Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Hunting Club Changes ??

You have a lot of opinions about me being greedy. You should read all my post and then form your opinion. I get to hunt 4 times a year, and wanting to enhance my club for the betterment of all being construed as greedy is not only a harrisy you don't know your arse from a hole in the ground or pine from an oak. Being a timber cruiser and all.
I don't have "junior seniority" but I'm sure you think I should or wish I did.

I know im running a long time behind this conversation but to be honest the guy talking about raising the dues to a point that only a few could afford it sounds just like the 4 in our club last year 2 brothers one son and a friend wanted it to be their way and none of which had a office just members the president was so fed up with the drama I now have the seat and the 4 are no longer in the club. These 4 was trying to play by their on rules and make everyone else suffer but at the end they no longer hunt on this lease and will never be offered a position to come back. Unless i give the lease up. So why not try to fix things rather than act like teens.

I agree. It sounds like the guy driving down the road pissed off... anyone going faster then him, is an idiot. Anyone going slower than him, is a slowpoke!!!

I may have missed it but how are your guests rules? I like VERY strict guest rules. That's one way you can (if lots of guests are hunting) cut down on pressure.

Also, IMO, a membership doesn't mean you can bring your entire family, IMO. If you have four children and a wife that all hunts, why should you pay the same as an individual or single member who has no immediate family that hunts.

In my club, we limit each member in the number of family hunters the member is allowed to have hunting at one time.
But of course, you better have quality leadership in place whatever you do. Good luck.

I'm curious. You would pay $7000 to hunt 4 times per year? Is that 4 days, 4 weekends, or 4 weeks?

Either way, you should let me book some out of state hunts if you are willing to spend that much money. You'd have a much better chance at a good deer.

Just a suggestion.

Last in, first out is an option.

Anything that raises the rates for the purpose of running off good members is the epitome of shatty to me. You raise rates to keep the club going. Natural attrition is going to take place. That is good. Forced attrition is not good. Sorry your not going to like my answer, but you asked. Never ask my opinion if you don't want an honest answer. Go somewhere else if your just looking for someone to make you feel better about doing a shatty thing. Again, sorry, but that is my opinion.

I know if he were in our club that he would need to tread softly about wanting to vote to kick someone out of the club.....

What a bunch of pansies. Whoever has the lease, can do whatever the hell they want with the club, as long as they have that lease. Fact.

If they want to run it as a club, they can. And the the very next year, they can kick everyone out and hunt it on their own.

i see nothing wrong with using increasing prices to drop members out. Obviously they couldn't have afforded to stay in, at the original member count anyways.

Don't like it, go outbid him.

I like the 200 acre per member suggestion.

No 4 wheelers/loud vehicles.

Pulse hunting - close for the typically deadest times (for bucks), but not arbitrarily close days of weeks because no one can be on same schedule.

Kill does with bows and not on food plots.

Didn't read whole thread, but if you don't have a club limit of 2 bucks maybe do that too.

Just some rambling thoughts.......~

One member can pressure deer on 5000 acres if they hunt everyday. Size of property, cover, water, food, and most of important does during rut and these in relation to pressure all make a factor. If you don't live on propery you never really know what is going on when you lock those gates and leave. Cades cove has some great deer cause nobody shoots them and they know it cause they have 24/7 protection. Same with surrounding clubs. One small club next to yours can undo what you spend 50k to create. If you don't have fenced in deer with 24/7 protection or live on premises someone is shooting those deer. Bow hunting actually can work against you cause you can't here a bow shoot. Even if you limit everyone to one buck over 150" and have someone living nearby if they are multiple entry points someone is hauling those deer out unless you have control over all entry and exit points.

I would bet your pressure is not as bad as you think it is. Almost everyone in the state has had a "slow" last couple of years. Make adjustments to how YOU hunt and don't worry about everyone else. Find spots with thick cover that no one else is willing to hunt. Use pressure to your advantage. If you are willing to pay 7k a year to hunt in a club, why not just lease 700-1,000 acres on your own and run it exactly like you want it? No offense but people with your line of thinking is what makes being in clubs suck for the rest of the members. One or two years without everyone killing a trophy and suddenly you think drastic changes are needed because "everyone else" is messing up the hunting. The deer are still there. Go find them.

Raise dues. You inevitably will lose a few members. I don't feel cutting the days will accomplish what you're trying to do. Less people would mean less pressure in most cases.

Dr. B

�Why can�t we work out our differences? Why can�t we work things out? Little people, why can�t we all just get along?� � President Dale

This is the truth, lease holder should hope to maintain like minded members. But in the end, they choose.

cut members, make a portion of your land off limits to hunting and scouting for a couple years and rotate the off limit land. We do that on our property and it really has made a difference.

Every time I think about joining a club I just get on Aldeer.
Saves me thousand$ every year.

There are some great clubs out there,however a large percentage of them get in a tight spot and accept money from the first shmo that can come up with it. And on the other side a guy looking for land thinks the land looks great but doesn't put enough thought into rules or general practices or goals of the existing members. Maybe thinking i'll hunt like I want or I'll change there way of thinking.It wont work!It's all about the right fit and it doesn't take but one bad member to ruin an otherwise great club!Just my 2 cents.

Increase dues and reduce through attrition.

Having the wrong members is worse than having too many members (within reason), imho.

In our club, we had some members that would scout year round, walk very far though the woods to get to their stands (messing up the woods for everyone else) when there was a much shorter route, and so forth.

When they got out of our club, the overall deer population relaxed somewhat. We could see a noticeable difference even in the first year they were out. They (6 hunters on 3 memberships) would hunt every weekend and always hunt somewhere different each morning and evening. The had a lot of personal stands, so they were always walking in the woods. I understand about hunting hard. I've done my share of packing in climbers miles from where I've parked, climbing up before daylight and climbing down after dark from the same spot, but each trip to an area has an impact on the deer.

We hunt over 4000 acres and now there are about 10 of us, at most, (including kids) that hunt most weekends. We have a total of 13 memberships which represents maybe 20 different people through the year. Most of the time, we can slip in and slip out of our spots. At one time we had over 20 members and many kids that would hunt. Some areas received a tremendous amount of pressure back then.

I think the right people is more important than the number of people. And getting the right people is much easier, the fewer there are.

Good luck in the quest for having a great club. Just remember that enjoyment is the most important aspect. Not everyone is going to kill a monster each year and there are no perfect clubs.

He who holds the lease makes the rules. At the end of the day, a "good" club has to be run as a benevolent dictatorship to survive and thrive. You can take input from all members and try to accommodate the wishes of the rest of the members and good clubs do this but when it comes down to it, someone or a very small group of generally 2-3 guys have to make the call. Especially if you have 8 or more members involved. There will be factions in any group no matter how close the members are to each other. Its why big corporations have CEO's. At the end of the day, one guy has to decide what to do. He can take input from the management team but when it comes down to it, he makes the final decision. Truth be known, he's the one that has to round up new members, set dues, workdays, deal with the landowner, and ultimately the guy who has to make sure the lease is paid. For all those telling him he's an ass for wanting to reduce pressure, start your own clubs and deal with the bullcrap and you'll probably be the first to say, "I'm running this SOB and dealing with the headaches all year and I'm gonna run it my way."

Cut membership