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

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.

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.

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.

WHOLESALEWHOLESALE - 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. RETAILRETAIL - 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.

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

The landowner tries to make money that is above the 8% guiding rate. Guiding rateGuiding 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.

Buck Price Rates

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