Question for those in hunting clubs

[Selfyewdave]

For those of you in clubs....
how many acres do you feel there should be per member?
anyone in 20+ member clubs? if so, do personalities clash frequently or do you find some crowding your area you like to hunt?  Do you still bow hunt when gun season starts?
I am thinking of joining a club of 1800 acres with 22 members.  Just wanting some opinions from other's experiences.
Thanks in advance.

[MikeC]

Well I've been in a deer hunting club for over a decade but not joining this year, getting tired of deer hunting, prefer to hunt squirrels and birds with my flintlocks.  Anyway back to your question.

The club has about 40 members but scattered over nearly eight pieces ranging from 30 acres to 140 acres.  The 30 acre piece has two guys but it's mainly fields so you can only hunt the edges.  My piece that I was on for the past four years was 60 acres with six guys but it was very thick and no fields so the entire 60 was huntable.  The 140 had I believe had eight or nine guys and was a mixture of fields and hardwoods.  Not everyone hunts at the same time and everyone respected each others areas and we also had an agreement that we could hunt each others stands by asking ahead of time, plus the club had rules regarding getting to a stand late in the morning and afternoon, also when you can leave a stand to walk, unless of course you shot a deer and it's warm out.

22 guys on 1800 acres is not allot of guys and I can't imagine it's all fields.  

My club had a very dedicated president and vice president and the guys respected the properties and rules as well as the other guys on their piece.  If the club is run half-assed then don't expect much but if it's run right with good members regardless of weapon of choice then it could be a good thing.  I learned it's not the weapon that makes a good outdoorsman or hunter, it's the man and I was the only bow hunter with trad gear or hunted the gun seasons with flintlocks for deer.  It was a hard decision not join again but I know when it's time to move on with regards to what I prefer to hunt and spend my time afield doing.  I still plan to hunt deer a few times and will hit some state lands that I know pretty well to well.

If it's a well run club you should be able to ask for reference of guys you don't know to ask about the club and even attend a meeting if one is coming up and there is time to make your decision.  Safety is important and it was the number thing discussed at our meetings and over the years I saw guys get kicked out for littering and unsafe pratices without a warning.

Good luck.

[katman]

Our lease is about 8,000 acres, mostly pine forest, and we limit the number of stands that can be put up to 125, but not all the property is accessible due to swamps. We have about 25 members and find we need a good set of rules and an active board to keep it running smoothly. Most everyone gets along fine but the more people you have the more issues you have. Each stand area has a 200 yard radius that is yours alone that no one else can enter without your permission unless you are trailing a deer you shot. A voting member has at least four stands. A small portion is set aside for those who wish to gun hunt, mostly the older members and youngsters but the majority bow hunt all season.

[pseman]

We have 2200 acres bowhunting only with 15-17 members(varies year to year). At least 12 have been in the club for a number of years and we only allow in new members that someone in the club knows well, and that person must hunt as a guest at least a time or two before they can get in as a member.

I personally would not like to be in a club with less than 100 acres per member unless alot of the members only hunt a few times a year. Also, in my opinion, if you get more than 15-20 members, it is hard to know everyone well enough to keep tabs on who is supposed to be there and who is a guest, etc.

[Kip]

What you may find out is that you coming in you will not have acess to 1800 acres b/c the older members will have their territory staked out like katman mentioned above so you are paying the same for less acres.Every club I have been in has problems except one  a benevolent dictator that didn't hunt with a good set of rules was the best ever, nobody could argue and everyone equal.Kip

[Eric Krewson]

I have been in a club with 50 members and 4000 acres. 20% of the members were downright criminal when they got in the woods. spotlighting and killing deer on plots at night. 60% were OK most of the time but would break the rules occasionally. 20% were honest, honorable hunters. I ran this one for 15 years, lots of member turnover. Frustrated by the way people behaved I walked away and never looked back.

I was in a 600 acre club with 3 members, best hunting place I ever put a foot on. The guy running the place thought every deer in the woods had a name tag with his name on it and anywhere you hunted was"his place". He was a good friend so I walked away from this one as well to avoid a confrontation and loose a friend.

