**Most expensive hunting clubs**

Reading Mike's post/thread about the "max you would pay for a hunting club" got me thinking. Where and how much are the most expensive hunting clubs in Alabama that you are aware of? Thanks

I know of two people leasing 1700 acres near aliceville and doing supplemental feeding high protein with summer and winter fields no expense spared. I can tell you one spends at least 25k. As far as clubs there are lots in the $5-20,000 range. Just depends on who you are.

I know some crazy ones for sure but Im not saying.

I'd like to know how much it is at choctaw bluff.

$6500 is highest any of my buddies are in

C'mon rebel man don't hold out on us. Are they mafia and you are sworn to secrecy. We don't need there phone number.

One would think fellers with that much extra money for hunting would be smart enough to buy their own property.

You would think 2dogs.

That's nuts !
I enjoy hunting and I know to each there on but 5 thousand plus is insane and I know it takes money to have nice places .

I know of one in Texas thats $50,000.00 a year.....and they kill some plus 200" monsters every year....not high fence.

$500,000.00 somewhere in MS. Over yonder by the big muddy river.

I would think most of the more expensive ones are south of Tuscaloosa in or around the black belt area. The most expensive ones I know of within an hour of where I live is in th $2,500 range.

Believe they're up to $675K for a couple over there but that's an ownership, not dues. The dues can run 10K/annually though. Either way, much more than I can comprehend.

the one I mentioned in Texas is 50,000 a year in dues, no ownership....

some of the clubs on the KIng Ranch are way up there in yearly dues...

A guy up the road is one of the King Ranch heirs, his mother was a King. He just draws a BIG ass check every month from the oil, cattle, hunting, etc. I ask him about a free hunting trip and he said he doesn't have anything to do with what goes on with the ranch.

I hunted Davis Island in Mississippi a couple years ago , best deer hunting I've ever seen . Was absolutely ridiculous how good and the quality of the deer. It's $5,000 per year if I had it would drop it for that place . I say that as I am trying to figure out how to pay for my $1800 a year club in Macon County

You have to remember that a lot of these guys spending all this big money are doing it as a right off on their business's. I may or may not know the guys Turkey Neck mentioned. If I don't then I know a couple more in the same area that drop that kind of money. They kill some studs on it every year and its ran through each of their business's.

I know of some in the millers ferry area and cahaba area going for 6k each. Great deer but ouch! I can go to the Midwest on a couple of trips for that kind of money and not have to worry about work days.

Mauvilla, the biggest deer I have seen in the wild was about two years ago at the first auburn exit 930 in the morning the second week of February. What a monster. I literally ran off the road looking at it. Shame it was not on my side of the interstate.

Friend used to be used to have a lease at sehoy, like 7k. Another friend leases 1600 acres BY HIMSELF that backs up to enon. That's a nice little check.

I meant 7k per person

I know some folks that were in that Sehoy lease. That's a lot for a lease but doesn't compare to some in south Alabama in the Monroe/Clarke county areas a long the river. Those Mobile folks have correct change.

It depends on your own personal expectations. Each hunter has to decide what he/she is willing to pay for a lease and what he/she expects in return. The higher your expectations (what you want out of it), the bigger the price tag required to achieve it. Think of it as a sliding scale. For example, on one end of the scale is the WhackEmStackEm hunt club with 50 members on 250 acres. On the other end are leases like the 23,000-acre unit on King Ranch that was offered to me a couple years ago but I quickly declined. True story...the King Ranch was asking just over $400K and they limited it to three members. As ridiculous as I think their price is, there are a few hunters who are willing to pay for the kind of experience that the King Ranch offers. I will stick with my Crenshaw & Pike County lease with 15 members on 4,500 acres.

My closest pal hunts 3300 acres with one other guy. I'd hate to know what he spends per year on hunting. They don't have to pay a lease, because his partner owns the property, but they both spend a fortune every year on planting, burning, off-season feeding, surveys, dozer work, etc.

$5K in Chatom
$10K in Miller's Ferry.

