It’s a good thing we are all somewhat different !
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Question for those in clubs or run clubs
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bigchiefchoctaw
BANNED
I like this approach and agree with what someone posted above about respecting a persons stand and the effort they put into it. If a person has a feeder there or food plot and you like hunting it. Offer to help or kick in some money if it’s a persons personal money not a club money deal. It’s all really about finding the right place with the rules you like find like minded people that share you views and ways of hunting. Become friends and do things for the betterment of the club. When I see places with all their personal places of assigned areas it just tells me people are selfish and competition hunting and more about there selves.. that’s my view point anyways
Jim Boyd
Senior Member
Long Cut,
It is with great chagrin that I read sentiments such as yours.
Certainly not calling you out but blanket statements like yours are simply not accurate in ALL situations.
Are some situations a wreck? We would be ignorant not to concede that they are.
Are all situations a wreck? I would think we would be equally ignorant to answer that question in the affirmative.
We are 8 on 844 and we all have private areas of 20-25 acres or so.
Areas ARE chosen on seniority.
However, IIRC - we have 12 or so areas to choose from so even the “last” member has 4-5 options.
Additionally, members are free to move each year if they want (and they do - in fact I moved in 2023).
I mentioned the 844 on purpose. If areas were all 25 acres - 8 x 25 = 200.
That leaves 644 acres of open club ground that is equally accessed by all first come / first served.
I fear that in many cases, the prevalent notion of “what am I not getting” vs the realization “hey, this works pretty good” is what drives much of the animus that circles in and out of any club - and hunting is obviously not immune.
I mean not to change your mind (I do not have a dog in that fight) but I would offer that not all options suck.
We have one former and one current member active on GON - perhaps they will chime in.
@Kebo07
@BluewaterFever
Now, I will admit that we went through a few iterations of our process and some members were alienated (read that they left the club) but the changes were always driven by the members inability (or refusal) to meet simple land management guidelines - largely: take care of the food plots.
I offer no argument and just a few facts that I know to be true.
As with all of us, our mileages may vary.
sghoghunter
Senior Member
This question is for the first come crowd. Who plants the food plots and fills feeders if they are there for every member? Where does the seed,fertilizer and feed money come from? Does the club have the tractor,equipment and fuel for the club?
I’m in a club right now where each member has a private area. I do not like this idea but I knew the rules when I joined. I am about to enter my fourth year in the club, and have yet to kill a deer.I would like to join a club where each member has the opportunity to hunt any stand or available land. If any of you know of such a club, I would love to hear from you. I live in Hall county but I am willing to drive 2 to 2 1/2 hours. My present club is in Merriweather County.
Long Cut
Senior Member
Hey Jim,
Didn’t mean to strike a chord with you or call anyone out personally.
The Hybrid variation of Private Areas and Open ground you’re describing is a lot different than the situation I am referring to.
The situation you describe is appealing to everyone, guys get a small private area, then a large majority is open to everyone. I would absolutely be for what you describe.
What I am against is 100% private areas, and each member during deer season can only hunt say 50-100 acres. Which is decided in order of seniority. This *in my opinion* creates more of a competitive environment rather than a group or team effort.
Again, completely depends on who’s in the club, the goals, budget and ultimately what everyone prefers.
A bunch of different ways to go about this. There is no “right” or “wrong” way, just whatever suits the needs of the overall group.
Long Cut
Senior Member
Club dues.
Budget for seed, fertilizer, diesel, feed.. etc
Club work days say 2-4x a season, miss a day, pay a fee in some cases.
Everyone comes together for 1 or 2 weekends a year with their equipment and gets all of the planting, bush-hogging taken care of.
Works for us.
sghoghunter
Senior Member
I’ll tell ya about a spot on our club. We have a small plot maybe 1/3 an ac close to camp that’s easy access and visible from road going to camp. I have always kept that plot planted every year with my own money and keep a feeder in it year round filled by me. My GF is disabled and this is the only spot I can get her wheel chair and a ground blind to without a whole lot of trouble and no one has ever had a problem since it’s layed out in a bad way. Well about four years ago I wasn’t there one weekend and I got a notification from a camera at that feeder of a former member’s nephew climbing a tree 10 yds from the feeder. After a simple conversation we found out him and the nephew was hunting up front around that plot and feeder to hopefully kill a few doe’s and not spook his spot up in the back of the club. I asked if he’d top the feeder off with a bag of corn when they left and he got mad and pretty much cussed us out. Was I wrong for what I done?
