Anyone know of a good hunting club???

[firefighter911]

My son and I are looking for a hunting club to join. We have heard of Golden Ram and Wilderness Unlimited. Wildeness Unlimited we like the sound of a little better because it has many ranches mostly we like it because all the ranches are all over the place not just in one area. the drawback is that it does not allow Atv's on the property which we would like to have atv acess because we will probably get atvs sometime soon. So if any of you know of a hunting club that has atv access and jeep access and also maybe has deer, bear, pig, turkey, and maybe waterfowl hunting that would be great. We live in the bay area so the farest south we would want to go is San Louis Obispo area. Any advice would be great!!!

 

[Savage21]

I've had a salesman from WU come to my house before. I told him I wanted to think about it for a few days before making a decision. He was really persistant trying to talk my wife into us joining and ended up leaving pissed off saying he would never come back even if I asked. He definitely didn't give me the level of respect I gave him. He's fortunate I was raised better than that with him acting that way in MY house. That was my experience with WU.

I look at it like this, depending on how much you hunt, you could be better off paying a guide. It's $1600 a year for WU, Per Hunting Person.

 

[Richmellott]

I agree with Savage 21. I just came off a hunt in the Bay Area, where we had ATV access (theirs) and dogs (theirs), and it was $500. If I had gotten a second pig, it would have been $750, so that's a fair priced hunt. Paso Robles also has a lot of good guides, and some are less expensive than others. Save the money you would spend on the ATVs, and put it into guides, and you have much more budget available. I did buy a 4x4 pickup, because I was tearing my CR-V up, trying to get where I can now go with ease. That's for public land. Get some good boots, and you can creep along ridges a lot easier than with an ATV, and have less of an investment/more of an adventure... Just an opinion, and free advice is worth every penny.

 

[Mel Carter]

You are going to get a lot of mixed feelings on WU. Here's my take for what its worth. First, the dues are about $1600 a year, first year is more expensive due to the initiation fee. After that it will be an annual fee of about $1600. Now this fee is for the entire family, not for each hunter in the family. If you have the flexibility to hunt during the week the club works out good, if all you can do is weekends then it will be more difficult to get on the good properties and hunts will need to be spread out. Some people will tell you its a good ole boys club, maybe so, but my personal situation the clubs works great for me but I have several days off during the week and can hunt whenever. This club works for some but not all. If you think you can call the club on Wednesday to make a reservation for Friday - Sunday on one of the better properties, good luck. This is where you will need to call a couple weeks a head. The best and only way to not have to deal with the irritated sales man is to know that you for sure want to join the club, and must be sure, also if married your wife will need to be there with you. If you tell them you need to think about it, your on your own, LOL. Like I said first year dues will be steep, about $2500 - $3000 so expect it. They do allow you to make payments which is nice. PM if you need more info.

 

[707Hunter]

I had a bed experience with WU as well and would not reccomend them to anyone. Have another buddie who was a member and said he would call right when the reservations opened for the openening of deer season and all the good deer ranches would already be booked! How does that happen??? Good luck in your search

 

[Mel Carter]

Before the season starts WU will send out a draw application, you put in the ranches and dates you want to hunt. If you don't do this and wait until phone in reservations start, then yeah good luck getting on the good ranch for the opening day.

 

[jerryt]

Mel looks like he has this under control about WU. I've been a member myself for the last 6 years and was a member when my dad had his membership when I was 10. Like Mel said there is a draw process for the first couple of weekends for the Rifle opener and the Archery. However my experience has been if I don't get my top couple of choices with a bow it is still pretty easy to go hunting the opener just may not be the top choice ranch but they all have deer so isn't a big deal to me. I went pig hunting on one of their ranches on Saturday with my dad. We didn't kill anything but it was fun beating the hills even with only a couple 100 yards of visibility with the. The president of WU hunted with us as well. He brought two teenage kids with him who have never shot a pig but they weren't able to locate any either. The main reason the club does not allow quads is because there are those few people out there who can't follow the rules and keep vehicles on the road.

 

[Shmave23]

Go to the ISE show in Sac. And you can talk to both Golden Ram and Wilderness Unlimited in person with ?'s and concerns. Im gonna voice my opinion to GRAM that they dont allow ATV's just for the reason that Jerry said. Some A-Holes think that the rules dont apply to them. Also gonna ask if they can make all the propertys 3 points or better for deer. But I know that wont happen.

-Dave