“We knew we had an exceptional piece of property for hunting and we thought we could generate a little income from it, but LandTrust by far exceeded our expectations!”
For third generation cattle rancher, Henry Beel, signing up for LandTrust just made sense to him. Beel acknowledged that he and his two brothers, Frank and Adam, could do more with their land and had been exploring various options. They were looking into insurance and liability logistics as well as the option of going through a broker or outfitter. Then one morning, Henry was listening to The Business of Agriculture podcast with ag specialist, Damien Mason, when he discovered LandTrust. The podcast interviews LandTrust founder, Nic De Castro. Mason isn’t afraid to ask Nic the hard questions about what it means for a landowner to open access to his or her land, but Henry appreciated what Nic had to say about this tricky topic and decided he needed to explore more.
“I got on the website to learn more. After doing my research and calling the LandTrust customer success team, I had a really good feeling about the opportunity and proposed the idea to my brothers. They were instantly on board with it! We knew this was the way we needed to go.”
Henry explains that he was simply looking for a way to generate a little more income from his family’s ranch. He says that he used to host friends and family on the land, but never other recreators. Although not because they wouldn’t ask. Beel states that he was frequently asked for permission by strangers to hunt on his land, but he never felt comfortable with that idea without any insurance. That all changed once he joined the LandTrust community and started his Beel Brothers listing.
“With it being our first year with LandTrust, I wasn’t really expecting too much. I figured we’d start small and if it went well then we could expand.”
Beel goes on to explain that they originally did not include their whole ranch in the project, just a part of it. He and his family wanted to start small and expand if it was going well. After their very successful first season, Henry is already looking at opening up full access to the ranch, putting up a cabin, hunting stands, game camera and overall improving the facilities. He recognizes that incorporating these small projects one at a time will drastically improve his already high-quality listing and that it will quickly pay itself off.
“I booked my first five days of rifle deer season in under one week! I was shocked at the immediate success.”
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Henry and his family are really pleased with the first season and appreciate the people they have met so far. He believes that he has already developed long-lasting relationships with some of them and that they will certainly be coming back year after year. The Nebraskan has answered phone calls from Wisconsin, Minnesota, all the way out to Utah! Henry has already been answering inquiries about the 2022 season, but wants to set in place a plan for improving the listing before he accepts any requests. He also really enjoyed getting to know the sportsmen who visited in 2021 and wants to give them first priority and allow them the opportunity to rebook with him so he can build on those relationships. Through all of the inquires he received, Henry says he only had a few technical difficulties regarding a background check and a special offer he considered, but after speaking to the LT customer success team these problems were resolved quite quickly.
“LandTrust has done a lot for us to get into this little sideline business. They’ve made it super easy to balance the work from our end and it keeps us at ease knowing they provide insurance, background checks and marketing. It’s a very easy process and it’s paid off for us!”
Henry says he’s ready to expand the Beel Brother’s listing. He is excited to open the property for other Nebraska hunting seasons such as coyote and spring turkey. In addition, he has been discussing with his family the idea of welcoming birdwatchers and hosting farm and ranch activities on the land.
“I’m feeling optimistic about the upcoming opportunities that are possible with LandTrust.”
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LandTrust helps make sharing easy, enjoyable, and safe. We verify personal profiles and listings, maintain a smart messaging system so Landowners and Recreators can communicate with certainty, and manage a trusted platform to collect and transfer payments.