How to deal with Public Land success

[flip24]

Serious question. How can I justify spending money to joining a club next year to my wife. I was very fortunate to harvest a nice buck and a doe this past weekend on a WMA close to our new house. Prior to this past weekend we had been discussing the cost's of joining a lease very close to my house but now she don't want to even talk about it because I was able to catch a couple this past weekend. Tried explaining to her that it's HARD hunting public land but she say's it can't be too hard because I have killed already .... any ideas out there?

Edited to add info - In the last 25 years I have only joined a hunting club one year and that was to hear beagles run deer. I was fortunate to grow up close to an Army base and had access to hunt and fish 255K acres for the last 32 years, I'm 48 now. In my younger years we ran all over that place and have our holes we hit every year for freezer meat. There isn't an issue with me hunting or spending time away chasing the deer. I think it's just she's looking at what it cost up front to hunt public versus what it cost to hunt a club/lease instead of adding gas and time into the mix. Unfortunately I think it's an Apples to Oranges on her part ...

 

[NCHillbilly]

I would 100x rather hunt public than a club lease, myself. Too much drama and jealousy and competition.

 

[diamondback]

I would rather hunt public than a club. Most clubs I’ve been in were more crowded than the public. I do enjoy a couple small leases that only my family can hunt but that’s different than a club. If I were you I would just keep on public and be on the lookout for a lease you can afford.

 

[roscoe54]

Every club I have been in always has someone that causes trouble Best thing I ever did was buy land Good Luck on what ever you do.

 

[Wanderlust]

Congratulations on two fine deer.
I enjoy public land hunting a lot.
Both public and private have their benefits though.

 

[tr21]

tell her she's right and get a real estate sales book and start looking a tracts of land, make sure to take her along .....

 

[Dustin Pate]

I have access to some really good private land, but I honestly love to hunt public more.

 

[sportsman94]

I’m in the same boat as you in the same area as you. I’ve got access to a couple small properties I try to minimize pressure on and do some public land hunting as well. It’s not so much my wife telling me not to join a club as me debating. It would be nice to have something for October and November when the wmas aren’t open for hunts, but at the same time it’s a lot of money for something I can do for free

 

[BamaGeorgialine]

Ask for forgiveness, not permission. I'm in a couple of clubs. My wife knows that if we added up what I spend on hunting and what she spends on hair, pedicures, manicures, clothes, I'm in the good. So we leave each other alone and enjoy our hobbies. Now don't take any of that advice and listen to one of these older, wiser guys. Good luck!

 

[sportsman94]

I would also ask how much enjoyment you get out of these open rifle hunts? Hearing someone climb less than 100 yards of me that Thursday morning did not give me the peace that I find in the woods normally. The wma hunts are fun and I will continue to go, but I’m still leaning towards a club to “enjoy” the hunt a little more

 

[Waddams]

I've hunted public for a few years since I started this hobby, never killed anything on public until this past weekend. Have been in a club the past 2 years and have a freezer full of venison to show for it.

Living in Lawrenceville, there aren't any easy access public lands for me that I can just head out to. The private club with a camp makes it better for me because of the camp. Being able to stay there makes it easier logistically for me.

If I ever find a few public land honey holes that I know produce deer shot opportunities on a regular basis, I might reconsider but for now I enjoy the chase on public, and I enjoy the different style at the club too.

In the end, it's your hobby and you honestly don't need to justify your pursuit of it. If you want a club, be in a club and spend the money pursuing it. Being married to her doesn't give her standing to tell you can't pursue your hobby how you want to pursue it. Just like if she had something like horses or similar - if she wanted to spend $$ to pursue it, as long as it's not putting the family in the hole, she can and honestly should.

 

[flip24]

I’m in the same boat as you in the same area as you. I’ve got access to a couple small properties I try to minimize pressure on and do some public land hunting as well. It’s not so much my wife telling me not to join a club as me debating. It would be nice to have something for October and November when the wmas aren’t open for hunts, but at the same time it’s a lot of money for something I can do for free

We just recently moved to Twiggs county ... the way the WMAs up here operate is completely new to me. I was just wanting somewhere to go sit after work thru the week.

