Battle of Raymond Hunting Club- Deer Camp Openings

[Hammer]

Never satisfied until things are perfect, I am try, try, trying again with the Battle of Raymond Hunting Club. Kicked all the old members out and starting over because they wouldnt shoot does, hunted against the wind, believed in "scouting", wanted to bow hunt the same spots we gun hunted, wounded deer, etc...All that is fine if you are messing around, hoping to get lucky, but if you want seriously good odds on trophy deer in MS, you better hunt a lot smarter than that.

The deal is this: We took two 120-129 inch bucks out of me + 6 members in 2003-04 and two 130-150 inch bucks in 2004-05 out of me + 6 members. We took 7 does in 2003-04 and 11 does in 2004-05. (I killed 4 does and 5 does respectively). The oldest buck ever taken was 4 1/2 years old. I see from 15-25 racked bucks on this place every year so unless they get to 4 1/2 and die, there are a bunch of 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 bucks that we arent killing. It is those deer I want US to kill.

I dont mind doing the work since I've got a 46HP Kubota tractor and Polaris Ranger to haul seed, fertilize, etc. btu I am tired of killing 50% of hte does and I want a higher standard on trophies (was 120" minimum- going up to 130"). So here is what I have come up with:

4 members at $1500 each plus me as the fifth member (was 6 at $1000 each) hunting 850 acres consisting of 500 acres woods, 350 acres fields (corn this year). Land is at intersection of Old Port Gibson Road and Highway 18- 27 miles from the Madison exit at I-55. Woods are 6 year old cutover with pine, 6 year old select cut hardwoods with thick canebrakes. Food pltos of millet and lab lab in the summer, buck oats and winter peas in the winter.

No turkey hunting cause their aint enough. But does have pretty good dove hunting and a wood duck shoot or two. Club is on Fourteen Mile Creek that runs from Raymond to Utica and was site of Battle of Raymond on May 12, 1863. Go to http://www.battleofraymond.org for more info.

Two bucks per member: 130" or bigger on first buck and 150" or bigger on second buck. One guest per day, guest hunts in same section as member, guest kill counts as member kill. Minimum 2 does required per member until club limit of 16 does is reached.

If you are looking for a close to Jackson place with easy access, lots of deer, some real big deer and dove hunting as gravy, this could be the place for you. The rules are designed to give everybody a good chance to see and kill trophy bucks by hunting them from the edges of fields and using the roads as cover for sneaking into and out of stands. YOu will see 5-10 deer per hunt in late November and December.

If you think you are Chuck Adams or God's Gift to Bowhunting dont even call me cause I know what my eyes see at the Extravaganza every year and that is a piddling number of archery division deer (most of which are killed during the rut) compared to gobs of rifle and musket deer. Bow hunting is doe hunting in MS and there is no reason to send your bucks into stealth mode when you are hunting with a 50 yard weapon versus a 400 yard weapon (how I love my 300 Win Mag). If you got a MS B&C on the wall, I'll take it back and accept your "I bow hunt for the challenge of it. Rifle hunting just isnt a challenge" BS. Otherwise, you hunt wiht a bow because you know it is easier to get in the book with a 125" bow kill than a 170" gun kill.

The lease is $3000 and the insurance is $500 so I've got $2500 to work with on summer and fall food plots, stands, etc. Obviously I aint in this to get rich. Rather I want the glory. The glory of having my name in the book (or seeing your name in the book if the hunting gods bless you with a B&C instead of me) and I want the satisfaction of doing it well and doing it right. The way I am wired- anything less is BS.

No pretenders. I eat them for breakfast. Send me a PM if you are seriously interested.

HAMMER

[turkeyman]

so is it 1000 per person. and does the membership include family.

[RedEyed Duck]

$3000 to shot a stinky ole deer? WOW, MSDuckmen's deer club will certainly have some new inquiries over in the classifieds after this post!

This is just my personal observation, but in my experience when someone tells ya they arent in this to get rich............ well you figure the rest out. I guess it just all boils down to, I aint' got that kind of money so go ahead and call me a poor jealous son of a gun!

[Dutch Dog]

no, I think you misunderstood. It's $1000 per member. And from what I gather he's anti-bowhunting. Well sir with a bow it is a HELL of a lot more challenging than with a gun. Gun hunting=See deer/shoot deer (or miss deer in my case ) I believe that now I have killed more or equal numbers of deer with my bow as with a gun. Belittling bowhunters because of the presumed lower standards of a P&Y buck is not going to win you any popularity contests. Saying that bowhunting is like "doehunting" is absurd. I have only killed 2 does with my bow and the rest have been bucks. Probably 10 or 12. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. I don't think that $1000 is too much for a club such as this one, BUT with the self appointed "RULER" making all the rules and being down on bowhunters because they might just kill a deer before he gets a pop at them with his trusty 300 mag that he can shoot deer out to 500 yards with makes it very un-appealing.

