This website serves Farmers and Ranchers in the Kansas AgriTourism Industry.
Welcome to Kansas AgriTourism!
This website has been developed specifically for Kansas farmers and ranchers involved in AgriTourism, rural properties where the traveler has an opportunity to experience farm and country life far from the hustle of the city.
the Kansas Agriculture Marketing Division and the Travel and Tourism Division of the Department of Commerce
and with financial assistance from Frontier Farm Credit.
We invite you to explore this website to find a variety of articles and resources that will help you succeed in agritourism.
If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Commerce, Travel and Tourism Division, and ask for the Agritourism Liaison.
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Just Good Hunting
Not every hunter is looking for an expedition or a “hunting package” that includes a guide, dogs, elaborate home cooked meals, game cleaning services, and satellite TV in the lodge. Some folks just want to hunt. In fact, a lot of hunters like to go into a sort of survival mode—“roughing it” might be an exaggeration, but at least they are willing to cook their own food, stalk game on their own, clean their own birds, and then just settle in for a quiet evening swapping stories in comfortable surroundings.
From November 1, right up to January, there will be a lot of hunters just like this who choose to spend several pleasant days at the Cottonwood Farm in Alton, Kansas. The farm, owned by Doug and Linda Norris, is located in the rolling grasslands of North Central Kansas, north of Hays between Osborne and Stockton off highway 24.
“We provide a clean, comfortable house for the hunters to stay in, clean linens, and lots of land with plenty of game for the folks to hunt,” said Linda. “When we first opened the farm to hunters, we were providing home cooked meals, but we quickly learned that a lot of hunters wanted to bring their own favorites and cook for themselves. Many of them have the meals all planned out, and seem to enjoy the cooking almost as much as they do the hunting. However, I always have a full cookie jar out—filled with homemade cookies—which they do seem to appreciate a great deal.”
 The hunters stay in homes that were already on the farm land. According to their website, when Doug and Linda were married and combined their farms, it left them with an extra couple of empty houses. Knowing that empty homes tend to go downhill pretty fast, they started furnishing the houses and making them available to hunters.
“Between our own land and the farms where we have permission to take hunters, we can show them over 7 or 8 thousand acres,” said Doug, addressing the hunting. “We have a lot of quail, along with turkey, pheasant, deer, prairie chicken, and some waterfowl.”
“If I can, I’ll try to take them out to areas where I’ve seen a lot of game, and show them the areas where they can hunt. I provide maps, but my hunters are very conscientious and they feel more comfortable if I can show them the exact areas—that way they know they are not accidentally trespassing somewhere that they aren’t welcome.”
 “We don’t provide a guide, and we don’t provide dogs. That also helps keep my liability insurance down. We do have kennels available. The houses are furnished, and they have all the pots and pans and dishes. Basically, we provide everything except their food and guns,” he said.
Kids Hunt Free
Doug wants to encourage the next generation of hunters, and so children under age 16 are welcome to hunt for free under the supervision of their parents. He says they have a number of kids returning each year with their dads. He also indicated that perhaps 10% of the hunters coming to the farm are females, though mostly young women, rather than daughters.
When they first started the business in 1997, Doug said he ran newspaper ads in St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas, and Denver, but now his only advertising is by word of mouth, and the website.
“It amazes me how far some people will travel out here to hunt,” he said. “We’ve got regular hunters who return here from North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida. All kinds of people. One woman that comes out is a fashion designer from Chicago. We have some Polish immigrants that like to hunt here. And now folks from Tennessee and Georgia are coming here to hunt because they can no longer find quail in their area.”
All told, Doug estimated that they usually have about 30-50 hunters each year, each paying $125 a day, providing about 12 to 15 thousand dollars in additional income.
“We’ve met some really marvelous people,” Linda said. “Everyone is very careful about where they hunt, staying on the right property, and how they take care of our house and furniture. I think they are just very grateful to have a place to come that provides good hunting, and a comfortable place to stay. As several have told me, it’s kind of like going back to grandma’s house.”
For more information about Cottonwood Farm, visit www.cottonwoodfarmks.com
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