Company Description

PROPERTY AND PURPOSE

The Rusty Lantern Hunting Ranch is planned as a four-season rural destination at 1125 Chaput Drive, Sears, Michigan. The approximately 842-acre property is already configured for captive-cervid operations. A 10-foot fence surrounds all but about 24 acres, and the principal buildings are outside the enclosure. This physical separation supports a two-campus model: a controlled wildlife and hunting enclosure plus an outside-the-fence hospitality, dining, and events campus.

MISSION

Create a safe, conservation-minded place where guests can hunt, camp, dine, celebrate, learn, and reconnect with Michigan’s outdoors while the land, timber, water, and captive whitetail herd are managed as long-term productive assets.

CORE ASSETS

• Large contiguous land base with an established high fence.
• Existing captive-cervid operating history and infrastructure, subject to verification.
• Buildings positioned outside the enclosure for lodging, administration, dining, weddings, and support functions.
• Forest, trails, wildlife habitat, and potential water-recreation areas.
• A location within driving distance of central and western Michigan population centers.

PROPOSED ORGANIZATION

Use a property-owning entity to hold land and major improvements and a separate operating entity for guest services, hunting, food service, events, and recreation. Consider separate insurance programs or subsidiaries for higher-risk activities such as aquatic recreation. Legal and tax professionals should design the final structure.

SITE ZONES

Zone A: captive-cervid enclosure and managed habitat.

Zone B: hunt-only areas and shooting exclusion buffers.

Zone C: controlled non-hunt-season camping and wildlife experience areas.

Zone D: hospitality campus outside the fence, including lodging and the mess hall.

Zone E: wedding and event grounds with parking and noise controls.

Zone F: future aqua park and water recreation, only after feasibility and permitting.

Zone G: forestry, habitat work, utilities, maintenance, and emergency access.

GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES

Safety and animal health outrank revenue. Hunting and deer-immersion camping never operate simultaneously in the same controlled zone. Every activity has a responsible manager, written procedures, incident reporting, guest waivers, insurance approval, and a stop-work trigger.

Before acquisition or expansion, verify title, surveys, easements, zoning, special-use permissions, environmental conditions, water and septic capacity, building compliance, fence condition, herd ownership and identification records, current facility registration, disease-testing history, and all transferable permits.