Hunting Lease Research Articles

Heterogeneous impacts of large carnivores on hunting lease prices

Notwithstanding their crucial role in ecosystem functionality, large carnivores generally entail economic costs to hunters due to competition for the same prey. This cost could potentially vary depending on carnivore density and the game hunting values at stake. We estimate a hedonic price model applying the unconditional quantile regression method in order to investigate the impact of large carnivores along the distribution of hunting lease prices in Sweden. We compare these impacts with those obtained from conditional quantile regressions, as well as from ordinary least squares estimations. Based on the unconditional quantile estimates, our results indicate that wolf, lynx and bear can exert a negatively significant effect in the middle range of the outcome distribution, while no significant impact is found in the lower quantiles. For the statistically significant quantiles, the average marginal implicit price of an additional wolf territory in the study area is around 3.35 million Swedish kronor (SEK) per year, namely 358 thousand Euros (EUR). This corresponds to an annual reduction in the mean hunting lease price per hectare by 21% in the municipality where the territory is established. Similarly, an additional lynx family group entails an average marginal implicit price of SEK 3.55 million (EUR 379 thousand) per year, and an additional brown bear individual entails an average marginal implicit price of nearly SEK 110 thousand (EUR 11.6 thousand) per year. The corresponding impact on the mean hunting lease price per hectare is a reduction by 22.4% and 0.6% for an additional lynx family group and an additional brown bear individual, respectively, in the municipality where the establishment occurs. Results can be useful for policies targeting the spatial distribution of large carnivores.

Farmer attitudes and preferences regarding a hypothetical lease hunting policy in Saskatchewan

ABSTRACTLease hunting, as a market-based policy instrument, can introduce monetary incentives to farmers to provide wildlife habitat. This article investigated farmer attitudes toward the introduction of a hypothetical lease hunting policy within a jurisdiction where there is significant demand for recreational hunting on private land but lease hunting is currently not legal. Farmers were evenly split between supporting and failing to support the introduction of lease hunting and indicated that liability and control of access were important lease contract characteristics. A probit model indicated farmer support was influenced by the quantity of land they rented, their experience with previous hunter access and their perceptions of the size of resident wildlife populations. A tobit model showed how farmer perceptions on the quantity of wildlife and the quantity of rented land influenced the magnitude of the monetary payment they would be willing to accept to permit hunter access to their land.

Economic tradeoffs of managing for timber production or wildlife habitat

ABSTRACTLittle quantitative information is available to nonindustrial‐private forest (NIPF) owners regarding economic tradeoffs between managing pine plantations for timber production or wildlife habitat. We modeled loblolly (Pinus taeda) pine plantations to quantify economic tradeoffs for competing management scenarios using densities aimed at wildlife habitat or timber production in the Lower Coastal Plain and Coastal Flatwoods regions of Mississippi, USA. Scenarios contained a range of site indices, planting densities, thinning densities and frequencies, and rotation lengths for timber maximization and white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) or northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) habitat production. Land expectation values (LEVs) were highest for timber scenarios, followed by joint deer and timber, joint quail and timber, deer, and quail management scenarios. Comparison to the regional hunting lease rate revealed that compensatory lease rates from the study could be realized, making wildlife management as valuable as timber management. The results of this study could help landowners be more informed about economic tradeoffs when making management decisions on their property. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

An Empirical Analysis of Hunting Lease Pricing and Value of Game in Sweden

Game species generate considerable benefits to society in terms of hunting values, tourism, and maintenance of ecosystem balance. This paper seeks to estimate hunting values for multiple hunted species by disentangling the role of wildlife harvesting opportunities from other factors that affect hunting lease prices. We examine the determinants of hunting lease prices in Sweden using both spatial and nonspatial econometric techniques. Our analysis confirms considerable hunting values for fallow deer and wild boar. Also, the study reveals the presence of spatial spillovers in lease prices, implying that landowners have little scope for exerting monopoly power on the hunting lease market.

