These are the top 10 reasons to join a pheasant hunting club
But, before I start let me back up just a second and list the reasons I hear about why not to join a pheasant club.
It isn’t really hunting.
The birds aren’t wild and don’t act like wild pheasants.
Why spend the money when I can hunt walk-in hunt areas for free.
Those are all excellent answers. But it depends on your personal situation as to whether a pheasant club will benefit you. A pheasant hunting club is not the answer for everyone. But certain circumstances make a pheasant hunting club a very practical and economical solution to some real challenges to pheasant hunting.
If you are retired and have 160 acres in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, or North Dakota, you have absolutely no need for a pheasant hunt club that I can see. You can raise your own birds and keep your dogs well trained throughout the year.
I’m sure there are dozens of other reasons to not join a pheasant hunting club. Feel free to list them in the comments below. I thank you in advance.
But, for those of you who don’t have 160 acres of prime upland game habitat, here are some reasons you may want to consider when contemplating joining a pheasant hunting club.
10 Fellowship
I love hunting the wild pheasants of the midwest. But when I go out there I sometimes go solo and at the end of the day, my wife is the only one I can tell lies to over the phone about how I’m the Randy Newberg of pheasant hunting.
At the club, there is always someone willing to listen to a good story or two. I’ll sit down at the club and share pictures and videos of the day’s hunt. This year I even shared a video of a porcupine way up at the top of a tree that I took that day out in the field.
9 Commitment
This one is personal. I had to make a commitment to hunting. I gave up hunting for several years because my kids just never caught the fever. And for several reasons mentioned I never went hunting.
Once I was in a place in my life where I could go hunting again, I always had a reason not to go. Then one day I made a commitment. “This year I’m going hunting dammit!” I committed to joining a pheasant hunting club. I took my wife a couple of times and she caught the fever.
I actually grew up a duck hunter but I moved away from prime duck habitat and when I decided to get back into hunting I looked at the place I lived and inventoried my options. For me, my best option was to join a pheasant hunting club. If you grew up in South Dakota, but now live on the Mississippi, you might have gone from pheasant hunter to duck hunter. Anyway, that is why I'm no a pheasant hunter.
My brother, a duck hunter, and I go back and forth on which is more fun. It is hard to say which is more fun. With duck hunting, there is the thrill of calling in some mallards right into your decs. But with pheasant hunting, there is the rush of adrenaline with the flush. In the end, I always pull out the trump card and say, “How much fun is it for your dogs when the birds aren’t flying?" Even if I never see a bird at least my dogs get to run around which is just as much fun for them.
Back to my story, as I said, my wife caught the fever and we soon had our own pointer!
8 Buy-In
For me, I can get my wife to go to the club and enjoy the companionship and all the activities, hunting, trap shooting, etc. Once I had buy-in from my wife I knew I could get approval for other hunting endeavors. “See ya, hun! Going bow hunting for elk! See you next month!”
On the other hand, if I woke my wife up at 3 am to go out to a frozen duck pond and made her carry the decoys...well, let’s just say I’m still married.
Convincing a reluctant spouse about hunting is much easier when it isn’t on the set of Survivor. For the record, my wife did go through survival training just as all of us at our college did. But now staying at a Springhill Suites versus a Marriott is considered roughing it for my beautiful bride.
7 Time
What is your weekly time demand? Are you retired? Do you work 60-80 hours a week? Even if you live in Redfield, South Dakota you may still want to join one of the fine pheasant clubs in the area. If you don’t have the time for a dog and don’t have the time to find the pheasants by hoofing around the fields, but still love the sound of a cackling rooster.
6 Dogs and Guides
If you don’t have a dog and don’t have 10 friends that can push some pheasants with you, you might need a dog, or at least rent one. And if you live in a 550 square foot apartment, like I once did, a pheasant club might be able to rent you that dog and a guide
Personnel note--if you watch any of my videos you’ll see that hunting for me is more about the dogs than the birds. I love my kids...just not as much as I love my dogs. Yes, the kids know this and are fine with it.
5 New Kid In Town
If you are new to the area, you most likely don’t have 10 friends to walk a field with. Also, you may not know where to hunt. Spending a season or two at a hunt club could give you a great start talking to locals to find where the best pheasant hunting is.
When I go pheasant hunting in Kansas, I go with pheasant hunters from Kansas, not my brother who is an Oregon duck hunter. Similarly, when I go duck hunting in Oregon it is always with my brother who has a Master Hunter Lab at his disposal. Locals know best and one of the best ways to pick a local’s mind is at a club.
I’ve gotten several public land hunt opportunities by talking to hunters at my club.
4 Savings
If you don’t have the money for a club--you don’t have it. But there is no way around it--pheasant hunting can get expensive. Unless you have pheasants cruising through your front lawn, you will probably have to travel and that entails motels, gas, time off from work, etc. And how many times can you do that in a year if money is tight? This ties into my next point about location.
I actually love to travel to different areas of the country to hunt pheasant and quail. But I can’t do that every weekend. Remember, I’m still married.
For me personally this is the savings of belonging to a club:
Rocky Mountain Roosters 6 Hunts included $850
6 Trips to Kansas
Gas $900 Lodging $600
Total $850Total $1500
3 Access
Do you live in Aberdeen, South Dakota? If you do there might not any good reason for you to join a pheasant hunt club. But, for those of us that live at least a day’s drive away from wild pheasant hunting, there is no local access to decent pheasant hunting. If you plan on hitting the fields for just the weekend, by the time you get there, it is time to come back.
2 Season Length
Let’s take a look at South Dakota. The 2020 season ran from October 17th through January 3rd--about two and a half months. On the flip side, clubs can run from mid-September to early April. The club season is twice as long.
If you have a dog, the longer the season the more training you can get in during the year without having to pay to take the dog to a trainer to keep your pointer well-tuned. This brings us to the number one reason for joining a pheasant hunt club.
1 Dog Training
If you own your own dog, specifically a pointer, and don’t have access to a few acres, how do you keep up your dog’s training? Do you bring them to a trainer a couple of times a month? Let’s say that is $50/session for the training alone, not including birds. That is $100/month. Which turns into at least $900/year for maintaining proficiency in the offseason.
I am a member of Rocky Mountain Roosters for several of my own reasons. But the annual dues are $850/year. That is less than the $900/year to keep a pointer tuned by bringing it to a trainer. But in the area, there are also Steel Fork Pheasants which is as low as $500/year.
I use my club as a training ground for my dogs. If you watched the video you’ll see that my dogs need a gentle reminder now and then about who is the alpha.
In the off-season, I can buy some birds and set them out and keep my dogs well-tuned for when it is time to hit the open plains of Kansas, Nebraska, or the Dakotas.
Bonus Reason
Friends, Family and Clients
Whenever my brother comes into town, I always take him pheasant hunting at the club. If a hunting buddy from college is coming into town, you can always take him to the club for a fun time. Sometimes we take visitors out to the club just to shoot clays. And if your business is made for corporate events, I know Rocky Mountain Roosters has several corporate events throughout the year.
What are your thoughts?
Leave a note in the comments below about why you joined a pheasant hunt club or didn’t join a club.
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