Have leases really gotten THAT high?

First, I haven’t been in a club in years because my schedule for the last few years just hasn’t allowed it. I have been thinking of getting back in a club and have been looking around some. I live in Shelby County, definitely NOT the big buck capital of the state, but wanted something close. Anyway, I saw an advertisement on another site for a club in the Montevallo area. The dues were somewhere around $1,200.00 per year but it only averaged a little over 67 acres per hunter. It would have been even less than that if you included family members which was allowed. I was floored at that price. Has it really gotten that out of hand for so little?

Yes, and I don’t see it ever reversing

That's pretty steep but not surprising. Our dues are $2400 and we average 150-200 acres/member depending on the membership numbers. We are a large club and I think last year it was 167 acres/member

Supply and demand..........Supply goes down and demand remains the same then price goes up

It is insane. A lease with only 60 acres a member is gonna have huge pressure on the deer every weekend. Better off hunting public land.

YES, it is amazing what lease prices have increased to. Land owners keep going up because IF you don't pay it, someone else will.

Yes you won’t get in any type of quality lease for less than $2000/member.

Its crazy!!!! I looked on AFOA and there is a brand new listing. 1400 acres...$21k only want 4 folks on it...... AND NO TURKEY HUNTING.

Outrageous.

But someone, somewhere, will find the listing and will pay it.

Yep it’s pretty bad. Our timber co lease went up $7 over the past 3 years. They’ve already told us there will be another increase next year. We don’t have “prime” land either.

My dad and his club buddies were upset that the woman who owned the land they leased went with another crew that offered $1.50 an acre. That was double the price they (we) were paying.

Old times.

A potential paying member needs to consider what one membership gets him/her. There are clubs out there that a membership price allows every family member and friend to hunt on one membership. That works for some hunters. But to that, NO THANK YOU!!! I'm past the "family" stage. I'm past the need to bring guests!!! I realize that there does need to be "family" clubs, and that's fine. But there are hunting consumers out there that want very strict family and guests policies. I haven't joined such liberal family clubs as my past hunting clubs have been fairly restrictive on family and guest, but my kids are now grown.

Again, there are potential hunting club members out there that wants VERY strict family/guests policies. That way, the land isn't over-hunted/over-harvested. And, usually, every hunting club that allowed too many family members and guests to hunt, ended up with a lot of drama!!! I'd really like to pay a membership and the membership only allows THE PAYING member to hunt. No family members... no guests and only a "mature" bucks rule AND not "six points or better".

IMO

If there is a good hunt club that isn't expensive, there won't be any openings. The greatest challenge to hunting east of the Rockies is finding good land.

I guess I look at it different when I was in clubs I looked at the total acreage cause half the members ain't gone hunt very much maybe 3 or 4 times a year. But I ain't been in one in years most folks with my work schedule don't make many friends in hunting clubs unless there are several that work my schedule. Last club I was in there was and we had a ball. Another reason I'm so thankful I have my Lil 40 acres of family land and my Lil 240 acres that I get to hunt on and don't have to fool with club drama and pissing and moaning. And they ain't All like that but I also ain't shelling out the kinda money it takes to get in those that ain't like that.i do get to hunt a couple clubs that I track for and we kinda swap that out so it works

As the leaseholder of mine, starting this year, I can speak to this. Our lease went up 3%. I had 19 members, 2 are leaving, which gets me down to 17 on 1050 acres. The lease says 11. Some of my guys rarely hunt. I have 24 green fields, and if they thin and cut timber, they are supposed to add 2 more fields, which will be an acre or so more, that we will have to lime. My previous soil tests all indicate 2 tons per acre, so I will probably have to get 2 tons of pellet lime.

Fertilizer is up. Herbicide is up. I need to fertilize 3 times a year minimum. Thats 90 bags if I can find the stuff I need to use. I would need 100 bags of pellet lime. So at $20/bag for fertilizer, I need $1800. Lime at $5/bag is $500. Seed will easily be $600. The departing members are taking up to 4 ladder stands, which I need to replace more than likely. Figure another $500. All the ladder stands I have, and both tripods need new seats. We need to do some maintenance on the shooting houses, and probably build some new ones. I need to get a scale, and make sure I get jawbones this year too. We need to probably replace some ratchet straps as well.

I have spent the last 3 years planting in spring, expanding food plots, getting them limed, and planted in Whitetail or Durana Clover, along with Whitetail Chicory. I have a couple spots that have extreme. I put out minerals during that time, and even got mine out before Westervelt banned that this year. Of course I was the person footing the bill for all that. I say this to say, I finally have a high quality food plot structure, which should help keep the deer on the property and grow them as well. When I joined, they didn't plant in the spring, and they planted rye grass in the fall. I don't plant rye grass. I plant a brassica and cereal grain mix, and add clover to it.

So we did a few things to try to lower the member count without telling someone we aren't going to renew them. We raised dues $200. We cut the doe limit per member from 5 to 2. We lowered the kid limit to 1 buck and 1 doe. You can bring a guest, but their kill comes off your number. And we said no killing doe's off a green field. The goal being increasing the doe numbers on the property, and hopefully luring a buck out on a green field.

If I keep 17 members, then I will have enough $ in the treasury to do everything we need to do and have some left over, which I prefer, because I sent out invoices already and only 1 guy has paid me. Since 25% of my lease is due May 1, it would be nice to have that in reserve to just pay without waiting on the other guys to pay.

