drhntr178

My friends and I just started a hunting club. We as a club own 190 acres. 90% timber 10% foodplots. The terrain is very rough with several creeks and ridges running thru it. The deer population is relatively high.
My question is how many rifle hunters should we allow on any one day, considering factors such as safety and breathing room for both deer and hunters? In short whats a good # of acres per hunter for this type of land.

cardeer

First welcome to the board.
How many members to you have ?? Every member should be allowed to hunt whenever he wants unless you have to many members already. I would not want more then 4 hunters on the 190 acres at one time stand hunting myself.

James B

That sounds about right. However I have not hunted land like that much. My land would carry a few more hunters even though its just 80 acrs. My land is a runway to the croplands from several thousand acres. However not many deer stay there all of the time. We are at or near the top of a cycle of great numbers of Mule deer and seeing thirty or forty deer per day crossing our land is common place.

Pro-Line

4 hunters on 190 acres for a hunt club??? That's a joke for the hunt clubs I've seen. The one near me has 400 acres and 125 members. They'll allow 32 hunters out at one time...

It's like any DNR or Game Commission...It's all about the $$$ for many.

I own over 400 acres, and we only have 6 guys max on it at any given time...Most of the time its just me. LOL

SKIDMARK

125 members on 400 acres with 16 at 1 time seems to be suicide. The rule of thumb is 1 hunter per 100 acres. We all know that you could hunt more safely but why would anyone want that kind of pressure on the herd. I am now hunting on about 1500 acres of private land with 7 people having permission to hunt. One guy is kinda over it and we all speak to each other about where we are hunting. I am by far on this land more than anyone else with the average of everyone one else is probally 10-15 hunts the entire year. I hunted about 45 days this year. Even with this light pressure the deer are still mostly nocturnal. I can't even imagine having a hunter every 25 acres.

rybohunter

This past rifle season the land I hunt had 9 hunters on 190-200 acres. For that land I wouldn't want to get many more on there. It was rather crowded. I guess its all about what you are comfortable with.

Rwalter63

For me it depends on a number of factors. One factor is the shape of the lot. There are some properties with pretty irregular boundries which could allow you to place more or less stands depending on factors such as roads, houses, buildings, vegatation and terrain. With your description I would think that you could easily support 5-6 hunters with out a problem but it depends on the hunting style that your hunters plan to use also. If you have 6 guys who all want to stalk and still hunt all day long then it might get a little crowded. If you have got six guys who sit in stands all day in my mind you'd be fine. My estimate would be approx. 40-50 acres for each stand hunter and probably 75-100 for each still hunter/stalker. Thats why I think you would be fine with 5-6 guys because most people perfer one technique or the other. I myself perfer to sit in a stand most of the day, unless the conditions are unfavorable to do so. One of my hunting partners won't sit still for more than 2 hours before he is up and walking. So even if I move from one stand to the next twice in a day I might only use 20-30 acres, again depending on terrain and migitating factors. Before I decided I would start by putting up stands in the locations that you want them. Then count the number of stands that you have and determine how many hunters your property can support from that number. Remember don't put count 1 hunter per stand because not all stands are going to be favorable to hunt on all the time based on any given day conditions, time of year and day, wind conditions, and supporting vegation. One stand might support a hunter when the wind is blowing in one direction but not the other, and one stand may be a good stand to sit in during the morning hours but not the evening. I figure at least 3 stands per stand hunter. I'd also figure you'll probably get around 4-5 stands per 50 acre area so that should come out to around 20-25 stands on your property. I'd also reserve a section of your property that has no stands and limit the hunting time in that area to give the deer a sanctuary. One good place for a sancturary is a thick pine grove where the deer can bed down in. Pine groves depending on the pine tree sizes and species are quite often not suited for stands anyways. One last comment 5-6 guys make a nice deer drive on that size property with 4 guys siting in stands covering the exit ways and two guys walking in tandem. I hope my ramblings help.

Georgetownboys

JMO. . . .Depends on the lay of the land, amount of cover etc. I would bet not more than 4 guys for your patch. Also depends on Deer population in your area. Don't over hunt your land, look at it like your land is high fenced, how many can you harvest and still leave enough to sustain the herd. That responsability should not be left to the next land owner, were all in it together.

Rwalter63

One last thing. I wouldn't allow ATV's or restrict or severly limit the use of ATV's since they make to much noise and cover to much ground way to fast and can spoke the deer thus limiting the number of hunters. If you need to haul a dead deer out thats fine but to have 5-6 guys driving there ATV from stand to stand to stand it will get annoying. If your going to allow the hunters use of ATV's then make sure they only drive up to there stands once very early and park it for the entire day. Basically set the rules up using comman sense. Just thought thats one more thing you should consider.

Hiawatha

When i am hunting I usually do not give anyone else permission. I like to have the whole chunk to myself so I am not disturbed. When i do give permission out usually one fella to 1/4 section of land is all i will allow. If I get too many hunters on the land the animals get spooked up bad and nobody has any success.