was recorded, and what the buyer knew, so there isn't a one-line answer. Ask the closing attorney with the lease in hand. The safer course is to make the purchase contract say whether the seller ends the lease before closing or assigns it to you.

How do I find out if a hunting club leases the land I'm buying?

Ask the seller in writing, and walk the tract looking for stands, feeders, shooting houses, club signs, and locks on the gates. A lease may never have been recorded at the probate office, so a title search may not turn it up. Ask for a copy, or a signed written summary if the deal was a handshake.

Do I need a hunting license to hunt my own land in Alabama?

Not if you're an Alabama resident. Section 9-11-51 and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources say a resident landowner can hunt their own land without a license, and so can resident immediate family. A nonresident landowner has to buy a nonresident license. Deer and turkey still have to be reported through Game Check.

Am I liable if someone gets hurt hunting on my land in Alabama?

Alabama law limits a landowner's liability to people who hunt with permission, and Section 35-15-40 limits it for land leased for hunting. Both have exceptions, such as a hidden danger you knew about and didn't disclose. Ask your insurance agent how your policy treats a leased tract, and ask a lawyer how the statutes apply to yours.

Can the hunting club members hunt without a license on land they lease?

Generally not. Section 9-11-51 exempts a tenant who hunts on land they lease or rent only if the hunter lives on that land. Club members who come in to hunt and go home need their own licenses.

There's a Hunting Lease on This Alabama Tract. Does It Stay With the Land, and Can You Hunt It Yourself?

Deer stands, a feeder, and a lock that isn't the seller's mean a club may lease the land. What to get in writing before closing, and when you can hunt it yourself.

Get the answer on paper before closing, because it depends on the lease and your contract. A hunting lease is the seller's deal with the club. Your purchase contract should say whether the seller ends it before closing or hands it to you. Whether a lease you knew about binds you anyway is a question for the closing attorney. Once the land is yours, an Alabama resident can hunt it without a license.

Stands, Feeders, and Someone Else's Lock Are Worth a Question

Walk a timber tract in the fall and you may find ladder stands strapped to the pines, a feeder on a tripod, and a shooting house at the edge of a cutover. The gate may carry a lock the seller has no key to. A painted sign may name a club.

Hunting clubs are an old habit here. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System's guide to organizing a hunting club says clubs "in Alabama and the Southeast have been popular for decades." It says clubs "offer the ability to hunt large acreages for fees." Often those fees go to a landowner under a lease.

Our founder grew up riding along with his father, who sold land for a long time. A club on the place is the kind of thing a seller brings up late, almost in passing. To the seller it's just how the land has always been used. Ask early, and ask in writing.

A Lease Can Be a Signed Page or a Handshake Renewed Each Year

A hunting lease rents the hunting rights. The owner keeps the land. The lease can be a long document, a single signed page, or a handshake that carries on as long as the club keeps paying.

Club money can move on a yearly cycle. The sample bylaws in the ACES guide collect dues "on an annual basis by June 1" and set a fiscal year from June 1 to May 31. Your seller's club may use a different calendar. Ask when the next payment is due, and whether this season is already paid.

A lease may never have been recorded at the probate office. If it wasn't, a title search may not show it. How to look up the deed covers what the probate records hold, and an unwritten deal is one of the gaps it names.

Get These Answers From the Seller Before You Close

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources leases hunting rights on some state land. Its sample hunting lease, revised in April 2025, shows what a careful written lease covers.

It sets a term with an end date. It requires the club to carry general liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 that names the landowner as an additional insured. A club that puts a lock on the land has to give keys to the state's conservation enforcement officer. Tree stands come out within 14 days after deer season. And the state can end the lease "for convenience" on 45 days' written notice.

A private lease on your tract may say none of that. So ask the seller for these things:

a copy of the lease, or a written summary the seller signs if there was never any paper
who holds it, meaning the club's name and an officer you can reach
the term, the renewal date, and what has been paid for this season
how either side can end it, and how much notice that takes
what the club may build or leave, such as stands, feeders, shooting houses, food plots, a camper, or a gate
who owns those things when the lease ends
the club's insurance, and whether the landowner is named on it
who has keys to every lock

If you plan to cut timber, read the lease for that too. The state's sample keeps the landowner's right to harvest timber during the lease. A private lease may not mention it. What the timber is worth covers the harvest side.

