Our Hunting Leases & Hunting Clubs
Westervelt Wildlife Services offers deer hunting land leases and hunting clubs throughout the Southeast. Collectively, we manage nearly 700,000 acres of hunting leases and clubs in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Westervelt Wildlife Services is staffed with professional Certified Wildlife Biologists and hunting lease and hunting clubs managers that have over 100 years of combined experience managing wildlife, wildlife habitat, and hunting lease programs. In fact, the Westervelt Company was the first private industrial timber company in the Southeast to hire a wildlife biologist (1951) and among the first to implement a hunting lease program in the 1970’s on over 400,000 acres of company owned lands. Because the primary use of our land is timber production, we have learned how to manage quality hunting land leases, implement wildlife enhancement projects, and maintain long-term hunting land lease customer satisfaction in conjunction with timber management activities. Due to our expertise and experience over these years, our hunting lease program has been extremely successful and currently leads the hunting lease industry in quality and customer satisfaction.
On lands owned by Westervelt, timber management activities are conducted in a way that promotes quality wildlife habitat, abundant wildlife, and excellent hunting. Management strategies such as timber thinning, harvest, burning, and fertilization applications are used to promote desirable wildlife cover and quality forages. Our average timber harvest is less than 100 acres designed in a way that will promote edge habitat, habitat diversity, and hunting opportunities. We have also dedicated a minimum 1% of our ownership to permanent food plots that are maintained for wildlife.
Leasing land from Westervelt is more than simply having a place to hunt. Our hunting clubs take an active role in managing the lands to maximize wildlife value and create exceptional recreational opportunities. Our staff of wildlife biologists work closely with our hunting clubs each year to help them make the most of their hunting lease. Most Westervelt hunting clubs annually collect harvest and hunter observation data that allows the biologist to monitor deer herd quality and make recommendations that will improve the deer herd and hunting.
Our on-line hunting land lease services make leasing and managing your hunting lease easy. Hunting clubs are provided their own webpage where they can find useful information regarding their hunting lease. Information such as deer harvest summaries and reports, lease contracts, hunting club invoice, lease payment information, lease maps, timber activity notification maps, membership lists, and Westervelt biologist contact information can be found on these pages.
Westervelt Hunting Land Lease and Hunting Clubs Services
Westervelt Wildlife Services offers hunting leases and hunting clubs throughout the Southeast. Collectively, we manage nearly 700,000 acres of hunting leases in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia. Our founding principles focus on adding value for our hunting lease customers and using innovative technology to increase our management efficiency. Westervelt Wildlife Services offers the following hunting land lease management services:
Hunting lease evaluation and pricingQuality customer selection process
Internet-based marketing system for available leases
Value enhancement
Invoicing and collection
Use of our time-tested hunting lease contracts
Supervision of lease customers to ensure lease compliance and landowner expectations
Access to our high volume liability insurance rate
Technical guidance to enhance the value of your hunting lease business
In addition services can also include:
Habitat and wildlife quality assessments
Customer education
Hunting lease management system
Customer satisfaction surveys
Landowners or companies desiring a quality hunting land lease business can use our successful approach to help achieve their goals. With clients ranging from corporations owning large blocks of property to smaller private landowners, we offer a turnkey program that includes management of the entire lease business or technical assistance for landowners only interested in enhancing their own program. For more information, please contact Jeremy Meares, 800-281-7991 or jmeares@westervelt.com.
Hunting Leases FAQ
No commercial trees can be cut to establish shooting lanes. Lessees will be allowed to cut brush, however, to open shooting lanes. If you are in doubt as to whether the plants in question are commercial trees or brush, do not cut them! Contact your lease manager for clarification.
No. Your club does need insurance, but you will not have to seek and secure insurance on your own. Westervelt Wildlife Services secures annual liability insurance for all hunting clubs under one insurance policy through the Outdoor Underwriters Agency. The insurance amount is added to the total lease price. That is, your total lease price is the lease amount ($/acre) plus the insurance amount.
Because growing and harvesting trees is the primary land use objective for The Westervelt Company’s land, it is necessary to harvest timber or conduct other forest management activities throughout the year. However, efforts will be made to inform hunting clubs of these activities prior to them occurring. Because we manage hundreds of hunting clubs and timber activities are constant across the Westervelt landscape, it may not always be possible to contact the club directly. Thus, planned silvicultural activity maps are updated regularly and listed on each club’s webpage.
Most Westervelt lands are already gated. Where needed, and only with Westervelt’s written permission, hunting clubs will be allowed to erect gates. However, gates must be built to Westervelt specifications. Under no circumstances are cables, chains, or ropes to be used to restrict access due to potential safety hazards. Use of cables, chains, ropes or other similar restrictions may be grounds for lease cancellation. We recommend relaying gate issues to your hunting lease manager. In many cases, we can help resolve these issues.
Metal ladder stands, tripods, climbing stands, and shooting houses are encouraged. Nailing stands to trees or driving metal spikes into trees for steps is not allowed.
Hunting lease maps available on our website under available leases should provide guidance to the location and boundaries of the lease property. Once at the tract, Westervelt property lines are marked on trees with yellow paint. The yellow property lines, however, only indicate Westervelt property lines and not necessarily the hunting lease boundaries. There may be several hunting lease tracts within one large Westervelt owned tract of land. Interior hunting lease boundaries are generally roads, creeks, rivers, or other natural boundaries.
Yes, lease tracts may be posted. Lessee may post the premises against trespass in accordance with the State laws to the extent of the rights granted by the lease. Only Westervelt signs may be used for posting leases (aluminum nails are required). Signs are available through our hunting lease managers.
Typically, neighboring and local landowners or groups who have historically hunted a property and have been good stewards of the land will be given preference when making leasing decisions. However, a group who has been known to abuse a property, or has a history of wildlife violations, will be excluded from consideration for a lease.
Westervelt allows one member per 100 acres on most leases. This ensures customer safety and a quality hunting experience.
Contact your respective lease manager/biologist. Their contact information is listed on our website. You may also contact them via email directly from your club’s website
Subleasing, commercial hunting, or selling of hunting rights is prohibited and is a direct violation of the lease contract.
We will not break up tracts of land into many small lease parcels. We encourage neighboring landowners, hunting camps, and others to work together as one group to apply for a larger piece of Westervelt property. You can then decide amongst the group (and include it in your Camp Rules) the guidelines for who hunts different parts of the property and other similar questions.
Westervelt does not mail invoices. Lease invoices are generated on each club webpage which can be printed and mailed back to Westervelt with payment. We also have an online payment option that can be customized for each club. For most hunting clubs, the payment schedule is as follows: 25% by May 1st, 25% June 1st, and the balance by July 1st. If remaining balance is not paid in full by July 1st, the lease contract will be cancelled and the tract will be listed as an available lease.
Expect an annual price increase of 5% throughout the duration of the contract (usually 3 year contracts).
Each tract is priced separately based on habitat diversity, potential to produce quality game, quality access roads, and the presence of other enhancements such as food plots, camps, fishing lakes, etc.
Once a contract expires, the existing club has the first option for renewal before it is posted as an available lease as long as they have abided by the lease contract policies, been good stewards of the land, followed deer management recommendations, and have made lease payments on time.
A Westervelt hunting lease permits you to use the property throughout the year.
For those interested in leasing land, you should:Review available leases Once you find an available hunting lease you are interested in, contact the
Westervelt Lease Manager to find out more about the lease or to secure the lease. If available leases do not fit your needs, but you would like to be on a “waiting list” if any leases become available that meet your needs, contact one of our lease managers via email or phone.