Family Hunt Club

[Shannon]

Anyone have much experience with The Family Hunt Club around Othello? A friend of mine is looking at joining. How's the upland bird hunting on it? How about the waterfowl?
PM me if you'd rather discuss it there.
Thanks

[Birdguy]

I have not hunted it, but I sat next to the owner a few years back at the pheasants forever dinner. We talked alot about what he had an what he was doing to make it better. Sounds like he has some pretty good land, he was buying all the hen pheasants he could find at the time (it was the end of March) he was planting the hens to supplement the population after winter before breeding season. He had taken the time to watch the birds previous years so he knew where they preferred to nest and rear chicks. He was only putting birds in areas he thought were best for the birds. Sounded like a good plan without much crowding, if I had the money I would consider it very carefully, I picked up the flyer at the sportsman show just in case I become wealthy before this season  .

[bobcat]

Is this the same as the Royal City Hunt Club?

If so, we just had a thread on it about a month ago:

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,114127.msg1502493.html#msg1502493

[lokidog]

They have a nice cleaning facility.  Hunted ducks on Moses Lake with some members (I think it was public land we hunted though).  We also pheasant hunted on one property because the others were booked or something but only saw a couple of quail.  It seems pretty spendy for what the access/availability is but it might work if you were over there a lot.

[Shannon]

It is different than the Royal City Club but similar. A little more property but quite a bit more money than Royal City. I don't know if it's worth it. Just curious if anyone had experience with it.

[75johndeere]

Only hunted it with some friends that are members we did alright on ducks but from what they tell me if your not part of the inner circle it's hard to get on the good ponds/ fields

[eastsidemallard74]

Me and my father in law were members about 3-4 yrs ago.
 Heres the pros-
They scout (Geese)
Dont let people hunt back to back days on any of the properties
Good Hunting
Facilities/Club House

If your retired and dont want to scout all day or just be given an area to hunt, this is the way to go,they lease alot of property

Heres the Cons;
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ it was 1500 or so for the member and I think 1000 for the guest(Dont Rmember exact dollar amt)
You hunt mostly public land
Alot of locals don't like it
If there is no room at the clubhouse,you have to stay in othello at a "discounted Rate"(inside story)

Heres my opinion and mine only,if, Royal Youth is open again next year, its the same thing,just a butt load cheaper.That money goes to the school/area.9 out of 10 times if you come out and ask the farmers they won't mind you hunting their fields. Meet a few locals here, become buddy buddy with them and they will introduce you too others sooner or later.Also through Royal Hunt the area covers alot of ground, Im not sure but possibly more than FHC.One last thing, I know for a fact,some of the property for both clubs,if you ask the owners they will say yes.JUST AN FYI

[Shannon]

Thanks for the comments. Some said you hunt mostly public land but both clubs say they lease 35,000+ acres. How is it mostly public land? Is it land locked public land? My buddy is retired and he lives to far away to scout so this might be a good deal for him if its a quality club. He has the money and just wants a spot that he knows he has when he shows up without fighting for a public blind or something like that.
Again, Thanks for the help.

[goosewhacker]

I was a member for awhile, quit a couple of years ago but this is what I saw:

We killed a lot of geese. No complaints there. Upland, not so good. There are a couple of good properties but we encountered trespassers there every time and the owner told us we we needed to call the sheriff. He no longer patrols. The owner raises birds and releases roosters, but primarily on land that he owns. He will release roosters on other land if you pay for them. Maybe he does release hens but I have never seen the birds and I used to go over alot in the spring to fish bass at Potholes; using the trailer lot to stay in. The trailer lot is right next to his house. Can't confirm or deny what he said, just had never seen it in the 5+ years I was a member.

He no longer scouts goose fields-of you want to hunt geese you need to get over on Friday, find a field and then request it. If it's a hot field you may find that it's already been 'asked for' and if you drive by the next day you will likely find that it's the owner and friends. Not always, but I have seen this happen several times.

He keeps track of how many hunts you have and will deny you a field if you have more hunts than someone else that wants a field. Even if you scouted the field and the other person did not. Or if one of his group wants the field. I can understand trying to be fair and I am all for that, but not when the rule is used to play favorites.

