How Do You Write A Lease?

By Brad Herndon

A common misconception is that leasing is entirely about money.

Throughout the year I receive calls from both friends and strangers asking if I know where there is any deer hunting land to lease. I simply tell these people to obtain a plat map showing property ownership of the county in which they reside, find some nice chunks of land, and start knocking on doors. I also state what I believe is the going rate for leased land in the area.

As a follow up to this, I also receive many calls from hunters asking me what type of lease contract they should use. I write my own lease contracts, so I’ll usually give them a copy of my blank contract as a guideline. I also explain that a lawyer didn’t write my lease, so I can’t guarantee it to be without flaws from a legal standpoint.

Perhaps you too have just found a piece of property to lease and are confused as to what type of wordage to put in your contract. Or maybe you already have a contract and want to update it. Regardless of your situation, the contents of this article will give you excellent guidelines to construct a contract that is fair and reasonable to all parties concerned.

Why Landowners Lease Their Property

In some parts of the country, such as the southeastern part of our nation and Texas, leasing land for hunting purposes has been going on for a long time. Therefore, many hunters in these areas are aware of leasing contracts. In many other parts of the nation, however, leasing land for hunting is just now getting a foothold. As a result, little is known about a leasing contract. In fact, little is known about why people lease land.

A common misconception is that leasing is entirely about money. Well, as the old saying goes, money does talk. However, it isn’t always the primary reason landowners lease hunting rights to their property. Darrell Waskom, an Indiana farmer who has leased his land for five years, explained to me why he leased his farmland to a hunting family.

“I manage a rather large farm,” said Waskom. “I’m busy pretty much year round, but especially busy in the spring and fall, my planting and harvesting times. Because I have large tracts of timber and don’t mind letting people hunt, it got to the point where someone was either at my door or calling almost every day in the spring and fall. People wanted to turkey hunt in the spring; and they also wanted to hunt mushrooms, fish and hunt for Indian artifacts. In the fall and winter, it was squirrel, deer, coon, coyote, rabbit, quail and grouse hunting.

“I try to size up each person who asks to hunt,” continued Waskom. “That takes time. In addition, it got to the point where it was hard for me to determine who was hunting where, and when. Then one day a friendly hunter who had used my property for a few years came out to my house. He has a wife and two sons who love the outdoors, and he asked me if I would be interested in leasing the land to his family.

“He explained he would post the land and take care of any problems,” Waskom continued. “We had a nice long talk about what I expected, and what his requirements were. I knew the man’s reputation was good, plus I liked the guy. His offer, I thought, was fair, so I decided to try leasing for one year. It has worked out extremely well. He has fun, and I have more money and free time. The stress of having to tell some people ‘no’ when they ask to hunt is gone too. Now I simply say the land is leased, and that is the end of the conversation.”

From this conversation, it’s easy to see that while money is a factor in a landowner leasing his property, relieving stress in his life and gaining more time can also be major factors in his decision to lease. It’s also obvious from Waskom’s conversation that a good landowner/ hunter relationship is important to keeping a long-term lease with a property owner.

Contracts Must Be Fair

Once you have found a piece of land to lease and have talked to the landowner, make sure both of you spend plenty of time working out the details of the contract, listing what is expected of each party involved. Regarding pricing, offer the fair market value for your area. This doesn’t mean there will be one set price. A 240-acre tract of land, for example, with 200 acres in timber and a 40-acre cornfield, will be worth much more than a 240-acre piece of land containing only 60 acres of trees. There does have to be some negotiating, and this shouldn’t be a problem.

You will find by offering a fair price up front that the landowner will be loyal to you. That will be more important in the future than you can ever believe.

If you don’t know the landowner personally, show up in casual, but nice looking attire, and give the property owner a few reference people to talk to. This might be a high school teacher, a minister, your boss at work and any other number of people who can vouch for your character. If you’re going in with other hunters on a lease, each person should talk personally to the landowner and give him references. Remember, he’s looking for a pleasant relationship on his lease, not more problems.

