Hunting club worth the $$?

[ajvigs]

I have been doing some talking to another officer at work, and he was talking to me about hunting around here in North Central Florida. He is a member of a hunting club a little further north, and from what he is telling me they have an unlimited number of hogs to down, and some pretty nice deer and turkeys to hunt when they are in season. Sounds very appealing...

Then I asked him how much the club costs to be apart of; $1500 a year :roll: :shock: That seems like a lot of money to me. Especially when the Osceola National Forest is open to hunting and stretches all the way into Georgia.

My question for everyone is do you think buying into the club and paying the $1500 a year worthwhile? Should I have him take me out there as a guest to hunt the property before I make a decision?

Thanks,

A.J.

 

[dubyam]

You definitely want to visit the property and at least scout it before cutting a check. If they have a bunkhouse (old trailer, old cabin, closed in part of the barn, or whatever) and other facilities (bathroom, pole barn, camping area, cleaning shed, etc.) you'll want to be familiar with what the place offers as well as the general state of repair of the place. I'd also ask several questions, to which you may already know some of the answers:

1. How many acres?
2. Aerial photo, plat, topo map views (easily done online, except for the property boundaries, which may be important or may not, depending on what's near the edges of the property)
3. Number of hunters
4. Rules and member agreement (read them twice, or maybe three times - and if there are no written rules or written member agreement, run like heck, as $1500 a year is a lot of money to spend for someone to vaporize a week before the season and you have nothing more than a cancelled check to show for it...)

Beyond that, I'd do some checking with the local sheriff in the area of the club to see if there have been any complaints, and with Game & Fish to see if there have been any violations. Tell them you're looking at possibly joining and you don't want to join trouble. Complaints and violations are public record so the can share them.

I'd ask a lot of questions about use, policy, and so forth.

Ultimately, only you can decide if $1500 is too much money or not. Sure, Osceola is right there. But, it will be overrun with other hunters, with whom you will have no rules/agreements, and game will be more scarce, and of lower overall quality where bucks are concerned. I say that having spent most of my youth hunting the Apalachicola National Forest out of Wakulla County, and having hunted a decade and a half on public land in Alabama (Tuskegee National Forest and Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge), with all the successes and frustrations which come from hunting public land.

Just me, personally, I see $1500 as a lot of money. But maybe, based on property taxes and such, that's the going rate down there. I pay less than half that up here in northern Alabama, but I am in a small lease with seven other guys and we have 360ac between us, and no facilities of any kind. I turned down an opportunity to hunt 2500ac about an hour and a half from here a few years ago, because it was too far to drive and had zero facilities, and the dues were $750 a year. It is up to you, ultimately, but I'd do some comparison shopping as best I could, and for sure know the folks with whom I was casting my lot. But I wouldn't spend $50 to dove hunt without knowing the folks around me...

 

[Darkhorse]

I have paid that for a couple of leases. One was really worth it as I took a whitetail scoring 165 7/8's off this property, it was good for at least one decent buck a year most years 2. I cried and stomped my feet when we lost that property.
The second lease was not worth it at all. Total waste of money and years of my life.
Definitly try to go as a guest. Ask to see an album of kills. You can better judge for yourself with photos. No photo album? No join.
Don't buy in from glowing descriptions you gotta do your homework.
Dubyam gave some good advice. I originally come from central Fla. and have spent a lot time at the scrub in Ocala and the Citrus WMA, plus others. Plenty of company on these public spots.
Also I know of no place in Fla. I'd pay 1500 to hunt. Not with Alabama and Georgia so close.

 

[Guy Miner]

One was really worth it as I took a whitetail scoring 165 7/8's off this property, it was good for at least one decent buck a year most years 2. I cried and stomped my feet when we lost that property.

A buck of that size is very impressive. Possible on public land? Sure. Probable? Hmmm.

AJ: I'm paying considerably more than $1500 to hunt mule deer and pronghorn on a large ranch in Wyoming. The nice thing is that the game is not pressured, and there's no army of orange clad hunters afield, only a few of us on a large tract of land. That's what you're paying for - a better chance at quality hunting.

