Private landowners, including forest industries, control access to more than 50 percent of the land suitable for outdoor recreation in North Carolina. In the Tarheel State there are about 400,000 licensed hunters and more than 750,000 anglers. In addition, the number of hikers, canoeists, picnickers, campers, berry pickers, and bird watchers is growing each year.
With this increase in outdoor activity, many landowners report unacceptable levels of trespass, littering, property damage, and game law violations. Some landowners have tried to halt recreational use of their property by the public. Others have found ways of managing recreational use that have reduced or eliminated the problems and even produced needed income.
Although hunters and other outdoor recreationists are becoming more aware of landowner rights and concerns, abuse of private land continues, and many property owners need help. Often, landowners who work positively with responsible recreationists gain greater security, new friends, additional income, and the personal satisfaction that comes from helping others. This publication discusses (1) liability, (2) ethical standards for recreationists, (3) alternative ways of managing access to private lands, and (4) dealing with trespass.
Some landowners are unwilling to allow access to their undeveloped land because they are concerned about their legal liability for sportsmen who use the land. As a property owner, you should eliminate obvious hazards such as open wells and deteriorated buildings. You should also fence off any hazard that cannot be eliminated, such as a rock quarry, and post warning signs around it. Consider adding comprehensive liability or "umbrella" liability coverage to your standard farmowner and homeowner insurance policies. Adding a $1 million umbrella to an existing policy costs about $100 per year.
As a landowner, you can fix the burden of liability more firmly on the recreationist for property damage and casualty losses. Basically, people who use your land are responsible for their own safety, any damages they cause to your property, and damages to their property while on your land. Lease agreements, individual permit cards, and guest permit cards generally include codes of ethical conduct to be observed while the holders are on the property. North Carolina sportsmen should be more than willing to sign a promise to conduct themselves ethically, set good examples, and accept personal responsibility for injury to themselves or property. A typical permit card is shown below.
Figure 1. The front and back of a typical permit card.
Furthermore, landowners can require land users to show proof of insurance. Such hunters' insurance is available through insurance companies and national and regional sportsmen's organizations. For example, a hunting club of 50 members can purchase liability coverage of $500,000 for an annual cost of about $325, or $6.50 per member.
Responsible conduct by outdoor enthusiasts is important. The National Conference on Outdoor Ethics determined that the problems of private landowners caused by unethical recreationists needed attention at national, state, and local levels.
What should landowners expect from the people who use their land? An appropriate code of conduct challenges recreationists to
By working with hunters, anglers, and other recreationists you can
Take a positive approach to working with hunters and other outdoors enthusiasts by managing access to your land. Provide limited roadside parking at designated access points to discourage littering and vandalism. If you are working with a group that holds a lease, these designated parking areas can be located behind locked gates and out of public view. This tactic has a double benefit: limited parking at access points also encourages reasonable distribution of desirable sportsmen.
When you have decided where and to what extent you will grant access, you must decide who can have access. There are several options.
Option 1. Allow open public use.
Opening your land to unrestricted use requires no effort. Under the law, users must have at least verbal permission from the landowner, but the law is difficult to enforce. Landowners are often unsuccessful in prosecuting trespassers. Uncontrolled public use of private lands might decrease the quality of recreational opportunities available to you as a landowner or to your friends.
Option 2. Permit access to family members, selected friends, neighbors, and responsible recreationists who ask permission.
This option involves posting notices, issuing written permission cards, and prosecuting trespassers. You should require all nonfamily users to carry permission cards. You could have inexpensive, colored plastic badges made up and require guests to wear them. You could also designate certain sections of the property by color and distribute hunters accordingly. Wildlife enforcement officers need the support of landowners to prosecute trespassers successfully.
The obvious advantages of posting and granting written permission include better control of activities on your land and reduced abuse of property and game laws. The permission card should include the name of the user, your signature as landowner or the signature of your representative, validity dates for the permit, and a statement that the permit holders must conduct themselves ethically and assume liability for their actions and personal safety.
