Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Burlington, CT
Posts: 1758

There's no right or wrong, good or bad perspective to this question, but perhaps it's something to think about...

Over the past couple years, I've had the great displeasure of having to move around the country, for my career! But it has allowed me to have the great opportunity to visit many local clubs in multiple states. And what it has made me realize is that there are a two distinct types of clubs across the country, with a few exceptions. There are what I would call the "Pleasure Hunters" clubs made up of mostly pleasure hunters, and the "Competition Hunters" clubs made up of mostly competition hunters. But both usually call themselves simply a "Coon Hunters" club.

Now again, there's nothing wrong with any of these clubs... I pleasure hunt a lot, and I also competition hunt. But what I found interesting is that most members of these clubs, leaning one direction or the other (competition or pleasure) don't realize that, that's what they are... meaning they just think of themselves as a coon hunters club. So why does this matter??? Because virtually all these clubs are starving for membership, and none of them realize that they are NOT reaching out to some of their fellow coon hunters.

When I was growing up, I belonged to a local coon hunters club. We had monthly club meetings, which were always followed by groups going out pleasure hunting. We had scheduled "buddy hunts" for those that wanted to try and compete a little, and we hosted UKC and NKC events. We also had gun shoots (aka "turkey shoots"), trade days and Euchre tournaments (a mostly Midwest card game). And of course the annual "big coon" contest! We had squirrel hunters, coon hunters, competition hunters and "hide" hunters. We had a good mix of people, young and old and most everyone pitched-in to help host events. The pleasure only hunters, and/or some of the "old timers" helped to guide casts at the competition events, even though they didn't care to compete.

And those same "old timers" came to events to tell stories, and play cards, and when they didn't go to the woods they helped keep the MOH company and pitched in, in the kitchen. They also helped put on bench shows, treeing contests and field trails, back in the day when a "hunt" was an all day event! Nowadays I show up to some events, where there is no kitchen, folks arrive at the last minute to draw out for the hunt, they come back just to pick up that precious yellow slip of paper, and we don't even stick around to clap our hands when trophies are handed out, if there are even any trophies!

And I hear many of you already... "Dave we don't do all those things because we don't have enough members to support it!" But I'm wondering if that's because we have unknowingly become too focused... the competition hunt clubs aren't involving any pleasure hunters to help with one another's events. And the pleasure hunter clubs, aren't drawing any "new blood" because they don't put on any competition events.

I'm wondering if we may just have our blinders on, and are forgetting how diverse we "coon hunters" are??? I've talked to some people that believe "hide hunters" or pleasure hunters are a small minority and I've talked to hide hunters at the different fur buyers that think competition hunters are a small minority! I don't know who's right, but maybe together we could be a majority...

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David Schmidt
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Registered: Aug 2014
Location: sand hills
Posts: 356

I know what you are talking about,i can remember back in the late 60s and early 70s we use to go to a big barn that was converted some what that was used by the coon hunters and the beagle men and fox hound men and bear hunters and bird dog men all and about anytime a hunt was going on you would see just about all of them there helping out in some way and you just dont see that anymore,i think a lot of it has to do with people now days live a much faster pace life and they have a lot more to do than they did back in the old days it seems as everyone is run and gun anymore and dont even have time to talk to anyone much less help out in a hunt,in general people are not the same as they was back then and when you add in the electronic world that has involved and take a look back its like a whole different world you are looking at,you can also add in they are 4 or 5 times as many clubs now as they once was,i hope everyone will pull together and keep them going for the future of the sport.

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( White Light What A Night )

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Registered: Sep 2015
Location:
Posts: 201

I agree. I am 46 yrs. old, have to be at work at 5 am, and don't care to competition hunt. I would like to have a club to just meet other hunters and see other types of dogs. Clubs need to have more social type hunting. I am more than willing to give my time and money to that type of club.

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: Eastern Shore Originally, Western Maryland now
Posts: 1256

Our club is more of pleasure than anything. But all our activities are comps. And we make it a all day thing. Water races field trials bench shows and nite hunts. Our problem is havin volunteers to guide.