The biggest problem in all the clubs I have been in is getting people to work. It takes a lot of time and money to build and maintain shooting houses and green fields. And not alot of clubs put in the time to get their fields test and limed and fertilized properly. Even with all the supplemental fertilzing I was doing, we weren't putting enough out.

If you are having to work to chase members every year, then you can't focus on keeping the club up. So alot of clubs lower the price and get more members. Just depends which way you want to go.

I hear you.......everybody never has time for work days but plenty of time to hunt. No shortage of freeloaders. Charge em $$$$$

So thankful i dont have to fool with clubs or timber companies anymore

Lockjaw, you still are failing to address your biggest issue, too damn many members. Until you face that head on, you're rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. Not trying to be an ass, but 10 members should be an absolute maximum, less would be better. I've been running leases for almost 40 years. It ain't easy, sometimes you have to hurt some feelings and you're rarely appreciated but you gotta do what you gotta do. Good luck

I thought around 100 Acres per member had sort of been the acceptable standard for a long time.

When I was in one that was 100 ac. per member it was pretty crowded and had too many tiny azz food plots as a result of people needing places to hunt.

Damn Doe shooting dumpster fire of a club was the best way to describe that little patch of paradise.

The biggest problem with the Club thing IMO is impatient youth hunters and guests. You always got one azzhole or maybe many that think their little snot nose kid should be able to blast everything that walks past him. Because little Johnny can't sit there or he'll get bored. He's got to kill something quick and get back to the camp house so he and Daddy can play grabass with all the Adults who are on their 3rd game for the afternoon.

Yes sir I know. It's probably going to be a process. I may lose more people still. It's early. I've basically said I wouldn't entertain adding until we dropped below 12. I have a few who hardly, if ever hunt, so I don't mind running 12 or 13.

I have a guy in a club whose hunted this area for 30 years that wants to come by and take a look and see if he can help me. They kill some big bucks. This will probably benefit me more than anyone else. He said it took them about 10 years to get to where they are now. He is maybe a mile or two from here. He said they fed year round, but won't be able to now, so they will adjust by doing extra field work. So that might be a good partnership. I'm basically trying to talk with the other 3 clubs by mine. He said they are very selective on members. After talking to him I think I may have more deer here than I thought before.

But 10 members would be awesome to get down to. Especially if I can keep a few who hardly ever hunt.

I’d pay 3k for a decent club within 25-30 minutes of the house. But I can’t find crap close to me.

Goat killer that's what mine says basically. Most clubs run over that because they never have all their members hunting at one time. And they want $ to keep dues low. So I can have 11 on stand at one time. That's my max.

I took the position that I was going to address green fields while I wasn't in charge. All my guys from last year or two see the efforts and finished product and like it. Then they see deer too. So they are loyal and believe in the direction I want to go.

Our biggest problem has been to many members, which ups the pressure. I saw a lot of deer last year, but once we got into January I saw them less often.

Leases go up every year when dealing with some timber companies. Sooner or later you start to wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze. I leased a 400 acre farm in North Missouri last year for LESS than one of my leases down here that was only 188 acres. On the third hunt I shot a 147” 10pt and had seen multiple other bucks bigger that what you’d see in three seasons on my land.

loose lips.....hush!!

Clubs can Be Fun as far as Socializing......And th' Bunnies left back in that Warm Bed when th' Buck Wabbit just has to go Hunt.....Can Be th' BEST Huntin' Experience EVER!!

Reading through all this makes me say damn I love my hunting club and the small private lease I’ve got.

I like this man's style

You could go on a 5 day rut hunt in Ohio, Kansas or Iowa and have a legitimate chance at a 150 every day for the cost of some of these overhunted bama leases.

Yes but you have to drive up there. You have to have it processed there and same with taxidermy.

That’s why I just bought preference point for Kansas and will be buying my second for Iowa once they open up.



Not if you debone the meat and have the skull plate removed and cape cleaned. Most taxidermist up that way only charge $100 to do it while you wait. I was able to bring everything back to Alabama and have it processed and mounted here.

That’s what I’m doing this season.

So how much per acre is prime hunting land bringing with all game inclusive?

$8-25 depending on location

$25

Id say the average is $15 an acre.

When i become a bilyuair im jost gonna by me some land.. i might by an island

There was shitty chilton cnty land Alabama power bid out a few weeks ago went for over $20. That land was probably worth $6 acre. People are stupid these days.

The lease my buddy was on down there went for 17/acre.

Lease prices are going up in a hurry. Mine goes up 700-800 every year. I have been able to keep the cost to join the same for the past 4 years but next year I will have an increase and hopefully we don’t lose anyone because of it. If these lease prices don’t calm down then eventually I may have to sit down and decide if it’s worth it. Everyone has a limit or at least I do.

I get just as much fun chasin these basket rack 100” deer on public. To each their own.

Ive ran a 4000 acre club the last couple of years. The lease has gone up over $4000 the last two years. Its good land but not worth what we are paying. I decided to leave recently. Its just not worth the headache to replace members and deal with disgruntled members over price increases. I'll go on an out of state hunt and hunt public land here in Alabama. It's been a big relief since making that decision.

Have hunted clubs for years before the prices and drama got out of hand and began hunting public land. Have shot 4 of my 5 biggest bucks of public so that tells you something. Most leases are way overhunted and overpressured. I know the ones I was in would have every section signed out every weekend, too much pressure. With thousands of acres of public land to hunt for free I can always find a low pressure area.

