We decided not to lease the place in Strawn, again, this year. Too much money to be surrounded by hunters that won't let a deer live past 3.5yo. They are also putting in a wind farm on the acreage, they have about 20 sites surveyed off, and two sites that are within shooting distance of where our blind was at. Don't blame the rancher, he could use the money.
CHIEF Jr. has a buddy that he wake surfs with every Thursday, he works at Rough Creek Lodge. The perks out there are killer. He gets 50% off of anything he purchases. He, CHIEF Jr. and another couple of friends went on an Upland Gamebird hunt last Thursday, and it was $225/person with no limit on birds, just a limit on time. They shot five pheasant, four chukars, and thirty one quail. They clean, vacuum seal, and flash freeze them for you. So a really good deal. I'm going next time.
Rough Creek is the first deer lease I can ever remember our family leasing. A lot of great stories. Its were the "shocked bird dog" story happened that I've told on here. We had a thousand acres to deer hunt, and 10,000 acres to quail hunt. The lakes had never really been fished when we leased it.
I think we are going to do their Ultimate Rod and Gun Club with what we would have spent on the deer lease.
https://www.roughcreek.com/memberships/ultimate-rod-gun-club/
The high school buddy that works out there is the head bartender, he said he would comp any drinks we ever ordered, which would sweeten the pot.
We can hunt deer at the Lodge, but CHIEF Jr. and I both have other places to hunt. He has a spot in Mason, I have one in Iowa Park, near Wichita Falls. I will have a better chance of killing something big. My buddy, up there, shot an 8 1/2 year old with his bow on Tuesday that scored 168 (on the decline), and weighed 277 on the hoof.
CHIEF