Starting a game ranch?

Question

I know some of you guys on here are guides or owners of hunting/wildlife businesses.

In the next few years, I would like to start a small-scale exotic game ranch here in Texas. 100 acres or so of high-fenced land, and I'd want to have hogs and a couple of species of deer (fallow and axis, most likely). I'd probably put up a few trailers or build some bungalows, too.

Any pointers with regard to financing this? Any pointers in general?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Personally I don't know, maybe you should try contacting game ranches and ask them here is a list of them:

http://www.highadventureranch.com/?utm_s...

http://www.hunterschoiceoutfitters.com/

http://www.circlekgameranch.com/

http://www.hunttheffr.com/

http://www.umgamanzisafaris.com/

http://www.heartsbluff.com/ espesically this one cause it is in Texas.

Answer 2

Here's a reality check- on 100 acres there is not room to support over 3 deer- that's it. This is a money making business to get into, but you can't get into it on a shoestring budget - shoot for a minimum of 2000 acres to just get started.

Answer 3

The first thing Don't put hogs with Deer on a 100 acre high fence. The simple fact is that the deer are passive feeders and the hogs are aggressive feeders. If you have a lot of land it is OK but still not recommended. If you want to have them available my wild hogs that have been trapped and only buy bores. They reproduce like rats and not more than one or two at a time. The deer buy 2-3 varieties and allow them to establish a little. Then give high quality service. Also check with the Texas Parks and wildlife Department for requirements and regulations.

Answer 4

I would recomend getting as much land as possible (buying or leasing). If it's one thing that turns most hunters off is a canned hunt. The problem with 100 acres is that you can see clear across it in Texas. Now I think 100 acres is pretty big if you were buying it for your own recreation. However being a business in a highly competitve market (since many ranches in Texas are set up for hunting of some kind), you have marketing and public relations concerns. And you need to advertize it as 100 acres because if you don't, there's going to be some real unhappy clients thinking it was much bigger.

The question that needs to be answered is "Why should people hunt my 100 acre ranch when there are 10 ranches within 50 miles that are 500-1000 acres?"

Unfortunatly you're going to have a hard time with that question.

If you can somehow network in the next couple years and find some like-minded people, you can all team up and get a much bigger piece of property. Make sure the website is up to date and written correctly, make sure cabins are new, make sure the game is abundant but free to roam within your high-fence, and price yourself slightly lower than everyone else but not to the point that people question why it's so cheap. I think you "underprice and overdeliver".

Find successfull ranches in another state or on the opposite side of Texas and ask if they consider you competition. If they don't, they may be willing to help you.

Join some hunting forums that specialize in exotic hunting but don't post this question for a while. The idea would be to gain some friends who own these ranches. They can help you then or maybe even offer you a partnership.

It's all about who you know.

Financing is going to be very very hard. Pooling money with partners or finding an investor would be easier. But you need to start networking now because you'll need A LOT of money.