Tips for establishing hunting leases

as educational. When you do decide on a lease document, you should have it reviewed by an attorney prior to an official lease signing. A hunting lease is a legal contract and it is advised to have it reviewed prior to signing.

What is the purpose of a lease? A lease is to layout the agreement between the landowner and the person leasing the property. The goal is to have a lease where there is no misunderstanding on what the hunter is getting as part of leasing that property. You can research lease examples and modify a lease agreement that works for you and your situation. You can find examples on the internet according to Mengak, but you do need to keep in mind that there is no standard form for the clauses of a lease agreement and plus the two parties may negotiate on the terms. You need to set the clauses for your situation. Remember, it is your property.

As previously stated, you will need to set up a lease agreement that will work for your situation. The rest of my article will be on things you may want to consider in working out your hunting lease agreement.

For starters, you may want to limit the agreement to the specific people and land involved. This can be the name of the hunter specifically, a group of hunters or even a hunting club. You may want to include a map to designate the property the agreement is covering. You may want to put in writing if guests or family of the leasing groups can enter the property to hunt, fish or camp, for example, on the property during the duration of the lease.

You will need to state the price of the lease on the document, along with when payment is due and where payment is to be sent. You can even set a limit on what can be hunted on the property if you choose.

Another item to consider is to limit the person from subleasing your property. An example would be to declare that the lessee cannot sublease the property to another or give permission to others to use the property during the lease duration.

You need to clearly state which rights are included in the lease for the lessee. You need to give some thought to this section. Are you going to allow more than hunting on the property? You need to write what you are going to allow such as fishing, camping and even picnicking. Are you going to allow fires, 4- wheelers or riding horses?

Dr. Mengak noted to think about if you are going to allow locked gates by the renter or allow them to hang signs on trees. If so, you will have to decide if signs can be nailed to the trees or do they need to be hung with wire that can be less damaging to the trees. Also, will you allow trees to be cut down for firewood if you are going to allow fire building as part of the lease. If you are, which trees can be cut down and which need to be left standing has to be considered. If you do not want nails to be hammered into your trees, specify that in the lease agreement.

It may sound common sense, but require the lessee to follow wildlife and game laws. You can even state that wildlife law violations by the hunter or the group will cause immediate loss of the lease. You will need a clause in the agreement that will limit your liability for potential accidents that could take place while the lessee is on your property. Additionally, you can put in clauses for such things as trash or litter pick up on the property, give yourself the right to cancel the lease or give yourself the right to enter the property or inspect the property during the term of the lease agreement.

Again, a lease agreement should be reviewed by legal counsel prior to the parties signing. Once signed, both parties have entered into a legal contract agreement.

Finally, we are still taking email address for our Gordon Extension Agriculture Newsletter. For more information, contact UGA Extension- Gordon County at 706- 629- 8685 or email gbowman@uga.edu.