soarkrebel

This is just eating me up . i run a hunting club in arkansas that leases 2000 acres and we are growing. i had always had little leases with a few friends before . i have had some guys that i couldnt wait to get rid of and some that got out of hunting that i wished had stayed.
My best friend and me have hunted togather for over 10 years . we started this club two years ago. i have worked hard to find the right members ,the best tracts of land and have one solid chunk of hunting territory. the past year i have taken 12 new people that all are great people . they have the desire to work on having a great place to hunt and go have fun.
my best friend kind of got into moto cross in his mid life crisis and it has consumed him for the last year. so i have done it all.
he said he was hunting and was going to pay his dues. i have been after him since june to do so. i found two others that we togather willl do finances so there are no questions.
he hasn't paid ! he said he would have it this week and i called tonight and the thing i was feeling he would say was said.
he would pay next week on payday but he was going to hunt on saturday.
Now i have 12 folks that have worked hard this summer some are still doing stuff. like building us new bunk houses and a kitchen building. and many others. they are going to see him hunt and not have paid into the fund? NO!
I can't do that and risk all these good folks leave next year cause i let friends hunt free! some think he has paid . but i and the other two know different.
i could not let that happen so i had to tell him to pay by saturday morning or find somewhere else to hunt . hard to do to a guy you would give your shirt off your back to. but he put me in a bad position.
i feel like he has taken advantage of the situation. he all ready knew i had refused one guy who didnt pay on time to pay on the " payment plan".
Man what a bummer way to start gun season! i am bummed ! thanks for reading my bummy story if you did. what would you do?

SOUTH ARKANSAS REBEL

BOWFANATIC

"My best friend and me have hunted together for over 10 years"

I think you already know why I pulled that sentence from your story.
Your friend and you started the hunting club , so I think he should be treated as a partner. Sit down and talk with him about him doing his share of the work for the club. Sometimes even best friends can take advantage of each other and need a wakeup slap upside the head now and then. If you tell him he needs to do his share and he truly is a best friend , he'll take you seriously and wont be offended. The money situation may have already offended him. Maybe he truly is financially strapped right now and needs an extension. Truth is , alot of times we may think our buddies are doing good financially when in reallity their struggling. It's a guy thing , some guys feel like lesser men if their having diffeculties providing for their family and sure as heck dont want nobody else to know about it.
Just an idea! But regardless , you need to sit down and talk it over with him.

<---Doug---<<<

soarkrebel

Thanks bowfanatic it is a money thing. he got into moto cross and sold his 4 wheeler. his wife who really drains him wanted one also. she had never rode a bike in her life so he buys her one. she is a high maint. woman! a good looker at that! she has run him into the ground. i gave him an out months ago. hunt my family owned land and next year things will be better. no he leads me on. he hunts an area that is right past the camp. i don't want the new folks to think i am letting him get by with not paying. so tonight i talked to him and kind of said what you said.he didnt get mad just said i was right and it wasnt fair. and he just wouldnt hunt. i kept telling him to hunt my uncles place (known as the deer refuge)nope !he just wouldnt hunt. saves him money. i know he is full of it . that toy (wife )of his has really squeezed his cop salary.
I mean there is alot more to the story than my fingers could handle typing. lives in the upper class nieghborhood ,way out of income range. cause thats where she has to live. years ago i said my piece to my friend . he knew before he got into the marriage.
The clubs finances are great we have everything paid and over $1800 in the bank. but it's the principal. if you had just joined us i would want you to feel like you were in a good, fair ,honest hunting club.i wouldnt want you to think someone was hunting for free and had all the previ you had and not paid the pot.
you see he had some money from last year in his account. i did get that about three weeks ago. it paid me 150 for fuel and maintenance for my tractor and another members tractor to do mowing ,road maint.,food plots and camp clean up. it cost me and this guy bucks to haul our equip to the club.
I even gave him out on that ! he has a nice tower stand . the stand becomes club property and just pay dues . he only needed $200 and he had three weks to do so. still no money.
i don't know what to do ? i am going to see him tomorrow night. and try again . maybe i'll slap him silly and that will help.
i wouldnt mind having to be an ass to a slug but this guy and me go back! i mean we have depended on each other for our lives literally!
Thats what hurts! i ain't normally sentimental but i am human. and at this time of the night this screen is about the best place to vent .

SOUTH ARKANSAS REBEL

texastracker

I would put the 200 up for the guy and put him on a payment plan.That way you can tell the rest of the club that you got payed for his part of the lease.