And westervelt laughs

It's a sad reality that the price of everything is going up. It's amazes me honestly to see these guys roll up in diesel 2500 trucks with brand new side by sides. Tricked out diesels too.

I just can't deal with taking a 70+l truck off road and getting it all filthy.

I’m not buying a 4wd truck to drive on pavement. I bought my truck pretty New Years ago. Lady who worked for the Forest service told me my truck was too nice to be out there one day. I told her I bought a four wheel drive for a reason. Too many four wheel drive’s bought for show now days to never see dirt.

Completely agree. The day after I picked mine up with 17 miles on it I had it in the woods. I’m off road at least one day a week in it. During December I’m off-road more than I’m on pavement

this is why I've all but given up on deer hunting. I'm not paying $1000-1500/yr to see maybe 5-10 deer the entire season and maybe get a shot at one.....and I'm not paying $2000-3000 for a membership even if I'm guaranteed to see deer every hunt and get a shot at a couple of "good" deer every year.

So that leaves me with the public land option.........but I'm just not interested enough in killing a deer anymore to go to the trouble and effort that it takes to deer hunt on public land. I don't mind "working" for it during turkey season, but for deer hunting, I don't want to "work"...I want to sit in a comfy shooting house and relax and if something walks by, great....but I'm not paying big money for that "experience".

So....I'm at the point where I'll deer hunt a time or 2 each year if/when I get invited by a friend/family member that has their own land/lease, otherwise I'll stay home and watch football or something. I used to hunt with a few family members and a friend on the friend's land. It was roughly 400 acres and we simply split the cost of planting 4 or 5 ways. I think it usually worked out to a few hundred bucks/person and there were rarely more than 3 people hunting at any given time. It was a great situation, but for various reasons it didn't last.

Well I have a 4wd, and it was very helpful when I was getting ag lime at the quarry, and dropping it off at the hunting club. And I use to to pull my tractor sometimes, but more often then not, I just take my old 2wd Tundra instead.

I am more a fan of the 4wd when pulling into traffic when its raining. In 2wd that really isn't an option unless you got a wide gap, with 4wd its not a problem at all. And if it snows no biggie either. I just don't want to get it all scratched up when I already have a truck that is scatched up. But to each his own.

I don’t understand….. are you saying you put your truck in 4wd in the rain on concrete/asphalt to pull out into traffic?

😗

With the way prices of everything are going some of these historical hunting club prices will seem like a deal. Have y'all ever tried to price out what it would cost to pay tax, plant a handful of fields, maintain access via gates, have decent roads, and have a few stands on say a 100 acre personal property or lease? If ya did some of these leases wouldn't seem so expensive. Just saying.

It’s $$$. I lease a 430 acre tract to myself and it is very expensive when all said and done. Between the six food plots, stands, cell cams, and keeping 6 feeders running it gets extremely expensive. When someone gripes about a club that is advertising a $4k plus membership fee because they can “lease their own land for cheaper “ I just keep my mouth shut.


2021 Cost off the top of my head

Leases - $5k
Feed - $800
Cell cam fees - $840
New ladders (last year) - $1000
New Gate - $150
Fall plots - $900
Minerals- $150
Camp utilities- $2100/yr
Tractor work/maintenance - $500+

Exactly. What a lot of folks fail to realize or acknowledge with a hunting club is that there has been years of historical work done there to get it to the point that it's at. The yearly lease fee probably represents the absolute bait minimum to keep the place afloat. Go branch out and get your own dirt and it becomes painfully obvious, then maybe rubbing elbows with a few other guys doesn't seem so bad

Double post

Yeah just building fields and putting up a nice two man shooting house on each field is expensive in itself.
My biggest problem is maintaining roads!

Yes sir! If I don't, trying to pull out into rush hour traffic on 280 is like waiting for paint to dry. Owners manual says it drive it in 4wd 10 miles a month. So when its wet, and I want to get out in traffic, into 4wd high it goes, and then I can stand on it and jump right out and not worry with sitting and spinning.

You should try it if you haven't. Beats sitting and waiting for an opening that is 3 football fields long to keep from spinning and fishtailing all over the place.

Let me add to your $.

Tractor payments
Soil samples
Ag lime, or worse pellet lime
Herbicide
Diesel

I have been in essentially 4 clubs since 2002 or so. Guess how many soil tested and limed? 1. My current one. If you can't get the coop in there with their lime truck, or have a big truck that can pull a lime buggy, or you have fields those can't get into, then you do it by hand, or do pellet lime, which is expensive. I brought 24 tons of ag lime to my club with my truck and a 2 ton dump trailer. All of it was spread by hand, the majority by me. The benefit is not the first year either. You really start to see it the second.

If you walk into an established lease, guess what else you will likely find? Hardpan from years of disking. So you have to subsoil.

Most people don't understand how much fertilizer they should put out either. Triple 13 has 6.5 pounds of amonia in it. If you need 100 pounds per acre you need 15 bags per acre. At $20/bag, thats $300/acre. If you have 10 acres, thats $3K. Guess how many clubs I have been in that fertilize properly? 0. Mine will be this year.

Your average club goes out in late august and bush hogs the fields. They may come back and spray them, and then they sit for a couple weeks. Then they disk and plant. They usually plant the cheapest 3 or 4 way cereal mix, if you are lucky, they add some brassica's, and put out a bag or two of Triple 13 and celebrate they got everything planted. And it turns yellow in about 45 days.

