Contact: Bob Ratliff
A newly released Mississippi State study shows fee hunting to be an underused, but possibly significant, income source for state landowners.
The results of four university surveys--two statewide and one each in the Delta and Gulf Coast areas--show that, while 77 percent of landowners surveyed allow hunting of some type on their land, most don't charge for the privilege.
Focusing on owners of a minimum of 40 acres of land, the surveys were conducted by Mississippi State's Social Science Research Center and analyzed by scientists at the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center.
"Because of the popularity of wildlife-related recreation, particularly hunting, Mississippi landowners with adequate habitat to support game species can diversify their income through fee hunting activities," said associate professor of forestry Ian Munn, a project investigator.
Munn said Mississippi's most common type of fee hunting is a property lease, whereby a group of individuals are given the sole right to hunt specified portions of land. Deer are the most common species hunted on these leased lands, he added.
"More than 90 percent of respondents leasing land for hunting include white-tailed deer in their leases," Munn said. "The wild turkey is second, followed by waterfowl, quail and dove."
The report also finds that:
--Overhead expenses for respondents engaged in fee hunting average 28 cents per acre, with most of the expenditures used for liability insurance.
--Costs of wildlife management activities, such as vegetation management and planting food and cover crops, average $1.41 per acre, while annual net revenues average $2.75 per acre.
Munn said loss of land control and privacy, accident liability, damage to property, and poaching and trespassing are the primary concerns of landowners not engaged in fee hunting. Most indicated, however, a likelihood to sell hunting rights if those concerns could be reduced.
The study also shows fee hunting can provide benefits to the environment.
"Because fee hunting provides monetary incentives to landowners, they are encouraged to plant trees on marginal or abandoned agricultural land and to protect ecologically diverse forests and wetlands," Munn said.
With little difficulty, landowners can combine activities that enhance fee-hunting opportunities with traditional land-use practices.
"Since forestland is the dominant land type in fee hunting arrangements, many forest management practices can be used to increase timber yields and benefit wildlife populations," Munn said.
The fee-hunting report may be read in its entirety on the Internet at http://www.cfr.msstate.edu/fwrc/feehunting.pdf.