Tips for starting your own deer-hunting club

A club forms a focal point for deer hunters with common interests, but starting a new club is not a task to be taken lightly.
A club forms a focal point for deer hunters with common interests, but starting a new club is not a task to be taken lightly.

Most Arkansas sportsmen older than 50 remember when it was easy to find a prime deer-hunting area away from the crowds. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case in many locales. Today, we have more public hunting lands than ever, but there are also record numbers of hunters crowding these lands, making it difficult to find a “get-away-from-it-all” hunting location. For this reason, many hunters are organizing groups of similar-minded hunters to form clubs.

Being a club member has many benefits. For example, by controlling hunting rights, members know their traditional camp will be available every season, and they can control unwanted hunters legally and effectively.

A hunting club also gives the sportsman a focal point. He need not scout a large tract, only a small area. That makes clubs attractive to working men or women who have busy lives. They may have only two or three days, a week at best, to hunt and want to spend more time hunting and less time scouting.

As a club member, a hunter knows before arriving at camp where deer are likely to be feeding, trails they use, bedding areas and so forth. The hunter has the upper hand from the start.

To create your own deer club, start by talking with potential members. Make sure everyone has similar ideas about management of the property and deer herd; then create a set of written rules. Each member should sign and receive a copy, and rules should be posted at the clubhouse if there is one. Everything should be firmed up so there’s no arguing or second-guessing about how the organization runs.

Things to consider include whether you can bring guests to hunt, how many and what they can harvest. Decide whether there will be a penalty if bucks not meeting requirements are accidentally shot, and what the penalty will be. Most clubs limit the number of bucks a person can take, and a few make hunters harvest a certain number of does to keep the population well-balanced. All rules need to be spelled out, then enforced by fines or other means.

Finding the right property is the next important step in the process, and that means finding a landowner who is willing to sell or lease the right land. But you’ll need to first decide which option best suits your club: leasing or purchasing.

If you decide to lease, you might want to start your search for property by contacting a local wildlife officer or wildlife biologist. These public employees often know people with good deer-hunting properties they want to lease in order to control deer problems or trespassing problems, and a phone call introducing yourself and explaining your reason for calling might produce good leads.

County agricultural extension agents are also good sources of information. These people are in constant contact with local farmers and often know of landowners who are willing to lease hunting rights on their property or are eager to sell outright.

Many large corporate timber companies also lease certain parcels of their lands for hunting, and this is one of the best avenues for locating leasable hunting lands in prime Arkansas deer territory. Chambers of commerce in the area you’re studying may be able to provide additional contacts with local timber companies or other businesses interested in leasing hunting rights on their lands.

You should also watch for published advertisements. The classified ads of local newspapers often list hunting lands available for sale or lease, and outdoor tabloids and magazines that publish hunting stories sometimes carry such listings as well. It might be a good investment to run your own advertisement, noting your desire to lease deer-hunting land, along with a phone number where you can be contacted.

Finally, don’t overlook the oldest method of all for getting information you need: word of mouth. When traveling in areas where you hope to buy or lease, stop to visit with folks at the local cafe and pool hall, the farm co-op, hunting supply stores and other popular gathering places. Tell them what you’re looking for; then leave a business card so interested parties can get in touch with you.

When you do find a likely parcel, it’s critical to do lots of research for closing a deal. Is it a good price for the acreage, location and resources on it? Is it near enough to members’ homes that it’s practical to hunt it as often as you want? Also investigate how other nearby landowners and clubs manage their property. Deer won’t likely stay on your land, so if they’re hunted hard, with yearling bucks shot on all surrounding lands, you may not get the results you want unless it’s a very large parcel.

Other considerations should include the following:

Access: You need a decent road in and trails, dirt roads or ATV paths that allow you to retrieve bucks or put up stands.

Building codes: If your club wants to put up a small camp building, know in advance if the type of structure you have in mind is permitted.

Game regulations: In special-managed situations, a club may be able to obtain extra doe tags to help get the herd in balance. You may have to keep records of deer weights, ages, sex, condition, etc., but you’ll probably want to do that anyway.

With leases, you’ll want the answers to additional questions. For example, you should ask the landowner if there are conflicting land uses anticipated for the tract. It’s hard to hunt deer when a huge clear-cut or strip mine suddenly appears on your lease.

Spend some time with the landowner, and learn as much as possible. Will the landowner permit your group to carry out recommended game-management practices such as prescribed burning, planting food plots and so forth? Are you being granted total hunting rights? Who will be responsible for maintenance of roads and gates? Will the landowner allow as many hunters as you wish? Are the boundaries of the land well-marked? If not, who will mark them? What will be the cost and length of the lease?

When you reach a full agreement on the terms, get the lease and all the particulars in writing. Make your lease a legal document, consulting an attorney if necessary. This will solve many potential problems before they become real problems.

With large tracts of public land available, becoming a club member certainly isn’t necessary for today’s hunters. And for some people, it simply isn’t the right avenue to follow. But as hunting pressure continues growing on public areas, more and more sportsmen are looking toward clubs as the most economical means of cornering their own private slice of blue-ribbon hunting territory.

It takes a lot of legwork to locate prime deer-hunting areas available for sale or lease, and you’ll want to spend time selecting the right group of people to form your club. If you’re willing to make the extra effort, however, forming a club is one of the best ways to be assured of a quality hunting experience away from the crowds.

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