If they plant in the spring, they will come out and bush hog, disk and plant clay peas, and they never set foot out there again, until mid august, when the deer are really getting into the peas, and they start the process all over again, and run all the deer that were using the food plots off for about 6 weeks, in the driest month of the year.

Hunting cubs are not so bad if the management runs it well. Rules are rules for EVERYONE. Enforce the rules and abide by the rules. Buck harvest rules and general deer harvest rules need to follow proven biologically-sound principles. I ain't hunting to shoot six points or better. Screw that!! I want to harvest mature bucks.

And here's what the club almost has to do... LIMIT family guests (wives & kids) and general guests. With what lease costs today, I'm not paying for Johnny, his wife and a pickup load of kids to hunt and his brother-in-law too. I'm past that stage, but I understand that there are some clubs that cater to that.

Strict rules that are enforced and members that abide by the rules. And if you're a member and you get caught in a lie, you're gone!!! Clubs like this usually don't advertise for members. Dues are a little higher but you don't deal with drama!

I don't work this hard at my actual job, Lawd Jesus that's some work, Bubby

Truth

Booner and Lockjaw have got it figured out. If you want a good deer hunting experience its EXPENSIVE. I own 320 ac and this year summer plots will be about $2,0000 (7 AC of RR corn/beans), fall plots will be about $1,500 (6 AC plots, 2 AC Perrenial Clover) and I need a truckload of Lime at about $1,000, so I am looking at $4,500 this year for JUST planting expenses and thats probably low. And we have not even gotten into the JD 5055, Ranger, electric buggy, disc, tiller, bush hog, sprayer and seeder sitting in the barn, or fuel, or pesticides/herbicides, it goes on and on. And as soon as turkey season is over the Buck Boss feeders are gonna get filled. It costs me about $125 every time I put my arse in a stand since I get to hunt about 35 sits a year. And I did not even pull the trigger last year LOL But that was my choice.

I have two buddies who hunt with me regularly who help a little, but historically I have taken care of probably 90% of it because I could and ,frankly, I hate to get into friends for money, but that's gonna change this year because of changes in my world. So I have been thinking about ways to off-set some costs. I would never do a typical lease because nobody I don't absolutely completely trust will ever have free reign to come and go on my place as they please for any sum of money. I am a true believer that pressure is the most important factor in seeing deer regularly, and my place is only hunted a week at Thanksgiving, a week or so at Christmas and from January 15 through close. And not a lot of folks would be happy with that, but because of it last year I averaged seeing 10-12/sit with a half dozen 20+ sits and could have tagged out on 3.5 yr old bucks pretty easily. So its been a bit of a dilemma. Have thought about parceling out things I don't do, bow season, youth season or turkey season and could cover most of my planting costs with those but that opens up its own can of worms, since the most valuable of the three would be the turkey rights, and a good friend has been turkey hunting my place for going on 20 years and I really don't think I have it in me to tap him for full retail. Or I could go find a "whale" , a very busy professional with lots of discretionary income who wants to hunt a few times a year on a place he will see lots of deer and have a very good chance at a mature buck. Or I could sell a few hunts while I am up for my annual two week Rut hunt. Or best case scenario when I discuss this with my buddies not long from now they happily cough up 33% of the costs and we continue on our merry way. In any case, this chit is expensive. But worth it to me.

This... It is sad but true. A very good friend of mine wanted to go on a hunt with me last year and I finally caved after I took my top hitlist buck. On the way up he kept making comments about which bucks he was going to shoot, where he was going to go etc. After a short conversation, I stopped the truck and turned us around to go back to the camp. Too much invested in a place to get it "right" to let someone come in with nothing involved to reap the benefits. Spent the rest of the evening having a beer and cooking out instead of hunting.

My father is the only person that I let come hunt. He comes a couple times and he most likely will shoot something that I would not have, but he toted my butt around for all those years so I won't ever say a word about it and be just as happy for him.

Well I am not one of those people. You probably would never know I was there, unless you saw me, or heard me shoot. I would follow the rules to a T. But it is a struggle to find people you can trust. Been bitten before too.

I have multiple guys with kids, myself included. The way our rules are structured, each "member" has a deer limit, which this year is 3 bucks and 2 doe's. Each child can shoot one of each. A guest deer comes off the member limit, and a guest has to be approved by a board member. And we said you can't shoot a doe off a greenfield. Most of the guy sit with their "child" although we don't specifically require that. A "child" may not hunt unless their parent is on the property, so no high school kids coming out and hunting.

My rules actually were set up to allow a member to shoot 3 bucks and 5 doe's. My wife (if I had one) could shoot 3 of each. And then each child could shoot 1 buck and 2 doe's, and any additional deer would come off the members limit. I felt that was obscenely high. While I doubt a family could successfully come out and kill that many 6pt or better bucks, they could come out and kill a ton of doe's. And frankly changing the rule actually affects me more than anyone else. I could have easily killed 5 doe's last year. Really I have not shot near as many deer out there as I could have, primarily because I want my kids to get a shot. Most of the guys are that way too.

I honestly think we will morph some as we go. Since we can't supplementally feed anymore, we have to invest $ in food plots and doing them well if we want to see any decent deer and grow our carrying capacity. We can't operate like a traditional club and have seasonal food sources, we will have to have it year round to give us the best shot. And if I have better food on my lease than the guy next door, guess what? I am going to pull his deer over.

