Like some have said, the $200K buys like 25 acres of land fro the club...dues pay for improvements, roads etc...Clubhouses usually have a full time year round staff...
You own that membership, its yours to sell or whatever...BUT the club maintains the right to buy you out or if you leave, buy your membership (land)...
Its for ducks, doves, deer and fishing especially Crappie...even gators now...
These places are more for wealthy folks to socialize and drink...most seldom hunt

I spend a lot on hunting but in my opinion you get out of it what you put in it. Some people drive 50,000$ trucks pulling a 10,000$ ranger to a club that costs 750$ a year. Doesnt make sense to me. I do the exact opposite and dump the money in the lease and pray I get there in my 1200$ vehicle im in a hunting club close to the house and have a lease with one other guy in greene co. I know its apples in oranges to compare a two person lease in greene co to a club in bibb co, but going to a field you know no one has hunted in two weeks nor hunted with the wrong wind is priceless to me.

Land lease is by far the big ticket item. The rest is fairly manageable. Here is a conservative example based on leasing 2,100 acres. It assumes eight total members (approx 1/250 acres) to limit hunting pressure.
[list]
[*] $25,200 land rental (2,100 acres @ $12/acre)
[*] $ 5,000 Fall food plots (20 acres @ $250/acre to mow, lime, fertilize, plant)
[*] $ 500 utilities at camp HQ
[*] $ 500 repairs & maintenance

$31,200 translates to $3,900/member.

That's true. Seems like when I first began hunting in clubs 1 member per 100 acres was the norm. Now it's a little more acre per member. So question is this:would you lease 200 acres by yourself or join a club that has 2500 acres and more members? I've personally always wanted the biggest piece of land that I could be part of as long as the member to acre ratio was good. I know others prefer to do it by themselves.

Currently hunting on a $20k lease in KY as a guest and haven't seen a deer in 3 days

Owning land is by far the most expensive route you can go, but its the most rewarding too. Price of the land, land taxes, insurance and liability if you let anybody else hunt, tractor and equipment, houses and stands, seed and fertilizer.
You are the only one putting hours and hours in work on improving it. I'm sure most of these 3-5000.00 clubs include most everything. I'd be money ahead to pay that and just show up to hunt, but that's not what I enjoy.

I guess the 3 buck limit has cut those numbers in half. I could see how a place like that would be worth $3,500. That is a lot of good bucks off of one piece of property.

Did they kill 2 or 3 times as many does is bucks the way most trophy clubs do.

$2,300-$2,500 is the most expensive I know of around where I live and it is no where near what you would call prime habitat.

actually no, most members didn't shoot many does. I think we killed around 20 does. It was the most intense rut i've ever witnessed though. I think 6 members and their guests actually killed all of those bucks, and 2 members from florida didn't hunt hardly any. It was definately worth it.

It must of been a large tract. 48 bucks off one place in one year is a lot.

6k

around 3k acres of 50% thick stuff and 50% hardwoods. But yes, there were too many deer killed that year, and as I understand it, the hunting went down hill the next year. The place should have been kept at 2 bucks a membership and it would have produced for years and years.

precisely. the high dollar clubs are that way because they have very few members and high acreage, not just because of high cost per acre to lease.

The clubhouse has a beer vending machine. A vending machine with beer in it. Add a home cooked breakfast every morning and its not only the oldest but the best club in the south.

Most I've paid is 4800 in lee county.it was well worth it for the deer and turkey killed.But lost my job and now hunt only public land.just a doe slayer now

FedEx, what part of lee county if you don't mind me asking. I've heard lee is better than people think. Just curious

Idk about lee, but Russell has some of the best if not the best hunting in the state

Atoler,we had the discussion previously haha! I hunted in russell county for an entire season and didn't see a racked buck all season! It was awful. Have hunted other tracts that sucked in russell county also lol. It's all about being in the right spot. I feel that russell county is the capital of the world when it comes to timber company land. They seem to own the entire state. Hunted a private farm in russell county and saw over 50 deer several times.

Secrets out now..

I have heard of some clubs that run between 7 and 10k per year, depending on if you want a private room in the camp house.

Ain't no deer in Russell county. Nothing to see here, move along quietly.