I am looking at a hunting lodge with a game preseree that stocks exotics in the southern USA. I was wondering if any of you had thoughts or ideas of things I should be aware of. I do not know much about this business. It seems like it could be lucrative if it were run well.

Thanks for your help.

quote:

Originally posted by Comet:
It seems like it could be lucrative if it were run well.

oh, that's a good one. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

Short answer; Invest your money elsewhere. There are easier ways to loose, I mean, make money.

You must have left some numbers off your spreadsheet if you believe this is a profitable industry.

Do it if you want, but do it because you love it, not for the money.

I will be happy to explain why if you want some more real info.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:

quote:

Originally posted by Comet:
It seems like it could be lucrative if it were run well.

oh, that's a good one. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

Short answer; Invest your money elsewhere. There are easier ways to loose, I mean, make money.

You must have left some numbers off your spreadsheet if you believe this is a profitable industry.

Do it if you want, but do it because you love it, not for the money.

I will be happy to explain why if you want some more real info.

Awww, Wendell, your just tryin' to scare off the potential competition!

olarmy,

That is right, this is MY money, everyone else stay away!

Comet,

I hope I didn't offend you. I was trying to make a point, and may have come across as rude. I will be happy to give some info/numbers to help you out.

Comet:

Any business can be "lucrative if it's run well". The same probably could have been said of a blacksmith business at the dawn of the automobile. While preserve shooting may be what is in store for tomorrow's generation of hunters, I am not so sure that exotics will fit in to that scenario. Wendell is right. You do want to walk very cautiously here. Get hold of a smart CPA and a smart business consultant who knows the exotics preserve business. Yeah, it's a business and you wouldn't buy a bar or a gas station without consulting the type of people I mentioned. Don't do it any differently for this idea - unless, of xourse, you are eager to throw your money away - in which case, as an old New Yorker, I can give you a very good deal on the Brooklyn Bridge!

Go for it Comet! I wish you the best of luck. Plenty of people do make good money in that business if it is run and marketed well. I hope you make some serious money while your equity increases rapidly.

quote:

while your equity increases rapidly.

I was wrong, this is one way to make money in this industry. If you are able to buy the land at a reasonable cost, and sell it as it increases in value.

Now, if you can just make the operation pay for itself in the meantime.

Comet I wish you all the luck if you intend to pursue this, however, several years ago I looked into about the same thing and it was not very feasible. Could not find the right land at a reasonable price, land prices have sky rocketed. I also read that hunting businesses are among the top ten in first year failures.

Culpepper hit the nail on the head. Your land overhead will kill the deal.

Consider that there is land that you could buy that would be $1500/acre (this is an extremely low estimate for a game fenced property, w/lodge, ready to hunt.) Let's get 1000 acres to make it a viable operation.

At 20 years with 7.5 % interest you payment is about $132,000/year on the land (if you make a 10% downpayment - $150,000).

Add labor at $15,000 for a general ranch hand helper. $15,000 for a guide. $20,000 for feed, and $12,000 for fuel.

Lets forget about all the other things you will need to pay for for the moment ...

This alone comes to $194,000/year

Ok, to break even, you need to make $194,000

Since you will need to shoot a bunch of animals every year to break even, you will have to buy them all at auction.

Figure an average markup of $500/animal.

You will have to shoot 388 animals per year to make that happen.

Wow at 388 animals, I need to go back and adjust my labor cost! Which means you will need to shoot more animals.

Using the same numbers and $1000/acre (good luck on finding that) you would need to shoot 300 animals to break even.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:
$1000/acre (good luck on finding that)

Sad but true

Comet,
Most of the more successful folks in that business already had the land from family.

If you have to purchase the land, there is not a spreadsheet in the world that will be profitable. However, if you have another lucrative business that needs a $194,000/yr. write off, you may be able to make it work. After 20 yrs. you will have a nice piece of land that you can hunt yourself.

You could liquidate assets, such as a home to aid with the purchase. Providing you have any equity in the home.

Did Comet just step out of the entire conversation? I would put a lot of stock in Wendell's opinion, he has been in the business for quite some time.

Thanks for all the replys. I have been driving back from my hunt and did not have access to the net. I appreciate all the advice and if I were to buy it I would need to finance most of it. Given the experience here, it sounds like it would be extremely hard to make a go of things. How many hunts could one typically expect on a monthly basis at a reserve like this?

They might need a bit more info to give you an answer to that. Size, location, species/numbers of animals, existing infrastructure, etc.

Alan