I will tell you something else I learned last year. Even with a 3pt spreader, it takes a while to spread a couple tons of pellet lime.......

lol damn....so you told the guy you'd take him, got him halfway there, then said nevermind and turned around and took him home? y'all still friends?

That's what it sounds like to me......

Lol yeah we are still friends. He was hoping that I would ease off a little on the restrictions (which were discussed multiple times) and let him shoot something but understood once we had a beer over it.

I thought the same thing. Let them shoot a damn deer. Geez.

Booner, Whenever you said he was telling you where he was going to go and which "bucks" he was going to shoot. I knew exactly what you were talking about. I've got several buddies with highly managed properties, just like mine, and we swap out hunts a couple times a year. I've passed several bucks on their places that I should have killed and they told me, "you should've shot that one" (they have done the same thing as well, on my place) because I was not positive that the buck was one of the ones they were wanting to take out or I couldnt 100% verify age. We are always joking on the way in that we are going to shoot the other guy's best 3 yr old or whatever bucks he's really wanting to protect, but it's only a joke. When hunting as a guest, it's always better be cautious, if you are not 100% sure. It takes years of time, effort, trigger restraint, and money to grow big bucks in Bama. People that dont do it to the same extent that you do, normally just don't understand. That said, just like you, there are several people in my life that have the green light on any deer I have on the property, anytime they go, and I am happier when they kill one, than if I had killed it myself. I will however say, turning around and not taking someone hunting at all, has not happened yet with me. LOL

Datgum at tha rich folks..i got tuh git my butt out from arount this thread for i git tha law callt on me

If I were going to take somebody - they would be like family to me and I would take them to my very best spot or I would not ask them
I just don’t ask very often. I asked my best friend in the rut for a weekend hunt this past year - he could not make it - no other friends got asked. He has done an awful lot for me over the years. I will take my step son whenever - he just don’t want to go much - he can shoot what he wants - he went once this year

Guests are definitely a dilemma for me, because while I hunt by myself probably 80% of the time, I really like hunting with someone else and there is also the safety factor. I just turned 65 and it is very evident to me I need to be more cautious when in the woods. I fall much easier and don't bounce like I used too and I really should not drag a deer very far because of health issues, so its nice to know if I needed assistance there would be someone on the place, not 20 minutes away. But that brings us back to pressure LOL One reason my place is as good as it is is because, best I can tell, my south neighbor only deer hunts it himself and has no interest in shooting anything but a buck larger than any he may ever see. His place is awesome, he feeds, manages and does not shoot any deer. Best neighbor one could have but I don't want to go to that extreme. So its really a balancing act between the pleasure of enjoying good company while hunting versus the pain when they send you the text " I got HIM" LOL And I have gotten that text. Heck, the best 4 deer I know of coming off the place are on guests walls and that is fine with me because I would rather enjoy the place with friends than lock it down in fear someone might shoot "MY' deer.

I am not a huge fan of guests either, but at 55, with a torn disk, I definitely can appreciate having help dragging one. That's whay my now 16 year old is for!! And I find myself less comfortable way up a tree too.

I need to get a deer cart. Or take my 4 wheeler out there and leave it. If we could find a really cheap building, that would be good.

A quality hunting experience is expensive. End of story. Then again, everything is expensive now. Take your family to 30a lately? A house on (near) the beach for a week, dinner, cold beer and snacks? $10,000.00 vacation. Buy a new truck lately? $70k!

Im po as chit

A whole bunch of money spent for back straps and hamburgers.. just let them get some age on them. Best place with the biggest deer we ever killed cost nothing. We didn’t plant green fields but hunted the overgrown sage fields. Let them get over 5, all the extra cost isn’t always worth it IMO.

Listening to these storys reminds me how how blessed im am about hunting . Have 2500 acres that i pay to hunt on . Only 9 of us. Pay bout $6k for lease . Bout 650 a piece . Little over $2 an acre. No rules. Shoot what u want . Plenty deer . Most all memebers are family. Never a argument. . Nobody shoots little deer . Wouldn t be a problem if they did.All we do is plant wheat we buy from local farmers in bulk. Use little fertilizer. Lots of turnips. Have best food plots ever. Landowner son hunts with us. Im kinda the overseer of property for years. But i know that could end anytime an im good with that . If i have to pay over $1000 to hunt im done with hunting lease. Plenty public land here an neighbors have 800 acres i can hunt on. Blows my mind to extent folks will go just to hunt a deer . I have house full of big bucks mounted an garage full of horns . Just not that important anymore. I live everyday of my life in woods whether working, hunting or riding motorcycles. Im am truly blessed .

Nothing worse than freeloaders with nothing invested hunting your land like they own it. I know the feeling. Nobody has time to help with the work but plenty of time to hunt your property. Everybody short on cash for leases but plenty of money for trucks and atvs. Screw them losers.

I spent 6 hours bush hogging yesterday. Only one person has paid me any $ for lease so far.

Looks like I got some good stands of clover established though. One field had 3 deer out in it for over an hour feeding last night. They were studying my exclusion cage pretty hard at first 😆.

Once I can fertilize we should really see things take off.

I haven't taken a guest in years. They seem to have a problem following the rules and don't contribute a damn thing. I hunt by myself and don't need anyone to push my wheelchair yet. I hold the lease and do the majority of the planting and the other work that gets done. I'll be 75 in June and hanging in there like a hair in a biscuit

I guess I care for friends more than deer, because I try to put them in my best spots. Though I would like to kill a 170+ inch deer I'm not going to pay someone to hunt or take away from the memories created from hunting with friends.

