By Survival Ready Blog Contributor
Landowners across the United States are discovering they have a valuable asset that sportsmen are willing to pay for. The popularity of land leases for hunters is a reflection of this discovery, with more landowners choosing to make their lands available through both long- and short-term leases. Leasing to individual hunters is just one of the many options available.
As a landowner, you might be a bit nervous about leasing land to hunters. Perhaps you have heard stories in the past about leases gone wrong, or maybe you have even had a bad experience yourself. In either case, we want to encourage you to reconsider. It is possible to enjoy a very productive lease with individual owners that can benefit you financially and in terms of keeping up your land.
Here are some tips for leasing to individual hunters:
Ask for References
It would be nearly impossible in this day and age to rent an apartment or house without furnishing adequate references. The same should be true for your land lease opportunity. Ask each person to be named on the lease to provide you with three or more references. Then do not be afraid to check those references. Anyone unwilling to provide them is probably someone you do not want to lease to anyway.
Attorney Lease Review
There are many generic land leases that you can find online for next to nothing. These documents may be adequate, but not all of their provisions may be applicable in your state. If you do not plan to have an attorney write up a lease from scratch, at least have your attorney look over your lease before it is signed. It is imperative that your documents comply with the law and provide you maximum protection. A poorly written or executed lease is one that usually causes problems.
Hunting Insurance
Hunting lease liability insurance should never be a question for either landowners or sportsmen. Far too many things could go wrong to allow hunters without insurance on your property. Insurance should limit your liability while also providing for damage to land, personal injury, and liability issues concerning neighboring lands. Landowners also need to be sure that the hunting lease insurance policy covers everyone signing the lease, which leads us to our next point. For additional information visit the following resource page.
Lease Signing
Leasing your land to individual hunters requires that every hunter who intends to use the property sign the lease. The only exception would be cases in which a lease allows a hunter to bring occasional guests with him/her. Nevertheless, such events should not be the norm. In other words, if person A plans to join your lessee as a regular hunter throughout the lease term, he/she is no longer a guest. He/she is a regular hunter whose name should be on the lease. Your lease should also limit the total number of people that can be hunting at any one time.
Specific Rules
Unlike hunting clubs, individual hunters with groups of friends rarely have established rules for how they hunt. You need to make sure that is not the case with your land. Included in the lease should be specific rules about things such as vehicle use, hunting insurance liability limits, building hunting structures, the types of game hunted during the various seasons, and so on. These rules act to protect you against those rare hunters who would misuse your land.
Leasing your land to individual hunters is a good way to allow others to enjoy the land while also earning some extra money. Nonetheless, be smart. Protect yourself against potential liability.
Additional Resources:
1. American Hunting Lease Association - http://ahuntinglease.org/hunting-club
RSS Feed
