Hunting Lease Liability Insurance: What to Know

If you charge people to hunt your land, assume your ordinary insurance and legal protections may not work as they did when access was free. Recreational-use laws in many states shield landowners who open land for free, but a fee can weaken that shield, and standard policies sometimes exclude paid recreation. Talk to an insurance agent and an attorney first.

Why money changes the legal picture

Most states have what are often called recreational-use statutes. They generally give landowners some protection from lawsuits by people who use the land for recreation without paying. The idea is to encourage landowners to keep land open.

How those laws treat landowners who charge varies from state to state. In many states, accepting a fee or a lease payment can narrow the protection or take the landowner outside it, and some states draw lines based on the type of fee, the type of land or the type of activity. Others keep some protection even when money changes hands. You cannot safely guess which camp your state falls in. Our overview of landowner liability and recreational-use statutes explains the concept in more depth.

What risks a hunting lease creates

Hunting involves firearms, bows, vehicles, remote terrain and often tree stands, so the potential for serious injury is real even with careful hunters. Insurers think about several kinds of risk.

• Falls from tree stands and ladders. Falls are among the more common serious injuries in hunting. Stands and ladders are often left on the property for years, which raises questions about who maintains them.
• Firearm and archery incidents. Injuries to other hunters, guests or neighbors.
• Vehicle and ATV/UTV accidents. On farm roads, trails and field edges.
• Property hazards. Old wells, open pits, unstable ground, ponds, electric fences, livestock and rough roads.
• Guests of guests. Lessees sometimes bring friends, family or kids who were never part of the agreement.
• Third parties. A neighbor, a trespasser or someone on an adjacent road who is hurt by an incident that starts on your land.

Even if you think a claim is unlikely, the cost of defending one can be significant. The aim of insurance is to put a professional between you and that cost.

Where coverage may or may not exist

Do not assume. Policies are written differently, and wording matters more than labels.

• Homeowner policy. Typically covers liability tied to your residence. It may exclude business or commercial use of land, or limit coverage for land away from the home.
• Farm or ranch policy. May cover incidental or occasional recreational use, but paid hunting access can require an endorsement or extra premium. Some policies treat it as a commercial activity.
• Stand-alone hunting-lease or recreational-use policy. Written for landowners who lease hunting, sometimes priced by acreage and number of hunters. Available through insurance agents and specialty carriers.
• Umbrella policy. Adds limits above your underlying policies, but only if the underlying policy actually covers the activity.
• Lessee or club policy. Some hunting clubs carry their own liability coverage and name the landowner as an additional insured. A certificate of insurance should show it.

Ask the agent to confirm in writing whether paid hunting access is covered, under which policy, and what limits and exclusions apply. A verbal “you should be fine” is not coverage.

Questions to ask your insurance agent

1. Does my current policy cover liability from people I charge to hunt, camp or recreate on my land? If not, what would?
2. What are the per-occurrence and aggregate limits, and are legal defense costs inside or outside those limits?
3. Are there exclusions for tree stands, firearms, archery, ATVs and UTVs, alcohol, camping, fires or guests of the lessee?
4. Is medical-payments coverage available for injured guests regardless of fault?
5. How does the premium change with acreage, number of hunters, and number of seasons or days?
6. If my lessee carries a policy, how do I become an additional insured, and what proof should I ask for each year?
7. What does the policy require of me, such as written agreements, signed waivers, hazard inspections or posted rules?

Costs depend on your state, acreage, the number of hunters, the limits you choose and your claims history. Some landowners find the premium small next to lease income, but the only way to know what it would be for you is to get quotes. The WildPass insurance page is a place to start looking for providers and questions.

What waivers can and cannot do

A signed liability waiver is a common tool. In general, a well-drafted waiver can release a landowner from claims based on ordinary negligence, but it typically cannot release gross negligence or willful misconduct, and enforceability varies by state. Minors usually cannot sign away their rights.

• Use clear, plain language and have each adult participant sign.
• Describe the activities and the known risks honestly.
• Have an attorney review the wording for your state.
• Keep signed copies and the date and time they were signed.

WildPass lets hosts require a liability waiver, signed by guests at checkout, which releases ordinary negligence and never gross negligence or willful misconduct. See the waiver terms. A waiver is a supplement to insurance, not a substitute. WildPass does not provide liability insurance to hosts, so the coverage decision is yours.

Reduce risk before you rely on insurance

Insurers and courts both care about whether you acted reasonably. Good practice also happens to be good risk management.

• Inspect and remove or repair old stands, ladders and platforms. Require lessees to use a full-body harness and to inspect equipment before each use.
• Mark boundaries, mark or fence off hazards and tell hunters about known hazards in writing.
• Set clear rules on alcohol, firearms handling, vehicles, guests, camps and fires.
• Limit the number of hunters and require names of everyone who will be on the property.
• Keep a simple record of inspections, communications and agreements.

The practical steps are covered in make your property safe for recreational guests, and a good written agreement is worth far more than a handshake; see the hunting lease agreement checklist.

A hypothetical example

Say a landowner with 120 acres leases hunting rights to a group of five and assumes the farm policy already covers it. A guest of one member falls from an old ladder stand the landowner left on the property, and the injured person’s family makes a claim. The insurer reads the policy, sees an exclusion for paid recreational use and declines to defend the claim. The landowner is now paying lawyers out of pocket.

Now change the facts. The landowner asked the agent in advance, added the right endorsement, required members to list every guest by name, took down the old stand and kept a signed lease with a waiver. The claim might still be filed, but the landowner has an insurer to respond and a record showing reasonable care. Neither version is a guarantee of outcome, which is the point: the preparation changes the odds and the cost.

Common mistakes landowners make

• Assuming the lessee’s hunting license or personal insurance protects the landowner. It usually does not.
• Not reading exclusions. A policy can sound broad and still carve out tree stands, ATVs or alcohol-related claims.
• Letting the policy lapse or failing to update the insurer when the number of hunters or activities grows.
• Allowing unlimited guests. Each unnamed guest is a risk you did not price or screen.
• Using a downloaded lease template without checking it against your state’s law.
• Taking the first quote. Different providers can price the same land very differently, so get more than one and compare what each covers, not only the premium. For background on what lease income looks like, see hunting lease prices.

Putting it together

1. Learn how your state’s recreational-use law treats paid access.
2. Call your agent and get answers about coverage in writing.
3. Decide whether to endorse your policy, buy a stand-alone policy or require lessees to carry their own.
4. Draft a written lease, add a waiver, and set safety rules.
5. Review everything each year, especially if you change the number of hunters or activities.

If you are just starting out, how to lease your land for hunting walks through the whole process, and the host guide shows how WildPass hosts set limits, zones and rules.