You can accomplish your wildlife management objectives by regulating the number of permits and their use. For example, farmers who suffer deer damage should grant enough permits to ensure a substantial harvest of deer each year. The number of permits issued and the number of deer harvested depend on several factors, including the size and nature of the property, the number and skill of hunters, the number and density of deer, season length, and the bag limit for bucks and antlerless deer, and the weather. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission district biologist will assist landowners in estimating deer densities and will then recommend the number of permits to issue. The address and telephone numbers of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are provided under "Sources of Assistance" in this publication.
You can require all hunters to check in before they hunt and to check out afterward by holding their permission cards when they are not in use. This procedure can provide an accurate tally of the game harvested and can help you decide how many permits to issue the next season. The check-in system also provides an opportunity to distribute hunters evenly. Good distribution resoft in greater safety, a better hunting experience, and an increased probability that trespassers will be caught or discouraged.
The check-in system can be used to promote fairness among permit holders. Permits could be made valid for only two days per week, thus balancing the access of those hunters who can come every day with those who can hunt only on weekends and holidays.
This option is an important one to consider because most North Carolina property owners want to share their hunting opportunities with friends, neighbors, and responsible hunters. No money changes hands, but a fund of goodwill, reasonable game harvests, high-quality hunting experiences, and good control of access and hunters' conduct results from granting permission to selected guests. With slight changes, this procedure can be applied to fishermen, campers, picnickers, hikers, and other recreationists, leading to similar advantages. Specific assistance in working with these and other specialized recreationists is available from the sources of assistance listed later in this publication.
Option 3. Lease recreational access to clubs or associations.
Landowners who lease recreational rights usually charge at least enough to pay their taxes. If the tract is large enough to attract and hold an organized group, you may be able to reserve recreational rights for your family and perhaps a few friends while still obtaining the financial and security benefits of leasing. To attract a hunting club, you might band together with several neighbors who have small tracts of forested land.
A model of a lease agreement with a hunting club is given at the end of this publication. Note that the club is required to pay in advance for the lease, provide the landowner with a current certificate of insurance for its members, post the property, pick up all litter, stay off of roads in wet weather, help put out fires, keep a record by species of each year's wildlife harvests, and obey all game laws.
Under the terms of the lease, the landowner is released from liability for the safety and actions of the recreationists but remains liable for willful or malicious failure to warn against hazardous conditions, uses, structures, or activities. Liability situations are complex; landowners should carry insurance.
Locating a responsible club is the key to successful leasing. Possible sources of information about prospective clubs include the local conservation officer, neighbors, and officials of forest industries holding tracts in the area. You might also advertise in local and city newspapers. Check with your neighbors to help avoid territorial disputes among hunting clubs, especially if the property to be leased is surrounded by land leased to other clubs.
Here are some points to consider in selecting a club that will respect the landowner, the property, the game laws, and the wildlife resource.
As with any contract, a lease agreement with an association or club is only as good as the relationship between the two parties. The club should arrange to meet with the landowner long before each hunting season to discuss any changes that are needed or wanted.
There is no simple answer to the question of how much to charge. Owners of extensive waterfowl habitat, river and stream access, or extensive tracts of land with large populations of deer, wild turkey, and other highly prized wildlife might realize some profit after paying their taxes and wildlife management cost.
Leasing recreational rights to responsible organizations offers several advantages. Aside from obtaining income, you gain valuable assistance in preventing trespassing, property damage, and littering; in posting the land, in controlling the harvest of game; and in preventing and suppressing forest fires.
Option 4. Permit daily use by the public for fees.
This altemative is used by owners of dove-shooting fields, by operators of upland game-bird and waterfowl shooting preserves, and by owners of fishing ponds and campgrounds. The owners post and patrol their land, prosecute violators, and issue written permits in exchange for fees collected at a business office or desk located at the only public entry to the property. The charge is determined by operating costs and public demand. Heavy public use requires that you provide access to drinking water, rest rooms, first-aid kits, litter receptacles, and adequate parking. You will also need to supervise users closely.
