Meet
Enterprise Managers
As with any venture, most businesses start small. We interviewed managers
of three wildlife enterprises in Arkansas. Each has a unique perspective
about his enterprise. We purposefully selected them to illustrate various
types of business ventures -- from quality white-tailed deer, bobwhites, and
waterfowl, to the number of customers they have, to the size of landholdings,
to the services they provide. Each has managed a wildlife enterprise for
at least 5 years. Learn tips from these wildlife enterprise managers in
their own words.
The clips on the following pages are offered in Quicktime format. If you don't
already have the player it can be downloaded by clicking
here.
Andrew Wargo: Andrew is manager of the Baxter Land
Company which owns several thousand acres in the Mississippi Delta. Although
production agriculture is its primary focus, wildlife enterprises are considered
a value-added component offering additional income to the company. The
company prefers issuing hunting leases to groups, though some individual hunts
for quality deer are conducted.
Jay Wright: Jay is the owner and manager
of Wright’s Shur-A-Shot, a family-oriented and operated enterprise
offers duck, bobwhite, and pheasant hunting to about 165 customers. Services
include meals and lodging, guides, and bird dogs, with the assurance
of a successful hunt. His enterprise is a short distance
to nearby attractions.
Mark Hall: Mark is the owner and manager
of Hall’s Quail Preserve where he raises bobwhite quail and
offers bobwhite and pheasant hunts. Hall’s Quail Preserve
has grown slowly and steadily from selling 500 birds to more than
7,000 today with 3 to 7 hunts per week for about seven months of
the year. Because bobwhites have declined in recent years,
his customers seek the nearly-wild quail hunting experience in
a farm landscape hunting Mark’s specialty birds.
Learning Objectives for this module:
By the end of this module, you should:
- discover that successful enterprises develop unique hunting
experiences targeting particular customers
- discover that achieving high customer satisfaction is key to
success,
- understand why it is important to start small,
- understand why you need to be a people-person to be successful,
and
- understand the time commitment and resources necessary to start
a wildlife enterprise.
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