Duff
Senior Member
sghoghunter
Senior Member
This is how our lease is. We have 750ac with 6 members. The lease price,camp site price and electric is added together and split up 6 ways. Also the whole 750 ac is in one block that’s long and narrow with one road going through the middle. It’s split up in 6 different areas and you can put as many different stands on your area as you want. How would you budget for seed and feed prices and be fair? Does the guys with the tractors and equipment have to pay that price along with the ones that only have limb cutters and a weed eater?
bigchiefchoctaw
BANNED
In my opinion you weren’t wrong. It shows a lack or character on there part and not someone I would want to hunt with everyday
transfixer
Senior Member
Not wrong at all, and had something like that happen when I was running our club, that person would have at least had a stern talking to, and depending on what language was used , would probably have been kicked out of the club immediately
About a dozen on 1100 acres, you get to flag three spots you want to hunt. If you pin in on one of your spots the others are open. One can hunt the whole property as long as that spots not flagged. Flags are ripped down and new flags marked each year before season. A lot do it on the work day.
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I am in a club that is first come first serve. We have a single check station that has a magnetic map board for sign in / out. It has never really been a problem. Currently we have eight members and 1280 acres
The key is hunting with good people. And it helps if you have lots of property (or in our case we have four members who might hunt three times a year). I hunt only week days (normally). So that takes pressure off as well, this year the most hunters we ever had at one time was five on 1280 ac.
We have no written rules in our club. We do have four rules understood by all members. 1- we follow all game laws. 2 - motorized vehicles are restricted to certain main roads. 3 - three guest days to each member. 4 - we hunt mature bucks and we take only three does max (each). In Alabama that means you can take three bucks (no one has never taken more than two bucks. This year we have taken only two does so far, that number will go up before end of season, but I doubt we will take five does).
We have tons of deer.
If you don't own your land, just find a club with good people with common hunting goals (i am not saying that is easy, but it can be done). In my opinion pay as much as you can to keep membership number low.
The key is hunting with good people. And it helps if you have lots of property (or in our case we have four members who might hunt three times a year). I hunt only week days (normally). So that takes pressure off as well, this year the most hunters we ever had at one time was five on 1280 ac.
We have no written rules in our club. We do have four rules understood by all members. 1- we follow all game laws. 2 - motorized vehicles are restricted to certain main roads. 3 - three guest days to each member. 4 - we hunt mature bucks and we take only three does max (each). In Alabama that means you can take three bucks (no one has never taken more than two bucks. This year we have taken only two does so far, that number will go up before end of season, but I doubt we will take five does).
We have tons of deer.
If you don't own your land, just find a club with good people with common hunting goals (i am not saying that is easy, but it can be done). In my opinion pay as much as you can to keep membership number low.
transfixer
Senior Member
You just described exactly how I ran my old club, and how it was supposed to continued to run as, we could change one or more of our three spots if we wanted to, as long as the spot we chose wasn't already taken
I’m comfortable with it. Some of the old timers have elevated blinds near food plots doesn’t bother me. Some day I might need an easier way to hunt.
Jim Boyd
Senior Member
Hey Long!
No sir, no nerve or chord was touched or damaged in the making of these posts (pun intended).
It might be fair to sum it up this way - there are bad clubs just like there are bad members - just like there are good clubs and good members….
Biggest challenge is getting the like groups on the same farm, I would judge!!!
Be safe, brother.
I ran a club for a while that was 1000 acres with 6-10 members depending on the year. We did first come first serve and never had a problem. What I will say is that if a member were on a good deer, everyone respected that. They didn't have to but did. I've also hunted clubs that had private areas and I'd say it depends on the size of the private area. I looked at a place years ago that you got your 40 acres and nobody could be in said 40 acres other than you. Period. And all 40 acre spots were taken except for a couple for new members. I had to pass on that place. But I hunted somewhere else where the private area had a 200 -300 yard buffer and that wasn't so bad.
transfixer
Senior Member
I appreciate everyone's input, it seems my being in the same club for over 40 yrs sheltered me from knowing how others are run, I still wouldn't like first come first serve, as that might as well be hunting public land in my mind, never knowing where you were going to be able to hunt till you got to the property , and it would prevent me from doing much in the way of improvements to areas, I did hunt with a core group of friends for the majority of those 40yrs, but we slowly lost members to old age, and they either dropped out or passed away, towards the end when we had to add outsiders is where the problem came in, and the problem was caused by younger members, I learned most of the younger guys hunt for social media likes, instead of for the experience, I guess I'm just an old dinosaur and at some point will simply be extinct , as I hunted for the enjoyment of being in the woods and camaraderie
Gator89
Senior Member
For those hunting timber land, mixed pasture / timber land, I can see where improving your spot has value.
I hunt farmland, corn, cotton, peanuts, etc. there is no "improving spots" the farmer rotates crops and I want to be free to go hunt on the best deer hunting that year.
Bottom line is every situation is different. Find a situation you can live with and enjoy hunting.
I hunt farmland, corn, cotton, peanuts, etc. there is no "improving spots" the farmer rotates crops and I want to be free to go hunt on the best deer hunting that year.
Bottom line is every situation is different. Find a situation you can live with and enjoy hunting.
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