Hunting is a popular sport in Iowa — both to hunters and the private landowners who lease their land out as hunting grounds.

Landowners in the United States have made a profit by leasing their farmland and woodlands to hunters for the past 50 years, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State. The practice has only caught on in Iowa, however, in the last three or four years, said Bob Wells, field specialist from the Cooperative Extension.

“Iowa farmers have been slow to realize the rest of the value in their property when they only use it for corn and beans,” said Dan Burden, content specialist for the resource center.

Landowners may choose to lease their land to hunters to gain extra money for their farm, while others use the money received for land conservation programs and habitat improvement, like the Wetlands Reserve Program and the Conservation Reserve Program.

“What landowners use [the money] for differs depending on where you are in Iowa,” Burden said.

“Some use it as supplemental income.”

Leasing of farmland and woodlands may not only serve to provide supplemental income to farmers, Burden said.

“Increasing use of land in off season by people from the urban areas benefits the local economy such as hotels, gas stations, Wal-Mart — for shotgun shells. Maybe the landowners can start a bed and breakfast or a gift shop, which is starting to catch on. It helps to develop tourism,” he said.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources manages 324,000 acres of land — only 1 percent of the total land in Iowa. Of this land, 70,000 acres are hunting preserves. This means that private land is the bulk of what is available for hunting in Iowa. Because of this, there is stress on private landowners to make their land available for hunting.

Both the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center and ISU Extension provide information to farmers and landowners on how to manage and lease their land.

“Recently questions have come in about how [land leasing] is done, how much to charge,” Wells said. “We are trying to get people in a position where they understand how to go about leasing their property — and how to make it a positive experience for the people leasing the property. They’re selling entertainment, so they have to find out how to attract wildlife — so they can charge more.”

Wells also said public use of private farmland limits a landowner’s liability in case of accidents or injuries, but not if the landowner charges a fee.

“It is important to make people aware that if they are charging a fee, they have increased liability, and they need to check with their insurance companies to see if that’s covered.”

More information on land leasing is available at the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center Web site.