You cant eat "horns" anyway.

Agree 100%.

That is how I feel about a guest. It "could" be useful for recruitment, but the button head killed on my lease this past season was killed by a guest. I haven't taken a guest since I joined a club up here.

When I was early in my hunting days I had a 68 acre piece of hardwoods that was a gold mine. I had been hunting a big deer and this was before trail cameras were really big so I was purely hunting sign. I had a buddy from high school ask to come hunt one day and I put him in the stand I was going to sit that morning. About 830 I heard him shoot and sure enough he shot the buck. At first I was mad at myself but soon realized that just wasn’t my buck. Fast forward 15 years and I still haven’t closed the book on a big buck and maybe never will but I can at least say I didn’t and still don’t gar hole my buddies

When I find a large parcel I like, I pay whatever they ask, whether it's purchase or lease.

Hmmmmmmm.

Yup more of the same bs

Me too..sedgefields is nice.. but iprefer my plantation in bay minette.. it has..a 9 hole golf course.. an i can keep it under 72 there..its only 2500 acres..but its close to tha beach

Where my 100 acre beach front estate is..can fly there in my helicopter..have to fire up the gulfstream to get to my other properties

I mean my private islands

Or my 150ft yacht

..........equipped with your own "personal trainer".

She helps with my hip flexion mobility

If you have guests you will have problems. They have nothing to lose if they break the rules, what you gonna do kick them out? Many years ago we had a very unique 2.5 yo buck we all agreed to pass to see what he would become. You guessed it, some dumbass guest shot the damn thing. Gave the guest and member the boot, but the buck was still gone. Never again. Only thing worse than a thief and liar is a guest on a club.

We had one guest who would smoke and leave his butts all in the shooting houses and even took a dump in a bucket and left it in there too. Had some drive thru greenfields and go walking around and screwed everyone elses hunt up. No guest.

Had one guy bring a goofy teenage boy and he drew vulgar pictures in a shooting house too.

I don’t get not wanting to bring friends or hunting land by yourself. My favorite hunting memories are from times at camp or time shared with friends and family.

As a member you’re responsible for whatever they do which can affect your good standing as a member in some clubs. As a lessor with certain goals in mind, you sacrifice expenses, time and effort on your lease to get it where you want it just to let someone to come in with no sweat in the game to reap the benefits from your hard work. When you’re trimming the roads/trails and fixing stands in July/August, planting in September, along with all the other mess and your “buddy” can’t find the time to make it up, you'll start getting the point pretty quick.

That said. My family is always welcome at camp regardless of work participated in.

Guess thats why I've never been in an actual club, I've hunted with the same group of guys since 2009. We all contribute work when we can and split the lease cost. If some one wants to bring a guest who is not a paying "member" thats fine if they kill a big deer it doesn't bother us we'll all have a beer around and congratulate them. Its just a deer at the end of the day and its supposed to be fun but to each their own

Guests are a catch 22. It is a good way to see if you like them, assuming you are going to add people, but, it is frustrating for the people who do the work to see a guest come out there and kill a good deer. That is what I saw in my last club, guests that were there for more than a month, and lucked into killing a couple really nice bucks during the rut. I doubt the member was paying $50/day for his guest to be there either.

Then I come out and find the member had left the gate open and pinned the guest out and he wasn't even there..

You'd be amazed how convenient a helicopter can be 😉

Well I had another member leave. Just paid the downpayment too.

Get rid of 10-12 more and you'll see some really good hunting, and find out you've got a whole lot more deer than you thought you had on the place.

If I don't start getting some payments that's where I'll be. Be interesting to see. I thought it might take a couple years but it may not. One of my newest WTI clover and chicory plots has 3 to 4 deer on it every night now. And they usually stay on camera for an hour or more. I need to check my other fields.

I’m confused on how you have your lease and memberships structured. Do you not have a set amount for yearly dues that the members agreed to pay? If you are still cutting memberships after people have paid then you either are constantly raising the dues on them or you had the dues set to high to begin with. I may be wrong in assuming that but wouldn’t it be simpler to decide the ideal amount of memberships, set the dues for that amount, choose the best existing members to offer a spot at the new dues, and when you are full of paying memberships let the rest go.

The lease is held by me for a hunting club. The board sets the amount of dues. All of last year's members are allowed to renew and can make an upfront PMT or 3 monthly payments. We (the board) essentially left the dues the same, just eliminated the upfront payment discount. All of last year's members were invited back. I have not heard from 5.

Based upon who has paid and committed to pay, I have enough $ to cover the lease and fall plant, but that's about it. I had 19, 3 left, 11 have paid or committed to pay and 5 have said nothing. That puts me at 11 members which is what the lease calls for as a max of standers. But the current dues aren't enough to accomplish our objectives. If the 5 who haven't said anything don't pay, then I'll have to decide about adding a person or paying some out of pocket.


Ultimately to keep the member count low, dues need to increase.

If your lease calls for only 11 people then that’s all you can add to your member list on the westervelt site. If you have more than that and they aren’t listed then that could be an issue. Possibly an insurance problem. But I’ve honestly never read anywhere in my lease where it states I can only have a certain amount of hunters. Maybe I overlooked it 🤷‍♂️.

I've seen it in two. Westervelt likes to have 100 acres per hunter, and they round up on my case. That's the max number that can be hunting at any one time. I have never known a club to have less than the number, except the one next to me.