I'd seriously consider joining that hunt club. If nothing else, to escape the masses.

Regards, Guy

 

[SJB358]

I'm with Guy. The club is good money if it's reputable. Do your homework and check it out if you can. A good club is a lot of fun and offers a lot during the off season if it has some decent land to hunt, fish and shoot on. I hunt my club plus I can shoot there anytime I want. Pretty handy stuff.

 

[Darkhorse]

Here's a couple of photos of my best Georgia bucks. Both on leased land.
The first grossed 165 7/8, netted 161 1/8 and weighed 165 field dressed.
The second netted 147 5/8 and was just massive for a Geogia buck. This was a long time ago and all we had were 250 lb cotton scales. Just as his shoulders cleared the ground the scales bottomed out.
Bucks like these, when it's just you and the buck and no guides to lead you around, are few and far between. Location has everything to do with it. In Iowa or Kansas or Illinois these aren't worth a second glance.

 

[longrangehunter]

Nice looking Bucks Ron...... for what its worth I spent a lot more to live on my own private land. I call it my own private Idaho! Yesterday morning I had 11 cow Elk and 5 Whitetail deer in my front yard at dawn with a Turkey calling in the back ground up on the mountain above my back yard.

 

[DrMike]

I spent a lot more to live on my own private land. I call it my own private Idaho! Yesterday morning I had 11 cow Elk and 5 Whitetail deer in my front yard at dawn with a Turkey calling in the back ground up on the mountain above my back yard.

That is hard to take, isn't it? :grin:

 

[longrangehunter]

I spent a lot more to live on my own private land. I call it my own private Idaho! Yesterday morning I had 11 cow Elk and 5 Whitetail deer in my front yard at dawn with a Turkey calling in the back ground up on the mountain above my back yard.

That is hard to take, isn't it? :grin:

It's been a lot of work to get this place in the condition it is now compared to when I first bought it years ago...... there wasn't even a track or scat found anywhere around or on my land back then.

Although shooting my gene pool didn't help either, I've yet to see anything this big.

 

[DrMike]

I have no doubt it has required work; but it will pay rich dividends.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I belonged to a private club when living in Santa Rosa, California. It cost $1500 per years for dues but provided combinations, reservations and sign in for 125 ranches, all over 1500 acres. Given the zoo that public lands can be in California and dealing with the people on pubic land who can be difficult. The dues seemed same costs when I could hunt all year for many birds, deer, pigs, water foal and anything else that was legal (coyotes at al). I would check your sitution very carefully before committing the money. Get a reference list and call them about their experiences on this ranch?

 

[bmgillum]

Good advice above...one other thing you might consider checking is seniority...one club I considered joining had a rule that the most senior members had first choice on where they hunted...I politely declined...

Cheers/bg

 

[HTDUCK]

Dues on our club in Mo are more than that.
Even after buying all the non resident licenses it's still cheaper than hunting in Tx.
( Leases here are stupidly expensive, to the tune of $25.00 per acre on average. )

Very little public land to hunt here.
What is available gets very crowded and shot out in short order.

 

[DrMike]

I'm glad I'm living where I do. I know leases will come eventually, but for the moment I am able to hunt without undue concern about availability. I've really enjoyed seeing the answers; they've opened my eyes to the situation in many of the states. I was more negative than positive when I began reading this thread. I can see, however, that there can be some genuine advantage to such opportunities. I appreciate all the input and experience posted here.

 

[Darkhorse]

Dr. Mike, you guys living in the west and north are really lucky. Back when I was 17 I moved out and went to Georgia for one thing. The deer hunting. I had thousands of acres of private farm land to hunt all owned by family members. All you had to do was go the Timber Co. office and get a permit to hunt all their property.
Uncles die. Cousins want the cash and sell off the land. Then it's gone forever.
Some inheritors don't want anybody hunting the land or want friends to hunt it. Either case the access is gone.
Deer hunting is big buisness now in Georgia. All the timber lands are leased out. Lease prices have skyrocketed. Groups from other states come in and offer exorbinant amounts for land that is already a Hunt Club. The owner grabs the money and that land is lost. Other landowners hear about this and raise their prices. It's a vicious cycle that won't be broken because of the revenue it brings to the state.
At the time I have a little private land to hunt, plus my own and that's not much but at least it's free.
If I could find the right lease........?