Environmental Price of Game Animal Stocks

ABSTRACTResearch has addressed the valuation of hunting and game species according to their extractive value, using both market and non-market methodologies. This study provides a new perspective to estimate environmental prices of game animals based on game hunting leases, population dynamics, the assumption of a steady state, and the use of the residual valuation method. This, in turn, allows the calculation of the contribution of game animal stock to total income from hunting and the value of game animal stock by species, sex, and age. These values are estimated in a manner that is consistent with the exchange value of national accounts, allowing improvement of game species valuation in ecosystem accounting.

Eyes on Landowner Concerns: How Do Landowner Concerns About Fee Hunting Impact Their Willingness to Lease?

Although leasing hunting rights increases landowner income and provides incentives to improve wildlife habitat, few landowners lease their lands. In this article, landowner attitudes about potential problems associated with fee hunting leases were explored based on a mail survey of nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners. Responses to questions eliciting landowner levels of concern with 17 potential issues associated with hunting leases were aggregated into four categories: concerns about property damage and liability, customer relations, impacts on personal use, and impacts on habitat, wildlife and safety. Landowners were grouped into five subgroups based on their attitudes to these four categories. These groups were significant predictors of landowner willingness to allow hunting access in conjunction with public land hunting lease rate, property characteristics, and landowner demographics. These results provided insights into problems facing hunters and land managers attempting to improve access to NIPF lands.

Economic Feasibility of Mesquite Biomass for Electricity Production: Projections of the Long-Term Sustainability of Two Harvest Options

Mesquite and similar woody plant species occupy over 28 million hectares in the southwestern USA and often negatively affect the rural economic sector by reducing livestock forage production, increasing bare ground, and interfering with livestock handling. Current control methods that temporarily suppress the growth of these woody plants include herbicide sprays, mechanical treatments, and prescribed fire. One alternative to current control practices is to utilize mesquite biomass for electricity generation. This study examined the economic feasibility of mesquite biomass as a potential bioenergy feedstock for electricity production using a Faustmann-type model with five mesquite biomass accumulation scenarios, which take into account variations in rates of standing biomass accumulation and tree density reestablishment after harvest with the aboveground-only (AG) harvest option or the whole-plant (WP) harvest option. The estimated regrowth functions were then incorporated into a modified version of the Faustmann model to determine the optimal harvesting length of mesquite that maximizes the net present value of a power plant using mesquite biomass. Results indicated that mesquite biomass has economic potential to be a source for electricity generation. A long-term bioenergy harvest system with regrowth following AG harvest was much more cost-effective than reestablishment from germination of new seedlings after WP harvest, even though harvest cost is higher in the AG than that in the WP harvest option. In addition, the utilization of mesquite for bioenergy would enhance other more traditional income streams from these lands including livestock grazing and wildlife hunting leases (with patterned harvesting of mesquite) and would reduce herbicide or mechanical costs that ordinarily are necessary for woody plant control. Compared to conventional coal, a lower economic return was found when the mesquite biomass was used for electricity production, but a possible carbon emission tax would make mesquite biomass competitive with conventional coal.

Incremental Investment Value of Wild Turkey Management on the South Carolina Piedmont

Optimal timber production and healthy wild turkey populations can be jointly achieved by balancing cutting cycles, habitat types, and food sources. Expected financial returns from wild turkey management and the habitat required to maintain those returns are estimated. A geographical information system (GIS) is used to illustrate the methodology necessary to distinguish various levels of potential quality turkey habitat, including broad forest conditions across ownerships, like early successional habitat, pine hardwood mixtures, and forest openings, that intermix and combine to form superior wild turkey habitat. A financial analysis framework that considers key financial variables is applied across management regimes to determine net present values, land expectation values, and equivalent annual incomes. Incremental hunting lease revenue from wild turkey hunting leases is shown to impact investment return. The financial framework allows managers to perform sensitivity analyses of costs and revenues to better evaluate management alternatives.

