Managing Leased Hunting Ground Using Farm Works Software

The farm actually got its name from the abundant woods that surrounded the crop ground. What started as a basic homestead for the Ellis families, has thru the years, grown to become 780 acres of land devoted to row crops, fescue haying, and pasture. In addition, much of the original 200 acres of woods remains intact.

After a number of years of farming the ground ourselves, we decided to incorporate the farm in order to pass it along to our descendents. We also made the decision that in today's agriculture we needed to leave the actual row cropping and haying as well as the cow-calf operations to professional farmers. Therefore, we have been able to continue to enjoy the country living area, while cash renting the farm to others. The relationship between landlord and tenants requires a lot of communication to prevent problems from arising.

In 1999, we purchased Farm Site to help us keep track of the various operations as to return on assets. In addition, we wanted to make sure that the tenants past fertilization kept up with the subsequent crop yield depletions. We also needed year-to-year proof of the necessary liming activities that we had performed. Farmworks software provided us with an excellent platform for maintaining soil nutrient levels. It also provides a good tool for tracking numerous repair projects such as terrace rebuilding or tile inlet/outlet repairs.

Last year we began a project for providing fee-based hunting leases. We did this because of increased feeding pressure from deer and turkeys on the corn and soybean crops in the adjacent cropland. In addition, we had concerns about potential liability problems with poachers. In order to comply with increased insurance requirements, we had to post "Leased Hunting" and mark the perimeters. In addition, we had to restrict the lease to a certain area and review in detail the area with the hunters. For instance, we had to establish a 200-yard radius around any inhabited houses near the area.

Here again, Farm Site came to the rescue. I easily ran a perimeter line about the
USGS background maps. Then we placed the 200-yard circles around the houses in the backgrounds. I then printed the latitude and longitude of all the houses as well as the emergency numbers and hospital location on the back of the maps. Prior to this past falls' hunt, I also located a number of existing neighborhood tree stands and previous sites of deer and turkey groups. With the maps in hand, the hunting club was able to acclimate to their surroundings within a day.

We were very lucky to find an outstanding professional group of hunters, who have handheld GPS units and were very happy with the detailed maps. They killed a number of deer and are looking forward to spring turkey season. As time progresses, I plan to keep track of kill locations with them. However, I plan to do so after the season is over so as not to be a target.

For more information on our operation, feel free to contact Ellis Tuttle at 573-445-3412 or etuttle@coin.org.

THUMBNAILS Click for Enlargements
View of Entire Hunting Grounds	Harvest from the hunt	Close up view of one section of hunting ground