Were you a member?

[White Falcon]

I was.

[S-3 Ranch]

They were the best! “ best at wiping out a ranches deer herd” They absolutely wrecked our place in rio Grande city

[MQ32Shooter]

I wanted to be. Never could come up with the money they wanted.

[RascalArms]

They were the best! “ best at wiping out a ranches deer herd” They absolutely wrecked our place in rio Grande city

So I hear.

I have a sour taste in my mouth for the American Sportsman's Club.
When I was young we had a great family lease for many years between Mason and Junction. It was a beautiful place and a fairly target rich environment as there seemed to be deer behind every tree.

To say the old landowner was somewhat of a hard case with some quirky rules was an understatement. No bows allowed, no does before Thanksgiving, no driving off ANY of the roads (not just when it rained) ever! That made putting up deer stands and filling feeders a real PITA! This was back before lease contracts were common and all we had was a year to year hand-shake deal.
Anyway, we enjoyed the lease for many years, always obeying and respecting his rules. We would help him mend fences on occasion and even bring him a nice bottle of high $ scotch at the beginning of every season. He was always welcomed around our campfires and drank lots of our hooch.

We paid our lease dues in 2 installments, 1st half was due March 1 and 2nd half by Sept 1.

The year we lost it the old fart called my dad 2 weeks before the 2nd half was due (sept 1st) and said "I got good news and bad news"? He said the good news was we could still have the lease but the bad news was he had been offered more $ from the American Sportsman’s Club so had to increase the price by like $1500 for THIS year! My dad says Hey, we have a deal for THIS year at X amount...plus, we've already paid half the $ and we've been feeding corn all year long as well.
He said he couldn't help it since he had this great offer from the ASC! Needless to say, it didn't sit well with my dad and uncles and we ended up having to get all our stuff off the lease in 2 weeks time!

Funny, about 4 years later the old geezer had the audacity to call my dad wanting to know if we were interested in re-leasing with him. Seems a cow had gotten shot by mistake and some roads and fences had been damaged the last few years. Dad told him to pound sand...or something to that affect.

[deerplanter]

No but my grandfather was a patrolman so we made a few hunts. I don't remember where it was but I remember it had a larger canyon on it.

[Drycreek3189]

I'd really like to say that I was smarter than that, but actually I could afford neither the price nor the time off to enjoy it. It really is better to be lucky than good...sometimes.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I was a member. Had other family n friends that were too. We actually enjoyed it tremendously for many years. It outgrew itself and collapsed but in the early years, it was a lot of fun.

[double bogey]

We were members when I was about 14 or so (1971). It seemed fishy to me because when we would attempt to make a reservation on the earliest day they were available, it would already be full as soon as the phone could be answered. And when couldn't get a res, they would come up with other ranches we hadn't known about. Mid season several new ranches popped up, but had been hunted on all season. We did get a few good hunts but never got to hunt where we wanted to. We seemed to be lower tier level than some other members.
My first boss when I got out of high school was very bitter with them, as they leased a ranch out from under him that he had had for years.

[boy wonder]

I joined and went to 1 ranch on a bow hunt, demanded (and got) a refund! No deer were even seen by about 15 hunters in camp for a weekend, shady dealings......

[psicoo]

They were the best! “ best at wiping out a ranches deer herd” They absolutely wrecked our place in rio Grande city

This.
One of the ranchers we leased from several years ago was offered a deal from this association and kicked us off the prime hunting area we'd leased for nearly 30yrs.
Karma set in two years later, the club had hunted the area clean and pulled up camp and left the rancher holding the bag, owing him.
We still lease 8700acres in the same immediate area of the panhandle, however, several hunters still miss that nearly 4000 acres of bottom land near the red river.

[armadillophil]

I think we joined in mid 80's. Guy came by house from Houston showed all this pics etc. We signed up and tried to reserve hunt and it was book, my dad got a refund.

[Rcole1310]

Guy came to my house and signed me up in 1998. I was new to leasing and had no clue what I was doing. Paid, then found out that the club hadn’t paid the land owners. I was asked to leave one of the ranches. I remember having feeders and stuff taken off of another place by the land owner. Total nightmare.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bowtechhunter]

I was a member back in the early 70's got to hunt some great ranches. It was real hunting back then no feeders,stands,or ATVs.

[Duane]

My family were members from the mid 70s for six or seven years. Got on a good ranch in Ozona and my dad ended up being a patrolman for several years on the place. The landowners contracted for a quota of bucks and does, and once the quota was met, the ranch was closed and remaining reservations were cancelled. Granted, there weren't any management programs as far as age structure or antlers that I recall, but the notion that the club came in and decimated deer herds is not very likely unless the landowners set their quotas too high. We became friends of the landowner in Ozona and hunted his place for many years after he quit leasing to the ASC. I think I last hunted it in 1987 or 88.

We also deer hunted on some crappy places before landing on the Ozona place. I couldn't imagine betting my deer season on such a system these days, but for a family back in the 70s without the financial means to afford a season lease, I think it was a good alternative. At least it was for my family. Individual results may vary!

[Brute Killer]

Never heard of it.