Recently saw some websites to market your private land to be leased by hunters. Do you think this will attract investor groups to start buying up hunting land like airbnb & vrbo with cabins? Some of the prices are insane.
Are you referring to “HLRBO”?
They’ve got relatively few listings so far, but will probably gain quite a bit of traction with their name alone spinning off from VRBO if they do a little advertising.
Are you referring to “HLRBO”?
They’ve got relatively few listings so far, but will probably gain quite a bit of traction with their name alone spinning off from VRBO if they do a little advertising.
I have seen this one before but theres a new one called landtrust that seems to be trying to be more like airbnb.
Land values aren’t going down anytime soon. More options to market land for incremental hunts could be lucrative in the right situations. It could also give that generational landowner who isn’t super wealthy a revenue stream to keep paying the taxes that never go down. It’s also going to create a demand for acreage in areas with game populations that are already skyrocketing.
To be 100% honest, I could see us looking into something like this in the future as an income source if our kids aren’t big into hunting. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve turkey hunted. That HLBRO site listed just turkey season access for a quick $1200 in some areas to viable hunting land. It’d be a bigger ask to give strangers access for the length of a deer season, but it looked like you could market individual weeks if you wish. Many were listed for thousands per week during prime time. I wonder if that’s negotiated, or really the going rate down here?
Theres guys asking $500 per person per day for whitetail. Granted I have no clue if they will get that but it seems crazy.
Do you think this will attract investor groups to start buying up hunting land like airbnb & vrbo with cabins?
Possibly but it is a far more risky investment than a rental home imo, and I sure hope it doesn’t attract the investor groups buying up lakefront and single family homes currently. A change in regulation or disease (EHD for example) would decimate your market in a year. Seems like a good additional revenue stream for existing land owners tho, like Bucky pointed out. But I did see a Landtrust post about launching in Montana, and well those Texans of the north are not big fans of being overrun by outsiders already. A turkey lease makes no sense to me, but I guess everyone has their passion and having a place to play is worth it to some.
Damn kids all they do is play the inside anymore – hate to see it but definitely get it .
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Carter Johnson wrote:</div>
Do you think this will attract investor groups to start buying up hunting land like airbnb & vrbo with cabins?Possibly but it is a far more risky investment than a rental home imo, and I sure hope it doesn’t attract the investor groups buying up lakefront and single family homes currently. A change in regulation or disease (EHD for example) would decimate your market in a year. Seems like a good additional revenue stream for existing land owners tho, like Bucky pointed out. But I did see a Landtrust post about launching in Montana, and well those Texans of the north are not big fans of being overrun by outsiders already. A turkey lease makes no sense to me, but I guess everyone has their passion and having a place to play is worth it to some.
I think the risk involved is regional. No, I don’t think Northern MN would be a wise investment if solely trying to turn a profit this way. Others areas could be though. CWD has been around long enough to now realize it isn’t likely going to decimate an entire herd. EHD is more of an unknown, but seems more isolated too. Winters don’t decimate the herd here like they do up north. Predation and food sources are far less of an issue. Very little marketing has to be done by small private landowners to make this go. All of the TV shows, filmed hunts, magazines, deer shows, etc. advertise the heck out of this region. Down here in bluff country outfitters are buying up leases and acreage as fast as they possibly can already. These sites/businesses that the OP mentioned level those playing fields some or spread out opportunities for income. I’d rather see an older farmer or single family able to hang onto land and pass it down through generations with a little bit of extra income from these outlets, instead of outfitters from around the country gobbling land up in huge tracts. Taxes on land suck, and do not go down. It’s a major gut punch every year writing out those checks.
I believe Trae Waynes is up to 7 or 8 farms for his business. The properties are beautiful as is, but he’s literally pumping in millions to make them better with plots, ponds, access, lodging, etc. A cousin has land that connects to 2 of his pieces and to say they see huge deer heading toward their diverse plots is an understatement. Their organized “shed hunt” each Spring is created around an entire weekend with teams competing with one another searching for the sheds of named deer that are absurd in size. He has it figured out. Other people/companies with deep pockets will follow suit.
