|
S |
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
|
|
8 members (BC_Reb, Maggie123, bhammedic84, tucker07, Tree Dweller, Jotjackson, Sandmtnslayer, 1 invisible),
513
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 20
spike
|
|
spike
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 20 |
Iam very pleased with all the comments and suggestions so far. We know that what we decide to do ,wont help this year ( to close to start of turkey season) ,but we can come up with a good Turkey management plan for next year
and future seasons. Most of our members never expressed an interest in Turkey hunting until last year . Now several want to Turkey hunt .
As for myself ,I love spring time Bass fishing ,( and crappie ) my wife and I will be at Millers Ferry fishing ,and listening for Turkey's Gobbling !
Thank ya'll for your input!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 17,071 Likes: 1
Old Mossy Horns
|
|
Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 17,071 Likes: 1 |
That's a tough call. 1 member/150 acres is plenty for deer hunting. However, that needs to be increased to about 400 acres per turkey hunter. On that amount of acreage I would limit the number to 5 turkey hunters max and no guests unless they are sitting with the member. To keep it fair, I'd start with the members who have been in the longest and work down. Making sure that the member will actually hunt and not just take up a membership for a kid off at school or whatever. In the future, may want to state that turkey memberships are full at the present time. Those folks that want to turkey hunt can pay an extra $300/year. If they ever decide they can't afford the extra, their name goes down the list. Just free-wheeling here.
AKA: “Dr. B”
Aldeer #121
8-3-2000
Proud alum of AUM, UAB, and UA
2023-2024 ALdeer Deer Contest Winners
2024-2025 Aldeer Deer Contest Winners
Glennis Jerome "Jerry" Harris
1938-2017
UGA Class of 1960
BS/MS Forestry
LTJG, USNR
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 2,153
8 point
|
|
8 point
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 2,153 |
Was once in a club Looooong ago that had 40 members hunting 10,000 acres in Dallas County. WAY before videos on Turkey hunting....about the only store-bought calls were Lynch Boxes. REAL Turkey hunters made there on Diaphragm single reed calls. Out of the 40 members.....only as I remember only 7 Turkey hunted. We dog Deer hunted mostly only back then and most members were not much about woodsmanship.....nor getting up at 4:00 to go Chase a Lil 18 to 20 pound Bird and get Skunked several times before you killed one. Nobody would hardly reveal ANYTHING about how to Successfully Turkey Hunt. Those Days were the BEST for a Turkey Hunter!!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 9,465 Likes: 1
Fancy
|
|
Fancy
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 9,465 Likes: 1 |
I’d not want to exceed 4 turkey hunters on 2200 acres with a 2 bird max. 10 is a Dadgum disaster. It’s not about greed. It’s about quality hunting and realistic expectations. If you start hunting more than that on private ground it can get frustrating quick.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 7,876
14 point
|
|
14 point
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 7,876 |
First come first serve. If you snooze you loose.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 13,671 Likes: 2
Booner
|
|
Booner
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 13,671 Likes: 2 |
First come first serve. If you snooze you loose. Let the Turkey hunters hash it out.
Life is a journey. Make sure and bring plenty of Beer.
My luck has been so bad lately, it could be raining pussies and I'd catch one with a dick broke off in it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 5,422
12 point
|
|
12 point
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 5,422 |
They'll have them birds educated pretty quick with that many dudes out there
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,489
10 point
|
|
10 point
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,489 |
I was in a club in Pickens Co a few years ago. We had about 3000 ac and a decent, not great turkey population. there were a couple of years when we only had 1 or 2 gobbling turkeys. Guess what section every member wanted to hunt. Do this x 10 !!!
You haven't been blocked until you've been flock blocked!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 2,332
8 point
|
|
8 point
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 2,332 |
Limit your turkey hunting to the 4 original guys. Charge them extra (whatever cost you decide). Put the rest on a waiting list to be the next turkey member if someone gets out.
Let the 4 turkey hunters decide how they manage the turkey hunting. As mentioned, sign out times are only good for those honest people that you won’t have a problem with anyway. There will be those that think they can roost a turkey the night before, or say they roosted one the night before, and they will sign out the night before. It will always be these that take off work early enough on Friday and get to the lease to stake their claim before anyone else gets there. These are the ones that once verified, they need to go.
Once you get 4 that get along, let them work it out.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
6 point
|
|
6 point
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
We are all having an influx of people hunting turkeys which is affecting the turkey hunters, in my world I let them have the first week or two to get it out of their system then come in behind them and kill my limit if I chose to do so. I think the "marketing" of turkey hunting online and on TV has caused this
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 8,855
14 point
|
|
14 point
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 8,855 |
I divide our lease up into about 8 sections. You can check out 2 at a time. First come first served. I think our earliest sign out time is 4:30.
The problem I see is more about gobblers. I don't know how many I have, but I don't think I have enough for every member to kill one. Perhaps if we killed some, we could pull some off an adjacent property I don't know.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,631
8 point
|
|
8 point
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,631 |
May be off here to suggest this, but if you have 10 guys that SAY they're going to turkey hunt you likely won't have that many ACTUALLY hunt. I'm the president of a club that hunts almost 1800 acres and we have about 8 guys that MIGHT turkey hunt. Of the 8 I'd say one might hunt 10 days of the season, 3-5 might go a few days, and at least 3 won't step foot on the place except for maybe opening day or youth weekend. Wait and see how it plays out before you make too many plans.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 424
4 point
|
|
4 point
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 424 |
You're the president and you're just now figuring this out? First of all, never change rules AFTER money has been accepted for membership. In turkey hunting, you talk about some serious hunters? Turkey hunters are SERIOUS!!! You're just going to have to divide up territories and the members have to sign out for each territory. If a hunter gets goes outside of his signed-out territory, that may be reason for expulsion. If a member wants to change locations, he can either call someone at the sign-out board or travel back to the sign-out board and pick another territory.
