In this modern day era, walking up to a landowner’s door and politely asking for and getting permission to hunt is becoming a rarity. With more and more urban sprawl, and land values at an all time high, land has become too expensive a luxury for the average blue-collar hunter to purchase for their recreational activities of hunting sports. Farmers are implementing programs to lease out large tracts of land to hunting clubs. They are literally “Farming wildlife”. These farmers have learned that they can supplement their crop income with money generated from hunting. Due to the difficulty in easily accessing hunting permission on private ground for free, public hunting areas are over crowded. Because of all of these factors, many outdoor oriented men and women have learned an alternative; that being the pooling of their money and resources with other hunters to form a hunting club.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Though this sub-topic sounds more like a Clint Eastwood film than an article in a major outdoor publication, it aptly describes what hunters may encounter when forming a hunting club. Let me explain. I have learned many things from the experiences of being lease foreman over a dozen hunting clubs in the past twenty years. These tracts of land encompassed over 18,000 acres in all. I have made mistakes and learned from them, and have helped many clubs get started through my experience.

The benefits of a hunting club include pooling your money, experience and labor in a group effort for the enjoyment of all. Sounds easy, right? It can be if you don’t make common mistakes that many fledgling clubs make. I have seen friends and brothers literally fighting mad over a hunting club. I have seen landowners tell members to “Never set foot on my land again”. And I have seen clubs literally kill out all desirable game on a leased property through poor management and over-harvesting. Today I will share with you the keys to forming and maintaining a successful hunting club, a “Blueprint for Success” – if you will.

It takes quality people to have a quality club

The first step I recommend in forming a hunting club is to partner with someone who you are good friends with, and who is a safe and ethical hunter. Share your goals and visions of where and what type of area you would both like to hunt, how much you are each willing to spend, how many acres you would like to lease, and how many members you need to meet expenditures without dipping in to the family grocery money.

Your next step is to fill the quota of membership you decided on with good, quality people. They must be safe, ethical, good-natured and have similar philosophies about game management, harvest size and quotas as the two of you. A very important factor is the fact that they must be financially able to pay their part. Get a verbal agreement of membership from all recruited members before looking for an area to lease.

Land Ho!

When you are both in agreement on all of the subjects in the paragraph above, begin looking for land. Do not wait until a month before hunting season. If you do, most of the quality land will be taken, and if it is not, it will have a premium price tag. A good place to start is with friends, family members, church and business acquaintances, and in newspapers and magazine want ads. Once you locate some land to look at, ask some locals about it. An excellent source of wildlife sightings is rural mail carriers. When you are confident that the land meets the needs of the game you wish to pursue, contact the landowner by phone, or better yet, in person. Ask them if they could find time in their busy schedule to meet with you and your partner to discuss the possibility of leasing their land for a hunting club.

Prior to your meeting, put together a formal presentation including what type of game you wish to hunt, a proper management plan, how many people will be in your club, and any type of food plots you will plant to enhance the wildlife on his land. The most important part of this presentation is the set of club rules.

Club Rules – The building blocks of success

A wise man once said, “Society without rules wreaks utter chaos”. The same can be said about hunting clubs. Rules that are printed out and signed by each club members and the landowner protect all parties involved. When the laws are laid down at the beginning and all parties agree to them, it will prevent feelings from getting hurt and tempers from flaring in the future. The following is a list of generic rules I recommend for any hunting club.

Ten Commandments of Hunting Clubs:

• The cost of the lease, equal cost shared by each member, and when the money is due.
  
• A listing of all members names, phone numbers, email, type of vehicle they drive, license plate number, and type and color of ATV. {The vehicle and ATV information is to be able to discern member’s vehicles from trespassers.}
  
• Each member, without exception, must follow all game and fish rules, quotas and seasons set by the state agency.
  
• All members will treat the landowner, his property, and equipment with the utmost respect.
  
• Club harvest and quota limits. {On my leases we are only allowed to take one buck per season, and it must have a minimum 16-inch antler spread. Each hunter can take two mature gobblers, and no jakes etc. There is a $500.00 penalty for a deer harvested under the antler requirement, and a $100.00 fine if a button buck is taken. We encourage the harvest of does to enhance our buck to doe ratio. These restrictions are not enforced when dealing with juvenile or physically challenged hunters. The reason for these rules is to establish and maintain a quality game management plan.}
  
• A guest policy must be set. When this policy is not put in writing it causes a lot of problems. {We allow a guest on any day but opening day of any type of deer season. No guests are allowed during turkey season.} It also needs to state that each member is completely responsible for the conduct of their guest.
  