Intensive public use of private lands for fees greatly increases the potenfial for bodily harm and property damage to recreationists and for damage to the landowner's property. Before choosing this option, consult a lawyer and an insurance agent to be sure of your liability and insurance coverage.
Option 5. Form a landowner cooperative with neighbors.
Many landowners share their hunting and other recreational opportunities with neighbors and friends. In a rural community, no one wants to be the first to post signs and break the implicit that neighbors share hunting rights. However, in a locality where trespassing is frequent and where there are already enough hunters among neighboring landowners, their families, and their friends to hunt the area effectively, a landowner cooperative can be the answer.
Neighboring landowners should get together to make the important decisions well before the hunting season opens. Ideally, the cooperative should include all owners in a locality. In effect, you and the other landowners form a hunting club and can incorporate just as other clubs do. The members adopt a standard sign and posting system for all property boundaries. The group then develops a formula for sharing the cost of signs and wildlife management. A map of the cooperative should be drawn showing all boundaries, roads, and safety zones around residences and work buildings.
Permit cards are issued for use by members and their families and friends. The group might let a limited number of other responsible hunters join for a fee. Members agree to help each other patrol the lands for trespassers and to support prosecution of trespassers and game law violators.
The landowner cooperative can help build a sense of community among rural landowners. This is an especially important consideration for absentee landowners, who often have difficulty protecting their property rights. If you join a cooperative, you will forgo the income that might be paid by an outside organization, but you will secure high-quality hunting for yourself and other cooperative members.
Landowners need not limit their cooperatives to the management of hunting opportunities. They might offer the use of certain areas to local 4-H clubs, scout troops, natural history clubs, canoeists, campers, and school groups. Maps can be provided to show where various recreational activities are allowed. The cooperative should establish ground rules for obtaining permission, including the names of members authorized to approve the activity. When the different demands for recreational use are anticipated and planned for, management is not overly burdensome. Most rural landowners enjoy hosting responsible people.
Additional information on liability and trespass can be found in Woodland Owner Note 21, Liability and the North Carolina Landowner.
Neither you nor your representative should risk trying to apprehend a trespasser personally. If you see a trespasser operating a vehicle, write down the vehicle license plate number and the vehicle's make, model, and color. Note the date, time, and location of the incident. If possible, record a description of the trespasser. Call the wildlife enforcement officer or other local enforcement officer immediately.
Additional assistance is available through the Registered Lands Program conducted by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. That program specifically marks property that is then given additional protection from trespass and vandalism.
To report wildlife violations, call 1-800-662-7137. (in the Raleigh area, call 733-7191.)
For assistance in making your lands accessible to sportsmen, contact:
(Please note: The following model agreement should not be copied from this publication word for word and used. It must be adapted to your specific situation. Consult an attorney to protect your interests.
I, (name of landowner), Lessor, for the sum of $__________, payable in advance, grant to (name of organization or individual), the right to hunt and shoot, subject to the stipulations and conditions hereinafter set forth and only at such times as hunting and shooting are permitted by the laws and regulations of the United States and the State of North Carolina in force and effect on the tract or tracts of land described as follows:
(Here insert description of tract: county, road number, deed number, acreage, and other data.)
Stipulations and Conditions of This Lease Agreement
(Date)_______________(Lessor)_______________________________________
(Date)_______________(Lessee)_______________________________________
(Date)_______________(Witness)_______________________________________
(Date)_______________(Witness)_______________________________________
NOTE: If the leasing organization is incorporated, the current president can sign for members; if the leasing organization is an unincorporated association, all members must sign the lease.
Prepared by
Edwin J. Jones, Specialist-in-Charge, Extension Forestry
Peter T Bromley, Specialist-in-Charge, Extension Wildlife
This publication is based in part upon A Landowner's Guide to Working With Sportsmen in Virginia, Virginia Cooperative Extension Service publication 420-035, by Peter T. Bromley.
Published by
NORTH CAROLINA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
Distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Employment and program opportunities are offered to all people regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. North Carolina State University at Raleigh, North Carolina A&T State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.
3/93-3M-TWK
WON-25