What Should Be In A Contract

The wording of leasing contracts varies greatly, depending on a variety of factors. There are, however, a few key points that should always be included. Keep in mind, too, that wording should be in everyday language. A person doesn’t want to read a document that is difficult, if not impossible, to understand. He wants to lease his land, not sign away the farm. If wording is vague, he won’t sign the lease. The following outline will give you important details to list:

1.         The effective day of the lease.

2.         The length of the lease.

3.         The amount of the lease, and the payment schedule. Pay in full upon signing the contract, and you will have a happy landowner. This will help you keep your lease in the future.

4.         The legal description of the property, including the number of acres.

5.         A place for the owners (the lessors) of the property to sign and date the lease.

6.         A place for all persons who are leasing the land (the lessees) to sign and date the lease. Be sure all persons sign, not just one.

7.         If the lease consists of several people, state that all persons signing the lease must follow the contract conditions.

8.         Description of guests allowed.

Our contract states that the only people who can be on our lease are my wife, Carol, and me and that each of us may bring a guest with us. This is an important clause. This statement prevents someone from trespassing on the land and telling the landowner, “Brad Herndon told me I could hunt.” Our landowner knows if we’re not with someone, they shouldn’t be there.

9.         A description of the rights granted.

Normally this is all hunting rights, with all legal hunting equipment, both archery and firearm. We added to the contract that we would also be artifact hunting on the property, as well as berry picking, gathering nuts, fishing and photographing on the land. A description of rights granted is important, since some hunters lease land for one specific purpose, such as deer hunting only or turkey hunting only.

10.        A list of what is expected of the lessees.

Our contract states we will not drive on muddy lanes, we will lock and maintain all gates, and we will pick up all trash on the property. We also cover in detail what type of stands we will use, what type of trees they will be attached to, and how they will be attached. Unexpectedly nail a homemade stand of lumber to the farmer’s $5,000 walnut tree and your lease will immediately be canceled. Remember, timber is a valuable and renewable resource to the landowner. Put stands in trees of low market value.

When we obtained our lease, ATV riders had harassed the owner for years. Carol and I love to walk and don’t own any ATVs. Therefore, we stated no ATVs would be allowed on the property. The first year we leased, we were able to stop all ATV riders. Sadly, last year they came back in full force. The riders were belligerent and refused to stop when confronted. They ruined a couple of my hunts in archery season. Full-frame pictures of the trespassers from our digital camera were presented to the conservation officer and prosecutor. Criminal trespass is a serious business. After the riders paid hundreds of dollars in fines and just missed serving time in jail, we have had absolutely no problems since.

Oddities such as this are some of many ways a leasing contract can be modified to suit your specific circumstances. Here’s another specific statement we put in our contract, one brought about by the ATV conflict we had:

The landowner gives the right to the lessees to have arrested, and prosecuted, any persons violating Indiana trespass laws on the property, with the exceptions of the following persons …

When we first went to the conservation officer about the trespassers, he asked if the landowners were willing to have the ATVers arrested. They were, but the officer indicated it would have been hard to prosecute if the landowners were unwilling to go along with the charges.

Some trespassers are bad characters. One property owner near our lease was afraid to arrest the ATV trespassers because he was afraid they would burn his house down. With a statement added to the contract such as the one above, he is relieved of this responsibility.   

Another unusual part of our contract is our agreement to keep the beaver population down in the streams on our lease. When beavers dam up streams, the water rises and backs up into the farmer’s field drainage system, which results in wet fields and a poor harvest. Trapping a few beavers is one more way to keep the landowner happy, and our relationship with him is better than ever.

Liability Considerations

As an encouragement for landowners to allow hunters to use their land, most state laws do not hold the landowner liable for any injuries the hunter suffers on the property. This, by the way, is for free hunting only. When a piece of land is leased and money changes hands, this law is no longer in effect. The landowner can now be held responsible for any injuries incurred by the hunters leasing the land.