• All expenses and work voted on by club must be shared equally.
  
• Designate parking areas with prior approval of landowner.
  
• No rutting of roads, riding ATV through planted fields, or driving nails into in to trees.
  
• Address any and all safety issues that you think may come up and stress safety as Priority #1.

When you meet with the landowner be respectful and honest. They have probably had domestic animals or equipment shot, been trespassed on, or had crops or roads rutted. It is a good idea to have written character references, complete with contact names and phone numbers. It is a big plus if you have a letter of reference from a landowner you have hunted on previously. If the landowner seems agreeable to the proposition of leasing his land, it is time for you to make like Monty Hall on “Let’s Make a Deal”.

If you plan on implementing a game management plan, plant food plots, and grow trophy animals you need to try to secure a five year lease at the minimum. This serves two purposes. It lets the landowner see the sincerity of your club and gives them the knowledge of a set income coming in for the agreed upon time period. For your club it gives incentive to put work and money in to the lease towards years of enjoyment. Although it doesn’t happen often, I have seen hunting clubs do a lot of work at no minimal expense, only to get booted out after one year when another group comes up with an offer of a little more money and reaps the fruits of their labors. The respect you give the landowner, the conduct of your members, and the trust he builds in your group as a club are also key factors in him giving you first right of refusal at the end of the lease contract.

If the lease is agreed upon, and the deal is sealed by a handshake, get it typed out and signed by each lease member and the landowner. Spell out each detail, and get it notarized along with a copy of the club rules signed by each member. All members should then get a signed permission slip from landowner and a club sticker or placard for their vehicle. Even before you start scouting the land, have the landowner show you the boundaries, and clearly mark them with “No Trespassing signs”.

Now I will share with you some common characters found in every hunting camp across the country. See if you can recognize someone you have shared a campfire with.
Hunting Club: Chicken Soup for the Soul
The campfire spits a spark, high in to the chilled air, from the flaming oak logs that are ablaze with fire. As the aromatic tendrils of smoke curl upward in to the starlit sky, a peaceful solitude falls over the hunting camp. The group of hunters, with two-day old growths of whiskers on their faces, stare in to the multicolor flames as if held in a hypnotic trance. There is no need for verbal communication here. These men have hunted together for years and are comfortable in the serene calmness of the evening. Now and then, one of the hunters will glance up at the meat pole, imagining five trophy bucks, hanging in the frosty air, their eyes twinkling in the firelight.

There is always one storyteller in the group, and he clears his throat to speak. His tale usually begins with, "I remember when …”

This scene is played out yearly, in one fashion or another, at hunting camps all across the United States. Whether you are sitting outside your circled tents around a campfire, or nestled in comfortable recliners inside a cedar lodge, a hunting camp is a magical place. Conversations include the latest hunting equipment, the weather, or who drew cooking and clean-up duty that night. Good-natured bragging about woodsmanship and hunting skills abound. Friendly ribbing will generally follow, targeting someone who missed an easy shot, fell in the swamp, or got lost in the woods. A yearly debate, which will never be solved will ensue, on which is the best caliber rifle for deer. It is a place where boys learn to be men, and men aren't afraid to behave like boys.