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Registered: Mar 2015
Location: Indiana
Posts: 5

Very well said. Would love to have a good club to go to that's more than another competition hunt. But I think they are few and far between. Some of the clubs iv dealt with are a small group of guys who have there hunt and have no interest in getting new people involved or the socializing and comrodery part of it. I'm sure there's still good ole fashioned coon clubs out there jus haven't found it yet.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: North GA
Posts: 14388

We have club hunts. Hardly any new hunters in these parts. Can not get the pleasure hunters only around to even stop by. Ive tried the htx hunts. Our buddy hunts. Can't make em come. Only thing we havent tried is a poundage hunt. Thinking about trying one. I see them on the local state land but never grace the club with their presence. I know they aint coming to no ukc or pkc event. We have plenty of those. So how do I get them in there? Ive invited em up. The more the merrier. Crap I just like talking coon hunting. It looks like they would. Do they just not know that thats what mainly happens?

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Michael Ghorley

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: Eastern Shore Originally, Western Maryland now
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I feel it's just they're not club people. Or they don't have papers

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Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Burlington, CT
Posts: 1758

Kenny may have a point, in that some folks just aren't sociable, and for those, no club event would draw them in... they're just loners. But for those that aren't loners, there could be some things done to bring them into the fold. For those clubs that are mostly pleasure hunters, it's simple, host some competition events, to get the competition hunters to come check you out. But then welcome them when they show up! I've been to new clubs where nobody even introduced themselves, much less thanked me for attending their event or asking me to become a member. That needs to change, if clubs are to survive!

For those competition clubs that want to draw more pleasure hunters, the answer is a little more difficult. And coincidentally, this very topic came up at a club meeting last night, and I wasn't even the one to mention it! A club member that attends virtually all our competition hunts, said that if there weren't competition hunts, he would have no reason to come to our club... he said, "what else do we do???"

That started a conversation, and led to several ideas to keep all members more engaged, as well as draw new members. They included: have some card tournaments, or corn hole tournaments, as fund raisers. More group hunts, without score cards, pound hunts, or just a good old fashion cook out, or family day with a bouncy house and games for the kids.

The take-away was... if coon hunting is about more than holding KC events, like friendships, comradery, etc. then we need to do something to drive those aspects.

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David Schmidt
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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: Eastern Shore Originally, Western Maryland now
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A big coon contest will do wonders. Don't need guides or judges. And the winner gets money

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Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Burlington, CT
Posts: 1758

One other aspect of drawing new members, even competition hunters to the mostly competition clubs... make your club seem open and inviting!

Some clubs come across as secretive, without the members even realizing it, just because they are well aware of it, and have just forgotten what it's like to be the new guy. Here are some frustrations, I've experienced as the "new guy":

- How about a sign??? Just because you know that's the club house down that lane, doesn't mean anyone else following the vague directions, does! I've been to several clubs that don't even have a sign out front. And how inviting, is that???

- Provide better directions! 10 miles southwest of Metropolis on County Road XX, isn't very descriptive! For instance, where does the 10 miles start??? From Main Street, from the center of town, from the edge of town??? Or even worst, go to XYZ and hang a "left"! What if I was coming in from the North as opposed to the South... is it my left or your left??? This is even worst when you don't have a sign! How about in our modern age of GPS, you provide an address or coordinates?!? Make it seem like you want folks to actually find your club...

- As I said above, make folks feel welcome. When a new face walks through the door, as opposed to everyone just staring, how about someone goes up and greets them, and says "thanks for coming!" In two years of going to over a dozen new clubs I've only had one president come up and greet me, and they even followed up after the hunt, to thanks me for coming. That went a long way to getting me to come back.

- Come across as wanting them as opposed to needing them! Be hospitable, to the best of your ability. When that new guy or gal comes through your door, don't make them a guide or judge, right out of the gate! First of all, you don't know them enough to make them a judge, second of all do you invite someone over for dinner and then ask them to bring the food, plates, silverware and drink if they got it???

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David Schmidt
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Registered: Apr 2008
Location: Reelsville , Indiana
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I feel pretty fortunate, we've managed to luck out and have a pretty good balance. We try to do some family events, try to make the women feel welcome. But I don't think there's a magic bullet.

Some of our members have kids that are active in sports. They're young, and doing some sports related activity every week of the year. It's crazy, and hard to compete with. So, If they get an hour to show up to a Friday night meeting, that's what they will give. Some of the other clubs around here do some non-hunting related stuff, and it draws people in.