This is why a clause should be put in the lease contract relieving the landowner of any liability regarding loss, damage, personal injury (including death), claims, demands and so forth. In addition, a clause should be added stating that the lessees (that’s you) are to carry liability insurance of a set amount. Most policies are for $1,000,000 per occurrence, $2,000,000 aggregate. This is an extremely important part of any lease and should not be neglected. Some liability policies have minimum prices, while other policies charge per acre. I have listed in a sidebar several places where liability insurance can be purchased.

Other Lease Considerations

Carol and I do everything we can to treat the landowner with respect and fairness. After all, it is his land, not ours. We note we cannot sublease the property. And because we started leasing property when rates were lower, we put a cost of living raise in our contract. It states that “… the landowner will receive a cost of living raise each year, plus one percent.” In other words, if our lease is $1,000 per year and the cost of living is two percent that year, the landowner will get a three percent raise, or $30. Raises make the landowner feel good, and it keeps the lease amount competitive with the local rates.

All of this will help keep the landowner loyal to you. As we have managed and improved our leases, others have come along and offered the landowner more than we are paying him. Each time, the property owners have remained loyal to us. This is what we’re all after. As a side note, we also include the right of first option to renew each year. This keeps us in the ball game.

When it comes to the length of the lease, we lease for one year at a time. Contracts of this length make the landowner comfortable. We also state the landowner can cancel the lease at any time. Furthermore, it notes if we, the lessees, have been responsible in our actions, we will get a refund for the unused time on the lease. If we have been irresponsible in our actions, the landowner retains all the money. Some hunters wonder why we put language like this in our contracts. Again, it is to reassure the property owner he still has full control of his property. We’ve never had anything but good relationships with the persons we lease from and see no danger in ever getting our contracts cancelled.

One other factor you as a lessee should consider is the planting of food plots. Almost all landowners will set aside a place or two for you to plant food plots, especially when you explain to them the deer will be eating your more succulent food, not their soybeans, corn or alfalfa. Note in the contract that the landowner allows you to plant food plots, and add an aerial or topo map showing the location of these tracts. Remember, food plots can also be planted in fields entered in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Although I can’t list every detail about a leasing contract in one article, what I have mentioned thus far, plus the information in the sidebar, should put you on the right track to a fair and reasonable contract for both you and the landowner.

In the end, leasing will provide you, your family and friends years of enjoyable days out of doors. Add in the fact it increases income for farmers and other landowners and relieves them of stressful responsibilities, and you have a win-win situation for everyone.                                    

Liability Insurance

Your local insurance agent may possibly write liability insurance for hunting leases. If not, he may be able to refer you to someone locally who does. If not available within your region, type “liability insurance hunting lease” into an Internet search engine and a list of companies will appear that offer this type of insurance.

To assist you in obtaining liability insurance, the following companies offer this type of service:

Gillingham & Associates, 8501 Turnpike Drive, Suite 200, West Minster, Colo., 80031, 888-636-6504. They sell liability insurance in all 50 states.

Southeastern Insurance LLC, 312 James Street, Tallassee, Ala., 36078, 800-240-7283. They sell in all 50 states and offer special rates to hunting clubs and outfitters that are members of Buckmasters.

Outdoor Insurance Group, 400 N. Woodlawn, Suite 100, Wichita, Kan., 67208, 866-837-6054. They sell liability insurance on rated acreage brackets.

There are many places to obtain free samples of leasing contracts. Many state conservation departments now list them on their Web sites. Colleges in most states also list hunting lease contracts on their Web sites. Clemson, Auburn, Kansas State and Iowa State University all list extensive information about leasing. All this information is easily found by using an Internet search engine.

If you want to make a landowner who is run over with deer feel good about leasing, put in your contract you agree to harvest a certain amount of does per year, and to keep the whitetails within the carrying capacity of the land. A group of hunters I know lost a 1,000-acre lease because they shot only bucks, but no does. The landowner then leased the ground to a group who agreed to harvest at least 20 adult does per year. After three years, the hunters have the deer population under control, they are harvesting mature bucks and the farmer is one happy guy.