The Economics of Deer Management

1
The Economics of Deer Management

• By Emily Touchton, Corrie Williams, Brad Crosby,
  Garrett Strawder
• Lowndes Co. High School
• Dr. James Corbett, Agriculture Teacher
• July 2005

2
The Cost of Wildlife Management

• Landowners always have to ask 2 important
  questions How much will it cost? What will I get
  in return?
• There are realities which must be considered, it
  is important to be able to analyze wildlife
  management operation on an economic basis.

3

• It is the responsibility of the whitetail manager
  to let the landowner know about the benefits and
  costs of any management activity.
• Proper business knowledge is essential when
  approaching a wildlife management operation.
• A way to assure pure competition is to have both
  an informed producer and consumer.

4
Marketing Whitetails

• Three marketing approaches to a landowner
  1. Give-it-away 2. Wholesale 3. Retail
• Allowing free public access has no benefits
  towards the landowner.
• The resource is not a free commodity any longer.

5

• WHOLESALE - selling a commodity to someone who
  sells it to the basic consumer.
• One example of a wholesaling approach to wildlife
  recreation is a hunting lease.

• RETAIL - the sell of commodities in small
  quantities directly to the consumers.
• An example of the retail approach to wildlife
  recreation would be a commercial whitetail
  hunting resort.

6
Hunting Lease

• Some potential costs when evaluating a lease
  fee
• 1. Management
• 2. Food plot
• 3. Security
• 4. Fencing
• 5. Utilities
• 6. Housing
• 7. Shooting range
• 8. Fishing

7

• The landowner tries to make money that is above
  the 8 guiding rate.
• Guiding rate - the return available on an
  alternate investment.
• Most lease fees are acquired from the landowners
  best guess, rather then from calculating it out.
• A wholesale lease adds value to the land, a
  retail lease gets higher income, but requires
  more investment.

8
Buck Price Rates
9
Summary

• The economic reality of deer management is that
  rather private or public hunting, someone must
  pay for the cost of management.