I see on here posts where someone says they are looking for a lease but not a hunting club. I am curious, what is the difference. Is the difference the number of hunters, how it's run, or what. I have been on leases off and on for over 20 years. I currently lease several tracts from Campbell Group and every tract they lease is called a hunting club, but me and the guys on them with me just refer to it as the lease. So I would like folks' opinions on what the difference is.

Club has a Board of Directors and set up as a business entity.

Other than that it's the same difference as pond & tank.

Clubs will often charge initiation fees which sit in the checking account and acts as excess $ to put toward contracted mowing or rd maintenance. Sometimes it will go toward corn for extra stands and seed to get those stand areas planted for its members and/or their guests. (for instance initiation fee on renfro when I joined was $650, Forest Lake $250)

If you want to split hairs, a lease is the agreement that members of a hunting club have with a landowner to hunt his/her property. As some have already noted, "hunting clubs" are usually setup in a more formal and organized fashion. If there are no formal agreements or rules that govern the actions of the members, I feel safe saying that most people just call it a lease because that's the only true agreement that exists. And even then, the lease agreement may be nothing more than an annual handshake and payment made to the landowner.

And Hunting Clubs almost always have too many people hunting too small a property. I know one out in Harrison count that has 20 memebers on a little over 450 acres.

And for that reason, they may include someone other than the landowner who is making money on the deal.

Sometimes that's the case, other times they'll have a certain amount of spots open. The better ones in our area will be 1 member for every 200-250 acres. Some of the clubs have actually surveyed out stand areas and each member has the ability to do what they like and have as many stands as they like on that area. Some clubs will actually lease out extra spots for duck hunters, ATV enthusiasts and folks who just want to fish. Clubs are generally in place to be able to easily maintain the lease even if there's not enough paying members some years.