He has a rule-you must be out of the field by noon. If the geese don't start flying until 11:00, too bad-you need to be out by noon. You can drive by a field where the owner and his friends are hunting at 2:30 and they will still be set up. But you need to be out by noon.

He has another rule-no digging in the field. I have seen him send out a member of his party the night before to a field to dig their laydown blinds in 12" or so. I have seen this more than once.

There are fields that he leases, and the members money helps pay for these leases, but due to "previous problems with some hunters" you can only hunt the field if he is there with you. He has a group he likes to hunt with and that's who hunts the field.

He will tell you at the show that he had more geese than he had hunters for. I have heard him tell new members and I have been told by other members that since they signed up as duck hunters or since they didn't have much experience hunting geese that they couldn't have a field.

Again, I am only stating things I have seen myself. I have nothing against him personally, but I just think that if you have written rules and policies then EVERYONE should follow them.
I have watched him have conversations with folks at the club and folks at the show and make statements that just aren't true. I had to quit because I just couldn't stomach the lies and the double-standards.

But that being said, he does have a lot of land that geese like tied up. You can get in some good hunts and have a lot of opportunity to kill geese. For the price it's about the best deal around but you have to scout yourself. He rarely if ever patrols anymore. The clubhouse and cleaning room is a nice feature. I have friends that belong that like to hunt ducks-they get more birds off the public lands that they do on FHC property but they still get in some decent hunts. They know the what the owner does and accept it to gain the hunting opportunities.

That's my experience and  FWIW

[eastsidemallard74]

Thanks for the comments. Some said you hunt mostly public land but both clubs say they lease 35,000+ acres. How is it mostly public land? Is it land locked public land? My buddy is retired and he lives to far away to scout so this might be a good deal for him if its a quality club. He has the money and just wants a spot that he knows he has when he shows up without fighting for a public blind or something like that.
Again, Thanks for the help.

If he has the money, it's idea for him.Especially if he goose hunts alot. Alot of birds on FHC properties, actually in the basin period. As far as the public land, they lock up all the spots around it and its hard to get in. Short story,there are some ponds out here off Dodson Rd,FHC has it posted like no tomorrow on all the property surrounding it. I found a access to it.Ran into MR Game Warden on the way in,chatted it up with him,he told me they were public, the land around is private? I live out here now, so Im able to meet alot of people and get access to land either through buddies or land owners.

[akirkland]

Thanks for the comments. Some said you hunt mostly public land but both clubs say they lease 35,000+ acres. How is it mostly public land? Is it land locked public land? My buddy is retired and he lives to far away to scout so this might be a good deal for him if its a quality club. He has the money and just wants a spot that he knows he has when he shows up without fighting for a public blind or something like that.
Again, Thanks for the help.

I thought Royal City has 25.000 acres. Still a heck of a deal.

[hayes202]

I was a member for 4 or 5 year would NEVER join again. If you are not a good friend of the owner you get screwed. Every time you request a peace of land that the geese were taking it was already taken. They only give you one piece of land to hunt all day long. Don't waste your money.

[AWS]

My  hunting partner has been a member for a number of years and still is, I was a quest member for a few years and thought it was a good deal.  We only hunt upland and a few ducks that we jump on upland ground.  You have to work for your birds, it isn't SD.  Success is better than public land and you don't have to knock on doors for permission.  You request certian farms to hunt or tell the owner what you want to hunt for and he will assign you a farm.  Nice thing is that you have the farm exclusive for the day and as far as I know you can hunt upland all day.  If the plot is small you can get a couple.  There are a number of nice private ponds with blinds and boats, they are not public but some of the signs have been at the entrance of the access road that goes through public land that also has ponds on it.  I've hunted both.  If your strickly a duck hunter, there are so many good duck hunting spots on public land that it's isn't a great deal.  If you hunt upland or upland/ducks and just have a few days off and little time to scout this is a great deal.  If your retired and like to go out for a week at a time and want to keep a trailer there so you don't have to haul it, it is a great deal.  My partner has a small trailer ther and has his dogs in his truck so he can leave from work and not have to deal with lodging or campsites.  I'm not a goose hunter and neither is my partner so we know little of that part of the of the club

[follow maggie]

I did it once a few years ago and wouldn't do it again. It seemed like the inner circle got all the good lots and the newbies were there to fund hunting for the long timers. I shot more than twice as many birds on pubic land as I did on the club land that year.