My next club was 600 acres and 12 old guys who were great. They were all shooting house hunters so I had the rest of the place to myself. Hunting wasn't the best but every one worked hard for the club and respected the other members. The land sold last year and this club was history. Hated to see this one fold.

The above is the reality of clubs. Ask someone in your prospective club point blank how the members conduct themselves, then make your decision.

[Dave Lay]

I am in one that is about 7000 acres, has mostly gun hunters, in fact there are only about 10 bowhunters in the lease. Normally there are around 40 members or so,we never see several of them. most (90%)of the gun hunters hunt out of shooting house type set ups which leaves large areas to bowhunt. I bowhunt during the gun season, just as though they were not there. The older members who have been there longest do have areas staked out, but the club has a 2 stand per member rule and a 300 yard between stands rules. This doesnt really affect the bow hunters at all. Over all the group gets along fine, but there will always be issues. You need a strong president or whatever with a written set of rules. It keeps problems to a minimum.

[alligatordond]

Good grief!

From the number of people you guys are hunting with I wonder what the benefit of being in the club is.

We hunt 10,000 acres with 15 members. We are very selective as to who gets in. The main criteria is compatability with the rest of the group. Hard core, competitive types need not try.Egos are checked at the gate and the millionaire may eat next to the concrete worker as we choose to eat our meals as a "family".

Yes, it is expensive and I am far from wealthy, but I budget for the payment. The solitude and knowing you will likely not run into anyone else is worth the expense. We have few rules because we don't need them. Issues(where are you going tommorrow?) are discussed at supper and if necessary, conflicts are settled.

Many clubs increase membership numbers to keep costs down and often find that the quality of the experience goes down as well.
As a general rule a club should have as few members as they can reasonably afford and select the members carefully.

BUT if 22 on 1800 acres is an improvement for you and the people are good people then go for it. Every situation is different. Good luck!!

[stickbowman]

I've been in clubs for about 12 years and all my friends and family are in clubs also. I'm also the president of one of the two clubs I'm in now.The standard around here seems to be 1 member for every 100 acres of huntable land. As far as members I prefer small clubs with fewer members. I was in a club a few years back with 40-50 members and it was always drama.

[Selfyewdave]

Wow, Don.  Wish we had something like that here.  I am in south louisiana and everybody and their twice removed coonass cousin hunts.  So to find a lot of land with few people is hard to do.  I had the opportunity to enter a club that was 3000 acres with 12 members, great management program, big deer, great duck hunting, turkey, etc....but it was over 2 hours away and no camp.  Sometimes we have to trade-off certain aspects for others.  But I have decided to try it for a year, and if I don't like it, well then I will step out.  Never know til ya try, i guess.
D

[BRITTMAN]

I always had a hard time in clubs because most members were more concerned about the deer I was seeing than the deer they COULD have been seeing . I like a more private type of hunt instead of the old 200 yards apart rule . Any way , at least for me anytime I found a good area ( which was normaly what no one else wanted or had over looked ) I had hunters all around , at least I had someone to talk to when I got in the stand  LOL .


Mike

[upatree]

Hunted in a club for most of my life.  member varied from year to year but last year we had 22 members on 3400 acres.  Almost ever hunter is a gun hunter.  Maybe 4-5 other guys will attempt to bow hunt by going sit over the same spot every time.  
We have very little rules and it is more of a lease than a club.  You scout and find a couple of spots and hang a stand.  Those spots are "your" spots.  Most people are nice and let people hunt there stands.  It's pretty cheap but you have to build or bring your camp or get someone to let you sleep in there camp.
I have hunted with other guys that have the greediest hunters I have ever seen and others that have to have 300-500 acres between the next hunter.  I am the only diehard bow hunter on my lease and that works out great for me.

[grizzlyxx]

I have hunted in leases most of my life.  The smallest was 7 members bowhunting only on 1600ac, it was great until new management took over and jumped membership up to 24 hunters.  I decided to start hunting public land about 6 years ago and never regretted it.  I find that often most public land is hunted less than most leases.  A lot of the trophy deer killed in our state comes off public land.  Big plus is hunt where you want and no one screaming that your cutting them off.