Yardbird Hunting Club Background and Purpose
The Yardbird Hunting Club is the bastard brainchild of J. J. McAnelly and Barry Young, as well as a host of others. Since the early nineties, our group has pulled together some of the finest duck and goose hunters in the Houston and Austin areas and placed them on selected tract land leases in and around the Gulf Coast Ricebelt west of Houston. We do not strive to make a profit but only hope to defray some of the costs of the operation. Each lease is a pure "pass-through" of costs for that lease to the individual lease members. Once the costs of the lease are covered, we do not allow any more members on that lease.
Our mission is to use our collective ability; experience and resources to find, organize and hunt the most productive waterfowl season leases. We use our contacts in both the rice business and the waterfowling arena to garner waterfowling rights in some of the best areas on the Gulf Coast. We support those leases with water consultation, landowner and farmer negotiation, blind setup and regular scouting.
Leases are hunted using strict rotation schedules focusing on the weekends and at most one weekday morning thereby promoting the experience and conservation. Scouting is provided periodically through two dedicated college students—John and Will. They will attempt to provide scouting reports at various times during the season. Others on the lease programs scout as well and are encouraged to post their results as well. Based on the scouting at individual properties, we may try to coordinate and time our hunts to maximize the weather and the number of the lease members who can get away to make the hunt.
Lease members are aggregated by individual experience and personality to promote camaraderie. All levels of experience are welcome—we even have the Texas State Champion Duck Caller on one of the leases. Only referrals from existing members are added to the ranks. We do not solicit members from the general public. Guest rules generally permit lease members to bring one guest on any given day during the season. We modify this at times during heavy usage periods, i.e. Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as most "opening days".
Our overall goal is to have as much fun as possible, in a safe and responsible manner and to put a few birds in the bag along the way. Members will be extended invitations to hunt properties in addition to their subscribed property. We host an annual dove hunt for the Central Zone opener for members and selected guests.
Our operation is now supported by this website. Please forward suggestions to web-master Jay@yardbirdhunting.com. We are always looking for a few, new, qualified members as we are always picking up new land. If you have a referral please have them view the site and send us their information. We appreciate your interest and look forward to seeing you in the blind!
Best personal regards,
B. Y. and J. J.
