How do y'all decide who hunts where?

[cehorn]

A little background. Family ranch that my dad owns. Other members include me & my family (wife and 4 kids) and my sister and her family (BIL and 2 kids) Dad gets first choice on stands which is a no brainer. We have struggled deciding who gets to hunt where after that. Currently we just text where we are going but then end up getting hurt feelings when multiple people want to go to the same place and everyone has a different reason as to why they should be able to hunt there. There are many factors we have encountered and I don't know how to deal with those which is why I'm asking for suggestions. The current suggestion is a google doc where we alternate hunts where families get blind choices 1,3,5,7,9 and 2,4,6,8 etc. Some of the issues we have encountered:

• What is fair? Should fair be equal as in same number of opportunities just for being in the family? In an ideal world this would be the case but the fact of the matter is 1 family does twice if not more work on the place. I tend to think blind choices should reward those that put in the blood and sweat. This is honestly my biggest rub. I may be selfish but why should somebody that hasn't done any work get to choose a stand before anyone that has been busting their *** for everyone (feeder filling, stand set up, camp work, etc.)
• What happens if somebody sees a shooter but can't get a shot? Should they be able to hunt that blind again? If not, will that lead to people not being truthful about what they see for fear of somebody choosing that stand for the next hunt? Does what you have previously shot factor in?
• Should adults get priority or kids? The work I discussed earlier factors in here as well as money. I'm a big believer in kids progressing their way up with the deer they shoot and none of our kids are at trophy shooting status in my opinion. And to be clear, I keep saying kids but the "kids" range from 13 to 21 so maybe grandkids to put it generational vs age may be more accurate.
• I strive for community stands but others think if they bought the stand they have first right to it. I disagree as we have all spent money and done work.
• How many times have people been? It has been said before that so and so should get to choose first because they have only been to the ranch once this year while others have been every weekend. The people that have been every weekend have done the work and ultimately it is a choice how often you go etc. So I disagree with this but it has been an issue.

I'm sure there are other factors I'm not mentioning and in reality if this is the least we have to worry about we are in good shape. But, I'm interested in opinions on what y'all do with community stands whether it is family or other lease mates and what factors y'all consider when setting up your procedures.

[JFFB]

Originally Posted by cehorn

A little background. Family ranch that my dad owns. Other members include me & my family (wife and 4 kids) and my sister and her family (BIL and 2 kids) Dad gets first choice on stands which is a no brainer. We have struggled deciding who gets to hunt where after that. Currently we just text where we are going but then end up getting hurt feelings when multiple people want to go to the same place and everyone has a different reason as to why they should be able to hunt there. There are many factors we have encountered and I don't know how to deal with those which is why I'm asking for suggestions. The current suggestion is a google doc where we alternate hunts where families get blind choices 1,3,5,7,9 and 2,4,6,8 etc. Some of the issues we have encountered:

• What is fair? Should fair be equal as in same number of opportunities just for being in the family? In an ideal world this would be the case but the fact of the matter is 1 family does twice if not more work on the place. I tend to think blind choices should reward those that put in the blood and sweat. This is honestly my biggest rub. I may be selfish but why should somebody that hasn't done any work get to choose a stand before anyone that has been busting their *** for everyone (feeder filling, stand set up, camp work, etc.)
• What happens if somebody sees a shooter but can't get a shot? Should they be able to hunt that blind again? If not, will that lead to people not being truthful about what they see for fear of somebody choosing that stand for the next hunt? Does what you have previously shot factor in?
• Should adults get priority or kids? The work I discussed earlier factors in here as well as money. I'm a big believer in kids progressing their way up with the deer they shoot and none of our kids are at trophy shooting status in my opinion. And to be clear, I keep saying kids but the "kids" range from 13 to 21 so maybe grandkids to put it generational vs age may be more accurate.
• I strive for community stands but others think if they bought the stand they have first right to it. I disagree as we have all spent money and done work.
• How many times have people been? It has been said before that so and so should get to choose first because they have only been to the ranch once this year while others have been every weekend. The people that have been every weekend have done the work and ultimately it is a choice how often you go etc. So I disagree with this but it has been an issue.

I'm sure there are other factors I'm not mentioning and in reality if this is the least we have to worry about we are in good shape. But, I'm interested in opinions on what y'all do with community stands whether it is family or other lease mates and what factors y'all consider when setting up your procedures.

Draw numbers.

[DUKFVR]

Draw on the morning of hunt. If I owned it ,that is what I would tell kids. Don't like it go get your own place. I dang sure ain't putting up with no drama on my place. Thats why we bought. Tired of lease drama.

