land insurance

Three Important Benefits of Hunting Insurance

White-tailed Deer

If you own land with a fairly strong population of game desirable to hunters, chances are you have hunters using your land even if you have not officially authorized it. What would happen if one of those hunters or a neighbor were injured as the result of a hunting accident? Alternatively, how would you pay the cost of rehabilitating your land if an unauthorized hunter accidentally started a fire? The answer to both questions is simple: hunting insurance.

Landowners all across the United States take advantage of something known as hunting lease liability insurance. It is a type of insurance that is usually priced according to acreage and the types of game that will be hunted there. Best of all, hunting insurance is very affordable. You can get coverage for several hundred acres for less than you pay for car insurance.

If you own land used by hunters, here are the three most important benefits of obtaining an insurance policy:

1. Liability Protection

It is unfortunate, but our highly litigious society makes it easy for hunters and their guests to sue landowners in the event of accident. There is also the potential of being sued by neighbors if hunters using your land trespass, cause property damage or injure others. And make no mistake about it; liability litigation can end up costing you millions. Without insurance in place, you could lose everything you own – including the land on which the accident took place.

The liability protection afforded by hunting insurance covers bodily injury claims, usually up to the limits of $1 million. It also provides protection against damage to neighboring properties, lost or damaged hunting equipment, weather-related accidents, and other forms of peril.

2. Easier to Lease

Some landowners choose to lease their private lands without a hunting lease liability insurance policy. Some offer leases without worrying about any form of insurance, while others require hunters to carry their own personal injury and property damage coverage. However, purchasing hunting lease insurance has an added benefit in that it makes it easier for the landowner to lease his/her property.

Put yourself in the shoes of the hunter. That individual will be more comfortable hunting on a plot of land that he/she knows is covered by liability insurance. Whether he/she has personal insurance or is covered through a homeowner’s policy, the additional insurance purchased by the landowner offers yet another layer of protection. That is a selling point for getting your land leased.

3. Better Land Management

Every landowner has the right to control his or her property by specifying terms in the lease. Nevertheless, covering a piece of property with hunting lease liability insurance makes it easier to manage and control the land. For example, an insurance policy may only cover a certain number of hunters within a confined amount of acreage, at any given time. The landowner can specify that in the lease terms while also informing the lessee of the limits of the liability insurance. Knowing insurance does not cover parties in excess of size limits serves as motivation for the hunter to limit his/her parties.

Hunting lease liability insurance is almost a necessity if you own land that you lease to hunters. There are just too many risks involved in the sport to leave things to chance. You can purchase hunting insurance as part of your membership in a hunting association that offers such a benefit, or from a specialist insurance company offering policies for landowners like http://ahuntinglease.org/. Before you offer another lease, look into covering yourself and your land with hunting lease liability insurance.