We ran into LaRocco at the recent Safari Club International Convention in Reno, and he said he was getting "personally involved" in the club and was scheduling a visit to several of the organization's properties this month. He promised us a follow-up report. In the meantime, the name of the club is The Great Western Hunting Club. It plans to charge new members a one-time fee of $1,000, which gets them into the club for a year. After that, annual dues are $500 a year. There is also a $150 administrative fee per hunt, payable each time a member goes on a hunt. Additionally, the member has to pay the actual lease fee charged by the landowner, which might run as little as $200 or as much as $2,000 per person, depending on the species available and the quality of the hunting.
What kind of deal is that, you ask? The answer is, a potentially good one for the hunter of average means who doesn't have landowner buddies out West and/or the wherewithal or desire to pay for outfitted hunts. If you have hunted out West recently, you know that most of the good hunting on private land is being gobbled up by outfitters who offer only high-ticket outfitted hunts. The competition for quality leases is driving prices sky-high. The hunter of moderate means who wants to hunt private land on his own is definitely being squeezed. And that's where Great Western Hunting Club comes in. It wants........(continued)