Capitalization of Hunting Lease Income into Northern Mississippi Forestland Values

Hunting leases are impacting rural land values. Using land sales transactions in northern Mississippi, this study quantified how hunting lease income affects forestland value, while controlling for sale attributes, county attributes, and ecosystem differences. Estimation procedures included traditional as well as spatial econometric modeling. A dollar increase in per acre hunting lease rate was associated with a 0.80% increase in per acre forestland value. Hunting lease income was capitalized into forestland value at a 7.55% rate. These findings should be helpful to forest landowners, appraisers, buyers, and government officials in land valuation and natural resource management issues. <i>(JEL Q24, Q26)</i>

Supply of Private Acreage for Recreational Deer Hunting in Georgia

Understanding factors that influence the supply of private acreage for lease hunting has become increasingly important to sustaining hunting. Improving on existing studies that mostly utilized landowners' responses from contingent surveys, we adopted a different approach to this question by analyzing 2009 market data from Georgia counties. Results from multivariate regression indicate that supply of private lease hunting acres was influenced by: (a) site characteristics such as the relative proportion of certain habitat types; (b) market forces and access factors such as rural road networks and proximity to population centers; and (c) spillover effects of conservation programs such as wildlife management areas (WMAs), and government payments to landowners through a variety of habitat enhancement programs. The findings provide support for policies that increase public investment in habitat conservation on private and public lands or assist landowners with developing innovative marketing strategies to benefit from the recreational potential of their lands.

Factors Determining Differences in Local Hunting Lease Rates: Insights from Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition

Factors determining local hunting lease rates, and differences between rates across Mississippi regions, were analyzed using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition procedures. Per acre rates were 26% greater in west versus east Mississippi. Depending on the decomposition procedure employed, differences in resource endowments accounted for 43% to 69% of the gap. Differences in habitat quality were primarily responsible. Lessors in east Mississippi can improve their rates by reducing lease sizes and shortening contract lengths. Information about differences in local lease rates and the sources of those differences is critically needed by landowners, outfitters, hunters, financial institutions, and natural resource managers. <i>(JEL Q23, Q26)</i>

Hedonic Analysis of Hunting Lease Revenue and Landowner Willingness to Provide Fee-Access Hunting

Abstract Selling hunting access may supplement household income, yet only a small proportion of nonindustrial private (NIP) landowners in United States lease the right to hunt their land. Based on a survey of Mississippi landowners, the decision to lease hunting rights and factors influencing lease revenue per leased hectare were analyzed. The two issues were jointly modeled consistent with Heckman's sample selection model, and the lease revenue was specified in accordance with hedonic pricing theory. Empirical results showed that landowner concerns about loss of privacy, accident liability, and conflicts with personal use of land reduced the likelihood of leasing; total landownership and specific landowner characteristics increased it. With regards to factors explaining differences in lease revenue per leased hectare, bottomland hardwoods commanded a greater premium than many other land uses. In addition, lease revenue per hectare was distinctly higher where a landowner had expertise in managing a hunting lease enterprise. These findings have implications for landowners interested in managing wildlife-associated enterprises and public agencies engaged in the provision of natural resource-based recreation.

Lease and Fee Hunting on Private Lands in the U.S.: A Review of the Economic and Legal Issues

This review highlights current economic and legal issues relating to lease and fee hunting on private lands in the United States. Recreational hunting leases provide an important practical example of the potential of market-based conservation to create win-win arrangements among rural landowners and hunters. Research suggests that there are significant positive values and economic impacts from fee and lease hunting. Results show that many national trends for hunting on public land and private lands are declining; however, there are important exceptions to those trends (e.g., big game hunting) and differences across states. Given hunting quality on public land, hunters often express a willingness to pay significantly higher than the price charged on private land. Further, institutional innovations can remove legal barriers and positively affect lease and fee hunting on private land. Future research needs include further regional comparisons, case studies on institutional arrangements, as well as additional hedonic pricing and preference studies.

Supply of Hunting Leases from Non-Industrial Private Forest Lands in Alabama

We used a two-step approach to jointly analyze participation of non-industrial private forest landowners in hunting leases and the determinants of hunting lease fees. Data for this study were obtained from a survey of landowners in Alabama (n = 227). The results show that land ownership type, tract size, and landowners’ place of residence, employment status, and concern for personal safety are determinants of participation in hunting leases. Factors influencing hunting lease fees include site-specific characteristics such as share of agricultural land relative to forest land, tract size, year-round water availability, type of access, and enhanced features such as streamside management zone, habitat improvement desirable to wildlife, and provision of services. The study has implications for landowners’ land use decisions and economic returns. This research is partially funded by Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Alabama Forestry Commission. We are thankful to Amy Griliot and two anonymous reviewers and the editor of this journal for comments that have led to a significant improvement to this article. All remaining errors belong to the authors.

