I think it's pretty safe to assume some of the previous posters DID NOT have a positive experience at AVSC. Be that as it may, without making any personal attacks on anyone, I think it's only fair that I share my experience with the club now that I completed my first season, not only with the club and how I got there, but as a new hunter too.
As a person whose been interested in hunting for most of my life but wasn't fortunate enough to have any friends or relatives who are hunters, I started looking for guide services to get me started, thinking I'd ask the guide a million and one questions to learn the ropes enough that I could eventually go it alone on public land.
Around this time last year I found a NJ company that offered guide services, which was none other than American Whitetail Ltd.. Shortly afterward, I found NJH and quickly discovered no shortage of bad press about AWLTD. Being that I wasn't particularly keen on the prospect of getting busted for trespassing on a military base (Ft. Dix) with a firearm in hand, I decided not to peruse membership with AWLTD, which essentially put me back to square one.
Then I saw a posting that AVSC was looking for members... So I went to a club open house, met some members and toured some properties. But being I was a new hunter, I certainly didn't know what to look for in a hunting club or what made a property "good" or "bad"�. But I wasn't the only prospective member attending the open house. There were a group of guys, who had tons of hunting experience and belonged to multiple clubs, who were very interested in the club and immediately signed up. So I mulled it over for a few more days and decided to join.
And as it happened, a few days after I signed up, the thread advertising for members started getting trashed by former disgruntled members, including the previous posters. When I read some of the comments, I thought to myself, "Great! Nothing like jumping out of the pan and into the fire.". But since I gave the club money, I decided I wasn't going to just walk away and would try to see it through as best I could.
I went to my first meeting following the open house and was surprised when a member offered to have me tag along with him while he inspected his stands on two different properties. When he found out I was a brand new hunter, he was happy to point out various deer sign that I'd ordinarily be oblivious to. So instead of asking a guide a million and one questions, I asked this member and later other members in the club whatever questions I've had. Nobody was ever obnoxious or holier-than-thou about it and told me to call them if I was out on a hunt and needed help with anything. After my first meeting, I felt much better about the club, not unlike how it seems Whackem felt about the club after his first meeting:
Posted: 08 Mar 2010 7:44 AM
Registered User
Currently Online Posts: 36
Fawn:
Join Date: Oct 2009
Send whackem a PM
Just attended my first club meeting and I can tell you these are the greatest group of guys I've met. Not sorry at all I joined, properties look great and I'm really looking forward to getting back into the woods this year! AVSC best money I ever spent!!!
I know some current club members would agree that the negative comments about too many members with too many stands were indeed true. Additionally, there were significant problems with finances as well, where supposedly an absentee treasurer wasn't paying the property taxes or any of the bills and the club almost went under. Add in what I've been told was some pretty toxic infighting between a few members, and I can see why someone who was a member a few years ago would have a negative impression.
But when I joined, the club was under new leadership and significant changes were made. The club instituted a 3 stand rule (there was a typo in SlugsnArrows post) and the number of regular members was capped at 25 (yes, there are life members in the club too but I've only known one of them to hunt regularly). Also, about 2 months later, the club picked up a new piece of heavily wooded property and new members were given two weeks to pick their spots first. I ended up setting up two stands there and did most of my first season's hunting on this property.
Life and charter members do indeed have rights to the clubs assets in the event of liquidation. This was spelled out in the club constitution I got when I signed up. In fact, my local gun club has similar provisions, where charter and life members have reduced and free memberships. But I didn't join AVSC to be part of some wonky real estate venture, I joined because I wanted a place to hunt. And since the club leases private properties, I expect to pay for it. If I don't become a life or charter member, then so be it, I'm there to hunt.
As far as actual hunting in the club, I can honestly say that from early October (when I harvested my first deer) through late November I was seeing deer almost every time I went out. A week after my first harvest, I tried to shoot another deer but had an equipment malfunction, which I attributed to one of many newbie mistakes I made in the field this year. Another time I ultimately decided to pass on a doe because it was close to dark and I didn't want to risk not recovering the deer after the shot. Unfortunately, due to the storm, I did miss a couple weeks during November, but I let another member borrow one of my stands during this time and he managed to shoot a nice buck from it. I did stop seeing deer just prior to gun season, but blamed it on a change in deer patterns and not on the club. And after not seeing deer from either of my stands for awhile, other members offered to let me use their stands. Eventually, I did borrow someone's stand (the club president) and hunted on another property in a different zone, where I didn't have a shotgun permit, for winter bow. And on this hunt, I not only saw tons of deer sign, but came close to having a viable shot at another deer. All I could think was if I had my slug gun, I'd be restocking my freezer. So I purchased a climber and went back to the same property for two more winter bow sits, during one of which, about 20 deer ran past my stand about 100 yards away.
To make a long story short, I don't have any complaints about the club. For sure, some members shot way more deer than I did, but it was my first year and I'm encouraged and anxious for fall bow to start. I stayed at the cabin several times and never saw anyone handle a firearm while intoxicated, or for that matter, anyone who was particularly intoxicated and belligerent at all. And every time I stayed, there was always great food, good company and interesting hunting stories, which is what I wanted when I joined a club.