It will be interesting to see how fast land values increase as this catches on. I should probably go try to buy a small 10 acre plot and set up trail cams to get some night pictures of huge bucks to charge guys $1,000 a day to hunt 
Theres guys asking $500 per person per day for whitetail. Granted I have no clue if they will get that but it seems crazy.
I thought so too but then started drawing parallels with guided fishing. You can easily drop $500 for a day of guided fishing with a few people, probably more. For the hunting part, I have no idea how it goes but maybe you’ll be set up on a certain trail, food plot, etc. with pictures of the trophy buck(s) that are likely to show up. In that sense it maybe even more predictable and reliable than a guide trip for trophy fish.
One gentleman near my nephews farm has four guys that come all the way from Florida to pay $2,000 each for the week of deer hunting. Course most of his farm is in Buffalo county in Wisconsin, they have been coming for over five years.
Thats crazy money. Granted it is buffalo county.
No, I don’t think it’s going to catch on in any large-scale way here in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
As you might guess, I talk to a LOT of owners of hunting properties every year. The problem will be that by comparison, running VRBO is simple and cheap compared to running a full hunting property that is set up for visiting hunters. Also, the insurance costs alone will be sky-high for this type of business.
Also, unlike the pheasant lodges out in SD, you can’t restock big bucks halfway through the season. Expectations once people start paying for something is that they are owed something special. Very difficult to meet this expectation in a lot of MN and WI given the variable nature of deer herd size and quality.
Finally, the real killer will be price. Most hunters who do not own property have no real idea of the costs of owning and operating a property just for hunting. Every buck we shoot on my farm actually costs me thousands of dollars per animal taken if you add everything up. Very few will be willing to pay anything approaching the real costs when leasing because they don’t understand what those real costs are.
Thats good insight grouse. I would have to imagine if it did become more full scale a lot of “management” companies would start appearing to take care of the land management for a fee of course. It is interesting to consider.
There’s a reason western hunting has gotten more popular . 5-700 dollar tag depending on the specie and half of Wyoming is public .
Let’s through a little CWD into the factor. See how this plays out. Trae Wayne’s property isn’t that far from the CWD that is here in Buffalo county.
I own hunting property in buffalo county and also have hunting property in trempeleau county. Both counties know for huge bucks.
Not sure as an investor I’d want to risk that investment but who knows? We have what we need to hunt. Good for those that can take the chance at the land investment for a whitetail hunt.
I bet alot of those old pictures of all the big bucks will be recycled for years to come trying to attract future clients for hunting purposes.
It’s hard to predict the future, but the old adage about “they don’t make more land” seems to always ring true.
Access to land and quality hunting opportunities will be an uphill battle for future generations. Part of that is land development, but a larger part is singular groups/companies/families owning more of it. Never underestimate people’s ability to turn a profit off a valuable resource whether it be fossil fuels, precious metals, or land with wildlife.
I’m going against the common opinions above and guessing that selling short term hunting access in desirable areas will become more common (maybe not the norm). There are more and more plates on vehicles near where we hunt that aren’t from anywhere around. Very few of the outfitters in the areas we own land and hunt (Buffalo County, Wabasha County) are hurting for business. Most are expanding like mad. For locals, paying to play in the woods is crazy. For some people that are very different than the typical IDO crowd, booking an expensive weekend long hunt on some website isn’t that far fetched.
Im just glad theres still a good amount of public to hunt. If it does take off land values will explode.
I think it would be hard to pay off land based on leasing it for hunting alone.
I just listened to a podcast talking about this. It is centered on Montana and Landtrust. It was the two episodes dated May 30th. They were even talking about charging for mushroom hunting.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blood-origins/id1543788045
I don’t think there is any stopping this. It is also probably not good for hunting in the long term when people are priced out of it – particularly young people. How big is this going to get? Will these companies get big enough to lobby government for policies that help them?
I have some good land. If someone offered me enough for lease or to sell, I could see myself doing that. Everything is for sale, but you might not like the price.
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