We used to "trade" 200 acres of hay cutting rights for 1,200 acres of hunting rights (deer & turkey) in Gosport on the Alabama River. It now goes for $15-18 per acre

Four of us had 4800 acres for the last 12 years for free. I got the word last week it's over and being leased. The membership cost 3,000 for the new club.

I know of 4 guys in Alabama on 5000+ acres of prime hunting land with a super nice lodge. All total they spend about $25K each per year. They have had it for 3 years now and dont shoot anything but 4.5 years olds. Plenty of 150"+ deer. They letting them all grow up. Nothing taken since they been there. WOW. I was invited for a 2 day bow hunt and had 28 deer on a plot with half bucks. I was strictly warned nothing less than 4.5 years old. If in doubt DONT SHOOT. And it in the Black Belt.

Four guys on 5,000 acres, they have been there 3 years and havn't shot anything yet, but there are plenty of 150"+ deer? Something is missing there.

Nope. Thats the way it is. 150" is a dink to these guys.

150" free range(Bama)deer & they don't shoot? There idots....

Reminds me of an old saying "a fool and his money will soon be parted"

just because ya'll don't agree with their shooting choices dosen't mean they are idiots. I'd bet money that have all killed better deer than ya'll have....several times.

Not in the last 3years bahahahahahaha..I'm glad ur confident that they've killed better deer than me..And Fred I hunt the black belt and i have met or know some of biggest land owners in that area. And I've yet to hear one call a 150" class bama buck a fracking "dink"

I would venture to say there aren't "plenty of 150" deer" on any free ranging 5K acres anywhere in America, much less the Deep South. And I'm not aware of any place that sees them as "dinks." I'm happy they have a little peice of paradise to enjoy, but that's an outlandish statement.

Let's see....they have spent around $75000 in the last three years on a lease in Alabama that has PLENTY of 150+ bucks on it and have not shot a buck because those are considered dinks to them..... Yep idiots or fools either way. They could spend a lot less in different areas of this country that actually produce bucks of that 150+ caliber on a regular basis and I could see it being a legitimate management choice to hold out for a bigger buck, but in Alabama they are delusional. I know there are 150+ Alabama bucks out there because I look at one every night I go to sleep, but to consider them dinks at that class is just plain foolish in Alabama.....

I've hunted Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, and Mississippi once when I was a kid. There is nowhere in the South that has PLENTY of 150 inch deer. Even the finest soybean/milo/supplemental/fed plantations in Alabama can't produce ''Plenty'' of 150 inch deer. If these guys have a high fence, and they are buying sperm, then maybe, but if this is free range, no way. If a club let every buck walk for 10 years in Alabama on 5,000 acres, I would bet there wouldn't be 6 deer on 5k acres that grossed 150. As much as I run cameras on our 5000 acres, I have 2 deer that would push 150. Maybe 3 that are over 135 in eight years.

Agree bigt, I doubt they have 150" behind every other tree, that may be plenty to some. They are not well versed on Alabama whitetails IMO. The reason they ain't killin' any is 150" is the upper end of the curve for free range in Alabama. They all keep holding out for well over 150",most of them are gonna have rusty bores.

I know a young man that one of his first bucks was a 160". His family owns some of the best hunting land in Northeast Bama, "plenty" of full grown Southeastern bucks. He vowed he was only gonna shoot that class of bucks and nothing else. Well after bout 10 years of not pulling the trigger, 130's started hitting the ground.

so because they don't go along with what you think they are idiots???? Damn if I see how ya'll make that leap.

Any of ya'll naysayers ever set foot on that property??? ever hunted there??? One dosen't see folks passing up 150's unless they are seeing pics of better deer, or have, in their lifetime, killed several over 150.

So if they kill a 170ish six year old who is the idiot???

A 170, is a lot different than plenty of 150s, you know that. Now if they all hold out for a 170" free range in Alabama I know damn well there's gonna be some rusty bores. I bet their neighbors love em.

I don't think them to be idiots, just a bit unrealistic for Alabama. They can hold out for 200" if they want to. I bet eventually reality will set in and some of those 150's gonna get turned a flip.

I didn't say they would hold out for one, but if you are growing 150s and seeing them the odds are you also have bigger deer than that.

