Hunting Lease Reviews and Renewals

This is the time of the year that we begin to think about reviewing and renewing the hunting leases we offer on some of our property.  We do not own large tracts of land, and all our tracts are not contiguous to each other.  Therefore, we are typically dealing with individuals or small hunting clubs.

We discuss in a family meeting each year what we expect from those that lease our land for hunting and consider any changes we would like to make in the lease.  Some of the things we think are mandatory with a hunting lease are listed below.

Written lease containing:

• legal description with allowed access points
• duration of lease
• names of hunters allowed
• compensation due and date
• wildlife allowed to be harvested
• permitted and non-permitted activities on property
• will stands or blinds be permitted and, if so, at what locations and for what use
• will food plots be allowed and, if so, planting procedure, planting dates, locations
• precautions to be aware of on tract
• communication expected between lessee and us
• ground rules
• require lessee to have safety meetings / procedures
• provision to review lease annually even if duration extends past a year

Liability insurance purchased on lessee:

• we are always listed as secondary insured
• lessee pays us to purchase through our required vendor
• lessee pays us for any membership fees in forestry associations needed to be eligible for insurance
• no exclusion for normal activities on timberland or in hunting activities
• no activities or hunting until we receive insurance certificate
• lessee provides certificate of vehicle liability insurance for those used to drive to and from the lease and used while on the leased property; expect it to be a separate policy from hunter liability policy

Permission cards that we provide to lessee to prove they have access to property to:

• law enforcement personnel
• other hunters
• contractors working on tract
• our family

Written accounting of wildlife harvested:

• at end of each season
• reported by date and sex
• approximate size for large game

The list above does not contain all the details provided in our leases.  If you are interested in knowing more details, contact me at weldon@nippermanagement.com with your specific questions or with any specific detail in which you may be interested.  If you would like to discuss a hunting lease on one of our tracts, you can contact me as well.

Images courtesy of Google Images

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