Wilderness Unlimited membership

[mschliebs]

So, the fellow from the Wilderness Unlimited membership club came by yesterday and gave his pitch . Sounds good, from a salesman's point of view.

The only down side to the presentation was that the literature pack was loaded with out dated (10-15 years) testamonials. And, of course, he kept making the point that he only does this for pleasure. He gets a free membership and free gas. I do not believe that part since he also had to stand on his feet for free at the gun show in Ontario two weeks ago. Lord knows that I have been lonely before but,....

They do have a lot of locations in California and Oregon and with about 12 water fowl spots around the Salton Sea and several big game and bird ranches in So Cal. Annual fees are $1295.00

Anyone have any experience with this outfit ??

[remsenlab]

I'm a member and posted previously in response to similar questions. See here: http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=299929

[mschliebs]

Thanks for the info, guys. I think I will give them a shot. If it doesn't work out it would probably be because I don't use it enough.

[Big Jake]

I would be interested in seeing a map of their property. If you can find one post it up!

[edwardm]

Complete waste and IMO a complete rip-off. I dumped 'em.

So, the fellow from the Wilderness Unlimited membership club came by yesterday and gave his pitch . Sounds good, from a salesman's point of view.

The only down side to the presentation was that the literature pack was loaded with out dated (10-15 years) testamonials. And, of course, he kept making the point that he only does this for pleasure. He gets a free membership and free gas. I do not believe that part since he also had to stand on his feet for free at the gun show in Ontario two weeks ago. Lord knows that I have been lonely before but,....

They do have a lot of locations in California and Oregon and with about 12 water fowl spots around the Salton Sea and several big game and bird ranches in So Cal. Annual fees are $1295.00

Anyone have any experience with this outfit ??

[gdun]

My family has had a membership for a long time and we've always done well and liked it.

[mschliebs]

wilderness unlimited map

I added the map as an attachment. Hope it opens.

[rooster85]

My wife and i had a family membership for a year and it was nice. Kinda pricey but after that initial year the rate goes down. We had fun and saw game everytime we went out, unfortuneatley my work schedule at the time didnt allow me to go as often as id liked. Id probally join again though if i had the time. Good luck, Mark

[plug_nickle]

Complete waste and IMO a complete rip-off. I dumped 'em.

+ 1

[acourvil]

For the folks that didn't like Wilderness Unlimited, maybe you could tell us something about what you didn't like. Was it just the price that offended you? Did you have trouble finding properties to hunt or getting reservations? If all you are going to say is "waste" and "rip-off" you really aren't adding anything to the discussion.

[gdun]

Feel free to ask me specific questions or shoot me a message OP. If you do end up joining i can refer you which saves you some $.

[edwardm]

For the folks that didn't like Wilderness Unlimited, maybe you could tell us something about what you didn't like. Was it just the price that offended you? Did you have trouble finding properties to hunt or getting reservations? If all you are going to say is "waste" and "rip-off" you really aren't adding anything to the discussion.

Favoritism among 'patrol' folks in terms of outing the hotspots, inability to get reservations on the ranches known to contain game (and then going and seeing staff, patrol persons, etc. as the users on the property when the 'regular' members can't get reservations), being required to vacate ranches if the owners come along to use them (that's fine, it's their property to start with, but it makes me wonder why they opted to lease that property in the first place). It's a PITA to make a drive to go fish someplace only to be told an hour after getting there that I have to bail so the owners can fish the pond. Why have a reservation at that rate?

Some of the phone staff are rude and/or less than helpful. The folks selling the memberships really pump up the properties, but in reality they aren't what they are described to be. "Steep" is about the only accurate word they use. Descriptions of cover, vehicles required for access, etc. are often questionable. If you've been before, then you already know, but if this is your first time driving 4 or 5 hours to a ranch, you'd hope for accurate information.

Then, on some of the ranches they have a patrol person practically babysit you the whole time (annoying when you want to get your turkey blind set up before first light and be in position, quiet and waiting/working a call) and the guy won't let you go until well after first light.