I figure by next spring I will have gotten all my main fields well covered and established with clover and chicory and hopefully this year we address stand issues. Then I believe I could have about 10 guys and charge the proper price to pay lease and maintain the fields year round.

The more I plant WTI clover and fusion, the more convinced I am it's the way to go. The deer eat it and it's usually an every day thing.

Are you saying that you have/had 19 member but you limit the number of standers on any given hunt to 11?

Lockjaw I am still trying to wrap my mind around your situation.

You have 1050 acres. You had 19 members which is 55 acres per member. You lease says 11 members total which is around 100 acres per member. Which I would think means you cannot have more than 11 actually. And you allow guests and children as well ? That is way too many people.

On that much land youd be far better off just reducing members and increasing the price per member. If you went with 6 members youd not only have a lot better hunting IMO but a lot less hassle. 19 , 17 or even 11 members is just crazy.

How much do you charge per person to hunt that 1050 acres ? And does your memberships include turkey hunting? What are your goals with your lease? Are you trying to have quality deer hunting or just a meat club?

I basically took over the lease. We had 19 members last year. We have a few that hardly, if ever hunt. Children are allowed, most sit with their parent. And it's not a large number. Guests are allowed with approval but only 3 times. Turkey hunting is included. Dues are $1,200, which is what they have been, we just got rid of the upfront discount this year. I think $1,500 is where they will need to be to get the member numbers lower and plant and fertilize properly.

I have been focused on food mainly. I did soil tests and limed 2 falls ago. I have really spent a lot of my own $ getting mainly WTI clover/fusion established. I know the deer herd has grown, but I'm not sure yet where I think it is. We have some nice mature bucks on the property, but they are tough to kill.

I want to reduce the member count, and improve our deer density. Then I think the transition to fewer members and better deer is easier. To help with that we lowered the doe kill limit and said you can't shoot one off a greenfield. I started last year when I was made the Pres convincing folks the idea of shooting every doe that walks out on a greenfield is a bad one. It helped with people seeing deer last season too.

I'm not sure how closely you have read a lease, but Westervelt can spell out how many doe's they want us to kill. The only analysis I can see online is from 2018 and it said to kill 10. We haven't ever killed 10 since I have been here. I could probably have killed 5 last year easily if I wanted. But feel I should be setting an example too. I really don't think anyone would complain about me doing that, since I do most of the field work. But... You know.

I figured it would take me a couple more years to really get this place dialed in and get everyone on the same page.

Y’all don’t need to shoot any does honestly. We normally have the opportunity to kill at least 5 does a day on either of our 3 properties.

We may not end up killing many. I know the club next to me doesn't shoot very many either.

We are going to try to do a camera survey later and see what we come up with.

I got a buck hitting one of my clover fields. He should be a good deer this year, maybe he will add some mass. I had pics of 4 nice mature one's last year. And several others that should be better this year.

I really believe our herd is increasing.

Lockjaw-

I’m gonna offer up some advice, it’s only worth what you paid for it, so keep that in mind.

You’ve been very vocal about this lease. From the property owner to its location to the improvements you’re making to the quality of nature bucks you’ve got on cam to what high dollar mixes you’ve been planting in your fields. Once you get this place dialed in, somebody with big pockets is gonna sweep in and Westervelt is gonna break your heart. They’re not even gonna give you a chance to match, it’s gonna be a notice that your lease won’t be renewed and please remove stands and cameras by May31.

I’ve seen it happen to my friends. I’ve seen it happen to people on this forum. I know hunting leases are exciting to talk about but loose lips sink ships with a quickness. I only say this because you’re obviously emotionally attached to your property and I’d hate to see you lose it after so much hard work. Good luck this season!

^^^^^
Amen
Loose lips sink ships - it can even be dangerous talking too much on here - somebody can always swoop in and take it - prob best to not say much and act dumb if u asked question

I don’t talk period around my friends and keep my leases on down low and I don’t give coordinates which has even been asked of me on here

I have had two properties stolen by groups of rich guys offering more $ than the property was worth. One got his ass kicked though so I hope it was worth it for him.

I was in a club in MS and had a few guys that found out that the President of the club's mom owned the land, they had tried to talk with him about hunting it or joining the club for years but he wouldn't allow them to, they went behind his back and presented her an offer that was ridiculous.....she told them she would be a fool to sell/lease them the land and leave her son without a place to hunt......there are crooked people out there that will do anything to get a lease, sometimes it's good to keep quiet about where you hunt and the quality of the land and your heard.

I hav lost turkey leases from friends hunting w me talking - and I hd told them up front not to talk - they did and we lost

They said - what u said actually came true - I said - why did u think I was telling u that - of course it came true

Damn Floridians rurnt it

Lockjaw, so you are saying that you can only have 11 hunters on the property but you have 19 members. Is this done on a first come first serve basis or do y’all draw to see who gets to hunt particular days. How do you accomplish keeping it at only 11 hunters on the property when you have 19 members. Really makes no sense.

