Giving up Finding place/club to in hunt Cullman-

That's it, three years no hunting or even a close chance, despite my asking here and all over Facebook, etc,.
I've darn near begged people I've met and are friends with, it seems that anyone here, if they have land or access to it, are not going to share.
I'm giving up on hunting after a lifetime of hunting I've had many hours of great hunts that I will always cherish.

True, but a good bit of good public land around.

Quit begging for something and become a true friend, something will come along.

Look around several thousand acres of public land. Wheeler is over 30,000. Never give up. post up the gear you’ve acquired sounds like you won’t need it.

If you have not hunted in 3 years and are now giving up on hunting completely because "you cant find land" you probably didn't like hunting that much to begin with. Lots of public land around.

True.

Do you have a problem with hunting the Bankhead? Should be able to get there in 30 minutes from Cullman. I would dang sure hunt it before I sat at home..

I hunted Bankhead and BW WMA for 15+ years before I ever did the club thing. You can hunt as hard as you want or do an easy afternoon hunt or whatever your heart desires over there. There’s plenty of room and I never had any issues with anyone. Hunted by myself 95% of the time. Just stay away from gun hunt days on the WMA. Muzzle loader days is completely different, or was, and was always some good hunting.

Your not going to get much sympathy here, if any. Start fishing.

Fixed it.

Hunt Bankhead. There’s plenty of land there, opportunity, and the only lease you pay is your annual WMA license. Plus it has a real good age structure with plenty of mature bucks.

The bank loans money every day. Buy you a 1000 acres and let all of your friends come hunt it since you're such a sharing person.

This, but you need to be fit and willing to put in much more effort than the typical sit in a shoot house overlooking a corn feeder type hunt.

tough crowd inhere.....

Me and another member on here were talking about this just the other day. Not looking for sympathy but I honestly don’t know why pages for Land/Leases, Hunting Clubs, etc…even exist. You very seldom find anything through them. The whole hunting club mentality has definitely changed a lot over the last 25-30 years. When you CAN find a decent club, for the membership price most are asking, I’d be content just going on a yearly paid hunt.

Lease land has gotten extremely hard to come by for everyone. Just a few yrs ago 1 could find available property on just about any timber co website, these days land is gone within minutes of being posted. most of my friends have the privilege to hunt “family” land at no cost. others spend crazy $$ to join high dollar clubs or they chose to go on mid west pay hunts etc. Ive never had connections to hunt for free so its taken me many yrs to aquire the property’s i hunt which are nothing special. I did finally buy 1 of the tracts i hunt & even though the hunting is just decent,i wouldnt trade it for the best lease out there. Lotta good properties currently out there for sale. Some real nice pay hunt options out there tho

Don’t get frustrated OP. It’s a southern thing. Southerners want to act like we’re all hospitable and everything but we show our true colors when it comes to hunting. Don’t trust nobody, don’t help nobody, always complaining and judging others. It’s unfortunate but that’s how the majority of folks are down here, don’t believe me? Just re-read the comments above.

Honestly, as soon as I get my boys through college, the wife and I will probably sell the home place and buy some unincorporated acreage and build a house on it. I’ve found some decent tracts that aren’t priced too bad. If I can get 40 acres or more, I’ll be happy.

Just last weekend I rode thru a piece of property I hunted on about 20 years ago. Saw a guy going in and spoke with him about the lease and who was running it to see about getting back in next year. He was ok, but pretty sparse with info or hospitality. Much has changed for the worse over the years.

NCPirate, I have hunted Bankhead for years (hogs). Would be glad to show you around up there. Its some beautiful land.

Every summer on Facebook and in this forum there are piles of hunting clubs looking for members, I even had an opening on my place and posted it here. Had a lot of tire kickers that talked a lot but when it came time for the $$$ they vanished. Before I made enough money to lease land I hunted public all over from Oakmulgee mgt area, Eufaula, Barbour mgt area , Choccolocco. If you really want to kill a deer and put in the effort it’s obtainable.

It’s not like it used to be that’s for sure.

There’s a REASON southerners CANNOT trust people anymore: because the REST of society/the country went t hell with thieves, idiots, degenerates, and inconsiderates, that have infected everything and abused every trust or hospitality ever shown them. Blame them and timber companies for hunting land policies in the south. Don’t sit there and trash southerners when you don’t know how it USED to be, or why it’s not anymore.

