Hunting Club

[J.Blackburn]

Looking for a big game hunting club. Primarily looking to hunt deer but if the property has hogs, even better. I'm located in the east bay and I'm willing to drive almost anywhere in the state to hunt! although Id prefer to stay within 3-4 hours of the bay area. I just joined this site but I've been lurking on here for awhile... love all the topics that are on here and I've learned a lot from this site! I'm aware that the type of hunting club I'm looking for is not very common to come by but I'm hopeing someone on here can point me to one. Don't need to hear about WU or GR as I'm already familiar with them and and currently a member of one of them... Just looking to broaden my horizons.

A little background on myself, I'm a college student, very respectful, clean fish and game record, I rifle and Bow hunt, and I LOVE to chase blacktails and pigs... and ducks lol. But Please let me know if you know of any club or lease that fits what I'm looking for... Thanks, Jack

 

[Grasslandhntr]

Are you in Wilderness or golden ram

 

[J.Blackburn]

Wilderness Unlimited.

 

[ebrown]

I was with Golden Ram for a year. I live in Eureka, and I found that it wasn't worth it for me. I have access to private land for bear hunting, and there is a little bit of decent hunting on public land closer to me than the GR properties. From where you are, and if around $1800 a year doesn't bother you, then I'd suggest you look at them.

 

[J.Blackburn]

Yeah I've thought about it... Im not looking to give up Wilderness unlimited so id have GR and WU going at the same time would be nice that way When I'm waiting on a reservation for one I can hunt the other. But I've heard GR properties get really crowded. I'm more or less looking for a small deer/hog club I can use for part of the year along with wu.

 

[Hikingwithguns]

I looked into a couple local hunt clubs but the cost and wait list were prohibitive. One I was interested in but they did not have any opening for deer club members, I would basically have to wait for someone to die. The other was far too expensive. You can search on the dfg site for a list of hunt clubs.

I'm a golden ram member currently. Its decent but not perfect. My first year I shot an A zone 3 point buck and a pig. Also passed on a wet sow with piglets. And lost one pig with bow (that's my own fault, tracked it for 2 days but no luck). Struck out in B-zone, only 13 bucks taken on the ranch I was hunting vs 54? last year. 3 point rules don't help if the ranch is getting hammered by drought and bears. Got a bunch of quail this year which is good considering the drought.

I hunt a lot, at least once a month on average and every weekend during deer seasons. This year I did have a reservation or two cancelled due to weather trashing the roads on some ranches. There is usually some other ranch open though if you are flexible. My first year I got every single reservation no problem.

A lot of ranches have 3 point rules, which I understand why they do it, though I do not agree they are effective, see above about b-zone ranch. I think they are not as open as they should be about the 3 point rule when you are signing up. So be sure to ask and clarify on ALL the ranches.

 

[KTKT70]

Yeah I've thought about it... Im not looking to give up Wilderness unlimited so id have GR and WU going at the same time would be nice that way When I'm waiting on a reservation for one I can hunt the other. But I've heard GR properties get really crowded. I'm more or less looking for a small deer/hog club I can use for part of the year along with wu.

I thought I read about wu being a good clip and lots of pigs. I wish I had done the add on member so I could try it out. Looking back, it could be a nice way to try it out before making a long term deal.

 

[J.Blackburn]

I looked into a couple local hunt clubs but the cost and wait list were prohibitive. One I was interested in but they did not have any opening for deer club members, I would basically have to wait for someone to die. The other was far too expensive. You can search on the dfg site for a list of hunt clubs.

I'm a golden ram member currently. Its decent but not perfect. My first year I shot an A zone 3 point buck and a pig. Also passed on a wet sow with piglets. And lost one pig with bow (that's my own fault, tracked it for 2 days but no luck). Struck out in B-zone, only 13 bucks taken on the ranch I was hunting vs 54? last year. 3 point rules don't help if the ranch is getting hammered by drought and bears. Got a bunch of quail this year which is good considering the drought.

I hunt a lot, at least once a month on average and every weekend during deer seasons. This year I did have a reservation or two cancelled due to weather trashing the roads on some ranches. There is usually some other ranch open though if you are flexible. My first year I got every single reservation no problem.

A lot of ranches have 3 point rules, which I understand why they do it, though I do not agree they are effective, see above about b-zone ranch. I think they are not as open as they should be about the 3 point rule when you are signing up. So be sure to ask and clarify on ALL the ranches.

