Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Club rules??

So it looks like I may be taking over our hunting club as soon as season is over. It started to go downhill over the last few years and was time for the president to step down due to health issues. I am currently revising the current club rules and wanted to get some consensus from y'all on a few things. I would like to keep it simple but with 20 members we need to establish some guidelines right off the bat because these past couple years has basically been a free for all.

Is it worth the headache to run a club?
What rules have you seen in the past that you really liked or disliked?
Is there really anything basic that would limit the percentage of 2.5yr old bucks being harvested?
When it comes to members that own tractors, how much of a cut do they usually get if any?

Running a club is a pain in the keister. Running the logistics and the day to day operation won't be so bad, but you are about to learn that there are 20 full grown men who will act like jealous children. Someone will be in your ear all the time either bitching about something or tattling on another grown man. It's inevitable...... prepare yourself.

Exactly.

We have a rule that whoever kills the biggest buck during the season becomes next years president. Encourages folks to go after mature deer. Club has to obey presidents rules. Only thing he can’t do is change the president rule. We are all basically on the same page about management so nothing drastic changes with New presidents

Not worth the headache, run

If you insist on being president the first thing you put into effect is that every rule is openly discussed and voted on just like business meeting rules so there’s no excuses

Second get a feel of what the club’s goals are, draw them on a board and refer back to them as you establish each rule

Third establish the penalties in the same manner

Finally enforce all of the above with no exceptions

I'm not sure this is even humanly possible. I've never been apart of an organization that has done this.

One of the biggest headaches is getting people to work. Always going to be a few that won't show up to work but will show up to hunt. Need a stiff financial penalty if no work. They can work on a non work day but have to be assigned certain work or you will never see any work getting done. They will ride the roads, scout, move a branch out of the road and call it a work day. Hard to find good people with a long term vision.

Word...... every club has a little clique that consists of the presidents close buddies. You think they are going to get fined just like Joe Newb would for shooting a buck that was a little smaller than the club allowed.

lol

Set the rules and enforce them. Don't show favoritism or it will become a cancer in the club. Your best buddy breaks a rule he has to pay his price for the infraction.

If you are not the personality to handle enforcement, you should appoint someone to be a sargeant at arms to handle infractions.

J Wayne Fears has a book on organizing and running a hunting club. Its a good read and I recommend it as a starting point.

If you have that mentality from a position of leadership going into a situation like this then you’v already failed. We all know certain special situations will arise but those are one-offs. You don’t structure your organization based on anomalies.

Exactly!

Everyone has friends. Leaders won’t be as hard on them as others. That’s been my experience. I wouldn’t sign up to be the rule-enforcer. That was the OP’s initial question. It’s a thankless job.

Me personally, I would not be in a club with 20 people. Find 200-300 acres and get your like minded buddy to lease it with you. If you can't find that, just hunt public land in the national forest way off away from other people. Its a hell of a lot cheaper, without all the crap, and you'll see some good deer cause ain't nobody hunting them. Most people are lazy and won't walk over 200-300 yards.

Our size rules are: 16" wide 8 pt or 120 inches, if the buck doesn't meet either of those; member must pay $125 and is done hunting for that season. That rule does 2 things, gets young deer with great potential killed (legally) and old/big 6 points killed (illegal) they won't meet the inch requirements. Guy killed a 19" wide heavy 6 this season, had to pay and is done for the season. Needs to be a 3 of 5 rule, that includes body weight, rack width, inch measurement, base mass measurement etc.. Also, if it doesn't meet the requirements; make member pay $150. Whoever kills the biggest deer, award them the money that is paid for the illegal deer killed throughout the season. That will provide motivation for members to hold out for the big ones.

Get your own place (lease or own) and all the troubles will be gone. Its incredible! Funny to see grown men act like my 3 year old daughter.

$150 doesn't seem like much of a penalty. If you're going to penalize folks, make it hurt. If someone is going to spend $1,500 on club dues, a $150 fee to shoot any deer they want seems like a drop in the bucket.

I know clubs that charge a $20 fee for missing work days. Again, doesn't seem like a big price to pay.

In my club it's $250 or have it shoulder mounted if it doesn't meet criteria. Even with that there's still plenty of them shot.


Our club criteria is 15 inch inside spread. There's been a couple killed this year that were right at 10 inches wide (two year olds).

It’s interesting seeing so many clubs still do antler based restrictions.... I thought that was a thing of the past

The number one thing is to have everyone receive a copy of the rules and then have them sign to say they received them, and agree to the rules. And always enforce the rules even if it is your own family. And last but not least if someone breaks a rule have a written penalty for that rule, and no hunting until that penalty is paid

Unfortunately, yes many clubs still do this. My club has this and it does NOTHING to manage for older class deer on our property.