Impact of buck harvest limits on lease hunting value

Abstract We evaluated the economic impact of restricting white-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) buck harvest opportunity to lease hunting groups. We identified 3 similar-sized (655-675-ha) contiguous tracts with visually similar deer hunting quality on a Love County, Oklahoma ranch. Hunting leases were offered on each tract through a sealed bid process. We assigned the state (S), moderate (M), and conservative (C) tracts annual buck harvest limits of 12, 5, and 3, respectively. Other aspects of the leases (term, doe deer and other game harvest opportunity, number of participants, etc.) were identical. We required interested parties to submit a bid on all of the tracts. Thus, each bidder served as a replicate. We analyzed 16 bids and observed a significant difference among tracts (F2, 15 =33.18, P=0.035). Mean bids per hectare for S ($3.24) and M ($3.29) were not different, but the mean bid for C ($2.77) was significantly lower. No lease value was lost by implementing a moderately conservative buck harvest ...

Landscape ecological planning process for wetland, waterfowl, and farmland conservation

A landscape ecological planning process (LEP process) is described that addresses the issues of rice production and wetland habitat conservation on privately owned rice farms in Texas. The LEP process was used to evaluate proposed land-use management plans based on alternative policies for the next US Farm Bill, which would be in effect from 2003 to 2009. A system simulation model, geographic information systems (GIS) model based on expert knowledge, as well as expert opinion, were used to evaluate uncertainty about the effects of these plans and policies on different types of farms and the quality of winter habitat of lesser snow geese. The models simulated shifts in land-use, rice and cattle production, farm profitability, and use of habitat by geese. Simulation results suggested that the level of federal subsidies for all policies influenced the continuation of rice production from 2003 to 2009. In addition, the size of the farm influenced whether rice production continued until 2009. The smaller farms were more sensitive to decreases in federal subsidies than larger farms because smaller farms received less income from goose hunting leases. Winter habitat for lesser snow geese was reduced in terms of patch size and nearest neighbor distance when rice production was discontinued by 2009 for all policies. Agricultural policy experts, who were familiar with the study sites, selected the modified version of the conservation policy as the example that would most benefit farmers and geese. The experts emphasized that their policy would offer farmers more flexibility to manage their farms, to diversify their incomes, and to be good land stewards.

The Growing Importance and Value Implications of Recreational Hunting Leases to Agricultural Land Investors

This study considers the evolution and explosive growth of recreational hunting leases in America. The traditional European practice of leasing rural lands for the exclusive rights of tenants to hunt and fish is now an important revenue source for American agricultural land investors/owners. Hunting lease income can enhance value to the point that recreation becomes the highest and best use of rural land for both the market and income approaches to valuation. This study offers new perspectives for valuing the income component from recreational leases as a percentage of market value and proposes a hunting lease index for landowners and tenants to consider.

Landowner resistance to lease hunting: A sociocultural perspective

Abstract Lease hunting programs provide a strategy to address wildlife management on private land in a manner that provides economic compensation to landowners. This paper proposes a sociocultural framework for understanding low rates of participation in lease hunting programs by landowners. We suggest that the predominant emphasis on private property boundaries and the utilization of economic incentives inherent in lease hunting to promote wildlife management overlooks significant cultural and social dimensions of hunting and wildlife. Specifically, we examine lease hunting in relation to local land use, hunting as a sociocultural system, and the symbolic construction of the landscape.