If you don't mind me asking which big game clubs were you looking into joining? I know GR has some good properties up in B zone and they also have Hedgepath which I've heard to be an awesome pig ranch. Do the B zone properties have a lot of bears on them? I think I heard from a member that there are a lot of bears on Bar-Z and Tyson. Are there any pigs on those ranches? WU has a ranch in Covelo that has pigs all over it. It's a good ranch but really sketchy roads... Most people don't like to go there because of how dangerous the roads are. I've never been there hair because of all the scary stories about hunts gone wrong on that particular ranch. Ideally I'd like to join an club in A zone where I can hunt deer and pigs. Then after A zone I can hunt B zone on WU along with pigs and turkeys in the off season. Getting reservations for good WU ranches is tough for me because I like to hunt every weekend and I can't get a good ranch with a weeks notice in A zone. B zone is a little easier.

 

[J.Blackburn]

I thought I read about wu being a good clip and lots of pigs. I wish I had done the add on member so I could try it out. Looking back, it could be a nice way to try it out before making a long term deal.

WU is a good club... Definitely some draw backs but overall it's alright. They just lost their 2 best pig ranches last year. They still have a couple good ones but one is archery only. Their biggest problem in my mind is they lose quality properties and don't replace them with a property of the same caliber. For example they lost Clarke and Mosby this past year. Clarke was great for deer, pigs, and bears... Mosby was a stealer pig ranch and had a good population of deer and turkeys. So after the club lost those 2 good properties they replaced them with 2 other ranches. They are across the street from each other located outside of the town of leggett. One is 40,000 acres of straight timber. On the entire property there are 4-5 natural clearings about 1 acre each and the rest is thick impenetrable timber... This property doesn't even compare to Clarke or mosby. Instead of looking for a property as good as the one they lost, the club went out and leased the biggest one they could get because it looks good in the portfolio and would get the angry members off their back. I hunted that thick property this past season and while I will admit some game was taken (3 deer and 2 bears) while I was there, all the deer still had milk on their chin and the bears were small as well. Hammering a property and killing all the dinks the first season isn't going to leave any quality hunting for seasons to come. The club went from a property that was consistently taking trophy bucks to a large unhuntable property that kills dinks. I just don't get it. Definitely some draw backs to the club which is why I'm looking for a smaller club that hunts a quality property. Like I said I don't want to leave WU I just want to add more options to where I can hunt. Maybe going to GR is a good idea but even then it's probably the same as WU... Although like I said I do know they have some good properties. I'm just worried about that amount of hunters they let on their properties. It's probably worth at least taking a look.

 

[Hikingwithguns]

If you don't mind me asking which big game clubs were you looking into joining? I know GR has some good properties up in B zone and they also have Hedgepath which I've heard to be an awesome pig ranch. Do the B zone properties have a lot of bears on them? I think I heard from a member that there are a lot of bears on Bar-Z and Tyson. Are there any pigs on those ranches? WU has a ranch in Covelo that has pigs all over it. It's a good ranch but really sketchy roads... Most people don't like to go there because of how dangerous the roads are. I've never been there hair because of all the scary stories about hunts gone wrong on that particular ranch. Ideally I'd like to join an club in A zone where I can hunt deer and pigs. Then after A zone I can hunt B zone on WU along with pigs and turkeys in the off season. Getting reservations for good WU ranches is tough for me because I like to hunt every weekend and I can't get a good ranch with a weeks notice in A zone. B zone is a little easier.

PM'd.

 

[J.Blackburn]

PM'd.

G

Got your PM... Sent you one back.

 

[KTKT70]

Hope you find what you are looking for. I'm in d zone and I know wu has a couple ranches here that have good game. Not sure how hard it is to get on due to amount of members but maybe worth checking out someday. Good luck buddy.

 

[J.Blackburn]

Hope you find what you are looking for. I'm in d zone and I know wu has a couple ranches here that have good game. Not sure how hard it is to get on due to amount of members but maybe worth checking out someday. Good luck buddy.[/QUOTE

Thanks, I've got some leads on a couple clubs but I'm going to check out. I will also be checking out golden ram... They do have some great properties. I've been to the WU ranches in D zone but for turkey. Haven't been for deer. I don't usually get a D3-5 tag though. I usually get an A and B tag.

 

[Sawdog]

I have thought about this as well. You can read terrible or great things about these clubs depending whose panties are in a bunch that day. I dont hunt enough to pay big fees but I dont mind throwing a few dollars out there for a nice hunt.

 

[J.Blackburn]

I have thought about this as well. You can read terrible or great things about these clubs depending whose panties are in a bunch that day. I dont hunt enough to pay big fees but I dont mind throwing a few dollars out there for a nice hunt.

Yeah the clubs are definitely pricey but for me it works because I hunt a lot. I couldn't imagine only hunting 3-4 guided hunts a year... I wouldn't know what to do with myself for the rest of the year lol. Last year I believe I made and completed 38 WU reservations and I could have made more if I didn't have to wait 2 or 3 weeks on my big game reservations.