I've been leasing property all over the blackbelt since the early 90s and never lost a lease to anyone out of FL. Most of the FL guys stay over on the SE side of the state. I've lost 2 in 30 yrs and both hurt. First one I lost was to a group of doctors out of LA. They found out about that place from the taxidermist that 4-5 of us were using in Mobile. Second one I lost, was to a group of lawyers and doctors out of B'ham. No telling how they found out about it but they offered $20/acre for land I was paying $11/acre for. Both were leased out from under me based solely on the land, location and most importantly, the quality of bucks being killed. I dont think that Lockjaw is in any danger of someone leasing his property out from under him, with an outrageous bid, based on the description of the deer and property he's provided on here. I'll also say that you're normally much more secure with a timber company (assuming they dont sell the property or swap it) than you are with a private owner. Unless you break their rules or a game law, trespass on your neighbors, are late on payments, or are just a problem child for them, I've never seen a "big" timber company just pull a lease from someone for more money. But I can assure you that it happens all the time with private landowners.

Point taken. I would actually be more concerned about a developer buying it than someone trying to lease it out from under us. It is far from a deer utopia. Even the guy on the lease next to us isn't killing alot of deer. There is a club down the road that is killing some big ones. As in much nicer than any I have seen on our lease.

Yes I have invested alot personally and it would be disheartening to see something like that happen. It sucks that I need to keep things more on a down low too. I really enjoy talking about it.

Man, I hated to even say anything. I can tell it’s a passion of yours.

No. The last Pres/VP are who added the extra people last year. So what I did this year was have a board meeting, and we as a board decided we needed less members, but we weren't going to ask anyone to leave. So we got rid of the discount for paying upfront, lowered the number of doe's a member could shoot, and said you can't shoot them off a greenfield. Then Westervelt came in and banned supplemental feeding and minerals. All of this has been communicated. We also didn't have as big a discount for being on the board as the previous folks had. And there are 3 board members instead of 5.

I figured the last Pres and VP would leave and they said they were. Then another member let me know he was leaving. So that puts me at 16. I have 5 I still haven't heard anything from. So I they don't pay me, that would put me at 11. I would probably add 1 becuase I have a member who has a very valueable piece of equipment that we need, and he rarely, if ever hunts. He is a member with a kid too.

The lease says 11 people. All the clubs I have been in have more members than the lease says. If they are going to be a stickler about that, then I would have to assess everyone some additional $ most likely to cover everything.

What I am after here, is a club that isn't ordinary. There are no special treatments, or secret spots only the Pres knows about. Everyone follows the rules, and we manage the property to improve our success. We may morph into having different arrangements for guests and kids as we go, but for now, I don't want to completely re-write every single thing.

No I appreciate it. I don't always think about things like that. Maybe one day I can have my own spot.

Trying to keep up with all these hunting club rules and regulations like....

^^ Yep, then halfway through the season you realize you're the only one abiding by them.

If you can afford it, buy land. Too many carpet baggers with Chinese investors buying up land around here. Won't be long before this isn't our state anymore.

As Ckylec said in an earlier reply, loose lips....Hush.

I’ve been looking for around 100 acres, but can’t find anything worth a crap or that isn’t sky high..

I cant believe the people that look at you funny when you tell them how much a membership is. The math is pretty easy usually. When you look at cost per acre and number of members it is what it is on my property.

The math gets expensive when you try to keep member numbers down. Especially if you fertilize well.

If you plan on fertilizing in the fall you may wanna go ahead and buy it now. May be $40 a bag by the fall. Only issue is you will need a humidity controlled area to store it or it will be hard as a rock by the time you need it. With the rising prices of fertilizer and seed I may give everyone a choice….. pay a lot more or we ain’t planting.

You want cheap hunting or do you want good hunting? You can't have both unless you already own land. You get what you pay for. You'll eventually figure this out or you won't. Bite the bullet, run off the folks you need to and move forward. The most crucial thing you can change is pressure

I don't see why more folks don't join forces, form some sort of LLC or whatever and buy themselves a place. I bet you put the pencil to it over the long haul you could come out on it in most cases.

Even if you own the land good hunting ain't cheap. Just ordered 30 tons of lime at $1,490, summer seed at $960 and looking at about $1000 or so for fertilizer. At least the lime will take care of all plots, summer and fall, for the next 3 years. I could do things cheaper but damn I love looking out over that bean/corn field. If several people get together and buy, in a few years there is a high probability they will be looking at the same drama as a club and much harder to get out of. My friend and south neighbor in Bama has about 300 or so acres here in central Florida he has owned a long time with 3-4 others, and it appears to be a continuous thorn in his side.

I use a very specific fertilizer, and it must be old stock, because I got 400 pounds for 17.50 a bag today. Which is what I paid last fall. What is going to hurt this fall is the Urea. I need 100 pounds per acre.

With as much clover as you've got, the fert you are using is probably 0-20-20 which has 0 nitrogen. Nitrogen is the most expensive component in fertilizer and the component that has gone through the roof lately, so it would make sense that your fertilizer would be roughly the same cost as last year. You dont need the component that is responsible for the cost run-up.

That is true. I have worked hard to get that stuff established and really have some great stands of it. I have a couple more fields I need to mow, I scoped them out while I was putting out fertilizer, and they have pretty good stands of clover in them as well. I have a couple I need to focus on this fall, and then I will be where I want to be. It is really the best thing I can plant with the limited size of my food plots that the deer just can't wipe out.

And I may get down to the number of members I really need too. Another one dropped out, so down to 14.

My nitrosurf showed up today, so I need to go spray, but need the wind to lay down. And I need to get a barrel so I can take water out there to refill the sprayer.

The math never works if you’re comparing ownership cost to a lease cost.

I look at it as an investment , land will appreciate in value, could be timber to cut and/or row crop land to farm. I know several individuals around here it's worked for.