Tazman

soarkrebel from what I have seen you have done everything right and your friend is a freind because he understood, I know it was hard for you to do what you did. You may want to let him start paying on next year soon to where neither of you will have to go through this again

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

timbercruiser

The two of you started the club. If you pay dues, then he should also. If he doesn't pay, no hunting for him If he snubs the dues this year it will probably be the same thing next year.

skeeter 7MM

Soarkrebel, tough one. I say you have done the right thing all the way, obviously your friend has some home issues and money troubles. I think he would pay if he could, but just can't to keep his eye candy happy (wife), which is his choice. If you can and he would pay you back can you spot him the 200 this year and do a payment plan for next year. Tell him this would give him 2 years of hunting and time to square up his priorities. He is your pal and in time of need pals must support each other. Hey guys come and go but &quot;best friends&quot; are a treasure. I know I have a buddy that went through a bitter divorce and he was broke, down and out. I payed for all the gas, helped him with sideline jobs for free and was their when he needed someone in his time of need. He has repayed me in full now(which I said was not required) he is back on his feet again and moved on. I think it is similar to your situation, he is too good to lose and needs a hand (if you can afford to do so). Since this is a co-op hunting club, just tell him it comes with the expectation that his dues will be paid in full by hunting season and he has to stay off the Motocross a bit and tote his line(share duties). I have done this before and true friends respond. They will do everything to repay you back and keep your friendship. If his choice is no I'll do it my own, then nothing else can be done. If he is the type to ride free and forget than don't offer him this type of deal, b/c it will only hurt you and your friendship. Better to say rules are rules and keep him in your life as a friend. He sounds like he values you and your friendship to much to get p'd or make you mad.

Good Luck

soarkrebel

All right i'm back for a while. been hunting . had a great time once i got friday over.
to conclude the saga . on friday me and my son were getting ready to head out and he calls . oh he's mad now but doesn't make any sense. says we railroaded him ( me and our new treasurer)we were going to give him time . i said heck a year is not enough time?
I got accused of saying stuff about his wife. i have been living 80 miles away for 3 months and this supposedly happened just a few days ago. well the conversation goes on and finally ends on the note the that no pay no hunt with us on leased land. i leave get to my little honey hole that is not a part of the club. i like my privacy and when your family owns 300 acres next to your club thats easy.he is waiting . apologys from him just kept coming. knew he was wrong blah blah..
yeah he had cash . he just didnt want to let it go. he had the money just trying to buy other things. i almost told him to fly. but i didnt just said next year there will be no second chances. i know of a few folks that would love to take his spot so that ain't a problem.
oh and then i had other problems the other turd i should have sent packing decides he is going to have a 4 wheeler ride w/ non members. all drunk acting a fool. some of the other folks had kids . so when i get there i got a few complaints right off the bat. talked with turd. they did ride on gov't land. but since my private spot is about 2 miles through the woods i didnt hear them when they came back. loud ,vulgar ,profane.....
so sat. i talked to him he was sober then .... you know the old i'm sorry ,won't happen again thing..
well saturday night the two subjects were not present while the majority of the camp was sitting around a fire. they all want to eliminate the problem . we all have familys and our kids hunt and will be with us. these two don't or i should say one doesnt bring his . and he is 16 and hunts. or would like to.
so sometime next year i guess i get the task of dealing with it.
you see the camp has improved 150% since the good ones came in. we work to have a good time and a good place to do this.
I am going to work on getting my friend on the good but drunks around my kid and other kids , acting like an idiot around them NO!
Don't get me wrong i drink . i just don't act like an idiot and get sloppy drunk. there is a time and place for all things. i know of a few party clubs i may send him a reference. i have and sometimes go to there gatherings but they are not really a family oriented club. mine is . i love to see a kids face when they have taken a deer.
saturday morning my son killed his first buck and the look on his face just concreted my plans for the club. and i think it did the others with kids (that take them hunting!).
you know he had a shot at a pretty decent 8 pt but wouldnt give him a a shot he felt good about. i was proud . i could have killed the deer and thought about it.i let it walk . in 15 minutes or so a broken tine buck that had 3 points on one side and a brow tine and a stub from where the rest had been. some buck had beat his butt and he was limping . my boy shot the deer ,perfect shot through the lungs .
you would have thought the kid just killed a 200 class typical. i was proud and decided to work to keep a place where he and the other kids can enjoy that thrill.

so yeah it turned out just right!

SOUTH ARKANSAS REBEL

skeeter 7MM

Glad to hear you and your buds stuff has some what been cleared up for this year, real tough situation to have to choose sides. As to the drunks, get rid of them. They do nothing for your club or hunting and if young kids are a part they set a really poor example.

Hey congrats on your boys first buck, that is super! Also great to see young kids in the sport using judgement when hunting, cudo's to dad for teaching him the RIGHT WAY.(reference to the shot opp.)

I am doing my buck prayer as we speak so the gods will shine down on me. I leave tomorrow and can't wait. Cold weather, snow on the ground and the deer are chasing does...now I just have to drop the hairs on the bad boy that eluded me last year and this ML season.

soarkrebel

Good luck skeeter!
Are you guiding?<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

SOUTH ARKANSAS REBEL