A piece of recreational land you can use for hunting and shooting sports is a dream of many. For some outdoor enthusiasts, that dream comes in the form of buying and owning your own parcel of land. For others, simply knowing someone who will allow you to use their land, either for free or for a small fee, is enough. Yet in any case, there are risks in everything we do, including when we are out on a piece of land with our firearms.
While the risk of an accident or lawsuit shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the great outdoors, it is useful to keep in mind certain risks you take on with your activities, so that you can plan accordingly. As you head out to your favorite plot this year, keep these five types of firearm risks for recreational land use in mind.
1. Risks for Outdoor Enthusiasts in General
If you are headed outdoors, there are always a few general risks to keep in mind. This is the case whether you will be using public land, government land, private land owned by a friend or commercial land charging an access fee. In all cases, you’ll be bringing along your firearm property, which in today’s economy can be pricey to repair or replace.
In many ways, rifles, pistols, scopes and other accessories are precision instruments. Manufacturers expect you to bring them outdoors and put them through their paces, but damage can still happen if they are knocked against rocky surfaces, dropped in bodies of water or exposed to dirt, sand and fine dust. This is the first kind of risk you’ll face using recreational land—that some expensive piece of property you bring with you could be lost, damaged or destroyed. Carrying property insurance specifically made for your firearms can help minimize this risk.
Besides property hazards, regular outdoor enthusiasts can also face legal liability risks. Most land use visitors will be familiar with a landowner or landlord asking you to sign a waiver before you begin your activities. Sometimes, even non-commercial landowners will ask non-paying visitors to sign one.
These waivers typically limit the legal liability of the property owner and explain the rules for using that particular plot of land. If you don’t follow the rules, cause damage to the property or injure someone during your stay, you yourself could be the one facing legal liability.
This could entail the risk of a civil lawsuit brought against you by the property owner or a third party. It could lead to lawyer fees, claims for property damage repairs or medical expenses, and a legal judgment or settlement. There’s specific insurance available to protect against these risks, as well.
2. Risks for Guides and Instructors
For some, the great outdoors is more than a passion, it’s also your livelihood. If you are employed as a guide, outfitter, firearm instructor, coach or range safety officer, you face your own unique set of risks when doing your job out on a piece of property with firearms.
To start, some of the same risks faced by everyday outdoor enthusiasts apply. Your personal firearm property could become lost, damaged or destroyed during an activity. However, there are additional risks because you are acting in a professional capacity and receiving compensation for your services.
Guides and instructors can owe a duty of care both to the owner of a piece of recreational land as well as to the groups or individuals they are working with on that land. When it comes to landowners, lawsuits happen often enough that most will require you to enter into a formal written agreement with them and carry your own insurance coverage to minimize the risk to the property and its owner.
When it comes to the groups or individuals you work with as a guide or instructor, the stakes are also high. You could be held responsible if one of your students is injured or causes range damage while under your instruction. It’s also possible for a past student you worked with who injures themselves to make a claim that you provided negligent training. A combination of general liability and professional liability insurance is usually needed to protect against these risks.
3. Risks for Private Landowners
Building a gun range on a piece of property you own is perhaps the ultimate dream for most hunting and shooting sports enthusiasts. Home gun ranges, family plots, private hunting lands and full shooting courses all fall into this category of recreational land use, whether you have 10 acres to work with or 1,000. Importantly, all of these private land use cases tend to share similar kinds of risks for the owners of the land. Primarily, private landowners face liability risks. These risks relate to third parties on the land, the activities that take place there and the general risks of landownership.
In general, landowners typically owe some level of a duty of care to third parties who are on a piece of their property. The nature of this liability depends on a few things, such as who the third party is and what the specific rules of the land’s legal jurisdiction say. Even adult and child trespassers can be owed differing duties of care when it comes to reasonable warning of hidden dangers and protection from potential injury. In some areas of the country, higher duties of care may be owed to social visitors who provide a benefit to the owner. If the recreational land is partially or fully open to the public, private landowners can enjoy greater protections, but some liability risks will always remain.
