DuckSouth.com

We are expanding our duck club this year, and we all figure its about time we put some concrete rules in place. At most the club will have 10 people, so they don't need to be that strict. But, I was hoping there was someone with written duck club rules already, and I could steal a few and not have to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks guys, and happy hunting.

No hunting after 12
Make a couple days off days

If there are a couple really good holes that everybody wants to pile up in, settle disputes by drawing ping pong balls at 5:30 and lowest ball picks first

Limit number of guest by what the club can handle if everybody was there

dont hunt the same hole more than #_ mornings unless you are through shooting by a set time so the birds that fly late dont get too wise

I have a simular set up in that I have 9 other guys with me on a couple of leases totalling around 1000ac.
Here are a few of the rules through trial and error that seem to work for me.

1. We have no hunting after 12 noon.
2. Rotate your holes, let some rest even if it kills you. Take as much pressure off the ducks as you can. We only hunt the same hole within a few days of each other if it is right at the end of the season and the ducks are hit'n it.
3. Since we have 10 members and there are 10 different weekends of the duck season, we draw before the season 1 of the 10 weeks as a Priority Week. This means that at least once during the year you will have 1st priority on what duck hole you hunt that week without drawing.
4. 5 am draw for holes.
5. Since we are never all there at one time due to work and family we only bring guest when all 10 members are not there. Say if there are only 6 of us going to be there on Friday for the weekend, then amongst the 6 coming they can bring 4 guest. We never have more in camp than total members. Members who have brought the least amount of guest to that point gets 1st dibs.
We mostly are able to hunt on weekends, but do get chances to hunt mid week time to time so this really works for us.
6. Arrange a set number of times a member can bring a certain guest. If you don't this will bite you in the ass. People will split memberships. I had this done to me the 1st year I ran the lease but no rules were set to avoid it.
7. Set a guest fee and enforce it. This will help with operation cost and it deters abuse of a guest policy.
8. No extended hunting. I have seen this happen to people. I knew a guy and his buddy that took off 6 weeks during duck season and never left the camp. Hunted straight. You have to have alot of land to handle pressure like that. We allow hunting over a few days or so but no weeks long crap.
9. If you have a camp house, set rules to ensure that it is left in a manner that you won't mind walking into when you get there.
10. Set rules that will ensure that you leave the persons land you lease in better shape than you got it. We pick up hulls and only take atv's past the black top......etc.

All members sign a set of rules that states that they read them and understand them, this way if something shady is done you have leverage to make a argument. I haven't ever had to use this and the guys like it.

We have a few more but it's mainly to ensure everyone pays there money, reduces pressure on ducks as much as possible to have more productive hunts, and make all 10 of us feel that we get out moneys worth. I can tell you, years ago when we started rotating holes and limiting pressure our #'s doubled. It took getting rid of some people but try and surround your self with people that have the same ideas in mind of what you want to accomplish.

I like the idea of a Suzy Jar...I'm guilty as the next guy, but I also don't mind throwing into the pot/or buying the next round for shooting a hen.

Thanks guys, these are a big help. And typically things (in the past) that have just kind of 'worked out' cause we were all friends. With bringing in possibly 1-3 new members this year, these all make good sense. THANK YOU

Charge higher guest fees for weekend hunts than for weekdays. High enough fee will typically make it members only on weekends - which is the way it should be. If someone wants to "ante up" well, that's fine since the money is going into the pot.