How many days does each hunter hunt that property? 60 guys hunting for even 3 days each on 750 acres? That is a lot of pressure on one farm. That farmer will probably do what lots of other farmers have figured out...reduce the habitat, farm more land, and if he has to buy roosters at $12 or $14 apiece, he is money ahead. In this case, the guy can leave corn strips up into November, giving some extra hunting. What is the estimate--private landowners, not preserves, put out over 1,000,000 birds? Maybe I have my #'s wrong, but a lot of that goes on every fall.
I used to have access to a full section of CRP, and we killed a lot of birds on that ground. But it was just my groups that hunted it, with a few days of hunting by a trio of guys that came out one or two times a year. But if you put groups of 8-9 guys on that ground 3 days per week for 7 weeks, I would be curious to know what the hunting was like by about week 4. When we hunted that ground starting in 1994, all the way through about 2009, it held a lot of birds, as there was other habitat nearby...that property had the most birds I have ever witnessed. Don't know the answer here, it all depends. Usually in a situation like that, if this guys is a decent dude, he probably has other farmer buddy's he could ask for a favor and get on some different ground...most of my farmer buddy's do that kind of thing to help one another out.
If I was a hunter who booked with him, it is a perfect opportunity to NOT be a pain in the ass, to not complain, but instead, ask him what your group could do between sunup and legal hunting hour, and help him out...doing something. This is the year that he NEEDS the $. what are we talking? a few hundred bucks? this is the year that you differentiate from the other groups...you bring walleye or salmon or king crab legs and put on a feed for him and his family and his friends. Hunting is slow? No big deal, let's start the affair early, like 5 or 6 pm. I have had more damn fun doing this kind of thing over the past 25 years. For about 10 years I brought out 50 lbs of Alaskan King Crab legs and did a crab boil for about 30 locals plus my gang...we each had about 60 bux into the feast...best money we ever spent. They still talk about those feasts. We still do a lot of entertaining, but group sizes are smaller, and there are fewer farmers with habitat..but that is some of my favorite time spent out there. This is a marathon, not a sprint...I am 51, hope to be doing this for 20+ more years. I would look at this year as an opportunity to be a good guy, knowing that may pay dividends in the future...but even if it doesn't, who cares....