The starting point for developing a wildlife enterprise is an inventory of existing and available resources.  A resource inventory helps determine whether you can make the property an economically feasible business and what type of wildlife enterprise to pursue.  For example, do you want to offer day hunts or multi-day package hunts?  Once you select an enterprise, evaluate your resources to determine if anything is lacking that would prevent development of the planned enterprise.  It also helps identify which resources are underused.  These resources can be classified as natural, physical, labor, and financial resources.  Once completed, the resource inventory becomes part of the overall business plan.

Your natural resource inventory worksheet is part of your resource inventory.  It describes characteristics of your land, soil types and vegetation (habitat), and wildlife populations.  The additional components of your resource plan are as follows:

• An equipment and building inventory is a list of assets such as buildings, equipment, machinery, and domestic animal populations.  

• The labor resources inventory includes both management and general labor needs.  In many wildlife enterprises, this includes family “buy-in” into helping support the business.

• The financial resources inventory will help you consider the available capital as well as all outstanding loans for assets identified in the physical resources inventory.