In today’s economy, with high input costs and uncertain prices for livestock, it can be difficult for ranchers to make a living from cattle without an outside source of income. Some find innovative ways to create a second income from the land, capitalizing on other uses for their land base, such as hunting and recreation. A rural setting can attract people who will pay for opportunities to hunt, fish, bird-watch, ride, hike or have a wedding or family reunion.
Deer hunting in Texas
Lorenzo Lasater is part of a ranching family near San Angelo, TX. “We are a seedstock operation raising Beefmaster bulls and selling females, semen and embryos,” Lasater told WLJ. “We operate primarily on leased land, but for about 10 years, my dad and his brother owned a high-fenced game ranch.”
The ranch began as a white-tailed deer ranch in Schleicher County, TX. It was originally purchased as a grass ranch for grazing, but it was already set up as a hunting ranch and had a lodge. So, they started a hunting/outfitting business, Lasater said. They hosted high-end package hunts that were all inclusive, offering three- or four-day hunts that included a place to stay, meals, drinks and more.
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“The nice thing about the hunting business regarding extra income is that it is seasonal; it all comes within a month or two and is over. You don’t have to work at it all year,” he explained. It can fit nicely into a ranching operation so that most of the year can be focused on livestock.
Different states have different hunting rules and regulations regarding private land and wildlife, which will impact what a person can do in terms of having hunters pay for use of your land or which animals they can hunt and when. In most western states, much of the land is owned by the government (Bureau of Land Management land, U.S. Forest Service land, state land, etc.), and game animals are owned and managed by the state.
Some states allow landowners to charge for the privilege of hunting on private property, and others do not but still allow outfitters (in compliance with certain regulations) to charge for guided hunts on public land. In Texas, however, ranchers can own and raise the animals they offer for hunting, including exotic game animals from other countries.
“Here, where the land is all privately owned, landowners can do whatever they want with hunting, within certain rules. Many ranchers simply give people access to hunt and get paid for that,” Lasater said.
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“The value of hunting has risen tremendously. I am first and foremost a grazer/cattle producer, and in earlier times, we paid $4 or $5 an acre for the grazing, and hunters paid $2 an acre, so they were the low man on the totem pole for leasing land.” However, that has changed, Lasater said. Hunters now pay $10-15 per acre for access to the land, whether or not they are given any additional services.
Hunting is popular and valuable. It can be a high-intensity enterprise since it is a people-oriented business. It doesn’t entail just offering the land for hunting; it involves catering to hunters. Someone in the family must be interested in this type of business—and good at dealing with people—and enjoy this kind of enterprise. “You have to like people. Many ranchers prefer solitude, but in a large family operation, there may be someone who loves hunting or interacting with people and can make it work,” he explained. “This can be a great enterprise for a member of the family.”
The hunting venture is often male-oriented, but the whole family can make it work as a service-oriented business, such as a bed and breakfast for hunters, Lasater said. “During the years we did this and advertised our business, people often called and wanted to go horseback riding, etc., but I wasn’t interested in running a dude ranch.”
There was more money to be made with hunting and the trophy fees, he said. However, a ranch can be a great location to host special events. “If you have a pretty place where people might come and spend the weekend or have weddings, etc., there are many spinoffs once you have a facility established,” he said.
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The Lasaters’ white-tailed deer hunting ranch eventually branched into other things, including exotic game hunting and raising white-tailed deer, which was a separate business. When the Lasaters eventually sold that ranch, it brought a lot more money than they paid for it, primarily because of the hunting setup they had built and the deer herd, he said. “We added a lot of value, and that was the original intention; it was an investment for my dad and uncle, and they did very well with it,” he said.
He noted that while it is a lot of work because you have to keep everything nice, it’s a good habit and creates a lot of value. There are many opportunities to create extra income from a ranch, he said, and while around his area it is hunting, in other locations it might be fly-fishing, bird hunting, bird-watching or something else.
“There are many ways to come at it, depending on the resources available on your place,” Lasater said.
