I belong to a club just over the Ala.line near Brewton Ala.(Just N of Jay,Fla.) The deer are so so. It's hard for me to comment on the size cuz about a year ago i moved here from Maine. My largest Maine deer is 268 lbs.field dressed. That is about 300 lbs. on the hoof. I have numerious deer over 220 lbs also. There is no compairson. But I will say that some of the racks on the S Ala.deer are pretty impressive. The club that I belong to has the max. of 15 members. We lease, from 2 seperate land owners,2260 acres. The prorerty is ajacent. The lease is renewed every 4 years. The price of leases in our area is anywhere from $4.00 to almost $12.00 per acre. The land where our lease is ,is mostly tall planted pine and blackjack oak.We have allot of bottoms running through the lease also. These bottoms are fairly thick with running water(spring fed) and a thick tangle of vines and swamp type of vegatation. We have numerious roads that leed to 26 food plots. Most of the clubs pay extra per foodplot to the land owner. Sometimes as much as $25-$30.per plot. The land owners use satalite imagery so you can't have "undisclosed" plots. The cost for out of state(non-resident) license is $252. That's for all year. That includes deer,hog,some birds,turkey,and small game.You can use a centerfire rifle,pistol,bow,crossbow,shotgun,or muzzleloader,depending on the season. It's all included in the $252.The season is fairly long.ML deer/hog is Nov15-19.General gun is Nov20 til Jan31. 2 deer per day one may be an antlered buck.Spring turkey is Mar15-Apr30. 1 per day/5 total. Suggestions----find out how much property for how many hunters. Cost per year. Cost if you shoot an animal(usually deer) that is not in the club rules. Get a copy of the club rules and see if you can live by them. Some clubs(luckly not ours)only allow certin members to hunt on certin days. Some clubs have strange rules that pertain to guests of members.Go to the club to take a look.One of the members should take you up or meet you at the club for a tour. Look at everything. Ask allot of questions.If the club doesn't seem to be selective about its members,who they allow to join,maybe you should ask even more questions. Join a club that you will have something in common with the other members. Not just hunting. You will have allot of work weekends and you'll be working side by side with the other members so you got to get along reasonably well.As with all orginizations a few will do the vast majority of the work. That's a given. Also check to see if you will be able to ride an ATV on your lease. We can. Some clubs you cannot. There is no ATV registation in Ala.also.-----Any other ?'s please ask.----Stay Safe---pruhdlr

thanks for the info.! Any thoughts on how I can find some clubs just over the Alabama line that might be in the market for some new members? Living as I do in Tampa area, I could not be there for many work weekends, so maybe it would not work.

I do know the deer hunting in Fla. seems to be awful, and was thinking of Alabama as an alternative.

Stone------ We have approx. 6-8 work days per year. We call them "weekends" but they are only Saturday w/ Sunday being the rain day.(We had more this year because of Ivan.)We can miss 2 workdays per year. We can make up one workday of our own choosing. Other than that we get fined $50. for each workday missed. We have a member that lives in Atlanta,is VERY rich,and simply sends in his money for the fines every year.(However I don't agree with this practice.) Finding a club-- I looked,and looked.I got online. I checked the paper. I checked at the local gunshops. I talked to as many other hunters as I could find. Finally I was talking to a guy at the local diner one morning and we hooked up. Clubs simply don't advertise. When they loose members they get new members by word of mouth.Somebody always knows somebody that wants to goin a club. Most clubs are selective as to who they"let" become a member. After being in this club for a year I understand why. If a club openly advertises for new members they basically have to take whomever applies unless they can show "just cause" for turning them down. Believe me there are lots of hunters/people that you DON'T want in your club. The hunting---Remember that the deer hunting doesn't magically get better when you step accross the Fla/Ala line. At our club we have "allot" of deer but they are small.(but some w/ fairly nice racks) A big deer at our club will be 150-170 lbs. That is ON THE HOOF weight.I still don't understand why they talk about deer like that in the south. All deer weights that you here people talk about up north is field dressed. Heart,lungs,liver,stomach,and ALL intestines removed.A completely empty chest cavity. Don't get me wrong,it is fine how they do it down here but it took some gittin'used to. I don't have first hand experience with other areas of Ala.but I've herd that the Camden/Pineapple,Ala. areas have some pretty large deer. Also that area has HOGS. You have to go into central/southcentral Ala. before you start gittin' into the bigger deer area(in my opinion). So living in the area that you live in you wont have to just drive accross the border,you still will have to go another 100 or so miles north. In Ala. you can use dogs for deer/hogs also so that could be another problem. Our club rules state: on dogs allowed except for bird hunting. We can't even bring the family pet up for a workday. Which i totally AGREE with.---- Have you tried looking for a club down in S Fla. There has got to be some farmers/landowners that want/need the extra income. Check out the areas that sportsmen hang out. If you find one that has great hog hunting let me know. I might be interested.----STAY SAFE---pruhdlr