BuckScoutHow to run a hunting club or deer lease: a checklist for club admins
A good club runs on a handful of habits: everyone knows the rules, everyone knows who's in which stand, and the club writes down what it sees and what it takes. This checklist covers what a club admin should have in place before opening day and how to keep it running all season.
Not legal advice. Regulations in this guide come from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) pages linked below. Rules change and many are set county by county, so check the current TPWD Outdoor Annual for your lease.
1. Get the paperwork right before the season
- The lease agreement. Keep a signed copy where the admins can find it. It should say who the members are, what's allowed (species, guests, feeders, ATVs, camping), and what happens if someone breaks the rules.
- The hunting lease license. In Texas, a landowner or landowner's agent who leases hunting rights for pay needs a TPWD hunting lease license, and it must be displayed on the property. It's the landowner's (or their designated agent's) license, not each hunter's. TPWD: Hunting Lease Licenses
- Every member's license and hunter education. Every hunter born on or after September 2, 1971, including out-of-state hunters, must complete hunter education, and proof of certification or deferral must be carried while hunting (printed or on a phone). TPWD: Hunter Education
- Your county's rules. Bag limits, antler restrictions and antlerless days are set by county. Print or save your county's page from the Outdoor Annual and share it with the club. TPWD: White-tailed Deer
- MLDP, if your property is enrolled. On a property with Managed Lands Deer Program tags, harvest is by MLDP tag only, and the landowner or designated agent hands out the tags. Know who on your club holds them.
2. Write down the club rules
Most club arguments come from rules that were only ever spoken. Put them in writing, share them with every member, and go over them at the first meeting of the year. Common ones:
- Harvest rules. What bucks the club wants taken or let walk (minimum age or points), how many does each member may take, and whether hogs and predators are shoot-on-sight.
- Stand rules. Assigned stands or first come, first served; how far you can hunt from a stand; and no walking into someone else's area.
- Guests. Whether guests are allowed, how many, and whether a member must sit with them.
- Feeders, food plots and trail cameras. Who fills them, who pays for corn, and whether members can put up their own.
- Safety. Know your target and what's beyond it, unload at the truck, and wear a full-body harness in elevated stands. Missouri's conservation department notes that many accidents each year come from improper tree stand use and hunters not wearing a full-body harness and fall-arrest system (MDC: Stand Locations).
- Hunter orange. TPWD recommends hunter orange for safety but doesn't require it on private property. It is required on public hunting lands when firearm hunting is allowed (TPWD: Blaze Orange Laws). Many clubs require it anyway on drives or when walking in.
- Shooting hours. For game animals in Texas, legal shooting hours run from one-half hour before official sunrise to one-half hour after official sunset (TPWD: Definitions).
3. Use a stand sign-in and sign-out system
The single most useful habit on a shared lease is knowing who is in the field and where. Whether it's a whiteboard at the gate, a group text or an app, the rule is the same:
- Sign in to a stand before you walk in, and sign out when you leave the property.
- Nobody hunts a stand that's already taken, and nobody walks past an occupied stand.
- If someone hasn't signed out by an agreed time after dark, someone checks on them.
- Number every stand and mark it on a shared map so "I'm in 7" means the same thing to everyone.
4. Keep a sighting log
One hunter remembers a few good sits. A whole club writing down every sit builds a real picture of the lease: where the deer move, at what times, and which bucks are still around. Ask members to log, after every sit:
- Stand, date, and the time in and out
- Bucks, does, fawns and hogs seen, with times
- For bucks: points, a rough age guess and whether it's a buck the club knows
- The wind direction and anything unusual (a cold front, a hunter walking in late, a road crew)
Over a season or two, that log tells you which stands to hunt on which winds and gives you real numbers for herd decisions. Texas clubs that track bucks, does and fawns seen can work out their own buck-to-doe and fawn-to-doe ratios.
5. Keep harvest records
Write down every deer taken: who took it, the date, the stand, buck or doe, and if you can, age, weight, points and spread. A few legal points to share with the club:
- Tagging. A tag from the hunter's license must be filled out legibly, including the name of the property and the county, and attached to the deer immediately (except on properties using special-issued tags such as MLDP tags). TPWD: White-tailed Deer
- MLDP harvest log. MLDP participants must keep a legible daily harvest log on a TPWD-provided or approved form, and the hunter must fill in their entry the same day the deer is killed (31 Tex. Admin. Code § 65.29).
- Mandatory harvest reporting. In some counties, deer taken on a hunting license tag must be reported within 24 hours through the Texas Hunt & Fish app or online. TPWD lists the counties on its white-tailed deer page.
- Annual bag limit. No hunter may take more than five white-tailed deer a year statewide, no more than three of them bucks, and county limits may be lower. The annual limit doesn't apply on MLDP properties.
6. Keep members in the loop
- One place for club news, so nobody misses a work day or a rule change buried in a long text thread.
- A pre-season meeting or call: rules, stand assignments, work-day dates and dues.
- Post what's been seen and taken, so members who can't hunt every weekend still know what's happening.
- A short end-of-season recap: harvest totals, sightings by stand and what to change next year.
The short version
- Signed lease, landowner's hunting lease license displayed, members' licenses and hunter education in order.
- Written club rules shared with every member.
- Stand sign-in and sign-out, every sit.
- A sighting log after every sit.
- Harvest records, plus tagging and reporting done right.
- One place for club communication.