Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Joining a Hunting Club

Prior to 2 seasons ago, I had unlimited hunting access to several hundred acres of land as well as a few trips a year onto a club lease with a member. Both of those situations have completely dissolved. Living on the Alabama Gulf Coast, public land opportunity is very limited. My wife and I have been discussing purchasing some property, but that hasn't panned out as quickly as I had hoped.

As a result of the above, I am looking at joining a club whose lease is right at one hour from my house. I have plans with the lease holder and club organizer to meet and tour the lease next weekend. I have already gotten a copy of the club rules and have discussed them with the lease owner. We've discussed acreage, food plots, clear cut schedule, quantity of members and he even gave some history of the club and let me know about several facility upgrades he is planning to make to the clubhouse in the next year or two.

This will be the first club I have ever joined. So my question(s)...is there anything I should be on the look out for or need to ask? Anything that some club veterans will consider "warning" signs to stay away or look elsewhere? General pointers or advice?

ive done the hunting club route.

was in one with 25 members with about 4000 acres leased.

I wont do that again.


No problems, just a hassle.

1. The same 8 folks did all the work.
2. The ones that dont show for work days are the first to bitch about whats wrong come season time.
3. "trophy" hunters will ruin it.

We had "public" foodplot stands. First come, first picked. You could hang you own stands in the woods though.

That didnt have a whole lot of rules. State rules for bucks. Season bag limit.
Oops cost you some $$.

A couple of Michael Waddel wanna be trophy hunters can spoil it for others.

You know the type, "that 8 pt woulda been a monster next year if you woulda let it walk"
Or they wont shoot does. And complain when others do.

I've been a member of the same club for over 40 years. We have 50 (+-) members on 1000 acres and I love the place. Most of our members live within 1/2 hour away but others are scattered around the country.
I agree with BigDave on his points. The same 10-12 guys do all the work and bitches gonna bitch. I think that's the deal with every club, everywhere. We don't have any hard core trophy hunters but we don't have a lot of really big deer either.
We have young local guys who never help and others who travel 2-3 hours to help out at our work bees. That's just the way it is. People join a hunting club for many different reasons.
Ours is incorporated so almost everybody owns 1 share. New members are on a 2 year trial period before they are eligible to become a shareholder. We have by-laws and rules & regulations.
Most of the clubs in our area aren't nearly as organized as ours. We stress safety to the max. The one hard rule we have is that if you have a drink of alcohol you're done hunting/shooting for the day. Any violation of this rule terminates your membership. I like that rule.
It sounds like you have done your homework on your potential lease but there will still probably be a few surprises. Maybe you could attend a meeting or work bee or two to get a feel for the membership if you don't already know the other members. Maybe find out how family friendly the place is if you want to use it other than for hunting.
Good luck, I hope you find a place you can enjoy.

Been on a few, on a new one by Weirgate Texas. I like the people so far. I was on a good one in Polk county for about 20 years. It was good, timber cutter wanted it, so they kicked us off.

I have been in three different ones over the years. I suggest that you beware of the likelihood that some senior members may have pet areas or stands that they'd prefer you not hunt. Ditto on what BigDave said about the trophy hunters.

What is the cost involved in a club such as this. What are the time expectations to help with the club?

Weirdgate is fun!

It's really like a first date, you'll either like it and want to go on more dates, or you can't wait for it to be over. You just can't know till you go though.

Good luck

If I had the opportunity to do this, I'd seriously consider going this route.

Never again. been part owner in 4200 ac and member of clubs from 4k-17k acres. I trophy hunt and cannot control other people's scent and intrusion on shared acreage.

I now have about 14k acres between numerous tracts that I hunt for free... by far the best hunting I have had in my 60 years. all you have to do is ask politely. Some of my BEST spots are 10-30 acres.

My hunting club experience has been similar to what others have posted.

** Senior members who have their pet places to hunt and slough the poorer places off on the newest members.

** If there are multiple family members in the club, they can form a block that will treat the club like it is their private land and do as they like if the club leadership is too weak to rein them in before they get out of control.

** Be sure that there are rules on guests and that the club is willing to enforce the rules. A lot of people support the rules until they or their guests have broken a rule, then the situation is "different/special". If all situations are "different/special", then the rules are meaningless.

You have 40 million acres of national forest in your back yard.

I've belonged to a couple over the years in MS and AL..one was 7 of us on 3000 acres and it was a bit pricey, but by far the best experience.. The other was about 125 of us on 12000 acres.. Better than public, but a bit of a challenge.. Sure couldn't pattern a deer and stay on one, and you'd best keep your mouth shut if you see a good one from a stand.. Trust me on that..Killed decent deer on both and had a darn good time on both.. Just don't be the trophy douche.. Follow the rules and be a helper, not a whiner.

Seems like joining a frat to me. Maybe it's a regional thing like deer camps. But even many deer camps are just places to BS and sleep. Much of the hunting takes place on public land.

So you all only have 20 acres to hunt on?

Don't judge the club after being in it for 1 year. It often takes 2-3 years to get a feel for things. Keep a low profile, get to know members, make friends. Usually there are rules and then there are unwritten rules. You will know if it's for you by the end of the 2nd or 3rd season there.

I like clubs that does not have many members. It does not matter if everyone does not show up to hunt. Assume everyone will and then judge how crowded it is.

Never been to a northern deer camp. But from the pics y’all post and stories y’all tell, it can be a lot like it.

For me it was more about the fellowship. Last camp i was in was 8 of us friends that Grew up together. Life and jobs scattered us out, but for a few weekends at deer camp.

Too cold? Too wet? No big deal. Let’s watch college football.

I was happy just to shoot deer. I foodplot hunted. Others hunted in the woods for big bucks.

Cook, Drink, play cards, COOK. catch up. They started bringing their kids. Which made it even better. Seeing kids get their first deer.

For the work days, couple weekend. One big weekend to plant. The one or too that couldn’t make it for whatever reason payed more for seed / fertilizer / fuel.

I've seen that first scenario on leases where members are assigned a section to hunt. Some years back I looked at a few places with that set-up and it was clear they were pushing off the crap areas onto new members, not surprising the same places are always advertising openings.

On the second one, I was fortunate to hunt a really great place for years as a guest (family member was president and founder of the club). Just like you said, everybody got along great and you couldn't ask to share a lease with a better group of guys, except one guy was childhood buddies with the president and was allowed to frequently bend the rules. Without getting reigned in he eventually became a regular nuisance and a couple times pissed off the landowners to the point they almost lost their lease over his antics.

No, only about 15 guys hunt. Anybody can go anywhere they want but some guys have stands up. That's pretty much just the first few days of the season though. By the second week you might have the whole place to yourself. There's only one other club in our area that's as big as ours so it's not at all like hunting out West. It's pretty much thick hardwoods, and steep side hills with ledges. We don't have any real wide open spaces. (Western Catskills)

Ok, Boomer


Happy trails


Bob