Hunting lease and characteristic demand : a conceptual and empirical hedonic-travel cost approach

Abstract

The growing need for recreational hunting has placed an increasing pressure on public land. Especially in Texas, where over 95% of the land is privately owned, lack of public deer range is well manifested. As a result, a unique hunting lease market has developed in Texas. The marketability of such leases depends on the services and facilities provided and on existing lease conditions. Although, potentially many such attributes can be provided on a lease, the interrelationships among them makes it necessary to provide such attributes in "packages" of closely related attributes. Using factor analysis 12 such "packages' were identified out of 51 commonly provided attributes for deer hunting leases in Texas. Examination of attributes contained within a factor indicated many make practical sense from the point of view of the hunter. Using hedonic travel cost approach, inverse demand functions were estimated for these factors. Although, four distinct hunter groups were identified, i.e., (1) hunters who hunt only on purchased leases, (2) hunters who hunt on purchased leases and on public land, (3) hunters who hunt as guests on leases, and (4) hunters who hunt only on public land, estimated demand functions were not sensitive to the specification of hunter type, or the length of stay per visit. However, these demands were sensitive to the factors which affect the success of the hunt, such as restrictions on type of deer and the opportunity to first hunt on the lease. Most of the hunters were in the income group of $30,000 to $50,000. Hunters who hunt only on leases spend on the average $395.37 to purchase a lease. Lease hunters made around 11 all purpose trips to the primary lease and spent about $123,50 per each trip. The reported subjective probability of bagging a buck at the primary lease wa 0.48.