Hunting Preserves
– Operating “Outside of the Box” in a COVID-19 World
Sponsored by: ILDFA
Many hunting preserve owners are expanding their audience and marketing to a wider variety of customers such as non-hunting families in our current COVID-19 world. While offering a top-quality hunt may still be the main focus, many preserves have begun offering weekend lodge rentals and wedding venues as well as family vacation opportunities. Given that COVID-19 is harder to contract outside in fresh air, families who didn’t officially vacation this year may find a get-away within their own home state more attractive and safer. Car travel and amenities found within one’s home state may be the deciding factor for families vacationing later this year, where hunting need not be on the agenda. However, being outside in nature and among whitetail deer and other wildlife species could be. While some hunting preserve owners are hoping this year turns out as lucrative as 2019, other preserve owners, such as Jerry Stafford of Samson’s Whitetails Mountain in Vienna, Illinois have not experienced a significant decline of hunters as a result of COVID-19. Stafford feels his business this year is still on track with the amount he had last year. However, in an effort to help all preserve owners retain or find new customers, he offers the following advice: ● Promote family activities offered at your preserve such as fishing. ● Highlight selling features such as home-cooked meals, the appeal of the local culture and periods of favorable weather. ● Emphasize the ability to vacation far away from crowds in private cabins or lodges. Additionally, when seeking out new hunters for your preserve:
● Accentuate the ease and convenience of having everything taken care of from the acquisition of the hunting permit to the assistance from experienced hunting guides to the processing of the animal. ● Underscore the option (if available) to hunt one-on-one or with a group. Offer the use of preserve-owned guns and provide target practice, if necessary, prior to heading out. ● Promote your preserve for use in the “off-season.” This could help ease the potential financial strain felt this year by many preserve owners. Many preserves also offer the ability to hunt year-round and provide animals such as rams for this opportunity. Unlike whitetails, whose antlers are at their peak in the fall and shed in the spring, rams keep their horns year-round, Stafford explained. By additionally offering year-round hunts, executives with the inability to travel for extended periods can pick and choose the most convenient time for them, adding to your revenue base. And as with all preserves, the provided conveniences combined with the likelihood of harvesting a high-quality animal can be a huge attractant to customers. Having been in the business for 36 years, Stafford knows how true that statement is. “We know you want to be taken care of from beginning to end,” Stafford said. “Everyone owes it to themselves to experience how awesome a hunting preserve is.” He also offers one final piece of parting advice. “Support your local deer association and get involved. If you are a deer farmer, you better be active. We owe our livelihoods to the lobbyists who fight for us. They do amazing things.” By: Gail Veley
● Emphasize the selection of animals available whether native or exotic.
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