Grazing pressure impacts on potential foraging competition between Angora goats and white-tailed deer

Increased Angora and Spanish goat populations in the Tamaulipan Province of southern Texas and northeast Mexico and the economic importance of white-tailed deer lease hunting in the region has heightened concern as to negative interactions between these two herbivores. This study selected a shallow ridge range site, dominated by palatable shrubs, as a high potential community for herbivore interaction at the landscape level. The site was stocked at 0, 2, 4, 6 goats/ha on an experimental ranch in South Texas. Deer and goat biting tactics, diet selection and reconstructed dietary crude protein and digestible organic matter were compared across stocking treatments. Dietary overlap indices were 0.75-0.88 between the herbivores across season and stocking rate. Deer had a greater tendency to use nip bites than goats in the non-grazed pastures (60–65% vs. 42–55%, respectively). However, goats increased the use of nip bites more than deer as intraspecific competition increased while deer used similar strategies across all stocking rates. Increased stocking rates had little impact on dietary composition of woody species in the diet of goats. The greatest dichotomies of dietary selection between both herbivores was shrubby bluesage where deer exhibited a positive preference while goats generally avoided the species, regardless of its availability. Both herbivores were generally able to stabilize nutrient concentration in their respective diets regardless of grazing pressure by goats.

The Deer Pasture by Rick Bass

72 Western American Literature how women were affected by their frontier experiences. Borrowing the names of quilt patterns for a title, Texas Tears and Texas Sunshine’seditor seeks to “piece together” the experiences of pioneer women in Texas. The book con­ sists of reminiscences by sixteen women of the nineteenth century, whose stories run the gamut of possible adventures: migration, settlement, Indian captivity, and the war with Mexico and the Civil War. The best selection draws upon the letters of a plantation mistress to her doctor-husband serving with the Confederate Army. From these, a clear picture of daily life during the Civil War emerges as she describes her unique solutions to the problems of running the farm. Her emerging self-confidence permeates the letters. This book may be of interest to someone wanting a sample of the experi­ ences of Texas pioneer women, but there are some editorial problems that raise questions about the volume’s value to serious students of the frontier or of women’s history. It is unclear why the reminiscences of these particular sixteen women were included, since all but one have been published elsewhere. Perhaps the editor aimed toprovide a spectrum ofwomen’sexperience, though no Mexican or Native American women were included, and the inclusion of a slave narrative seems gratuitous because it has little to do with Texas or the frontier. In her brief biographical sketches, the editor neglects noting when the reminiscences were recorded, and she accepts uncritically the veracity of the recollections. The most serious problem is her failure to recognize that reminiscenceswritten many yearsafter the eventsthey describe are alwayssub­ ject to selectivememory. There are, nevertheless, some things to be learned from this volume. Collectively, these recollections provide insights into prevailing frontier values and the daily lives of women. The ethnocentric attitude of white women toward Indians, Blacks, and Mexicans emerges from several of the selections. Moreover, themes common in the lives of nineteenth-century frontier women come to light: the hard work involved in building homes on the frontier; being alone for long periods while husbands looked for work, went to war, or took goods to market; and the constant presence of death as women buried parents, spouses, and children. KATHLEEN UNDERWOOD The University of Texas at Arlington The Deer Pasture. By Rick Bass. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1985. 123pages, $12.50.) The mystique of the annual deer hunt is assumed by many nonhunters to consist of the thrill of shooting, boozing it up under starry skies around a campfire, and generally escaping from civilized life with a few days of primi­ tive stench and sweat. Rick Bass, in these 17essays, puts the lie to this popular myth—but gently. Deer stalkers will find plenty to enjoy in this volume, even while confirmed bambi-lovers gasp in recognition, realizing that they finally Reviews 73 understand why their friends and loved ones venture forth each autumn with guns. Turns out it’snot just blood lust that propels them; it’snot even purely escapism. According to Bass, it’s also tradition, memories, and storytelling. It’s Cousin Randy, and the way the armadillos that also populate the Texas woods leap straight into the air and bolt when you surprise them; it’s the smell of hickory trees turning gold in Gillespie County, and the taste of Bass Wonder Biscuits and Dr. Pepper bread. The author and his family have made pilgrimages each November for 50 years to this “deer pasture,” a hunting lease in the Texas Hill Country. This collection of stories is as much about that family and its lore as it is about hunting, although Bass includes a piece called “Why We Do It” that begins thus: By now you may be beginning to suspect that we go to the deer pasture each November for reasons other than hunting deer, and it’strue, but for a fact there isessentially one and only one thing that is thought about during the daylight hours, from first grey light to too-dark-to-see-through-the-scope dusk, or at least until we each have a deer in the freezer, and the thought is exactly that: getting one. Challenging. Winning. Making the...