The place I had at Leeds had deer over 150, we killed several over 150, one well over 150.

It happens IF you let them walk, have good genetics, and good feed.
A LOT of em?? Hail no, we both know that. But there are those places where it does happen.

Just read a long report on a (free range) place in La that produces 170-200" deer on a regular basis if not every year. La is not one of those places known for monster deer but this guy does it. Good land, good neighbors, good feed, great genetics, LOTS of money spent, LOTS of trigger restraint.

A 150" deer is well above average for every place in North America. I don't blame anyone for setting a high standard for what they consider a trophy but If they think 150's are dinks they don't know much about whitetail
deer.

Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana along the Big Muddy produce monster bucks that rival the midwest and "plenty" of them. Most are kept very quiet. Read an article in NAW mag a few years ago about a intensely managed farm in east central Arkansas that bordered the Miss. River. 150" was a dink on that place, they were pumping out some world class bucks.

What counties in Alabama could one even grow any significant quantity of 150"-170" whitetails if given proper management. I think it would be very rare in free range even with a large track of land and unlimited budget to accomplish this.

"I" wouldn't call a 150 a dink ever, but I can see passing on a young 150 on a well managed big place with like minded fellow hunters. A six year old 150 gets the arrow every time, same as a six year old 130.

There are a few areas of Alabama you could manage for 150+ deer and expect to kill some on a semi regular basis. There are actually some that already do but they aren't talking about it on open forums.

Yep.
But the "guys" in question, as I take it, have expectations well beyond 150" and haven't killed anything in three years.

Dang guys. They call the 150s dinks jokingly. I guess I need to choose my words more carefully. Should had said several and not plenty. But to me 1 would be plenty. And they have several 150 class deer on their walls from the Midwest. One has a 170. That is their goal is to try to have some 170s . They probably will start taking a few this year. Their goal was to let em grow for a couple years to see what developed. I can see from the post that at least BhamFred understands their logic.

Did they not give the four of you a chance to lease it.

I can't understand why in the world would people spend 25k a year on a LEASE what happens when say 6 years down the road and you've sunk 150 grand in a place and they decide to not lease it again or somebody buys it. It may just be me but if I have the money to spend 25k a year on a lease I'm gonna buy my own land where I know I will have something to show for it.

I had no idea it was even in the works. The older gentleman has turned a lot over to his son and he saw the opportunity to make some money. I've been very blessed for along time it's hard to complain. It does hurt though.

From your above posts they had illogical management goals IMO. Your post made it appear they were passing 150" 4.5YO all the time. Glad you cleared it up.

Now that I can agree on.....

^^^^^^^^This

We took on avg 6 bucks a year off 4800 acres for 12 yrs. We ran 12 cams on mineral sites and maybe had 3 bucks total in that time that would break 150. I killed the only one and we had no pics of him. The 140 mark is a total different story. The 150 mark is almost like a majic number to break. Most of the mature deer killed would fall in the 120 range.

Did that tract lay on the state line and belong to a fellow out of Acworth? For some reason I'm thinking you hunted there. I saw two that would bust 140" while we had logging crews up there a few years ago. CD.

Yes that's it. I might have one of those 140's on the wall.LOL

You have obviously never heard of a place called Portland Landing or Mr. Henderson's place in Miller's Ferry or you wouldn't make laughable statements like that...

If you have only gotten 2 deer close to 150 in 8 years on camera, you might wanna reevaluate your management or find somewhere else to hunt because the genetics just aren't there....

Didn't the Edwards guy split up Portland Landing and sell it off several years back? I know of those places you mention as well as several other nice places over there (e.g. sedgefield) and they do kill a few 150" deer from time to time, but I still think the vast majority of free range deer are in the mid 120's to low 130's. I do agree that the genetics and etc. seem to be better in the Portland Landing area, however I still would agree with the previous poster that 150" deer are still a very small percentage of mature bucks at Portland or anywhere else over there in a free range herd (even with unlimited budget).

You are absolutely correct despite what anybody else posts after this.