[HeyMikey]

Originally Posted by JFFB

Draw numbers.

^^^ this.........simple enough!

[TXhoghunter94]

I use to be on a 12 person 24 blind lease in rocksprings where there was a chaulk board and you wrote your name next to the stand you were going to hunt so it was first time first serve and you could stay in the blind until you decided to leave or hunt a different spot.

Now I'm on a lease where each lease member has their own section that they manage and setup however they like and this method works way better for multiple reasons.

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[coachk43]

Really sounds like a simple solution to me. First and foremost, you are on a family property. Doesn't sound like a lease to me. Second, I cant agree with the principle of moving up in age of deer thought process. IMO, if the kids are skilled enough with a firearm, the goal should be management. Teach them what a Trophy is for the area and quality of the heard, show them what the management and cull deer that need to be harvested and also the doe numbers and let them hunt. If they need someone with them, then be that someone. I wouldn't even consider letting a trophy walk if I was hunting with my kid. If I knew he/she was proficient with that firearm and that deer made a mistake, Let it fly and make lasting memories. Simple as that. Choose a stand, rock paper scissors if need be, wish everyone a great hunt and mean it and enjoy the time with family. Makes for great holiday table talk and lasting memories. Beats the hell outa hunting on a lease with people you really don't care for.

[Chance Love]

Easiest is to just draw numbers.

[Wence]

Draw numbers before the first hunt and then rotate in numerical order each following hunt. Example if you draw stand 1 for first hunt you hunt stand 2 next hunt and so on. We did this so everyone would have chance to hunt different areas of the ranch.

[doeboy11]

Draw after dad

[DRT]

Write up multiple options and send them out for feedback.

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[flywise]

Draw sounds good

[centex_aggie]

What if you alternate weekends on which family gets first choice? Say opening weekend your family gets first pick each hunt. Then the next weekend sisters family gets first pick, etc.

[manwitaplan]

Originally Posted by Wence

Draw numbers before the first hunt and then rotate in numerical order each following hunt. Example if you draw stand 1 for first hunt you hunt stand 2 next hunt and so on. We did this so everyone would have chance to hunt different areas of the ranch.

We draw cards and follow the same routine.


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[TENRMORE]

We can usually agree on who hunts where cause none of our stands are much better than the other. We do have a deck of cards on the table and if there is a problem high card get first pick...We also stopped running cameras and that helped out also.

[Traildust]

Number the stands, put numbers in a coffee can. Draw. Simple and no fuggin whining.

[TMC50]

I have been in this situation.

My parents had a place and we (mom/dad/me/BIL) all had "our" blinds but after dad decided where to hunt, we just kind of decided who to where. We did not care who shot what. When we had guest, they sat with someone in the party blind. If you just wanted to go sit somewhere and have fun, you went to the party blind. The party blind killed 100s of animals and we let others shoot from the party blind.

No feelings hurt just decide

[cehorn]

Originally Posted by JFFB

Draw numbers.

I'm leaning more towards this as well. It would definitely simplify things. But it makes everything based on luck and not earned. I feel like this would set up the socialism experiment that I don't care to do. But it is likely the best option.

Originally Posted by DUKFVR

Draw on the morning of hunt. If I owned it ,that is what I would tell kids. Don't like it go get your own place. I dang sure ain't putting up with no drama on my place. Thats why we bought. Tired of lease drama.

This would be ideal and an answer from the owner (dad) would be respected by all. But, he won't do it. We have asked and discussed and all he will say is y'all figure it out. And the morning of the hunt is tough when some people like to be in the stand by 6:00 and some don't like to wake up until 6:30. But overall I agree with your concept, it should just be done the night before.

Originally Posted by coachk43

Really sounds like a simple solution to me. First and foremost, you are on a family property. Doesn't sound like a lease to me. Second, I cant agree with the principle of moving up in age of deer thought process. IMO, if the kids are skilled enough with a firearm, the goal should be management. Teach them what a Trophy is for the area and quality of the heard, show them what the management and cull deer that need to be harvested and also the doe numbers and let them hunt. If they need someone with them, then be that someone. I wouldn't even consider letting a trophy walk if I was hunting with my kid. If I knew he/she was proficient with that firearm and that deer made a mistake, Let it fly and make lasting memories. Simple as that. Choose a stand, rock paper scissors if need be, wish everyone a great hunt and mean it and enjoy the time with family. Makes for great holiday table talk and lasting memories. Beats the hell outa hunting on a lease with people you really don't care for.