[BAY KINGFISHER]

I was kinda interested to the offer until the big anti bow deal, I think I would be encouraging people to shoot the does early with the bow rather than trying to take all those mgt animals with the three hundred mag prior to the rut, this is definitly a first for me, in my experience the deer tend to go nocturnal when the big guns start sounding off, not from the bow piercing the boiler room of a big skillet head, I would like to hear how many people agree with Mr. Hammers anti bow rehtoric, cause its just hard for me to understand this logic, anyhow sounds like a nice piece of property that would make some fellow bow hunters happy...

[MSDuckmen]

You know guys I read his post and I in turn read the replies. I think all you boys are carrying this a bit far. He is giving people a chance join a club with a good chance of killing a quality deer. He simply stated the rules up front so there would be no question to how he feels.
You can buy, or lease land just as he is and set your own but don't knock him for being up front. What he needs to do is get a few of the gum branch club to come down and remove the does he wants gone in one weekend because the boys in our club have no problem laying them down like cordwood.

Just understand that he was being up front regardless that you don't agree.

I say good luck to him and his club. I know what it means to work on a club and try to please everyone. sometimes it is just best to start over.

[Hammer]

Hold up Nellie...I aint anti-bowhunting...I'm a life member of the Mississippi Bowhunters Assocation and hunt 10-15 days per year with my bow...I just dont bow hunt on this property...My bow hunting is for public land where I booger up everybody else's bucks and not my own...Anybody that joins this club is more than welcome to bowhunt Panther Swamp, Lake George and DNF with me...

It is almost impossible to bow hunt the same area that you trophy buck hunt and not spook the bucks...This place in particular because it has a lot of open fields and the deer see you coming...If you read the "Stealth Hunting" series in NA Whitetail you would know what I am talking about...Ditto on the July, 2005 issue discussing doe killing as in WHEN and WHERE to kill does without boogering up bucks...

It is fact that as we drastically reduced bow hunting, moved all our stands out of the woods into the fields, we started seeing more deer, killing decent bucks and our neighbors hunting went the opposite...

As for bow hunting in general, it is obviously a lot tougher to kill trophy deer with a gun in MS IE Boone and Crockett 170 net or better- than it is to kill trophy deer IE Pope & Young 125 net or better...There have been dozens of 125s killed in MS wiht a bow, but only a handful of B&C despite the fact that there are 3-4 times as many gun hunters versus bow hunters and they hunt a lot more days...Also consider this, Tara runs about 10% on P&Y bucks (60 P&Y per 600 hunters)...Nobody runs 10% on B&C bucks except in a pen...We may never kill a B&C but we are gonna do everything possible within reasonable expense...

The club is $1500 per member and 4 memberships are available. 1 guest per member per day, anybody hunting with the member is a guest but guests do not include a non-hunting observer. Guests must hunt in the same section as the guest...8 of the 11 sections have at least 2 stands in them.

I am the fifth member. That means there is $6000 in revenue, $3000 in lease payment, $500 in insurance leaving $2500 for seed, fertilizer, lime, etc of which I spend every penny. I get a "free membership" as rent for my tractor, disc, bushog, MY 20+ stands and my time. Some get rich deal.

Appreciate your comments and spreading the word. This club is not for everybody. In fact, it is for a very small percentage of deer hunters out there. They will know it in their guts as soon as they read my post, reveiw the rule sheet and see the land. I appreciate yall spreading the word.

HAMMER

[SoftCall]

Good luck with your club Hammer. I can honestly say that at least three of the ten largest bucks I have seen alive were in a 3 or 4 mile stretch of the trace just north of where you are talking about. I ran this stretch of road for 10 years en route to Port Gibson. Also know some folks with a good size spread near you and they have pulled some sasquatch bucks off of that place.

[crowder critter]

[tunica]

[the doctor]

$1500 is a deal for that quality of buck

or I guess you couled join merigold hunting club and almost be garaunteed a deer like that

oh yeh, cost you 1/4 mill over there, though

the doc

[Dutch Dog]

[waterfowlwidowmaker]

Hammer I respect your thoughts on management and deer harvest tactics, but personally I would rather hunt on a place that was bow hunting only. I just seems to me when the big guns start poppin off, deer start to wise up and turn nocturnal. A great example of this is a place me and chopper hunt with one of our buddies. During bow season you will see twice if not three times as many deer, especially bucks, as you will in gun season.

Good luck with your club, sounded like something I would have been interested in until the no bowhunting deal, seeing how I only pick up my rifle 2 or 3 times a year.

Good Luck,
WW

[sportsman450]

[Dutch Dog]