HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

Whats isa good number for a hunting club. We are going to start a hunting club and need to know a good number.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

It would depend a lot on theterrain, how hard the contiguous lands are hunted, deerper acre and other factors. To me 1 per 250 acres is enough.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

whoa 1 per 250 acres, wow. my dad my grandpaw and 2 other buddies hunt a 87acre farm at the sametime, kill deer same hunt all the time?

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

I have always heard the "rule of thumb" was 1 hunter per 100 acres. We currently lease 400 acres of heavily wooded, hilly terrain. We have 7 hunters, but there are only 4 of us that deer hunt. The rest turkey and duck hunt.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

me and my brother hutn my dads property which is 77 acres its seems to bbe just about about anough

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

No such thing as a set forumula. Its always gonna depend on the terrain, style of hunting, people's schedules, etc.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

i like how you worded the title. "hunters per acre" that is the equivalent of saying "gallons per mile". lol, sorry.

the other guys are right, it would take a well seasoned hunter to decide how many hunters could be fit on a given land, and there would probably be no right or wrong answer. the turrain and foodsources would play a huge factor in this.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

I may be spoiled growing up in a family that has always owned a lot of land, but me and my two little brothers hunt 700 acres together with 2 family friendsand sometimes it seems a little crowded with all five of us hunting at the same time... I like timbercruisers 250 acre suggestion.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

wow you guys have a ton of land, we put up to 10 guys on 120 acres and never have any problems, usually see some of the same deer but not much.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

Around where I live and hunt the norm is 1 hunter per 100 acres, the lease I am on is 1 man to 133 acres, there are 9 of us on 1200 acres but we have discussed if anyone gets off the lease any time soon we will soak up the extra cost between 8 of us....

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

im here in the ozarks and you 5 to 6 per 150 acres

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

I agree with LCC no set number. Our lease is 550 acres and there is 4 of us in it with 4 kids hunting to. There is plenty of room on our place for everyone.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

I was curious to see what replies you would get. As mentioned, thereis NO set formula, as to many variables and terrain featuresdecide how many hunters can pressure the property. I personally prefer a larger area as many have mentioned but honestly, around here I bet it's as crowded as 1 hunter per 50 acres of cover. :(

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

i hunt my dads land and is 35 acres

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

I own 35 acres and my uncle owns 65 acres butting up to mine. During bow season we never hunt more than two guys on the 100 acres. During gun season we limit it to 4 people (25 acres each). The terrain is very hilly and we can safely hunt 4 people and cover most of the property.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

DBaker,

As a wildlife consultant in Texas we recommend 1 blind per 250 acresfor the ideal situation. This is the ideal. The size and topography of the property should be considered for "smaller" properties. When you disperse your blinds 250 acres apart from each other you reduce seeing the same deer from two different blinds.

So by having your blinds closer than 250 acres apart you give yourself a chance to get multiple looks at a buck in different sceneries.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

a 100 acre property around me is very large. Most of the properties around us are split up into 5-40 acre parcels. The only other people around us that has more is the owners across the street who own 140 acres of continuous property and they hunt as many as 8-10 guys during gun season. Let's be realistic, most people don't have the money to go out and here and buy 100's of acres just to hunt on. I'm fortunate to have access to 100 acres. Most people would kill for that around me.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

You're getting a lot of good answers, but you are asking the wrong question. While you don't want to overcrowd one another during season, you need to be looking at what is an acceptable harvest rate for the land you plan to hunt.

In my neck of the woods, one mature buck harvested per half-section would give you a lot of trophy opportunities. At 1:100, there are plenty of bucks, but not as many trophy opportunities. Start getting lower than that, and the size and quality of bucks will start going downhill very quickly.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

That's assuming that the folks in the club want to do QAM, oops, I mean QDM. The other issue is that not all clubs are devoted specifically to deer. If one wants to focus on deer theremay be one set of requirements, but if deer is just one of many things they want to target, then the acreage priorities could change.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

In the area I hunt the typical density is around 1 hunter per 160 acres. With a deer density of about 20 per square mile that give you a legitimate shot at a mature buck everytwo or threeyears if you are managing the property right.

My neighbors to the north of me have 5 hunters on 700 acres,I am the only one that deer hunts my 160 acres and the other neighbors have even lower hunter numbers than that.

It comes down to what those hunters are shooting also. A couple hunters on a place passing up younger bucks waiting for a mature buck are going to have a different impact than two other hunters who are shooting the first buck they see each year.

As several have said before, it is one of those numbers that is really impossible to pin down.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

it really depends on the terrain. i would go out on a limb and say one hunter per 75-100 acres, but like i said, depending on the terrain, it could be more or less and be fine. if ya'll are bowhunting, it would be way different.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

The answer to this question depends on a lot of factors, terrain, type of hunting, trails, fire lanes, and are ATV's allowed.

I manage a small hunt club that is divided into 8 zones. Six of the zones have club stands. A zone hunter must stay 200 yards away from the stand in the zone.When you log in you pick one of the 14locations, 8 zones & 6 standsto hunt. The membership is limited to 12, but we never have had more than 6hunting at one time. The average zone size is 68 acres and I've never had complaints about the space available. I've never felt crowdwed at all.

The property is hilly with a creek in every zone and several miles of good paths and fire lanes. Some parts are not as accessible as others and they get neglected, especially when we have no member with an ATV. It is mostly natural (no rows) mature timber. A few acres was planted (in rows) about 10 years ago and it needs thinning, but the deer probably will not like it as well.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

WOW!! this really goes to show the difference in hunting pressure from the north and upper midwest to the south.1 person for 250 acres!! thats crazy!! Does land fall from the sky for free in other places? We have seven guys that bowhunt the same 80 acres, and have 11 people on the same 80 for shotgun.This is common in northeastern WI. We make it work.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

Well, i would assume that the 1 per 250 acres in Texaswould make perfect sense if you are in wide-open country with deer dispersed because of less cover, water, etc., and you are using a scoped .270. Probably would make less sense if you are hunting the east Texas Big Thicket with a bow or buckshot, so i guess it would sound crazy to people who think in terms of 40 acre woodlots instead of 10,000 acre ranches..

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

1:250 thats a hunters dream. I have family land in Ohio and we have 5:240.

RE: HUNTERS PER ACRE
 

My home state of Ohio recommends taking 35% of your deer population on the property. So, on my 100 acres, lets say there are 10 deer using my 100 acres. That means I should take around 3 deer every year off the property. Last year we took two. On average we take 2-3 deer every year off the property. I would say 8-10 deer seems pretty realistic on 100 wooded acres.