dubya123

I am a recent transplant to the Atlanta area from Charlotte, NC. I grew up an avid duck hunter (and overall hunter in general) and would like to find a club within a reasonable drive from the Atlanta area. Being new to the area/state, I’m not sure if what I’m looking for even exist or is reasonable- so I’m reaching out to the experts on this forum. Ideally I am looking to find a duck oriented hunting club (or even a deer lease with duck hunting opportunities) within 1.5 hour drive from ATL- with open membership spots available. I am a young, single, working professional that would only be able to hunt weekends so I would like the keep the driving distance reasonable. Growing up, I was very fortunate to be a part of (dad was a member) a deer lease that exposed me to duck/dove etc with the main focus of the club on deer. If I can find something like that, it would be ideal.

I’m asking the forum for any suggestions on where to keep an out for club openings or if what I am looking for even exist (I check craigslist occasionally but not sure how effective that will be). Or if anyone has any lead/contacts- I would greatly appreciate the assistance.

Regards,
Will

wetley49

Pick up a copy of GON and start there. Should be plenty of listings in the back of the magazine for lease opportunities.

ssimms3

Hey,

Did you find a place?

My family has land that we hunt for ducks/geese and used to have one person that we allowed to hunt on a pay by hunt basis. Our family farm is about 20 miles west of Macon, Georgia and 20 miles east of Thomaston (1 hour 15 from Midtown Atlanta). I think it cost $50-100 per hunt. We had to ask them to stop hunting because they would not hunt in a way that made the hunt better for everyone. For example, when there are birds coming in to calls shooting at 100 yards and busting anyone's chances of getting a bird. If you are interested in working together on hunts - then we may be able to work out something. We have 2 beaver ponds (25 acres total), a man made 2 acre pond and a marsh (10 acres) that are our duck hunting area. Mostly wood ducks with teal early in the season and occasional mallards. Geese are there frequently too. To be perfectly frank, the duck hunting is OK - we aren't on a flyway - but could be much better if we planted japanese millet or some other food source around these ponds. Are you interested in doing some of this type of work with us in the off-season?

Another possibility is that we lease out 800+ acres to a group of about 9 guys for deer & turkey hunting and there is a swampy area and creek that are never hunted for ducks but could be. I believe the lease cost is around $1200 per year and the lease holders and my dad (farm manager) has to approve anyone. Any hunter has to agree to the club rules (bucks should be older than 3.5 year - 8pt or better). They are looking for one more person I think.

Finally, we are going big on dove hunts this year - planting 40+ acres of sunflowers and 60+ acres of millet. Hunts will start September 6 and we will stagger cutting the field to keep birds coming in as long as possible. This is a pay per hunt or membership. We're going to be hosting some practice shoots at Tom Lowe clay shooting near the Atlanta airport in July / August - it's a pretty cool place if you are looking for something to do.

Let me know if any of this is interesting to you. Look forward to meeting you sometime. Welcome to Atlanta. I live just north of Atlanta in Dunwoody so happy to meet up, get a drink and talk hunting.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Steven