Kid, take a breath. I was born in and lived in the south my entire life, I know exactly what I’m talking about. Obviously that triggered you and I think you need to really understand that. I intended it to be half self deprecating humor and half true. It’s not trashing anyone if it’s true. The civil war ended a long time ago, there’s no groups of people targeting southerners to take advantage of their hospitality. The thieves, idiots, degenerates and inconsiderates are our own people whether we like it or not.

only thang im good ats killin chit..if i quit..id have to redevelop my mad yoyo skillz

If you had hunted the south for the last 40+ years, I’d think you’d have a better understanding of my post, and not let it ‘trigger’ you. Then again, maybe you’re just trying to tell me you don’t, without just telling me you don’t.

I hope my post didn't come off as dis-respectful I am currently in the same boat about finding a lease. But not having a lease didn't keep me out of the woods and keep me from doing what I love.

Thanks for understanding, thing is, I'm 68 and have a few health issues that keep me from traveling too far to a hunt. You're right about the others that are quick to comment negatively/sarcastically, you can tell the ones that are young and fit. I'm not suited to hunt public lands for one reason, been to combat, and I'm leery of public lands where there are a bunch of nuts running around shooting everything that moves. I've been shot at before, it's not a pleasant feeling. I may be overly cautious about hunting solo in areas I am unfamiliar with or have no idea how maay others are out there. If I were able to put a gypsy curse on anyone, it would be the ones who had a smart assed remark for me, I'd like them to be in my shoes/boots to experience things as I do.

A sincere thanks to those who were nice in their comments, hope you had a superb harvest this year.

I have hunted in Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Kentucky, also, while in the Army, Germany. When I was in my last club in Tuscaloosa I'd hunt nearly every day during hunting season. I did not take vacations, go to the beach or the mountains, I saved my vacation time for hunting, made three and four day weekends from November till the season ended in January. You have no idea of what you speak of. You have no idea about my situation these days, so your comment wasn't constructive at all.

Hmmm. Generally clubs want paying members that don’t hunt.

Amen, what a kind, caring, bunch of guys...

Facts ^^^^^^^^^^

Well buddy I don’t mean anything by it but you never specified that you had health problems or anything like that so how was I supposed to know? Now that I do know that are you an are that on most WMAS you can contact the wildlife biologist and tell them you have health issues and explain that you are unable to easily walk or get around. If you get a note from your primary care doctor stating that you can apply for a permit from the Wildlife biologist at the WMAS that would allow you to use a UTV to get around instead of having to walk as much.

Hate to be honest and he won’t like it but there’s no way in hell I’d want a person who was gonna hunt 4 days a week in any club I was in let alone ran.

I agree. I was in a club years ago where we had one guy that was self employed and lived about 10 minutes from the club. Pretty much shut down his home improvement business beginning of bow season through end of gun season. Hunted pretty much every day. Scouted, moved stands, was single so he basically moved into the camp house, etc…. Power bill really went up when he got in the club due to him being there all the time. Fire wood consumption went through the roof. He couldn’t understand why folks weren't happy. He didn’t kill that many deer either but he sure pressured them a lot and cost the club money. He’d bring his brother to town to hunt and his brother would stay for two weeks and argue it was only one hunting trip since he had never left the club property. (Club allowed guests two trips but didn’t specify the number of days.). Was there t against the rules? Technically no but he dang sure wasn’t respectful of anyone else that was. That lasted a couple of seasons and he wasn’t invited back.

Quail hunting with my grandfather and uncle the late 70’s, early 80’s only required you to ask permission to hunt and a handshake. No lease, no daily fee, just good people being generous and good hunters being respectful. I’m just glad I was there to experience it because it’s been gone for a long time.

^^^^THAT’S what I was talking about. I never even heard of a ‘hunting lease’ until at least the mid 80s, and that was my uncle’s place in GA. I hunted quail, rabbits, squirrels, deer, and dove all over 2-3 counties until the 90s, just by asking permission, helping out a landowner, or neighbors that all knew each other. We shut gates, didn’t leave trash, didn’t make ruts in fields, stopped a hunt to take care of someone else’s livestock, shared our take, meals, etc. landowners can’t trust anyone to do that these days, or the land has been inherited by their grandchildren in Atlanta or Chicago, or snapped up by timber companies and most current landowners never heard of ‘family land’….they just moved in from Pennsylvania and bought a mini farm. True ‘southern hospitality’ DOES still exist, but it’s in small pockets that many never heard of and will never go to. I miss hunting west Texas….there’s still some true Texas out there, and it always reminds me of folks when I was a kid around here. I’ve hunted all over the south, other parts of the country, and outside this country….lived in 3-southern states, and hospitality going away is the societal crowding out of rural communities and a few generations of demographic change and parents raising turd bags all over. It’s got nothing to do with there not being hospitable folks around. There’s just too many ‘tards running around that’d take advantage of anything ‘hospitable’.