Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Hunt Club lease holder question

Feel free to PM me if you don't want to say on a public forum if club members are here.

Do you profit from being the leaseholder? In other words do you get a free membership and or pay yourself for the trouble of being the leaseholder and running your club?

Most of the clubs I have been in the board gets a discounted rate.

I run our lease and to be honest I usually lose money. I keep a detailed spreadsheet with all costs and keep receipts. I enjoy it all so that’s why I do it that way.

If I was in a club where that was happening, I would not be in that club long. Yes It is a lot of work to run a club, but if we are gonna go down that road, How about the person that brings tractor, or the person that rents a bobcat or the person that brings culverts to fix roads, or the person that built all the shooting houses, or the person that......... Are their contributions less worthy? A club is a lot of work and it takes everyone doing their part.

We have mandatory work days that you can pay extra if you can’t attend and that extra money goes towards fields.

I don’t think our board gets a discount. Next year they aren’t allowing any extra money to be paid but if you don’t attend 2 work days you are not allowed on the property for 6 weekend days from Christmas Day through the end of January.

Clubs suck arse. We’ve got 7 of 8 people either retired or on disability or self employed. They all love to bitch about how they do all the work. I hope to God one day I can be retired , on fake disability, or self employed where I have 1000s of hours of free time every year to hunt 8 days a week and “ work, cough cough “ on some freaking hunting land.

I've had a few smaller leases (200-1600 acres) of my own through the yrs .. I cant speak for the larger clubs (1600+ acres) but the lease holder usually contributes more Money, Work, free time & headache than any of the members.. Very Hard getting most people to give anything beyond their Club dues & there's always additional costs that aren't figured into the Club dues (Road Work, Planting , Stand Repairs, Tractor work etc) ..

No. As a matter of fact, I spend thousands more of my own money than the guys I let hunt on my lease.

This is true, and should be factored into dues.

I'll be the odd guy out here, but in my experience, the best practice is for the lease holder (president) to name the price of a membership & leave it at that. Members (& prospective members) decide if the cost is fair and either pay it or go elsewhere. If that price includes covering part or all of the leaseholder's share, it isn't of my concern. When you start breaking down costs for everyone to critique, you'll get varying opinions on what something should cost or where the club needs to spend their resources.

Let me get this straight, you think a retired person that holds the lease, does all of the tractor work, pays for corn and
fillls the feeders, pays for a good bit of the seed and fertilizer, etc. shouldn't be compensated in any way?

If I ever run a club I’m going to charge base dues for everyone. I want to have a contract where at the end of the season there is a true up based on days hunted and harvest.

There will be a points system for days signed in and a points system for # of deer harvested.

After the season , the guys that hunt every day of the season and kill more deer will be paying a true up amount for use of the land, so they are paying more of the lease. I think that’s the fairest way to do it , so a member that might have to work an 8~5 job isn’t paying the same amount and not able to use the lease.

No not what I meant at all. I'm saying we all do our part for making the club work. There has to be someone doing the paperwork(leaseholder). That does not make other peoples contributions any less important.

Running a club is the biggest headache you'll ever have. I do 90% of the tractor work on my lease and have provided 90% of the stands and feeders. Work well over the 4 workdays we require and spend no telling how much money out of my own pocket. I hunt way less than anyone in the club. Members aren't appreciative of anything but will constantly bitch and moan.

This year was the first time I was a "leaseholder" and I spent way more money than the membership cost. Most of it was my fault because I did not know what to expect or what I was doing, but I could see where leaseholders spend more money than the true "membership"

That just struck a nerve with me. Sounded like one of our members that told me he was tired of me complaining about not getting any help when I needed it. I enjoy doing it but do feel a little under appreciated at times. I'm the oldest of the group, glad I can still do it at 74 and he can kiss my ass

Which part? All I'm saying is everyone has to pitch in. If there not get them the frak out of the club. If one person is doing all of the work in a club, you have a shitty club.

They complain about our roads not being limbed. I spent 7 hours cleaning up roads one year and 3 months later 4 skidders and a logging crew came in and widened the roads 4 feet.

That was a real good use of my club work days. That’s the problem I’ve got with work days and who does the work. Some people that run clubs just want it done to feel good about everybody pitching in without thinking about some members job schedule and family schedules. I’m lucky to be able to hunt 12 days a year. The ones that complain about people not pitching in are usually the ones that hunt every non thunder storm day of the season, so if they’ve got that much free time to utilize the land, I got no sympathy for them bitching about doing work on it.

So I'm a jack ass for saying that everyone needs to help in a club? Good talking with you. over and out.

I am the pres this year. Hope to be leaseholder too. I spend way more personal money than I pay in dues, probably 4 to 1. I am the tractor guy and do all the field work, picking up seed and fertilizer etc. But I also hunt alot, and generally kill a fair amount of deer. So last year, I know if 9 deer kills, and 5 were mine, spread between me and my 2 sons. This year we have 4 of 6 so far, with my oldest son having killed 3. I killed a doe to submit for CWD since our lease manager was asking if we had turned in anymore. I have submitted 3 so far.

I think being the lease holder means you get the set the tone for the club, which is good, but it also means you have headaches too. I do what I do because I enjoy it. I really don't want to profit from it. And I want a better club that all the others I have been in.

I would prefer my club be one where you never struggle to get a new member, anyone you bring out sees its organized and well run, and there are plenty of deer to kill, and the fields look well maintained. I think at that point, you retain members for a long time. And you can pick and choose who you allow as a member. I spend way more time and $ than any other member, and that doesn't really bother me.

I run a 1500 acre club, I pay just as much as everyone else it is a headache at times and this year has made me hunt less! Only perk I have is I don’t allow turkey hunters to join so I can have it to myself in turkey season.

I’m a leaseholder/president and I get no reduced membership costs or anything like that. I do however put extra money in it on the regular because I choose to do so. Two guys who run it with me do the same thing. I’m lucky because my club is now full of mostly hand picked guys and we all chip in where needed.

I pay the same lease payment as the others in my lease. I also use my equipment and time to maintain the property. To be fair, everyone contributes above and beyond in our lease and we don’t even keep up with how much each person spends. We all contribute things and work days and it evens out.