I personally have shooting houses and bow stands around certain fields.
If I’m in a club and I sign out for a “spot” I’ll hunt anyway I want to hunt it. Imo.

We shoot does out of food plots all the time, but they don’t get hunted but a handful of times every season. Makes no difference. A lot of properties simply need pressure management, not dictating what where and when ppl can hunt a property.

Lol I guess that’s why we don’t plant early and that’s why when gun season rolls around the plots are fresh and not pressured. Plenty of options to hunt that doesn’t evolve messing up a mature bucks early season movement on plots using a weapon that won’t cover the entire plot.

We also have 435 acres per member so it’s stupid that we pay what we pay to reduce hunting pressure but we are all like minded and don’t have any drama. The rules are posted before any money swaps hands so everyone knows what to expect. Everyone follows the same rules and if it becomes obvious that someone isn’t a good fit, cant follow rules, or causes drama they are removed. I am well aware that this style of club isn’t for everyone but I’ve been in multiple clubs and the better hunting ones always have rules to reduce pressure. Some people don’t care about quality and just want to enjoy the outdoors how they want to, some just don’t have self control enough to follow any type of rules and some people have never hunted a low pressure property to see the difference it makes. I personally have seen high pressure vs. low pressure on the same property and it’s night and day difference. As long as I have the lease we will never go back to high pressure hunting but there is no wrong or right way to do things. Do it how ever you enjoy. If clubs aren’t for you then lease or buy property and do with it what you want.

CNC I have seen some amazing bow only properties and I have my thoughts on it but I will ask you.

Assuming that what you say is true do you think it’s because

A) The deer have a higher chance of reaching maturity with the limited shot distance so it produces better quality bucks that feel more comfortable .

B) The use of Bow only reduces hunting pressure.

C) It’s site specific and the guys that are willing to take away the advantage of a gun are better at managing pressure than those that are only bow hunting to get a few extra weeks of hunting in before the orange army hits the woods. Most of which didn’t practice and are just planning to climb a tree next to a food plot or feeder.

It’s pretty obvious that everything else equal a property that is bow only will most certainly have more mature bucks simply due to the limitations of the weapon. A mature buck that walks out 100 yards from a gun hunter dies, from a bow hunter it walks on. I also expect the majority of bow hunters pay much more attention to details because their success depends on it. That said I don’t allow bow hunting on my place because I have a high aversion to wounded deer spending hours dying with their guts hanging out. Reading the tracking thread on here further reinforces that decision every time I open it.

I’d be willing to bet there are considerably more wounded deer from guns than archery equipment. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I’d be curious what trackers have to say on that.

Bow hunters do pay more attention to details most gun hunters don’t. Getting a deer inside now range is way harder than getting one inside effective gun range.

I think its because the deer just don’t know they’re being shot at…..The places I’ve seen shoot a lot of deer but yet the deer stand around out in the open like cows and folks shoot mature bucks out of green fields from simple 12 ft ladder stands……Kinda like the one my cousin shot at the other day…..He missed it and it didn’t even know what happened…..He came back in 2 days later and killed it out of the same stand.

It’s A for me. You get the right group of guys together B is not an issue no matter what you use. Bow only allows some deer to make it to the next level. You could take a group of guys that are hell bent on shooting whatever and make it bow only and I bet the age class goes up.

A lot of factors probably go into that. Size of the property and all that. No gun shots on the bow only property but you probably do put pressure bow hunting just because you have to get so close and I don’t know about yall but that leads to getting busted a lot more than gun hunting.

But I feel like during bow season on our property the deer just don’t care. I had does watch me climb at 25 yards the other day. And they watched me climb down too. Now mature bucks won’t do that but even they are more relaxed. A few gun shots and it seems to wise them up a lot.

What things can a club do to improve pressure management?

Get the right ppl and not worry about it. Only hunting on the right wind, when everything is in their favor. Go in and kill a deer when it’s right instead of hunting a plot over and over without the right conditions. Sitting until it’s safe to exit without spooking deer. A club can hunt plots without ever killing a deer and put considerably more pressure on it than a club that kills deer on a plot every time they sit there. It depends on hunt frequency, conditions and how they enter/exit. If you’ve got the right ppl hunting there’s no need for unnecessary rules.