I am interested in knowing what everyone considers a trophy club and how much people pay for being in one. I know there are a lot out there, but I wonder about other peoples experience.

Most trophy clubs are 250-500 acres or more per member with low memberships. With foodplots, power bills, etc, it will run $2500 on the cheap end up to as high as a group of guys are willing to pay to keep the membership small. The high end, "exclusive" trophy clubs in Alabama will be in the $7,000 to $10,000 range. The average trophy club that people talk about will be around 250-350 acres per member and around $3,200-$4,500 based on my experience. Figure it like this: 300 acres at $8/acre is $2400 to start with just for your portion of the lease. Figure another $600 for seed and fertilizer on 3 fields (1/100 acres) so now your at $3,000 just for your portion of the acreage and foodplots. Camp, power, supplemental feeding etc etc are all on top of this figure. It all adds up and quickly.

That sounds about right.

$450/yr....

Should cover strip club dues.

Here is a discussion thread I posted recently with cost breakdowns. BTW, I avoid the term "trophy" for two reason. First, it is subjective. Second, it turns off non-hunters. Public support for hunting is highest when the animal is taken for food and is lowest when the animal is taken for "trophy." I describe our lease program as intensive quality deer management or upper end QDM.

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthre...in=192988&Number=2680295#Post2680295

Thank you. That is good information.

Good break down there WB. But your average trophy club(not timber company, privately owned, large fields) 120”+ bucks I’d say $2500. A true trophy club(large private river bottom ag land, with 100’s acres peanuts and winter wheat plus food plots) 140”+ bucks $4500+

Not sure where you came up with $8/acre. You better recalculate that figure based on about $20-$30 per acre. At least that is what things are going for around our neck of the woods.

I said $8 just to make the math work out even. There are very few areas that you can lease in the southwest or south central blackbelt for $8/acre. Most is going for $12 to $15/acre up to as high as $20. Only place I have seen $30/acre was a place that had been trophy managed for about 12 years and it had great duck hunting too, on a couple ponds. Pretty nice camphouse included in that lease too. I've got properties in Marengo, Wilcox and Dallas that I hunt and I'm not paying anywhere close to $30/acre for any of it.

Normal job working folks with kids are going to be S..t out of luck with deer hunting except for over crowded club or Public land

Yep.

There is a saying, "Show me your checkbook and I will show where your priorities are." Every person puts his/her priorities exactly where they are. The issue is not whether we can afford to hunt, but where hunting ranks among our priorities. Examples: Save more vs. spend more. Buy vs. rent. Big vs. small mortgage vs. no mortgage. New vs. older vehicles. Public vs. private school. Dine out vs. cook at home. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse vs. Golden Corral. Lawn service vs. lawn mower. Vacation vs. buy land instead. Hunt club vs. WMA. Premium hunt club vs. lower quality hunt club. And on and on.

Just heard of a 800 acre lease a friend of mine got in on in Fitzpatrick. $30 per acre and they felt lucky to get it for that. The previous leassors (?) had been paying $45.

$8 bucks an acre is a pipe dream anywhere within 100 miles of Mobile, Pensacola, Mtgy, Bham etc or the Black Belt. Sure there are Unicorns and some people lease from some old lady their family has known for 3 generations. Average in those area's I described starts at $10 and goes up for a decent place.

You can definitely get property within 100 miles of those areas for $8/acre but then again, you generally get what you pay for. With regard to good quality land that would be suitable for a trophy club scenario: you can get some bigger pieces down on the extreme southern edge of what is considered the blackbelt for $10-$12, move up north of Camden and it ranges from $12-$20/acre. Pretty sure you can still pick up some decent leases in the $8-$10 range in Sumpter and Greene counties too. There was some stuff just outside of the Blackbelt in west central Clarke that I know you could have gotten for around $9/acre on bigger tracts that is very very good land but for the most part you are correct on your assessment and cost/acre.

Fitzpatrick is very special and a relatively small pocket/area that consistently produces. I could see $30/acre for the right piece there, especially if it has some AG on or around it.

What are the best places or best people to contact about leases?

Robert I had the opportunity to get in on this lease and would have done so if my plate wasn't full with what I already have. I can only handle so much and don't have time to properly hunt what I have. The offer in that area was very tempting and I still do not like the fact I had to decline.

i had a buudy that told me one time, talking about a club with $5000 dues. He said "for 5 grand, I'd be cheaper to just shoot them off the side of the road"

And the majority of them simply are not worth it.

For 5k, I am hunting in the mid-west.

That is 100% fact.