Private hunting club

[topcat265]

While I know many members are from places north and west, I'm hoping that some folks here might know of a very nice private hunting club in the Georgia Florida area which I can look into for membership.
A few weeks ago, I visited the Gilcrist hunting club, about an hour drive west of Gainesville, Florida It was very nice and I applied for a membership, which will likely take several years.
A several year wait got me thinking about whether there are other nice hunting clubs (no high fence) in the southeast. An Internet search did not yield anything particularly positive.
So I am hoping to turn to the experts who know hunting much better than I.
Any ideas?
I appreciate your assistance.
T

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Check this out!

Long Range Shooting Facility PRS Style - Have a few Shareholder Positions available - East GA.

We have a few open positions to be a "Shareholder" at a 100-acre Facility located in Sparta, GA. "Swaggy Valley" The facility has several PRS Style Shooting Ranges, Shooting Lanes, Conex Platforms, Shooting Sheds along with a Clubhouse. It is a Shareholder type organization limited to "25"...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[HRM Johnny]

Tag

 

[LDHunter]

Most hunting clubs that I've ever encountered are controlled by people that only let in people they've known for several years. Even those clubs have waiting lists and most members literally don't ever leave the clubs until they die.

It's tough. It took me 9 years to get into the one I'm in now as an example.

If you can make the trip to Georgia then you will have much better success finding trophy bucks and often the hunting clubs are easier to get into. Be sure you get in a club north of I-10 if possible. When they put up the high fence to keep deer from the roadway on I-10 they isolated the Florida population and we not longer get the infusion of big wandering northern bucks to improve our population.

 

[jglenn]

The outdoor trader web site has a hunting club forum for Ga

Hunting Clubs & Land

Advertise land or hunting clubs

www.theoutdoorstrader.com

Most clubs are word of mouth from friends who also hunt.

You can also look on the Georgia outdoor news web site

GON Forum

Woody's Campfire Talk

forum.gon.com

You should also take their magazine. Easily the best hunting and fishing mag in the state

Gon.com

 

[jglenn]

I'll also add that Ga has very good wildlife managmemt areas across the state..some they own and some they lease from owners.

I'm lucky my father bought some land for the family to hunt prior to his passing years ago.

 

[arawls88]

Man you need to start searching timber companies and see what leases they have. That's what we do in Louisiana and Arkansas. Leases usually come due June/july every year so keep an eye out around that time. I know Weyerhaeuser has land all over the south.

Search Properties

rlms.potlatchdeltic.com

https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com/Leases/Search

 

[tim1457]

Hunting clubs are drying up in my area. Between the thousands of people moving in yearly and the horse people, who hate hunters, the hunting/farm land is disappearing. Good hunting leases are being sold out to development constantly. It's really sad.

 

[topcat265]

Very unfortunate.

 

[HandgunHTR]

Having lived in the SE for a while now, I have found that my money was better spent purchasing land and developing it for my hunting needs. I was able to get a very nice piece in WV next to a large block owned by people who were like minded and with whom I have become very good friends. One of them lives in FL, BTW. The remainder of my money that I used to spend on leases is put towards traveling to hunt exotics in TX, Elk, Moose, etc. I have found that there is much less drama and I get to hunt more than just WTs.

 

[Sobewan]

Have you considered getting together with a few hunting buddies and forming your own hunting club? It might need some legal oversight but seems to me it would achieve your goal in a way you could have some control over. Find a piece of land and pool your money to set it up and write up the by-laws and successor rights etc.... might get to where you want to be in a faster way. I consider myself very fortunate to have bought a home with some land that adjoins a piece of hunting property. I quickly became friends with the owner of the hunting property and sort of took over keeping it up and "managing" it as a wildlife area. In return I can hunt the land and we all get to hang out a few weekends. In a way it is a small hunting club. Even though it is all a gentleman's agreement and nothing in writing I know we are all like-minded and enjoy the camaraderie we have shared the past 15 years.

 

[Rosebud]

Look for something within a couple of hours driving time. I can assure you this will matter in the long run. If time is limited for you to hunt, time between you and your lease will be problematic. You can't control the weather, and many other factors will cut into your hunting time unless you're retired with with the ability to leave on a hunting trip at any time.
Price of the lease membership, plus added cost of lease management, food plots, club house, trailer parking, power supply. The list gets long. Then there's the other members, what is the guest policy?

Until a couple of years ago I was in hunting leases, more than one at a time. For over forty years. I've seen good ones and bad.
Leases can't be run by a vote other than the rules at the beginning. After that it's got to be run by one person with near god like power. Think Democrats and Republicans fight, wait until good bucks and someone setting up in what someone else thinks is (their) spot!
I'm not telling you not to get into a lease/ hunting club, just do you self a favor and find out everything about it first. Also try for a small lease 4 to 5 hundred acres between five people is near perfect.

If you're interested in land around the Auburn Alabama area, Lee, chambers and Tallapossa County areas I know a big time land owner I can get you in touch with.

 

[Sealesniper]

I joined a club 35 years ago in ENC. Club had some really good land, and some bad lands, lots of members and way to many "honorary" members who did not pay anything, but took advantage of everything. After one year as a member, I was voted VP. The next year the President fell out of a tree and broke his back and I became president. I called a mandatory club meeting for discussions on rules, dues and safety requirements.

In that meeting, it became very apparent how divided the club was over honorary memberships. As President, I was to get membership without paying dues. I nixed that in front of the group and kept my paid dues in the check book. At the same time I removed all honorary status with no dues. If you want to be a member, you pay. We also removed and adjusted rules, and we went to a zero tolerance for braking some of the safety rules.

Anyway, to make a very long story short, the final answer for a great club with members with same goal and mindset was to raise the dues and lower the membership. We went from a club of 74 members and lots of land, to a club of 8 with only the best 3 tracts of land. All the BS was gone, no fighting, squabbling or back stabbing. It was an absolute joy and those remaining members are still very close friends of mine. The land was sold years ago and we had to close the club, but the people I met in the club are still hunting buddies of mine today.

So, if you want a very good club with good people, I find small clubs with high dues the kind I want to be in as it seems to limit the issues. There are still people with means that are just out for themselves, but they can be asked to leave after one year and replaced with solid group minded hunters. Good Luck. The club you want to be in will not be on public forums. You will have to find it talking to wildlife officers, taxidermists, or trusted people at your local gun shops.

 

[cajun]

Having lived in the SE for a while now, I have found that my money was better spent purchasing land and developing it for my hunting needs. I was able to get a very nice piece in WV next to a large block owned by people who were like minded and with whom I have become very good friends. One of them lives in FL, BTW. The remainder of my money that I used to spend on leases is put towards traveling to hunt exotics in TX, Elk, Moose, etc. I have found that there is much less drama and I get to hunt more than just WTs.

If I could go back in time I would buy my own property. A buddies dad bought 300 acres for 200k in 1990. It's worth bout 1.5 mil now. We are currently looking for a place but they are tough to find.