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Know Where To Hunt Club

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knob221:
This is regarding the club in the title, located in Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties.

This is the website if you are unfamiliar.   https://www.kwth.com/

Would love to hear people's thoughts on this. There was a previous thread on this from 2015, but wanting to revitalize it. The club has grown significantly in the amount of land they're leasing, and I'm assuming membership too. It seems like about half of the fields around Fir Island have been leased by this club, they have the KWTH signs in them.

A membership in 2026 cost $3,400. Membership prices are expected to rise every year. There is a cap on how many members and you already have to join a waitlist to get in. The amount of fields they lease has grown every year and is getting substantial. Surely they will keep gobbling up hunting access at this trajectory.

Seems like a great option if you can afford it. The days of knocking on doors for free private access are long gone anyways, and now you can get access to hundreds of fields in one membership instead of being locked into one lease that may or may not be holding birds when you want to go hunting. Now you have the ability to get on birds consistently if you can afford it.

The flip side is of course, quality waterfowl has become privatized and monetized so that only the wealthy can play. Seems like we're turning into the European model. With the Skagit Headquarters/Island Unit/ game farm being completely abandoned this year and staged for intertidal restoration next year, it seems that the futue is one where only the wealthy will get to experience the joy of hunting waterfowl over crops.

Before you mention the WDFW Private Land Hunting Opportunity program or Samish Unit, I know they exist. Those are pretty much jokes from my experience. Thats a whole other discussion.

knighttime25:
I honestly dislike the club, only because my local hunting access has been cut down over the years due to everything they have leased. I grew up in Skagit Valley and went to school and played sports with all the farmers kids, so access was never an issue. I'm not in favor of the club but I get the point of it from the hunter's perspective and the farmer. Now that my kids are getting old enough to come along, I wish that they could experience what I had growing up. Just my  :twocents:

Bearhunter:
The club appears to be primarily driven by revenue generation. There should be a reasonable cap on how much land any one entity can control. I fully support duck clubs in principle, but KWTH feels different—it operates less like a traditional hunting club and more like a large business designed to maximize profit for the owner.

Rather than locking down as much land as possible, why not focus on a limited number of properties and invest in making them exceptional places to hunt? The current approach seems to be about acquiring every available parcel and continually increasing membership to boost revenue. While that may be an effective business model, it raises the question: at what cost?

This trend ultimately limits access and leaves fewer opportunities for our kids and future generations, unless they have the financial means to buy their way in.

If the club and land locked up continues to grow there really will be NO WHERE TO HUNT...

JJJ:

--- Quote from: Bearhunter on January 07, 2026, 03:11:11 PM ---The club appears to be primarily driven by revenue generation. There should be a reasonable cap on how much land any one entity can control. I fully support duck clubs in principle, but KWTH feels different—it operates less like a traditional hunting club and more like a large business designed to maximize profit for the owner.

Rather than locking down as much land as possible, why not focus on a limited number of properties and invest in making them exceptional places to hunt? The current approach seems to be about acquiring every available parcel and continually increasing membership to boost revenue. While that may be an effective business model, it raises the question: at what cost?

This trend ultimately limits access and leaves fewer opportunities for our kids and future generations, unless they have the financial means to buy their way in.

If the club and land locked up continues to grow there really will be NO WHERE TO HUNT...

--- End quote ---


Exactly.... And we wonder why the number of hunters are decreasing.... :bash:

knob221:
If you're against it, do you have any ideas on solutions?

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