Hunting clubs exist in all shapes and sizes and, like families, can fall into dysfunction or rise from it depending on their leadership. Rather than an experiment in democracy then, it follows that many of the best and longest-lasting clubs are governed in the style of a benevolent dictatorship.
Like many of the oldest tenets of the outdoors, the attribution for the term’s first use in the hunting club world has been lost to history but its application has not. J. Wayne Fears, of Alabama, has written extensively on the subject, and virtually every club I’ve visited over the years has proven the practice to be true.
“A hunting club democracy often leads to the forming of cliques, with the reigning party setting up rules and regulations primarily for their own interests and not necessarily for the best interests of the other club members,” Fears writes in “Deer Hunter’s and Land Manager’s Pocket Reference.”
Since most of us go to hunting camp to escape the tedium of everyday life rather than immerse ourselves further into it, the last thing we’re apt to enjoy is a squabble among our buddies when it’s time to decide which fields to plant and with what, where new stands should go and everything else that goes into the decision-making process that accompanies the management of a combined investment experience.
With that tranquility established beyond any reasonable doubt, then, what most of us find is a hunting camp experience whose simple joy of being far outweighs any other goal.
“I enjoy the fellowship and all the tales,” Johnny Crane, of Fulton, said of the regular gatherings at Bull Mountain Bottom Hunting Club. “Sometimes there’s a big crowd, usually there’s just a few of us here. Either way, the fellowship is the key to all of it, no doubt.”
The traditions of hunting camp itself are a big part of hunting. If you’ve got 15 different people you’ve got 15 different opinions so, when it comes down to decision-making time, you need someone in charge whose last word is truly the very last word.
Sitting in folding chairs around a freshly-built campfire – the kind of wavering, spark-popping smudge that somehow gets smoke into everybody’s eyes at the same time – it dawned on me we were enjoying the fruits of many years’ outdoor effort, and were doing so with an enjoyment that becomes a shade stronger each time.
The culmination of a hunt arrives when preparation meets opportunity.
One is clearly brought about by the other. In the same stripe, the long-term enjoyment of our tradition is carried on when we share our experiences with our friends.
When good friends get back together to laugh at themselves and with each other, that’s what it’s really all about. For me, that’s definitely become the passion that drives the effort, the one that brings me back to the same camps every fall.
One of my mentors in business once told me, after years in a certain enterprise spent handling the day-to-day demands of what must be done and contending with the human resource challenges along the way,
“I’ve figured out, no matter what people’s particular traits or faults are, in the end, you pretty much do this with the people you want to,” meaning we spend too much time working with people not to work with people we like.
That maxim is not always good for business but, in the hunting world, those are the ties that bind. No matter who’s good or bad at what, no matter a person’s faults or failings, ultimately we do this with the people we want to. In the outdoors, that’s the magic ingredient to the recipe that makes some circles of friends truly outstanding.
If the only thing your club is about is access to land and critters, you’re going to miss something very special, and I don’t mean a turkey or a deer.
Probably the best way to build a good group of friends is to be a good friend. Share a hunting spot and be excited for a fellow member’s success. Skip a morning hunt and spend the day cooking something great for everyone to enjoy. Tolerate the failings of the folks you hunt with and, in return, you’ll find some who’ll tolerate yours. Ultimately, those are the people you’ll wind up doing this with the most.
The path that leads to that stage starts with the first step. It’s why we take our kids into the outdoors, really, so that someday we’ll have sponsored the foundation of another group of old friends who laugh and smile around a smoky campfire, and look forward to more seasons of the same.
Kevin Tate is a freelance writer. Email [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
