Boise - 24 June, 2005 -

Farmers and ranchers looking for income may have a new source of funds right out in their fields: hunting leases. The J.R. Simplot Co. recently purchased the rights in Idaho to operate a franchise of the Hunting Lease Network, a service that matches landowners who want to allow hunting for a fee on their property with hunters who want exclusive rights to certain properties. "The purpose of the Hunting Lease Network is to make leases hassle-free for the landowner and the outdoorsman, so that they can both just enjoy the benefits of the arrangement and the peace of mind that we're handling all the details," said Vince Restucci, director of national accounts and large grower strategy at Simplot who is managing the new franchise. The service could be important to landowners who are facing sagging commodity prices and water shortages, allowing them in effect to have a new "crop" to generate funds, he said. "We have met with dozens of landowners who are all taking a look at this as a way to generate revenue from existing assets," he said. "In fact, we've already signed up a few landowners whose properties will appear on the Web site next week." For hunters, the service is important because they can deal with an intermediary agent for the landlord, often on private lands where it's hard for them to determine who owns the particular property. "We handle the writing, accounting, wildlife harvest reports, hunting liability insurance carried by hunters and lease renewals," Restucci said. "Basically, we serve as the liaison between the landowner and the outdoorsman for the life of the lease." The Hunting Lease Network is a nationwide system that can link the two parties together using its Web site. For landowners, it costs $100 to have the network appraise the hunting possibilities on their property, develop a personalized Web page and put the lease on the market. Hunters can register on the site - www.nationalhuntingleases.com - for free. Once the hunters find a property they are interested in obtaining a lease on, the lease is put up for competitive bidding. The process ensures property owners get fair market value from allowing hunting on their private lands. There's plenty of demand by hunters for the leases. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, more than $624 million is spent annually on hunting leases. As the largest private landowner in the state of Idaho, the J.R. Simplot Co. also could benefit greatly from owning the franchise. "We probably won't allow hunting on our lands that are active cattle ranching operations, but we are evaluating some of our crop-related lands for use in the network, Restucci said. HLN also coordinates leases for eco-tourism activities such as bird watching, camping, hiking and mountain biking. Since it began managing leases, HLN has opened up more than 210,000 acres of private land to hunting across the United States. "We help landowners get more income from their property, and we're helping outdoorsmen save time looking for quality, affordable locations where they can have a positive experience," Restucci said. "It's really a win-win arrangement."

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