# Club Rules Concerning Guests



## matrok (Feb 13, 2017)

Just wanting some opinions on club rules about guests. We have a no guest policy during deer season, but allow guests(2 or 3) when the season ends to shoot hogs and coyotes. Recently, one of our members brought a pretty large group to coon hunt and some of the members are not happy about it, stating they didn't pay dues to allow folks to come and hunt for free. I'm the president of the club and we've always had "gentlemens rules"(not written). Never had an issue until now. I do have the required insurance, as per the timber company, and I need to look over the policy to see if there's any liability for anyone not listed. Wondering what other clubs rules are concerning this.


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## Atlanta Dawg (Feb 13, 2017)

"Our" rule on guests is that they may shoot only one buck and one doe.   They can only come two times in a season.  (Generally arriving on Friday afternoon and leaving Sunday) so one could get 4 good hunts in each trip.

If they start showing up each season as a guest-they are expected to start paying dues !

We have gotten several new members over the years this way and it seems to work !

Also-within our rules-all members are to show respect to the guest, answer questions, etc...No rudeness, nor any of that stuff!

Also-the member who brings the guest is responsible for bringing the guest up to speed on where to hunt, how to get there, the requirement to close each gate after they enter it, that sort of stuff!


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## kmckinnie (Feb 13, 2017)

Immediate family only. No guest 
We would not care about hogs or a coon hunt after season. As long as say member is there. 
Your member payed to deer hunt under said rules. They have nothing to do with the coon hunt. 
Did said member ask u 1st. ?


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## oops1 (Feb 13, 2017)

Maybe they're jealous they weren't invited?


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## kmckinnie (Feb 13, 2017)

oops1 said:


> Maybe they're jealous they weren't invited?



That's what I was thinking.


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## matrok (Feb 13, 2017)

oops1 said:


> Maybe they're jealous they weren't invited?



That's funny, could be, except said member has ruffled a few feathers over the last few years. We are a small club  of 7 members on 360 acres.


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## Hooty Hoot (Feb 13, 2017)

We allow guests as long as it is not abused. It never has been. The general rule is twice but could flex under special circumstances. Never has. This has allowed us to add members that we were already familiar with and also felt would fit in. We have a pretty good group and this is how we built it. Selfishness and unfriendly behavior will get you your money back or a failure to renew. So will bellyaching. I have said it a hundred times. Hunting clubs are like women. Find one that you can live with and can live with you.


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## Lilly001 (Feb 13, 2017)

Ours isn't really a club in the normal sense. I own 3/4 of the land we hunt and the other two (my brother and a good friend) lease the rest.
Guest are required to work 1 day for every day they hunt. Usually work in the summer and hunt after Thanksgiving.
Od thing is we have only had 1 taker and he chose not to repeat.


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## glynr329 (Feb 13, 2017)

Guest usually end up a problem in a lot of clubs.


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## deers2ward (Feb 15, 2017)

Lilly001 said:


> Ours isn't really a club in the normal sense. I own 3/4 of the land we hunt and the other two (my brother and a good friend) lease the rest.
> Guest are required to work 1 day for every day they hunt. Usually work in the summer and hunt after Thanksgiving.
> Od thing is we have only had 1 taker and he chose not to repeat.



Nice


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## mguthrie (Feb 15, 2017)

We would love for a member to bring a guest coon hunting on our club. It's been many years since we've had a coon hunter


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## Atlanta Dawg (Feb 15, 2017)

We have a part time member who only coon hunts.   Pays half normal dues.....no coon hunting during deer or turkey season.

Wish they would kill more coons !!!


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## antharper (Feb 16, 2017)

As long as it's not deer or turkey season it wouldn't bother me , but a lot of folks think coon dogs run all the deer off and think they will never come back !


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## Big7 (Feb 16, 2017)

matrok said:


> That's funny, could be, except said member has ruffled a few feathers over the last few years. We are a small club  of 7 members on 360 acres.



Just don't re-up him next season. Problem solved.

There are plenty of folks willing to pay for a spot and go by the "rules". 

And, the "rules" need to be in writing. That way, everyone knows. One strike and out works good too..


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## 1eyefishing (Feb 16, 2017)

Big7 said:


> There are plenty of folks willing to pay for a spot and go by the "rules".
> 
> And, the "rules" need to be in writing. That way, everyone knows. One strike and out works good too..




I think the consequences should be in writing too. It is no fun asking everybody what are we going to do when somebody blatantly breaks a rule...

My favorite rule ever:  Each member gets his two buck limit. If a guest kills a buck, that is counted agaist the members two bucks. Seriously cuts down on visitors but yet remains open visitor policy.


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## whchunter (Feb 22, 2017)

*Membership Quota*

Just use membership quota and don't worry about the rest. I've seen plenty of discussions on this and to be fair to all members you can't tell one member who is single or who doesn't have family members that hunt that he/she can't bring anyone to hunt with them. This is especially bad for older members since having someone there is a safety factor. All members pay the same and should be allowed the same privileges. 
As to coon hunting I would think that unless your club has a lot of members who hunt coon that they would be glad to see coons removed since they compete with the deer for food.


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## Throwback (Feb 24, 2017)

Do the people complaining about coon hunters also complain about coons in their corn piles?


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## Miguel Cervantes (Feb 24, 2017)

matrok said:


> That's funny, could be, except said member has ruffled a few feathers over the last few years. We are a small club  of 7 members on 360 acres.



Sounds like that member is the common denominator in all of the dissension. Perhaps replacing them come time to renew the dues would be the simplest solution.


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## snookdoctor (Feb 27, 2017)

We have guidelines, and only one rule. That rules is that if we have to make a rule for you, we will. Might as well pack your stuff at the end of the season.