Essentially, all hunting camps are made up of similar characters. Let's take a look around an average camp and see whom we find. Furthest from the fire is the "Gadget Freak". He is staying away from the smoke to keep his new scent free suit from being contaminated. He has read every book and magazine available to man on the subject of deer hunting. He has a suitcase full of deer urine, scent blockers, and cover scents. If an article of clothing can be made in camo, he owns it. He may never harvest a deer, but he looks good. Next to him is the “Rookie”. The rookie is clothed in hand-me-down camo. He has borrowed a gun and ammo for this trip and hasn't even bothered to sight it in. He doesn't own a deer stand, and often gets lost trying to find the bathroom in the dark in his own house, let alone a deer stand in the dark woods. He will be put in the closest deer stand, so as not to spook deer off of others, and for some reason, he is usually the one to bag the big buck on opening day. Sitting across from the rookie is the "Grizzled Veteran". He doesn't say much, but when he talks the others have learned from experience to listen. He has learned woodsmanship and hunting skills the proper way, through experience. To the left of the grizzled veteran sits the "Den Mother". This member of camp is the organizer. He plans menus, decides who should hunt where and makes sure the important supplies are always on hand, such as aspirin, antacids, and toilet paper. Crouched down on his aching knees, and usually found spitting chewing tobacco into the fire sits "The Complainer". He is happiest when griping about the weather, the moon phases, his job, or life in general. Immediately to his right, and serving to counter-balance the griper, is the "Court Jester". This individual doesn't necessarily care if he takes a deer or not, he is there purely for entertaining the troops. He is funny enough to have his own sitcom, and uses gestures and voice impersonations to perfection. All hunting camps I have been privileged to be a part of have had some sort of combination of all of these character traits. And somehow, as if Mother Nature stirred the contents of this melting pot with her magic wand, the end result is a happy and cohesive group of hunters.

Stress disappears as soon as the hunters pull in to camp. Expectancy levels are high, and each member looks forward to the bond of fellowship and camaraderie they share together. The aromas from the cook's fire are a wonder in itself. Homemade deer chili simmering in a cauldron above an open fire makes the crew salivate like a pack of hungry wolves. And even though the spicy chili burns their gut with promises of an early morning trip to the frozen toilet seat of the outhouse, they greedily fill their bowls with helping after helping.

After supper, as the gang clasps steaming cups of strong coffee in their gloved hands, more to keep their hands warm than for the caffeine high, stories of past hunts begin to flow from their mouths.

There always seems to be talk of a legendary and phantom-like buck in the area. It is usually a monster 12 or 14 pointer, weighing in at well over 250 lbs. The buck usually has a nickname like "The Gray Ghost", "Bullwinkle", or "The Hat Rack". This giant deer may or may not exist, but it builds up the anticipation and excitement level of the hunters until they reach a fevered pitch similar to ancient African war tribes just prior to battle.

Humorous tales soon follow, usually attempts to embarrass a present hunter, causing these grown men to laugh insanely like school children until they finally have to walk away to catch their breath and wipe the tears from their eyes. It doesn't matter how many times the stories are told; they always draw a fascinated and amused crowd. And who cares that if with each telling, some more details are added to make the story more amusing. Maybe a time of reminiscence will follow, where a hunting companion who has passed on to a better place, is remembered and paid tribute to.

Eventually the talk will turn to who will hunt where in the morning. These spots will change dozens of times as indecisions and hunches are the general rule of thumb. Finally the hunters will begin to head to their sleeping quarters for a night of tossing and turning, fitfully dreaming of a huge buck. All the hunters will retire except one that is. The most senior of the group, the grizzled veteran of many a deer camp, remains alone at the smoldering fire. He pokes a stick through the embers as if in search of something. As we stand in the shadows of a nearby oak tree, we can hear him sigh, and see him hoist himself up on creaky arthritic knees. He has a smile on his face. He looks up in to the heavens, and raising a gnarled hand to the sky mutters softly, "Thank you Lord for this little piece of Heaven on earth". Pouring the remaining coffee on the fire to extinguish it, he ambles towards the sleeping shanty. He rests easy knowing he is the only one who will sleep like a baby tonight.

Summary:

One of the most overlooked advantages of a hunting club is the camaraderie formed while scouting, planting food plots and hunting. All of my best friends have become so through my association with them as fellow members of hunting leases I am on. Planning, putting up deer stands, brushing duck blinds, and sitting around the camp fire all help form a bond filled with memories that will last a lifetime. I have been in clubs where four generations of hunters sat around the lodge swapping stories and laughing. To put it simply, a hunting club’s quality will be decided upon by who the members are and what they put in to it. An unwritten code of ethics should also be discussed. This includes never leaving the property until all hunters are at the designated parking space and accounted for, and never acting disrespectful to another member.

Last year, on the evening before the opening of the Juvenile deer hunt, I looked around the campfire. I saw smiles and looks of contentment on all of the adults, and excitement and awe in the eyes of the kids. I remember saying a silent prayer of thanks to the Father of all things wild, and whispering to myself, “It just doesn’t get any better than this.”

I hope that your hunting club venture will be a success. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss hunting clubs in more detail, you can email me at twoww@ocol.net