You don't have to spend big $$ but it sure helps some years. Partner in our lease also has 400 acres in PI he is shelling out $25,000 for and started hunting with us on our $3,200 lease because there were not enough birds in PI. We did not start killing until the second split but we did pretty good for what we had to hunt on.
Big problem with people is they will try to "Snake" you on your lease if they can, not everyone but some. Invitations to hunt on our property are few and far between if you are not in the "LOOP" for this reason.