 

[transfixer]

I realize there are a lot of clubs out there where there is drama, competition among members, members who are jerks, etc, etc,

but they all are not like that, I was in the same club for over 40yrs, ran the club for 20+ of those years , I would never join a club where the acreage to member ratio is less than 40 if its totally wooded, or less than 50 to 1 if some of it is open, club rules are necessary but don't need to be overdone, I don't like the assigned zone idea, we always preferred to allow each member one primary stand they could declare off limits to anyone else, maximum of 3 stands per hunter, the other two could be hunted by someone else as long as that person asked permission of the hunter who put them up ,

Members who caused problems were kicked out , quickly .

Public land hunting can be enjoyable, I've done it in the past, but it can also be dangerous ! with all the idiots we have in our society , I don't care for the idea of being in the woods with people who might not have much experience with hunting or firearms ,,, I know people who have gotten shot by other hunters when hunting public land or a wma, I've had people come walking by me an hour after dark while I'm sitting in my climber I've been in since before daylight .

I have no answer for the permission from the wife thing ,, that is a bigger problem than just hunting ,

Edit: you might explain to her what I mentioned above, a club is much safer in my mind than hunting public land, I'm assuming she wouldn't want you hunting in an area you wouldn't know if anyone else was around that may or may not be safe with a high powered rifle ?

 

[Duff]

What would I tell my wife? I would say, "LOLZ honey. That was a good one". Then I would pack up my stuff and go to my new club.

 

[BamaGeorgialine]

In all serious, some clubs are hunted harder than a WMA. You have your certain area, someone is 200 yards from you in every direction. They're constantly walking around, riding 4 wheelers and filling up feeders. Not to mention that when you join a club more than likely you'll get put in a 40 acres of some of the thickest pines you've ever seen. Again, not all clubs are that way, but it certainly isn't abnormal.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

“Catching “ a big buck on WMA is pretty easy to do repeatedly……she’s probably right.

 

[Milkman]

I don’t know your age. But as an older hunter it helps to have things set up to make hunting easier. Box stands, paths to allow atv access to stands, food plots, etc.
Public land doesn’t allow much like that.

 

[transfixer]

In all serious, some clubs are hunted harder than a WMA. You have your certain area, someone is 200 yards from you in every direction. They're constantly walking around, riding 4 wheelers and filling up feeders. Not to mention that when you join a club more than likely you'll get put in a 40 acres of some of the thickest pines you've ever seen. Again, not all clubs are that way, but it certainly isn't abnormal.

That happens if the club isn't run correctly , we always had a 250yd buffer around stands in the woods, unless you specifically talked with the closest person and you agreed on something different, absolutely no atv use during hunting hours morning and evening, I've field dressed deer 30 mins after daylight and left them there until two hours later so as not to make noise during prime hunting hours,

As far as getting put in a less desirable section of land, yes that happens if the club uses zones, the main reason we never did that, a new member had access to the whole property, as long as he put his stand in an area not closer than 250yds from another stand, we also used a map of the property with stand locations marked on the map, so there was no confusion

as Milkman mentioned, its nice to know that you can go to your stand, and not worry about someone being there, and know which route you'll take, and being able to customize your stand location and leave it in place

 

[Gator89]

I experienced ~40 deer sightings last Friday, I know some were repeats of the same deer coming and going, etc. on my private lease.

I don't know where I can expect to do that on public land.

We have 5 members and 900 acres, we are not crowded, rarely have all 5 hunting at a given time and we celebrate each others success. We have no written rules.

Clubs with 40 acres per member filled through want ads are likely to result in high drama.

 

[sghoghunter]

I personally started off hunting public land 29yrs ago and have killed quite a few doe’s and a few decent bucks but there’s nothing like having 365 day access to do pretty much as you please. You can camp,explore the woods and hunt and only have to worry about the others in the lease. IMO I wouldn’t have to explain why I wanted to get in a lease unless y’all go to get your hair,nails and feet done together. The thing I’m really curious about is the catch part. How exactly did you catch two deer on public land?