Yes, definitely not a lease. Just aunts, uncles, cousins and grandpa. We will agree to disagree on the kids. Ultimately the goal is to get where you are talking about. But 2 things. To start out I want to keep the kids interested which shooting things helps. For my kids I have started them out with a doe, then a spike then say an 80-110" deer and then they are pretty much at the shoot mature deer level. I have tried to make that 80-100" deer a mature cull and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. My youngest just shot a 110" 5 yr old and my stepson just shot a 3 year old 108" deer. He knows that is his only time to shoot a young deer but it got his hands on some antlers and we are both very happy!! The other side is and I know others are different but I don't want my kids first deer to be the ranch record and it is only downhill from there. I know as adults we can process and be happy with mature deer but I haven't always seen that with kids. It isn't necessarily based on mine but I had friends growing up that shot big deer as their first deer and never really hunted again. Right or wrong, I'm doing what I think is best to keep them interested in the long run.

I agree with your last statement. I know that what we are discussing is ultimately minor and sure beats the hell out of a lease, etc.

Originally Posted by DRT

Write up multiple options and send them out for feedback.

This is really where we are at. My sister suggested the google docs thing and I like it about as much as drawing numbers. I like the rotation thing as well but I'm starting to get into hunting specific deer or trying to. That makes it tough but what is good for the whole should be the goal not just me or any other individual.

It is just tough when you have different levels of effort and care for everything involved. We are working on it. We may not have it all figured out but at least I haven't had anything to post in the family holiday stories section...lol

[trash2]

Split the property in half and rotate sections every 3 yrs, dad goes where he wants.

[cehorn]

Originally Posted by centex_aggie

What if you alternate weekends on which family gets first choice? Say opening weekend your family gets first pick each hunt. Then the next weekend sisters family gets first pick, etc.

I think that is how we would do the google docs option. We even discussed doing it by hunt so I would get first choice in the morning and she would get first choice in the evening and then switch it the next weekend. I'm really not opposed to any option and they all have there positives and negatives. I really think we will fall somewhere in between picking stands out of a hat and getting to choose stands but using the 1,3,5 method and alternating choices. Both sound as fair as it can be.

Originally Posted by TENRMORE

We can usually agree on who hunts where cause none of our stands are much better than the other. We do have a deck of cards on the table and if there is a problem high card get first pick...We also stopped running cameras and that helped out also.

That is another issue. I have cameras at all feeders as this is our first year on the place and I'm really trying to figure out what is there. My BIL has cameras at most stands but in talking with my sister yesterday he has been buying the cheapest cameras, cards, batteries, etc he can find and in turn they never seem to work. So he has no clue what is there and I know most of what is there or at least showing up to the feeders.

[bloodtrailer28]

Enjoy being able to hunt your father's place and show appreciation for it....everyone get over the petty crap that brings drama into something yall are all blessed to enjoy.
If i was yalls father and yall were whining about that I'd tell yall to stay at home and bring the grandkids to the ranch!

[Tomkat70]

Draw #s this is the simplest route but you all need to have the discussion about the amount of work and $$$ put into the land, as we all know there will always be those kind of people that take advantage and not put their fair share in!!!

[Pstraw]

I didn't see how many acres were available and looks like 11 hunters. Be realistic about the deer harvest number that are available as well.
We used to hunt our own stand/area through Thanksgiving weekend. After that was first come-first served.
Good luck with herding your cats.

[Throwin Darts]

Sounds like a lot of fun!

[db@100]

It's just a dang deer! Go there to enjoy yourself and be with family.

If you think you are doing more work than you like, stop doing it.

[cehorn]

Originally Posted by bloodtrailer28

Enjoy being able to hunt your father's place and show appreciation for it....everyone get over the petty crap that brings drama into something yall are all blessed to enjoy.
If i was yalls father and yall were whining about that I'd tell yall to stay at home and bring the grandkids to the ranch!

Agreed. I don't want to come off as ungrateful as I know how truly lucky we are. I'm trying to get rid of the drama and petty crap and I think my sister is as well. Just trying to come up with the best way.

Originally Posted by Tomkat70

Draw #s this is the simplest route but you all need to have the discussion about the amount of work and $$$ put into the land, as we all know there will always be those kind of people that take advantage and not put their fair share in!!!

This makes the most sense out of every post. That is generally where my rub comes in that the work is usually 70/30.

Originally Posted by Pstraw

I didn't see how many acres were available and looks like 11 hunters. Be realistic about the deer harvest number that are available as well.
We used to hunt our own stand/area through Thanksgiving weekend. After that was first come-first served.
Good luck with herding your cats.