Spot checks of tags and licenses are pretty lame, too. That's mostly a combination of an annoyance and a "we don't trust you, give us your $1500 and we're still going to spot-check your papers any time we want."

Just so not worth the hassle. In many (but I admit, not all) cases I've seen better #'s of game on public lands (especially true for bears, something they build up as an asset to joining).

I just found it to be a waste. There is still plenty of good public land to hunt in CA. I'd rather spend the $1500 on gas and boot leather than deal with their *****hattery.

[gdun]

edward,
I can honerstly say i've never had any of the complaints you have. THe only thing i have witnessed in which you describe is the spot check of papers. But that was always the day before the hunt and i never found it annoying.

[r3dn3ck]

Favoritism among 'patrol' folks in terms of outing the hotspots, inability to get reservations on the ranches known to contain game (and then going and seeing staff, patrol persons, etc. as the users on the property when the 'regular' members can't get reservations), being required to vacate ranches if the owners come along to use them (that's fine, it's their property to start with, but it makes me wonder why they opted to lease that property in the first place). It's a PITA to make a drive to go fish someplace only to be told an hour after getting there that I have to bail so the owners can fish the pond. Why have a reservation at that rate?

Some of the phone staff are rude and/or less than helpful. The folks selling the memberships really pump up the properties, but in reality they aren't what they are described to be. "Steep" is about the only accurate word they use. Descriptions of cover, vehicles required for access, etc. are often questionable. If you've been before, then you already know, but if this is your first time driving 4 or 5 hours to a ranch, you'd hope for accurate information.

Then, on some of the ranches they have a patrol person practically babysit you the whole time (annoying when you want to get your turkey blind set up before first light and be in position, quiet and waiting/working a call) and the guy won't let you go until well after first light.

Spot checks of tags and licenses are pretty lame, too. That's mostly a combination of an annoyance and a "we don't trust you, give us your $1500 and we're still going to spot-check your papers any time we want."

Just so not worth the hassle. In many (but I admit, not all) cases I've seen better #'s of game on public lands (especially true for bears, something they build up as an asset to joining).

I just found it to be a waste. There is still plenty of good public land to hunt in CA. I'd rather spend the $1500 on gas and boot leather than deal with their *****hattery.

+1. Basically this is all the problems my buddy had lined up in a nice easy to swallow tablet of informative goodness. Fuq WU!

[remsenlab]

I'm a happy member of WU but I think that the complaints that were listed by edwardm have some truth to them and are valid complaints. I just got back from a deer hunt on a 10,000+ acre WU ranch around Pt Arena and I had my license and tag checked. I don't mind that at all, but if it's the type of thing that bugs you then WU isn't for you. Personally, I think it helps to prevent any problems of people hunting without proper papering.

I had never been to this property before and the patrolman was very helpful in pointing me towards the area that had the best hunting (yes, the bulk of the 10,000 acres was steep, but the patrolman gave me pretty good info on how to get to the ridgelines that had very huntable land). Here's a picture from yesterday...the land is not flat as Nebraska but this is California and we have rugged terrain here. If you don't think this is level enough to hunt then I'm not sure how you're finding public land that is much better.
I really like having this much space to myself, even if a lot of it is very rugged.

I didn't kill a deer but they were there (I got to within 20 yards of a spike before I confirmed that there were no forks there and saw a lot more at longer distances) and the other guy in camp killed a nice 3x3 the night I arrived (and the patrolman was very cool about helping him to field dress it and then get rid of the guts).

Like I said before, if you don't like a strong management type presence on your hunting lands you'll probably not like WU. One of the reasons I don't like hunting on public land in CA is the "I'll make my own rules and screw you if you don't like it" attitude of the few knuckleheads out there. I'd much rather have a hunting experience where the staff may be a bit overbearing but it's to make sure that stupid people aren't ruining things for everyone. And I also like knowing that when I get on a ranch it is all to me and maybe one or two other hunters. If you like to do things your own way, though, and resent having a "nanny" presence, WU is definitely not a good choice.