Pheasant hunting in South Dakota
Nick and Cody Jorgensen are part of a family ranch operation, Jorgensen Land & Cattle, in South Dakota that offers pheasant hunting on more than 10,000 acres. “We’ve been doing this for nearly 30 years,” Cody told WLJ.
They built a lodge for hunters in 2012, and the kind of enterprise they have takes a lot more management than simply allowing hunters on the property, he said. You need to know what game animals can be hunted in your part of the country, and for the Jorgensens, it’s pheasants. They live in an area called the “Golden Triangle,” which has many wild birds. This was their route to providing agritainment for the public, Cody said.
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For this sort of enterprise, it’s important to make sure you have enough people to manage the land and the hunting guests. “A person needs to be passionate about hunting and have the ability to deal with people. It is definitely a way to bring in more money on a per-acre basis,” Cody said.
This particular enterprise required a significant investment in facilities, but before 2012, they didn’t have many costs. It was a lot of work for Cody, however; he guided day pheasant hunters for about 20 years.
“Now we have a lodge—basically a hotel that’s an all-inclusive resort—the Lazy J. Grand Lodge,” Nick said. It can accommodate up to 40 people and has grown into a bigger business, providing many services.
“There are other ranchers in our area who haven’t jumped into it as deeply but still host hunts on their property,” Nick said. Many ranches simply charge what is called a trespass fee, allowing hunters to come in on a per-hunter/per-day basis.
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“In many areas across the nation, farmers and ranchers offer hunting leases—providing land used strictly for hunting,” Cody said. “That works well for some property owners because they don’t have to make an investment. We chose to make the investment because we had an opportunity to acquire land that had a business model already for all-inclusive hunting. We just added our day hunters to that existing business, and it worked out well.”
There are many options, and each ranch family can figure out what kind of enterprise might work best on their own operation. Cody started working for the enterprise right of college, bringing in extra income for the ranch. He said it required only 60 days out of the year and brought in more revenue than he could make otherwise. “Something like this can be a good project if someone in the family wants to do it,” Cody said. A second income from the ranch may also provide an opportunity to keep the younger generation on the ranch.
Nick said they were able to grow their business to the point that they no longer have family members involved in the day-to-day activities. “Now the resort has its own staff and maintains itself, but it took a lot of work to get it there. It doesn’t have to be done this way, but it was the right thing for us to do,” Nick explained.
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Their family has always looked at an acre of property with the mindset of being able to do three things on it: farm it like it should be farmed (with soil health in mind), graze that same acre at some point during the year and add some kind of agricultural entertainment for the public on it. “If we can do all three, our sustainability is improved. Some operations can probably do two, and definitely one of these things, but it takes extra time and management to do all three—and it does pay dividends,” Cody said.
When ranchers go this route, they are actually in the hospitality business. “This is drastically different than production agriculture because you have to be concerned with satisfying customers and providing a good experience for them,” Nick said. That dynamic is much different than what most farmers and ranchers are used to dealing with. Some are not that comfortable catering to people. It takes a certain attitude and mindset as a “people person” to make this work.
“It can work, however, if people open their horizons,” Cody said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be hunting. Many folks would like to do things outdoors and enjoy bird-watching or something you might not think is valuable to yourself but might be attractive to other people. I like to also be an advocate of production agriculture because that’s what we do.”
Allowing people to come onto your operation can be an opportunity to show others what ranchers do and tell people about the important role ranchers play in producing food for the rest of the world. “Many people are several generations removed from living on the land, and we can teach them more about what we do and promote it a little. This is all part of what they get when they come here,” Cody explained.
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Nick said advocacy for agriculture is a big part of what they do. “We make a deliberate effort to show our customers and clients our regular farming operation while they are here,” he said. They gain a better appreciation for what farmers and ranchers do as a result.
“There might not be a direct financial gain from a tour, but the larger perception and value to the industry in educating people is a win for agriculture. Everyone is better off if we can do things like that,” Nick said.