Right now we own 500 ac and lease the adjacent 700. We do have the understanding that not everyone will get to shoot a deer and we are pretty close on management. We have hunted together for over 20 years and there are many years in between individuals shooting deer. Outside of kids deer, first horns, etc everyone is going for mature deer with some of the hunters not even going for deer.

[Shane]

So you and BIL both have cameras on the same feeders? Crazy. Y'all should split the camera expense and put one good camera at every feeder and share pics among everybody.

An idea on stand selection: Draw before every hunt, but not for stand numbers. Draw for order of picking stands to hunt. As an incentive to do the work, maybe come up with a "preference point" system. Keep track of every time each person shows up to fill feeders, check cameras, clear brush, etc....whatever work is going on that benefits everyone's hunting. Each time somebody does some work, put their name in the hat 1 more time. The more you work, the more times your name is in the hat when it's time to draw for opportunity to pick a stand. If one person does 50% of the work, then he will a 50% chance of getting drawn to pick a stand first. If everybody does equal amounts of the work, then draw odds are equal.

[JayBay3405]

I pretty much have the same kind of set up, I choose last each and every time. My brothers feel the same way, they do not care where they sit or if they sit. We let the kids, wifes, and older folks grandparents hunt where they want to go. We ( my brothers and I ) do most of the work and pay for all the corn, stands, hay and upkeep. We are more happy for a kid or wife, to kill a good deer then we would be for ourselves. We have never had an argument or disagreement about any of it. We I guess you could say are all on the same page, its more about spending time together than worrying about who hunts a particular spot or getting butt hurt over it. This is just our mindset I guess, We could find plenty of other things to fret over. My 2 cents

[cehorn]

Originally Posted by Shane

So you and BIL both have cameras on the same feeders? Crazy. Y'all should split the camera expense and put one good camera at every feeder and share pics among everybody.

An idea on stand selection: Draw before every hunt, but not for stand numbers. Draw for order of picking stands to hunt. As an incentive to do the work, maybe come up with a "preference point" system. Keep track of every time each person shows up to fill feeders, check cameras, clear brush, etc....whatever work is going on that benefits everyone's hunting. Each time somebody does some work, put their name in the hat 1 more time. The more you work, the more times your name is in the hat when it's time to draw for opportunity to pick a stand. If one person does 50% of the work, then he will a 50% chance of getting drawn to pick a stand first. If everybody does equal amounts of the work, then draw odds are equal.

We do have cameras on the same feeders. I'm sure there is an easy way to share but I haven't figured it out yet. My BIL used to ask me to email him the pics before he got cameras. Emailing them is a huge pain, especially when there is no internet at the ranch, etc. I use a computer for TC pics that doesn't have outlook or any other email platform on it. I told him he was more than welcome to sit down with my computer any time he wanted and look at all the pics he wanted but I wasn't emailing them. No spite or ill intentions, just too much of a pain to do. I'm sure we could do thumb drives or something similar but we haven't done that yet. Maybe that is another question, how to y'all share TC pics with lease mates, etc. ?

I'm thinking I like a version of what you suggested best. Before the first morning hunt of the weekend draw for first pick and then do the 1,3,5 thing and alternate every hunt after that for the rest of the weekend. Then the next weekend either draw again or just flip it from the last weekend.

[CEO]

You have to take what you can get on a family place. The downfall most of the time is the people that do all the work (you in this situation) get tired of everyone else coming in for the glory reps and eventually give up on the property. That leaves it in the hands of the people who like to just show up and hunt and it gradually goes downhill. Seen it happen plenty of times.

[txtrophy85]

Got to look at it like this.


Its dads ranch. Ya'll are all his kids, so ya'll fall under an equal umbrella. Unless there is a previous agreement there is no incentive for sweat equity. You have the same rights that the sister has.

In terms of making everything as fair as possible, a draw system is the only way to do it right down to who shoots what. I was on the "step up program " for deer as a kid and to be honest I hate it. I'm not saying let an 8 year old kid shoot a booner for his first deer but hamstringing a 21 year old man because " he isn't at trophy status yet" is doing absolutely zero for his interest in hunting. I let my kids shoot a doe for their first deer, a cull for their second and then as long as it was a mature deer, they could shoot whatever they wanted. My son shot a big deer for our area last year at 13 years old and I was very happy for him. To tell him that he couldn't shoot it becasue he wasn't at trophy status yet would have been b.s.

