When it comes to insurers covering hunting clubs and camps, it's far more common to see claims for slips and falls, as well as accidents involving traps and all-terrain vehicles, rather than an accidental shooting of someone walking on two legs as opposed to four–as in the infamous case of Vice President Dick Cheney, professionals in the sports and recreation niche note.

Indeed, while there certainly could be coverage implications when one hunter accidentally shoots another (see Cheney sidebar), buyers hunting for coverage are worried about far more mundane exposures, these experts said.

Such buyers are generally hunting camps (where a guide takes one hunter or a small group of hunters on a hunting trip), or hunting clubs (where club members use owned or leased land for hunting and possibly other activities).

“They are going to be looking for liability [insurance],” according to Morris Nelson, director at R.B. Jones, part of the H.W. Kaufman Financial Group–which also includes wholesaler and managing general agency Burns & Wilcox.

In addition, “they might be looking for some property coverage if they have property on the site, and they might be looking for some sort of inland marine coverage,” Mr. Nelson noted.

Tom Gillingham, president of Gillingham & Associates, a division of Philadelphia Insurance Companies, said inland marine coverage, for example, will protect equipment owned by a hunting or gun club, such as trap machines, ATVs and various equipment used to manage the club's property.

A hunting club or camp that owns its own property will likely seek property insurance as well, noted John Doyle, vice president of the commercial lines division at Philadelphia Insurance Companies.

However, he said many insurers are not eager to write this type of property “because it's obviously out in the woods,” noting that much of it is unprotected, while structures on the property tend to be older and more susceptible to damage from wind and other forces of nature.

Certain companies, Mr. Doyle said, have developed expertise in writing this kind of property, noting that Philadelphia Insurance offers the coverage as part of an overall package to hunting camps and clubs.

The main concern for such facilities, though, is general liability, players in this market agree. Companies writing the policies might offer different liability coverage for the same risks, and coverage options will vary depending on the type of operation seeking insurance.

Chris Heavrin, an underwriter specializing in agribusiness and farm insurance in Markel's Markel Agriculture Division, said his company offers coverage to camps and certain clubs that are registered, have established bylaws and are membership-based–preferably those with open membership.

For clubs, Mr. Heavrin said, the intent of the liability coverage is for exposures to the public. “We have a member-to-member exclusion,” he said, noting that all members are part of the named insured. Thus, he explained that if a hunting accident were to occur between two club members, the incident should be excluded under the policy.

Mr. Heavrin said this is a common exclusion for companies that write insurance for hunting clubs.

However, if an accident occurred between a club member and a guest, the club would be covered against an injury sustained by the guest, he added.

Mr. Nelson also noted that, for the policies he sells, if a hunter sets up a tree stand, or if another member of the club sets up the stand, and the hunter falls out, coverage would be excluded because if one member of the club built the stand, then, for insurance purposes, the club built it, and responsibility lies with the club.

However, while many companies write their policies with a member-to-member exclusion for clubs, not all do.

Glenn Sudol, vice president of underwriting for commercial lines at Gillingham & Associates, said via e-mail that for his company, “member-to-member accidents are not excluded, so one member can sue another for an at-fault accident. Members can also sue the club.”

He added “one last point: Since all members are insureds, they cannot receive the benefits of medical payments. This [coverage] is for the benefit of third parties.”

When rating clubs for underwriting purposes, Mr. Heavrin said Markel looks at how the club is exposed as far as public activities go.

The company does not have to worry about member-to-member activities, he explained, because of the exclusion. But he said that sometimes clubs will host an open shooting tournament with their town, or they will go into schools to hold a clinic on fly-tying to increase interest in fishing. Mr. Heavrin said the more a club holds public events, the more underwriting is required.

Mr. Gillingham said a club's special events could even include weddings and fundraising functions. He said his company will cover all of these special events under a policy. “We do consider that at the time of the application, and just offer coverage for the annual exposure,” he noted.

He also said a club that leases land could be rated differently than one that owns land. “The typical type of a lease that we see is a southeastern hunting lease, where a guy or group of individuals will hunt for the deer season–which is a couple of months long–and for the rest of the year that property is vacant.”

This risk, he said, is priced lower than a gun club that owns land that is open year-round for club members to use for various outdoor activities.

For hunting camps that use guide services or outfitters, Mr. Heavrin said the coverage is crafted a little differently.

He said liability is a bigger issue for these operations, and they look for policies that will cover them in the event a guest or client is injured. Because the risk factors are greater for camps, coverage is generally more expensive than it is for clubs, Mr. Heavrin explained.

Mr. Heavrin said that for camps, if an accident occurs between two clients under the care of a guide, the policy will cover the guide and the camp for liability purposes.

Mr. Nelson said if a hunting camp guide built a tree stand and a client fell out because of a defect in the stand, then the policy would cover the camp.

When underwriting camps, Mr. Heavrin said the focus is on the actual guides–particularly whether they are qualified to lead guests on hunting trips, and if they have instituted the proper safety protocols.

Mr. Gillingham said the degree of care owed to paying members is higher for a camp with a guide than for a club. “When you go out on a paid hunting excursion, I think you have an expectation that you'll be returned in one piece and without any injury.” The burden in camp situations, he explained, “is placed on the operator, whereas club members are by and large responsible for their own conduct and that of their fellow members.”

Location also plays a role in underwriting. Mr. Heavrin said if a guide is taking clients onto public land where the camp has to file information with the U.S. Forest Service, that risk is rated differently than if the clients are taken onto a tract of private land that is thousands of acres and no one knows exactly where they are.

For both clubs and camps, Mr. Gillingham said the type of terrain and the means of pursuing game also come into play for underwriters. Hunting whitetail deer out of a tree stand, he explained, is considered more dangerous than hunting mule deer in Colorado, which is typically done on foot.

Ultimately, the professionals interviewed agreed that underwriting these risks requires a high degree of understanding, and that has made insurance for hunting clubs and camps a niche market that is generally avoided by larger, national companies.

Both Mr. Heavrin and Mr. Doyle noted that the soft market has brought with it more competition for this niche, along with some additional capacity. But Mr. Doyle said the new capacity tends to be from smaller, regional companies that write in a specific area, rather than larger, national companies.

Mr. Doyle said larger carriers will typically look to write commodity products in the soft market, rather than a specialty niche like outdoor products. “The specialty risk underwriting that needs to take place for outdoor products prevents a lot of [the large carriers] from entering that market, because it's really not low-hanging fruit,” he explained.

Mr. Nelson said that while he has not seen a greater appetite among insurers for smaller and average-size risks in the outdoor niche, the bigger policies are beginning to attract companies that would not normally write this type of business.

He said that in the soft market, risks with premiums at $25,000, or possibly as low as $15,000, may attract some interest among carriers not normally associated with insuring hunting clubs and camps.