I have been in several deer clubs over the years: some on lands that we controlled through hunting rights on our family land; deer clubs with hundreds of members; small deer leases with way too many members; a deer club made up of mostly friends and a few walk-ons. We had rules at every one of these clubs. Some rules were great, some were silly, some were stupid, and some were self serving. My present club has rules that we came up with 12 years ago and have been refined throughout those 12 years. Club rules are like locks, they are to keep honest people honest. The first rule in setting up a club should be to make up your membership with good, ethical members. An unethical hunter will not be deterred by a set of rules.

The first rule will be that all of your state laws will have to be followed, this is simple. Most clubs have rules above and beyond state rules.

The next should involve safety, like rules concerning alcohol, loaded guns, and use of safety vest. To me, safety is the most important issue to set rules. Safety is a major concern for all parties involved. We don't allow members to get off stands and scout, until all hunters are back into the camp. We don't allow loaded guns in the camp area. You should have a plan for all emergencies.

The next set of rules should be geared to promote your management plans, whether it be QDMA (Quality Deer Management Association) or just rules that the membership considers important to them as a group. This may include on how many workdays that you have and penalties for missing them. We have a monetary fine for missing workdays, a set up for making up workdays before the season starts, and possible loss of membership. Any plan is hard to implement if all members are not on board with the management plan. The size and number of game taken should also be part of this management plan. Some clubs may be trophy hunters or meat hunters, to each his own. We also have a monetary fine for the taking of deer that doesn't meet the clubs management rules. A small "slap on the hand" fine will not keep anyone from breaking a rule that he can easily afford.

Other rules may have to be added to protect the owners, if you are on leased land. Issues like the building of fires, putting nails in trees and littering could be among the many requirements that the owner will require you to follow. These rules will usually be spelled out in your lease agreement with the owner, if you are on leased land. A big issue for owners is liability insurance. Most want you to have $1,000,000 in coverage. QDMA and Buckmasters both have insurance plans for hunters. Even your local agents may offer a policy for hunters. Our cost is around $500 per year which should be part of the yearly paid dues.

The allowing of guests will be another area that needs to be covered in your rules. You may limit the number of guests, guest days, guest fees, or anything else that your membership thinks important with guest issues. Another issue along this line is whether family members can hunt for free or for an extra fee. If you have a fee, an amount must be decided upon; this can be a touchy area for some members or potential members. We charge $50.00 per day, which is reasonable. If a member in our club hunts every weekend of the gun season, he pays $110.00 per day to hunt. This decision needs to be based on whether the club is for business, family, or for pay type hunts.

Our club allows each member to have a personal stand with a 150 yard radius that no one can hunt without the member's permission. Each member must put up and maintain at least two camp stands for anyone to and or guests to hunt. We even dictated the size and type of camp stands. A personal stand may be just three red ribbons on a tree, where you use a climbing stand in your area.

To summarize, these issues must be considered:

1. Members must follow all state game laws.

2. Rules for safety.

3. Land owner rules must be incorporated into your rules, if you are leasing or just given hunting rights.

4. Management plan and rules.

5. Workdays rules and penalties.

6. Guest hunting and possible fees; number of guest days per member.

7. Membership dues which should include liability insurance, food plots cost, electricity, water, sewer and garbage pick-up.

8. Personal deer stands and camp stand rules.

Each hunting club will have different issues to deal with, depending on the size of the hunting club and number of members. You may have just a few voting members that started the club and act as officers or you may have a president, any number of vice presidents, a secretary, and a treasurer. Have a meeting and brain storm all of these issues and vote on them or dictate them. The rules should be looked at and revised after each season, until you get them right. Not everyone will be happy with the rules, but everyone must abide by the final rules, or find another club. It's that simple. If you don't enforce the rules, there is no point in having any rules.

I hope this is a help; we revised our rules for ten years before we were totally happy with them. We haven't made any changes in the last three years, so you see, it takes time to get there. My feeling about a deer club is that it must be like a fraternity. Members should be of like mind and goals to make it work properly, so pick your members carefully. Good luck!

By Ken Ledbetter

TalkHunting Staff Writer Bubba "BubbaBrown" Ledbetter grew up in Northwest Louisiana and Northeast Texas, hunting and fishing was a great tradition in his family. He grew up in the country, learning the ways of nature and how to enjoy being in nature, not just hunting and fishing. Bubba hunts with a bow and a gun for whitetail deer and has taken up turkey hunting in the last three years. This year is Bubba’s 50th year of hunting, he started hunting at the age of 9 years old and took his first deer at the age of 11 years old. Deer hunting is Bubba’s greatest love, but loves the process of preparing for the hunt through the management of the property he hunts. He hunts in the Liberty, MS area on a 1,000 acre lease with 7 friends.

Bubba is a residential building contractor and a graduate architect. He has been married to Mary Ann for 35 years with two grown sons and two grandchildren. He was in the USMC from 1970-1973. He was stationed in Lakehurst, N.J., MCAS Cherry Point, N.C., and MCAS Iwakuni, Japan. He was a MOS 6064, Aircrew Survival Equipmentman. He is an early member of Talk Hunting, was a global moderator for Talk Hunting, and is currently Pro Staff. He is the originator of Talk Hunting’s “Food From The Forest” program for collecting game for the hungry and is a member of the NRA, QDMA, Buck Masters, The Capital Region Builders Association, The Capital Region Remodelor’s Council, and it on the board of directors for the Remodelor's Council and “Hunters For The Hungry” in the Baton Rouge, LA area.