When you get above 150"....you are getting elite and it takes a perfect combination of age, nutrition and genetics to achieve it. ESPECIALLY in Alabama.

Unless Portland Landing was way better than South Texas ranches like Kings Ranch, and we all know it's not, then 150 was a rarity, even more so than in South Texas. We all know places that have the potential to produce some exceptional world class deer but to say they aren't very rare is not true and shows just how much perception differs from reality.

http://www.eslabonranch.com/blog/?p=405

An excerpt from the above link:


Specific to the first question — when does antler size peak — researchers collected 4827 capture records from 3098 individual bucks over a 13-year period. About five percent of the unique bucks captured had a gross Boone and Crockett score above 150, two percent were above 160, and only half a percent scored above 170. Four out of 3098 bucks grossed above 180, two out of 3098 grossed above 190, and only one buck in 13 years involving nearly 5000 capture records gross scored above 200.
“That gives you an idea of how rare those really big native deer are in the wild,” Hellickson told listeners. “In fact, the average gross score of the bucks captured in this study that were 5.5 years or older was 130.”

Why ya wanta bring all that fancy study and numbers stuff up in here? Everyone knows from Texas to the Northern reaches of Canada there's 150s behind every other tree and BnC bucks behind the rest. We can have them too.

interesting read. I've heard before that a high amount of spring rain fall positively affects antler growth and this article seems to reinforce that, too. Maybe this year there will be some better deer seen/killed with all the spring rain we've had this year.

Yeah Lanier split up and sold it off... I also agree with most of what you say, 150's are a small percentage based on total population of a track of land anywhere, even Lee and Tiffany's place in Iowa. But it is also more common in places in Alabama than people realize. Those places are never mentioned on the internet specifically for that reason. I personally know of a 170"+, a couple of 160's and multiple 150's just from around the Portland Area that never made mention out of a group of maybe 10 people... And I am definitely sure there are a LOT of deer killed in that area that I don't know about...

But overall, I agree, 150 is a damn hard number to get to but believe it or not, there are quite a few places that pump em out every year that are never mentioned to the public...

There are some great differences to what most people on this board believe and what is actually true. Your not going to "hear" about the places in this state that do grow, hold, and harvest deer in the 150" + category. Plain and Simple Fact. I personally believe the reason most average hunters only see and believe that 120" deer are about the normal is because of the style of hunting they are doing. When you are sitting on a greenfield in December for 2-3 hours, even in a top tier place, a 120" deer is about the biggest you can expect and therefor you believe that is about the biggest on the property. When you work on one of these "top tier" places, you obviously are there year round and see WAY more than the weekend hunter/owner/guest, etc. Naturally, the biggest deer are typically going to be killed during the very early gun season or during the rut. The biggest deer were always seen feeding on soy bean leaves during the summer. When you can sit on a bean field in August/Septemer during the evening and watch NUMEROUS deer that would make your jaw absolutely drop and you would swear you were in the Midwest, then you know what size deer you actually have. Camera and 200# feeder locations of 25+ run the full off season would RARELY catch the "big" deer. Why? Great question, Leary? Maybe, but the feeders have been there for over a decade. The exact same buck would literally grow up on camera year after year, but somewhere around 4.5-5.5 years old he would vanish. Some things will never change on any property, I don't care whether it is "top tier" with literally hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on anything and everything or a 100 acre tract with natural browse. Pressure effects deer more than anything, especially gun shots. A bow hunting only area will CONSISTENTLY shoot more/larger bucks over X amount of time and the hardest of all to really get most hunters to understand - a true "giant" 99% of the time is NOT going to walk out on a greenfield to feed during the daylight. There are more places in this state than you will ever know where 150" deer are killed every year and numerous deer that size as well. How many that size every year?, way too many variables come into play. A true, "top tier" place that is highly manged can/will/ and do watch 150" deer throughout the year and know that those can be considered "dinks" as to what is really out there. I personally don't think a 150" deer is REMOTELY a "dink", but if you have hunted a piece of property for years and have shot 6-8 that size then most want something larger.

