I've been in a few leases. The first one I got in the dues were $800 a year and we had about 9,000 acres and 25 guys. In the 9 years I was in it the dues went to $1300 a year and the property dwindled to 3500 acres. We still had about 25 members but some of the older guys dropped out and we got in some guys who moved to camp and actually lived there 3 months out of the year and hunted 7 days a week. Also, for them if it was brown it was down. Every year it was "are we going to have enough members get back in for the club to make?" and "are we going to lose land this year?" or "how much will the dues go up?" and it was always down to the wire before we ever got a solid answer. There were some big blocks of land that I always said that when they get logged, I'm out, and they eventually got logged.
Another thing was that unlike public land, guys out there would ride 4 wheelers over every square inch of the place that they could. It wasn't just scouting either. The kids would just joy ride. A lot of those dudes would literally ride their 4 wheeler up to the base of their ladder stand and hunt. It was pretty ridiculous. Then they would complain about never seeing deer, lol.
All that said, if you knew how to get away from them the hunting was pretty good. Basically, if you found a place they could not get a 4 wheeler, like across a deep ditch, they never went there. It was like the dark side of the moon for them. Also, new growth cutovers that got thick were good spots because the only way they knew to hunt them was sit on the road with a rifle and if anything came across, they would have at it. Of course, if it did not fall in its tracks on the logging road, they left it. They wouldn't go into the thick stuff. I found lots of skeletons 40 to 50 yards off in those thickets.
I saw the club president about a month ago and we talked. I have halfway given some thought to getting back in just for the turkey hunting and the hogs and the fact that I know the place backward and forward and know where some really good rut funnels are deep in the thickets. I would still hunt public primarily but i do miss being able to hunt hogs year round. Our WMA rules only allow hog hunting during an open season. If the season is open for deer, I'm not hunting hogs.