 

[DrMike]

As I say, I'm getting an education through the experience of those posting here. I realise in a fresh way how very blessed I am.

 

[longrangehunter]

Dr. Mike, you guys living in the west and north are really lucky. Back when I was 17 I moved out and went to Georgia for one thing. The deer hunting. I had thousands of acres of private farm land to hunt all owned by family members. All you had to do was go the Timber Co. office and get a permit to hunt all their property.
Uncles die. Cousins want the cash and sell off the land. Then it's gone forever.
Some inheritors don't want anybody hunting the land or want friends to hunt it. Either case the access is gone.
Deer hunting is big buisness now in Georgia. All the timber lands are leased out. Lease prices have skyrocketed. Groups from other states come in and offer exorbinant amounts for land that is already a Hunt Club. The owner grabs the money and that land is lost. Other landowners hear about this and raise their prices. It's a vicious cycle that won't be broken because of the revenue it brings to the state.
At the time I have a little private land to hunt, plus my own and that's not much but at least it's free.
If I could find the right lease........?

That's basically what happened to me as well growing up back in Michigan. I finally had enough and moved out West to Montana, as well as Colorado, only to move back to Montana again. Prices got so high in Montana I later moved to Idaho. We don't have the high numbers of Deer like back in Montana but at least I don't have to worry about my property burning up in a forest fire as much. Which is the other reason I left Montana, although the hunting was much better.

 

[HTDUCK]

Dr. Mike, you guys living in the west and north are really lucky. Back when I was 17 I moved out and went to Georgia for one thing. The deer hunting. I had thousands of acres of private farm land to hunt all owned by family members. All you had to do was go the Timber Co. office and get a permit to hunt all their property.
Uncles die. Cousins want the cash and sell off the land. Then it's gone forever.
Some inheritors don't want anybody hunting the land or want friends to hunt it. Either case the access is gone.
Deer hunting is big buisness now in Georgia. All the timber lands are leased out. Lease prices have skyrocketed. Groups from other states come in and offer exorbinant amounts for land that is already a Hunt Club. The owner grabs the money and that land is lost. Other landowners hear about this and raise their prices. It's a vicious cycle that won't be broken because of the revenue it brings to the state.
At the time I have a little private land to hunt, plus my own and that's not much but at least it's free.
If I could find the right lease........?

And then the other problem we've encountered here at home is greedy landowners.
For example , we built fenced pens on one place and put up protein feeders on separate ends of the property. Made a 5 hour roundtrip drive once a month to ensure the feeders stayed filled.
Paid for all the materials and feed out of pocket.
My dad shoots a 145 inch deer off the place the next fall.
(Previous deer were 120 inches or so.)
Of course the landowner knew about it, saw the deer that evening when we had him in camp for dinner.

Next fall rolls around when the $ is due he wants an extra $5K. For what you ask ?

"Y'alls killing big deer, it's a trophy lease now, that costs more money "

Make sure you get a written contract with the price in it.

 

[DrMike]

Man, that would suck big time, Howard. I can see how that would sour a person.

 

[Darkhorse]

It's not just a southern problem either. I went on an elk hunt in NW Colorado some years back. The outfitter and his family had a prime 27,000 acre lease. They had had it for 15 or 20 years, had built water catch basins, installed water tanks and troughs and basically improved the land every year. They even had a 5,000 acre "Sanctuary" that was not hunted period. The elk knew it and during the migration they had to walk through the ranch to get to the "Sanctuary". A really good setup and I was planning a return visit.
They told me they might not be able to get the lease next year due to rising cost.
And they didn't. That was a shame.