170s That's all? I know of one that hit the 200" mark

Honestly, anything that comes out of there doesn't surprise me anymore... I have heard mention of two different 200" non typicals coming from there. I have never personally seen either but I did see some pictures of one from a guy that said he held the rack in his hands...

Before any of that land was cut, I would almost go out on a limb and say that was probably the best overall piece of hunting property in the state (Road System, genetics, land layout, soil, location, deer numbers, holding capacity) for a few years. Of course it was bow hunted only for well over 10 years not including the Super Hunt when it was held there, so that helped along with deep pockets...

You didn't think a 13 year, factual study from properties that are some of the best in the world would actually deter some from thinking they have better here in Alabama, did you?

In reply to you Bill, if I had to pick South Texas or Portland Landing 10 years ago, I would take Portland Landing all day and twice on Sunday but that's just me...

I've hunted south Alabama, south of a Montgomery Co line, for close to 45 years and I can think of maybe two glimpses of bucks that might have scored over 140". If I was told I could only shoot 140+ bucks I would just stay at the house and watch football.

We had several thousand acres of USX land near Leeds Al from 96-05 and killed five bucks over 140, three of them over 150. And several really heavy 130+ bucks. I didn't do anything special except lay off the damn trigger. No extra food planted, some minerals, no genetics added, nada. Place had a mix of genetics as expressed in the bucks. Some seven year olds scored just over 100, some well over 150.

I know you can grow 150+ bucks in Al.

I think you're right....

Well of course there are. I've hunted some places like that but they are still a rarity.

You can improve the herd through various management techniques but it seems that some areas just on average produce bigger bucks. The Portland Landing/ Millers Ferry is one of those areas, Fitzpatrick, etc. I wonder why Portland Landing seems to harvest more "trophy" deer than say White Hall, Hayneville, or Lowndesboro. Is it genetics or just more intense management practices in a given area, or just better soil? All of the 4 areas are in the "blackbelt", but one seems to out perform the others on a regular basis.

I agree with you 1000%, I have wondered for years why Fitzpatrick has always turned out great deer on a consistent basis. I have almost narrowed it down to a major contributor being of large landowner cooperatives carrying out the same strict management practices. If you look at Portland when MO controlled the whole 15k acres, it was strictly bow hunted for YEARS and INTENSELY managed. Portland is the perfect laid out tract of land to grow big deer and falls in to that cooperative type land without it actually being a "Cooperative". With the PL tract, you didn't have to worry about neighbors or their practices because the river was your North and West border, the road system didn't really allow for a major poaching problem and the timber was majorly virgin hardwoods that actually produced because of the BB soil. Add that to an almost unlimited bank account and Portland landing was born...

The Fitzpatrick area is more of a cooperative, I believe Chuck Pickett lead the charge in that area over there. He got with several other large land owners and I think the results have spoken for themselves. You definitely have to have all of the stars aligned for everything to come together but it happens a lot more frequent than a lot of us know about and can be done in Alabama, it just takes that thing that a lot of hunters don't have or want to put in, trigger restraint within a large area and hard work.

Those places that we have mentioned, Portland, Miller's Ferry, Safford, Fitzpatrick are some of my favorite things hunting wise to talk about...

I saw a palmated buck last year on the side of I-20 just before you get to Bass Pro that was probably pushing 150. That's got to be close to the property you are talking about.

same property, I had all that where the new mall is and Bass Pro all the way to Grants Mill Rd. and up to Markeeta.

I guess it depends on how often you have to kill a 150+ buck to say a place regularly produces those size bucks. Say you have 5,000+ acres and it produces one once every 4-5 years to me that is not a regular basis. Now if that piece of property produces 3-4 150+ every year I would say that would be a regular basis, and give the people hunting there a legitimate chance a killing one on a regular basis and would be a rare place in Alabama. I hunt a large piece of land that practices as much or more trigger restraint than anywhere I have ever hunted it is not in the black belt or river bottom soil which would help for sure but a very high percentage of bucks killed are mature bucks and 150+ do happen but not at a rate that I would call a regular basis. I would guess the average mature buck killed is somewhere around 120" which I would make a small wager is about what the average mature buck would score most anywhere in Alabama.