Write the Lease Into the Purchase Contract

Decide what you want before you sign the offer. There are two clean paths.

One path is delivery free of the lease. The seller ends the lease under its own terms before closing. The contract can ask for proof the club got the notice the lease requires, that its gear is gone, and that its locks are off. Watch the timing. A lease that needs 45 days' notice won't end inside a 30-day closing.

The other is assignment to you. Maybe you'd like the club to stay through the season. Then the seller can assign the lease to you at closing. Have the closing attorney draft that, check the lease for anything that limits assignment, and settle who keeps this season's payment.

Either way, write it as a condition with a deadline, the same as the perc test and the survey. What your offer should be contingent on walks through how. If the club reaches the tract by a road across a neighbor's land, find out what right it uses. Is this tract landlocked explains why only a recorded easement is something you can count on.

Then the harder question. Are you bound by a lease you knew about but never signed? That's a legal question. It can turn on the lease's wording, whether it was recorded, and what you knew. We won't guess at the rule. Ask the closing attorney before closing, with the lease in hand.

Alabama Limits a Landowner's Liability to Hunters, With Exceptions

Two parts of Title 35, Chapter 15 of the Code speak to this.

The first covers permission. Under Section 35-15-1, an owner, lessee, or occupant "owes no duty of care to keep such premises safe" for people who come on to hunt, fish, camp, or hike. Nor do they owe a warning of hazards. Section 35-15-2 adds that letting someone hunt doesn't promise the land is safe.

Section 35-15-3 sets the edges. That protection doesn't reach a "wilful or malicious failure to guard or warn." It also doesn't reach permission granted "for commercial enterprise for profit."

The second covers leases. Section 35-15-40 is the Landowners Protection Act. It protects a landowner who leases property for hunting or fishing. That owner "shall not be liable for any damages to any person based on the use of the leased property for hunting or fishing purposes."

It has exceptions. One is a hidden danger the landowner knew about when the lease began and never mentioned. If that danger hurts someone who is rightfully using the land under the lease, the protection is gone. It doesn't cover one who intentionally or willfully hurts someone. And it "shall not affect the liability of a third party leasing the land."

A separate article of the chapter, starting at Section 35-15-20, covers land opened to the general public. A private club lease is a different setup.

The statutes have limits, so insurance still matters. The ACES guide says it is "not uncommon for the landowner to require hunting lease liability insurance as part of the lease agreement." Ask your insurance agent how your own policy treats a leased tract.

A Resident Owner Can Hunt Without a License

Resident owners can, with conditions. Section 9-11-51 exempts a resident landowner, and resident immediate family, who hunt land the owner holds. Its words: a license "shall not be required for a resident or resident member of the immediate family who hunts on lands owned by him or her." The department's landowner license page says the same thing in plainer terms. A resident landowner with proof of Alabama residency may hunt their land without buying a license.

The conditions matter.

A nonresident landowner "is required to purchase the appropriate non-resident hunting license," the page says. An old rule that treated nonresident taxpayers as residents was repealed in 1996.
The exemption reaches a resident landowner's spouse, children, parents, and brothers and sisters, if they are Alabama residents.
A tenant is exempt only if the hunter lives on the land they lease or rent. Club members who come in for the weekend need their own licenses.
The exemption ends at the license. Reporting still applies. The department's Game Check sheet, revised June 6, 2025, lists "resident landowners who hunt their own property" as license exempt. It says exempt hunters "still need a Harvest Record," and every deer and turkey is reported within 48 hours or before it changes hands.

The landowner page doesn't address land held by an LLC or a trust. If you're buying that way, call the department before opening day.

Read the Lease Before the Closing Table

LandScout tracks 18,187 undeveloped parcels in Shelby County in our November 1, 2026 export. Of the 15,385 we score, 45.2 percent carry a mapped forest type. The Shelby County page has the rest of the county's numbers.

A hunting lease isn't on the county tax roll, so no parcel file can show one. A LandScout parcel file does show the owner of record and the mapped forest type, which tells you where to start asking. If the low tax bill on a timber tract comes from current use valuation, know that it doesn't pass to you automatically either. The Department of Revenue's current use page says a new owner "must apply for current use valuation between October 1 and January 1." The pricing page lists what each plan includes.

Ask about the club early, get the lease on paper, and put the answer in the contract.