Guests are NOOOOO!!!!! But, IF... IF guests are allowed, NEVER will a guest be allowed to hunt his/her own bird and MUST stay within 100 yards of the member.
Rules are rule... not guidelines!!! And, breaking rules should have extreme consequences!
Again, you should have had all this chit figured out BEFORE turkey season. You're the president!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 17,425 Likes: 3
Old Mossy Horns
|
|
Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 17,425 Likes: 3 |
Maybe one or two more exclamation marks would have gotten your point across 
We’re not dead. We just smell that way. Dayum. - AC870
Yessir! I’m always gonna shoot what makes me happy and I want everyone else to do the same! If you shoot one be proud of it and don’t worry what anyone else thinks. - SJ22
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 12,498
Booner
|
|
Booner
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 12,498 |
I'm curious as to how it's going without any rules this season? I would suspect that it's not getting much hunting pressure by this point of the season.
I've been in several clubs over the years with similar ratios of land and turkey hunters. I thought the best approach was to just be first come first serve without any rules. Members were told to park their vehicle so it could easily be seen and if someone beats you there, go somewhere else. One wise guy parked an old car at his favorite spot and left it there, but everyone soon figured it out and ignored it.
A different club decided to require members to sign in for an area on Saturday, but just go where you wanted during the week. That worked reasonably well.
The bad thing about requiring turkey hunters to sign out an area is that if you don't hear a turkey, you wanna go somewhere else. People will understand that they can't on a crowded club, but if you are the only hunter on a weekday the sign in rule wrecks the hunt, and for no good reason. Most hunters will be respectful of fellow members if they know someone is already in an area. Throw the ones who won't out of the club and keep rules to a minimum would be my advice.
I wouldn't worry about not having enough turkeys for everyone to kill one. If you don't have a lot of turkeys, everyone is not going to kill one. Some will probably kill more than one. No rules will change that, as turkeys are not concerned with fairness.
Good luck figuring it out.
All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 130
3 point
|
|
3 point
Joined: Oct 2020
Posts: 130 |
Just keep your dues where they are and do a drawing every year on who get turkey rights for that season. This really should have been planned out ahead of time.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,555
Lucky Bastage
|
|
Lucky Bastage
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,555 |
Well, are they in a Hunting club that runs year round or just a club that only runs during deer season?
Are the guys that aren’t going to pay to turkey hunt still gonna have access to check their deer cameras, hang stands or etc during the spring? If so, be ready for the turkey hunters to bitch and moan about that ,too.
IMO, they all either have access to turkey hunt or you need to cut the memberships in half now and double the dues…..which is what I would do anyways.
The fool tells me his reasons; the wise man persuades me with my own.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 19,306
Old Mossy Horns
|
|
Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 19,306 |
Well, are they in a Hunting club that runs year round or just a club that only runs during deer season?
Are the guys that aren’t going to pay to turkey hunt still gonna have access to check their deer cameras, hang stands or etc during the spring? If so, be ready for the turkey hunters to bitch and moan about that ,too.
IMO, they all either have access to turkey hunt or you need to cut the memberships in half now and double the dues…..which is what I would do anyways.
^^This^^. Are you going to raise dues for squirrel hunters, or dove hunters? If you’re going to do it to the turkey hunters you have to do it for everyone. Easiest thing is cut membership and raise dues.
If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.-Mark Twain
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,631
8 point
|
|
8 point
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,631 |
I'm curious as to how it's going without any rules this season? I would suspect that it's not getting much hunting pressure by this point of the season.
I've been in several clubs over the years with similar ratios of land and turkey hunters. I thought the best approach was to just be first come first serve without any rules. Members were told to park their vehicle so it could easily be seen and if someone beats you there, go somewhere else. One wise guy parked an old car at his favorite spot and left it there, but everyone soon figured it out and ignored it.
A different club decided to require members to sign in for an area on Saturday, but just go where you wanted during the week. That worked reasonably well.
The bad thing about requiring turkey hunters to sign out an area is that if you don't hear a turkey, you wanna go somewhere else. People will understand that they can't on a crowded club, but if you are the only hunter on a weekday the sign in rule wrecks the hunt, and for no good reason. Most hunters will be respectful of fellow members if they know someone is already in an area. Throw the ones who won't out of the club and keep rules to a minimum would be my advice.
I wouldn't worry about not having enough turkeys for everyone to kill one. If you don't have a lot of turkeys, everyone is not going to kill one. Some will probably kill more than one. No rules will change that, as turkeys are not concerned with fairness.
Good luck figuring it out.
Our lease is comprised of a lot of land of a main road that's accessed by gas well roads. The sign in system for us is to attach a card via carabineer clip to the lock on the gate when you drive in... if someone pulls up to the gate and sees a card, that spot is taken. This system, however, only works if you've got a lot of roads on the property.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 11,510
Booner
|
|
Booner
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 11,510 |
I’d hate to know how many turkey hunters we have on our 3500 acre club. Plus poachers…
|
|
|
|
|