[Javelin]

Originally Posted by cehorn

We do have cameras on the same feeders. I'm sure there is an easy way to share but I haven't figured it out yet. My BIL used to ask me to email him the pics before he got cameras. Emailing them is a huge pain, especially when there is no internet at the ranch, etc. I use a computer for TC pics that doesn't have outlook or any other email platform on it. I told him he was more than welcome to sit down with my computer any time he wanted and look at all the pics he wanted but I wasn't emailing them. No spite or ill intentions, just too much of a pain to do. I'm sure we could do thumb drives or something similar but we haven't done that yet. Maybe that is another question, how to y'all share TC pics with lease mates, etc. ?

I'm thinking I like a version of what you suggested best. Before the first morning hunt of the weekend draw for first pick and then do the 1,3,5 thing and alternate every hunt after that for the rest of the weekend. Then the next weekend either draw again or just flip it from the last weekend.

get cell cameras and have each person have access to the account. you buy half the cameras and accounts and he the other half.

[skinsfan]

Members? Are you guys paying?

[Shane]

Originally Posted by Javelin

get cell cameras and have each person have access to the account. you buy half the cameras and accounts and he the other half.

^This. Or upload all the pics from the SD cards in non-cellular cameras to a Google Drive folder or something online that everyone has access to.

[SmTx]

Just go age before beauty

[DRT]

I own land with two friends. 270 acres and lease 670 beside it.
We sell a few hunts to cover the lease cost and we hunt our 270. We have 6 stands and feeder aet ups. For two years I filled feeders for everyone and paid out a lot on feed. Sometimes I would get some momey back, sometimes they would being some corn.
I finally quit. I just feed the two I own the equipment and will let theirs run dry. Funny how they got responsible after that.
We are community but really we all just hunt our own set ups.
It's a matter of respect.

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[Lights Out]

Originally Posted by CEO

You have to take what you can get on a family place. The downfall most of the time is the people that do all the work (you in this situation) get tired of everyone else coming in for the glory reps and eventually give up on the property. That leaves it in the hands of the people who like to just show up and hunt and it gradually goes downhill. Seen it happen plenty of times.

This

[ttaxidermy]

After all that I just read it would be Easier and much less stressful to just find somewhere else to hunt!! I would be 100% out on all of that drama...

[BowhunterB]

Originally Posted by TXhoghunter94

I use to be on a 12 person 24 blind lease in rocksprings where there was a chaulk board and you wrote your name next to the stand you were going to hunt so it was first time first serve and you could stay in the blind until you decided to leave or hunt a different spot.

Now I'm on a lease where each lease member has their own section that they manage and setup however they like and this method works way better for multiple reasons.

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We all have our own blinds / areas, but if a person is not there / or going to be there that day there spot is open. However, we don't usually hunt others' spots very often at all. We put up temporary blinds here and there in some open spots throughout the season.

[HotRod Hunter]

Of Course Dad gets first choice then draw straws or numbers let it be luck of the draw

[3whunt]

It’s deer. People care way too much. Best to just enjoy the experience.

[canny]

On our family property each person has their rifle stand and they have rights to it whenever they are present and we only hunt our stands up till thanksgiving. After thanksgiving you can hunt wherever you want as long as that person isn’t there.

For bow season I’m the only one that bow hunts so I just go wherever.


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[Graysonhogs]

Cage fight, slap contest, or draw numbers.

[xman59]

Originally Posted by Traildust

Number the stands, put numbers in a coffee can. Draw. Simple and no fuggin whining.

this, and that is your stand for the week/ month/ or season,,,

[Abcdj]

We just pick and if two wanna go to the same place. Either go together or rock paper scissors. We are community everything. Worked now for 18 years.

[tigerscowboy]

Up in Colo Rockies, 6 of us, we cut cards for the 1st 2 days.

Winner of 1st draw is last to select next hunt and so on.

If hunters want to go up together, so be it. If hunters want to trade, so be it.

Remainder of week just works out.

[scotty]

I hunted on a place for 20 years.
All the hunters had a keychain with their name on it.
Every morning we put them in a hat and drew. You could hunt that stand morning and evening if you wanted. If anyone wanted to change for the afternoon, those tags went back into the hat and were redrawn.
Next morning, everyone drew again.

[GarGuy]

On my places, the teenage kids shoot culls. They may also "earn" the right to hunt trophy. X amount of hours put in through the year.

[doghouse]

Our family uses a piece of plywood with a nail for each blind number. We have washers so you put a washer on the nail of the blind you're hunting. Cannot reserve. First person coming thru gate gets their pick. Show up earlier if you want a certain blind. Never had a problem that I know of. The hunting is free so I really don't want to hear about it! LOL!

[toledo]

Problem with making things fair is the emotional thinkers will still pitch a fit when they don't get their way.

[Low Fence]

Arm wrestle….