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## elfiii (Feb 28, 2017)

snookdoctor said:


> We have guidelines, and only one rule. That rules is that if we have to make a rule for you, we will. Might as well pack your stuff at the end of the season.



What he said except you won't make it to the end of the season on my place. ^


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## bilgerat (Feb 28, 2017)

we don't allow guest other than family members, and no coon or rabbit hunting, If they wanna coon or rabbit  hunt they can go elsewhere. Theres tons of public land for that


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## GLS (Mar 1, 2017)

Change the situation a little.  Say it's your land and you allowed a friend to hunt squirrels on it outside of deer season.  Then one night he shows up with a bunch of coon hunters without asking. How would you feel?  Would it make any difference if the man said, "they ain't hurting anything.  They getting rid of coons on your land" or would you take the position that it is my land and I get to say who hunts on it?   I can understand how folks might feel about the member bringing coonhunters into the club.  It's all about having clearly defined rules known in advance and not changing them on the fly without the input of members if that is how the club rules are changed.  Maybe they wouldn't complain if they were asked.  No one likes to feel they've been taken advantage of, especially those that have to pay to hunt the same land and the lease is year round and not just limited to deer season.


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## transfixer (Mar 8, 2017)

The member in question should have cleared the coon hunt with you first, since you run the club.  You in turn should run it past the other members if you feel its warranted.  For him to do something like that without notifying anyone ahead of time is not cool in my opinion.   I ran our club for over 20yrs and anything out of the ordinary was run past me and I in turn ran it past the other members first before it was done. Worked for us.


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## matrok (Apr 2, 2017)

transfixer said:


> The member in question should have cleared the coon hunt with you first, since you run the club.  You in turn should run it past the other members if you feel its warranted.  For him to do something like that without notifying anyone ahead of time is not cool in my opinion.   I ran our club for over 20yrs and anything out of the ordinary was run past me and I in turn ran it past the other members first before it was done. Worked for us.



That's kind of the way I was thinking. Whenever any discussion has come up regarding creating "rules", it's been due to something he's done. It's probably time to part ways.


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## ribber (May 6, 2017)

Stumbled upon this thread.
Our club doesn't have any written rules, YET. We are also a small club with 8 members and we have one guy who in the last 2-3 years has began doing similar with guests. There's been no proof and he won't admit to it when confronted, but a few of us suspect he is letting guests hunt/fish while not being present himself. I personally suspect that he has given his stepdad and one of his buddies a key to the gate so they can fish and turkey hunt. We have a nice pond on our lease and nobody really turkey hunts, so there's not a lot of traffic there in the Spring.  

It's not the hunting and fishing that bother us. It's the fact that strange people are visiting our club where at any given time there may be ATVs, grills, boats, etc. on sight. When there's no control of guests, things start going missing, hunting usually declines, feelings are hurt, people start to grumble, etc. And given enough time, the guests will start bringing guests, which may already be happening to us. I've seen this happen too many times in past clubs. 
It's best to cut him loose. That's what I'm about to do with our problem guy. There always seems to be that one guy that causes friction.


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## transfixer (May 6, 2017)

There is also the aspect of the liability insurance just about all clubs have to pay for nowadays, I know the wording on ours has changed in recent years,  we are supposed to notify the property owner of any guests  prior to the guest coming on the property,  if we don't , and something happens,  its on us, not the property owner, and not the insurance co.   We've never had anything happen to warrant a claim the whole time we've had the lease, but you never know in this day and time. 
     So worst case scenario one of the people that your member brings to the land, or allows access to the land without him there,  either to fish, coon hunt, turkey hunt , whatever, if they were injured or hurt, could file a claim against the club, depending on how your policy reads.


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## GLS (May 7, 2017)

The law of Georgia premises liability and against  whom a claim may be filed  are not controlled by terms of an insurance policy.  An insurance policy controls whether or not the insurance company pays a claim or not, but just as important, governs the costs of defense--attorneys fees.  Premises liability for a social, not a paying, guest is a high hurdle for a plaintiff to overcome.  However, an insurance company can avoid providing a defense, even for a frivolous claim, if the terms of coverage aren't followed by insureds.  It's best to have your policy reviewed by a civil attorney to understand obligations of coverage by insureds.


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## joeythehunter (Jun 5, 2017)

matrok said:


> Just wanting some opinions on club rules about guests. We have a no guest policy during deer season, but allow guests(2 or 3) when the season ends to shoot hogs and coyotes. Recently, one of our members brought a pretty large group to coon hunt and some of the members are not happy about it, stating they didn't pay dues to allow folks to come and hunt for free. I'm the president of the club and we've always had "gentlemens rules"(not written). Never had an issue until now. I do have the required insurance, as per the timber company, and I need to look over the policy to see if there's any liability for anyone not listed. Wondering what other clubs rules are concerning this.



your Club needs a New president


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## Crakajak (Jun 6, 2017)

matrok said:


> Just wanting some opinions on club rules about guests. We have a no guest policy during deer season, but allow guests(2 or 3) when the season ends to shoot hogs and coyotes. Recently, one of our members brought a pretty large group to coon hunt and some of the members are not happy about it, stating they didn't pay dues to allow folks to come and hunt for free. I'm the president of the club and we've always had "gentlemens rules"(not written). Never had an issue until now. I do have the required insurance, as per the timber company, and I need to look over the policy to see if there's any liability for anyone not listed. Wondering what other clubs rules are concerning this.


You need to look over your lease.We have leased from several timber companies and all require a list of anyone that can be on property. You have to send in a list before anyone not listed on the lease comes on the land. We had a neighbor that lost their lease because of this.


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