We're looking to change up a few rules on our club and I'm looking for some ideas. For the ones in club how are yall doing the feeding? How do yall determine the number of deer a membership can take? When deciding rules is it 1 man decision or club vote?

Feed as you’d like and wherever but don’t be upset if you have feeders on plots and others hunt it.

We have 3 does and 3 bucks per MEMBERSHIP. Guests pay a 30$ 1/2 day 50$/day 1 guest per day. 50$ doe fee, 200$ buck fee for guest. Fees paid before you leave.

Members propose a rule and membership vote on it. But property owner/lease holder has ultimate authority on rules.

We have meetings before every season and review last season/rules and propose new if needed.

If you have a honest good group there is infrequently a problem.

But Rules must be applied equally to everyone and with this system we rarely have problems.

We are not a club per say. We are just a group of buddies that most of us been hunting together since high school. Our rules are pretty simple. Anyone who hunts with us can kill 2 does and 3 bucks. Guest are restricted to 3 day hunts unless it’s immediate family ( Father, son/daughter or grandchildren). Most of us shoot what we consider good bucks, but if it makes you happy, you shoot it. The only important rules we have is no trash in stands or anywhere in the wood and to always have fun and eat all you want. Pretty simple!!

Members split corn cost and we have club feeders. No does can be killed on feeders.
You are free to bait up your own spot/ spots.

We don’t have a set rule on does. We just evaluate how many we kill in a year to year basis.

1 man decisions mostly but we vote if we need to. We only have 7 guys though and we generally all see eye to eye.

Feeding only in pre-selected sites. I have seen where letting members feed anywhere they want lead to issues with pressure, drama between other members etc.

Number of deer should be based on the 3-buck limit and however agreed upon does of paying member. If they bring a guest, wife, kid and they harvest a buck. That counts as one of their three.

Most consistent clubs that I have seen have been ran by a dictatorship. Meaning one man makes the rules and not by club vote. Letting the inmates run the asylum is rarely a good thing and can lead to goals not being met.

Benevolent dictatorships are the only successful clubs the majority of the time.

Talked to a man the other day who said he had 3 rules when he ran his club.

1. Be safe
2. Have fun
3. Follow the set management strategy for the property

Worked well for him but I think it’s more about the quality of the members you have vs. the rules.

I have been part of a number of clubs through the years, and have seen 3 basic types of government. One way is with a Board of Directors who made all the decisions and then told the members what they were. A board like this could be elected by the membership or the board itself could appoint needed replacements. Expect a lot of grumbling from the members with this type.

Another form is a dictatorship. How well that works depends on the dictator.

And the worst one was a Democracy, with monthly meetings and a vote on everything. I thought I was gonna see a killing at one of those meetings.

You have imperfect people, so there is no perfect government.

^^^
Thats funny PCP 😀 glad you did not witness a killin 😀

Small group like minded members. I am fortunate i hav my own lease.

BustinBeards that sounds pretty good on rules - really like buck fee.

Clubs generally = very childish and selfish people that run slam over you. I hav been in 2 pretty good ones but they had plenty of drama

Determine your membership numbers by assuming all members shoot 3 bucks. That does two things, 1. You’re planning for the biggest number of kills and 2. No one is shorted their state allowed bucks. If your lease can’t support every member tagging out then you have too many members. We don’t even have to put a number on does in my lease because we only have 2 doe seasons in my area that are 10 days each. All bucks have to meet our management goals which is basically 3.5 or older. After 6 years doing this we’re now getting to where we can probably bump that number to 4.5 and everyone still get plenty of opportunities.

From my experience clubs that have too many members to bring down costs are extremely over pressured. You don’t have to even shoot a shot to over pressure your property and when you start doing 1 member for every hundred acres it gets that way quickly

When I had a club the basic rules were:
State rules to start
3 bucks/3 does per membership
Bucks 6 pt or better
Guests were $x per day, one guest allowed at a time for no more than three days at a time and no more than 6 days per individual guest.
Guest kills count against membership quota

^^^
Yea - and i would charge guest more than what Bustin and them are charging but they got it high enough where u can feel it a little

No guests. They seem to cause all the problems.

Our guests are friends and family that do things for us throughout the year and we offer them a great time and possibly a chance to kill a deer if they want. Not all payments have $ signs attached. Our guests are never a problem. We love sharing our little piece of heaven with others. Most come for the food!!

Well let me know if you need a mini ex and an operator. I can probably get my hands on something for a chance at some of that food you always posting on here 🤣

Get in line Pwyse. 😁
Ive offered to pay full membership dues just to eat.

We have feeders on all our plots and allow feeding in the woods. There's been several talking about the club should either feed plots only or have certain feed sites on the club and no hunting within so many yards away. There's also other that think changing our bucks to 3 per membership and only allowing does to be shot by the kids on plots. We don't really have a issue with guest coming bc everyone is ready lol

To heck with the deer and rules. I want in on the Texas hunt!!

I'm so glad I have a lease with a couple good friends. No rules except have a good time, and be safe. And kids and grandkids can hunt whenever. We have a great time.

Like I've said on here many times, too many rules can create outlaws.

Can’t hide money!