Activities on the land also impact the risk to a landowner. One issue hunting and shooting sports enthusiasts have to think about is nuisance claims by the neighbors. Activities that are said to unreasonably interfere with the use and enjoyment of other people’s property can be deemed a nuisance. Private landowners can also be accused of trespass, even if you yourself never cross your property line. This kind of trespassing liability typically involves groundwater contamination, odors, dust or escaped farm animals. Environmental issues can also impact your liability. Local, state and federal statutes may apply.
As with everything related to land, location is important. Landowners in more rural parts of the country with fewer regulations will face less risk from trespassers, nearby neighbors and local property rules. Other liabilities are typical of landowners everywhere — such as required taxes and legal obligations to paying tenants of the land. Insurance options are available to help protect private owners of recreational land who allow access to friends and other visitors for hunting and shooting sports activities.
4. Risks for Commercial Landowners
Risks for commercial landowners who charge a fee for the use of their recreational land are in many ways similar to those faced by private owners of recreational land. Liability is typically owed to third parties on the land, tied to what activities take place there and other general landownership risks.
Like private landowners, a duty of care is generally owed to third parties using the land under a commercial agreement. In fact, paying guests on the land are often owed an even higher duty of care than a private owner’s social visitors and land trespassers. This is because the benefit to the owner is higher due to the business component involved.
Operating a commercial range or other firearm-related business can also bring greater scrutiny from neighbors and local officials. The commercial activities you enjoy on your land could expose you to nuisance claims, trespass allegations or environmental oversight. Noise complaints, traffic and safety worries and contamination from spent ammunition are all things to think about.
Location is also a factor for commercial businesses. In general, urban and suburban recreational land use will face more risks from trespassers, neighbors and local officials than far-out rural settings. Commercial landowner liabilities will also apply. Depending on the nature of your commercial activities, an insurance policy covering land lease operations or more extensive firearm business activities can help protect you.
5. Risks for Hunt Clubs and Gun Clubs
Hunt clubs and gun clubs can face a pretty broad variety of exposures, when it comes to recreational land use. A lot of risk factors have to do with how the club is officially organized and what activities its members enjoy participating in.
Some clubs don’t own a piece of land but use a landowner’s property for their activities. Because the club is an organization, and not an individual or a small group of informal friends, the landowner’s rules for use are likely to be more stringent. Failing to follow the rules, causing damage to the property or injuring someone during an activity is highly likely to lead to a lawsuit against the club as a whole. Club insurance is available for these risks.
Other clubs do own their own recreational land, which comes with all the risks of being a private landowner. That means the club may have to worry about trespassers, complaints from neighbors and local property use rules. The club may also face liability risks if a club member or guest of the club is injured onsite during a club activity. Clubs that allow other groups or individuals to use the club facilities for a fee take on the additional risks of commercial landowners. Clubs that lease land have their own special type of coverage available.
There’s also the question of the assets and property belonging to club. If your club owns land, you may have buildings and equipment, like trap and skeet houses, maintenance equipment and so on to think of. There’s a risk that these buildings and property could be damaged, limiting the ability of the club to function, earn revenue from leasing fees and allow the members to enjoy their memberships. Many clubs obtain property coverage for these risks.
One other club risk to think about has to do with the decisions your club leadership makes. Directors and officers of the club are responsible for deciding who can and can’t use the club’s land, when they can use it and how they can use it, plus other land use-related decisions that may need to be made. Sometimes, a club can face a legal claim for one of these decisions, which is why some acquire special Directors & Officers insurance protection.
Protecting Against Your Recreational Land Use Risks
Enjoying your time on recreational land is easier when you know you’re protected. Lockton Affinity Outdoor offers a wide variety of insurance solutions that take your unique risks into account. We offer solutions for general outdoor enthusiasts, instructors, landowners, businesses, clubs and more. Our solutions can help protect your personal firearm property, your land and its improvements, plus protect your personal, business and organizational assets. Visit us online to learn more about what’s available.