This situation for the property owners could have been avoided by two subsequent actions. First, a landowner should require that a lessee carry liability insurance for hunting. The policy should carry an endorsement naming the leaser and his property. Or, the landowner should amend his farm policy to cover fee-hunting liability. Some landowners do both.

Second, and foremost, landowners should always require that each hunter and guest sign a liability waiver stating two main things:

1. Hunters are “totally and solely” responsible and liable for all their actions and injuries while on the property.

2. Hunters agree to use only tree stands that they have Whether you lease personally set up. Unfamiliar or buy property, tree stands are a leading cause ^{a sound deer} of hunter injury. ^{management plan} _{will enhance your}

Another example involved _{future success.} a Iowa farmer who leased his land’s bow-hunting rights and kept the gun-hunting rights for himself and his family. His son, a teenager who was not using a safety belt, climbed aboard one of the lessee’s tree stands during gun season. The chain-on stand shifted as

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the boy stepped aboard, and he fell 16 feet to the ground,

severely injuring his leg. The landowner sued the lessee to recover hospital expenses. The lessee lost the civil court case for not warning the landowner and his family about the stand’s condition, and for not incapacitating the stand against use by others.

A hunter liability policy would have covered the expenses of this tragic accident.

Landowners should also realize that most hunter liability insurance only covers up to $1 million per accident. A $2 million limit usually applies per policy period. Odds are, however, that a policy will be cancelled after the first