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Registered: Jul 2014
Location: p.a.
Posts: 275

You may want to take a look at how some other clubs that are not coon clubs are keeping numbers up, i no that the ATFA gets a pretty good turnout every time they put on a hunt or the ones that i seen was, i think that some times you need to just shut a club down and start over and do a member rebuild because the present members in most clubs like it as it is and discourage any new members from wanting to join.

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Registered: Dec 2006
Location: Springfield, Ga.
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quote:

---

Originally posted by AppalachianBlue
A big coon contest will do wonders. Don't need guides or judges. And the winner gets money

---

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Robert " Rock" Johnson

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quote:

---

Originally posted by AppalachianBlue
A big coon contest will do wonders. Don't need guides or judges. And the winner gets money

---

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Robert " Rock" Johnson

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Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Burlington, CT
Posts: 1758

I don't know Rock. I think it depends on how you manage it...

The way I've seen it done, where coon aren't so plentiful, is hunters are sent out as groups, as opposed to a bunch of individuals. And they're instructed to kill just two coon. Then there's a prize for the first group back with two coon, a prize for the biggest coon and a prize for the most combined weight.

Now sure, some folks could cheat and kill several to hand pick the biggest, but that's why there's a prize for the first group back. AND... if someone is going to slaughter a bunch of coon to win a few bucks, then they aren't like you and I, trying to conserve the population anyway. Meaning they're probably already killing a bunch of coon, regardless of this contest.

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David Schmidt
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Fayetteville.Ga
Posts: 2167

Rock is spot on down here all you need is a excuse to shoot coons out so with that said I think it would be like you said kill as many as you can then bring in the 2 largest. Just my thought's .

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Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Burlington, CT
Posts: 1758

Really Guys??? If people are searching for an excuse to kill coon, they will come up with any given reason, any night of the week! The fact that you had a big coon contest, may be their reason that night, but if you didn't have a contest they would have come up with some other reason!

People that choose to conserve will, and those that don't, won't regardless of some event a club might have.

We can't on one hand argue that we need more folks active in our sport, and our clubs, and then argue that we can't have events that might have folks out hunting coon! I'm all for conservation, and I've become even more so, now that I live where there are very few coon. But if I would start arguing against harvesting coon, I fear I would be one step away from arguing against hunting coon... it's a slippery slope.

Again the point was getting coon hunters interested in your club, and maybe if they do so and start hunting with you, you can find a chance to persuade them to act differently. If there our slaying coon, that may or may not stop. But if you can get them involved in your club, you stand a chance of getting them to turn the corner. If they continue out on their own, well... they'll continue doing what they do!

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David Schmidt
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Last edited by deschmidt27 on 12-08-2015 at 10:03 PM

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Willard Oh.
Posts: 1255

I'm 49 and have belonged to Rural Coonhunters Club in Greenwich Oh, since I was 16. We have some members that coon hunt and occasionally go to a comp. hunt, we hold 3 Ukc hunts, a few Pkc hunts, a weekend field trial which is a really good turnout, and a 4 day Bluegrass festival. We generate a fair amount of money but it takes a large amount of money to maintain the building, grounds and mowers and tractor. It just seems harder every year to be more involved. I think everyone who enters a hunt should have to be a active in good standing member of a club to be able to participate, too much of the work load is put on the same small group, it gets old after a while. We used to have a few buddy hunts, and on work days we would fire up the grill and cook for everyone. Some of the perks, we have a large Hall that we can use for re-unions, parties and such. We have 50+ acres with a large pond that has a lot of good fish. Its really one of the nicer clubs I have been too and I've been all over the country. We used to hold fish frys for all the local farmers in appreciation for them to allow us hunting on their land. We are a dying breed whether we like it or not.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: North GA
Posts: 14388

If alwats looked at it like Rock and HL but our club is right smack dab located in the middle of a 28,000 ac wma. They gonna kill em anyhow on it. Aint like I share hunting spots with most of them. I wouldnt have one weekly or anything although several clubs around north ga do. If a feller dint have enough sence not to shoot all his private land coon out. He will learn a valuable lesson the hard way. Im gonna ask everyone this week at our pkc and ukc hunt and see if they want to have one in Jan for our monthly hunt. We may have people show up Ive never seen. We have a coon hunter that lives right next door to our club. Moved there last yr. While Ive saw him there several yrs ago at a ukc hunt. Hes never once came to a meeting or anything else. I think a p oundage hunt may lure him in.

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Michael Ghorley

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