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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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 This month's Feature Destination:
Barrel Springs Hunt Club
January 2006
When one door closes, another one opens.
The old railroad through Horace, Kansas (2 miles west of Tribune) used to have a switching station there, where crews on the trains would switch at the end of a shift. The rules were that there had to be a place for the men to eat and sleep, so in Horace, a dormitory building was in place with 24 small bedrooms, each with its own shower, bathroom, and separate thermostat. The building also had a large commons area for meals and relaxation, and a good kitchen.
 Eventually, the railroad cut back on use of this branch of their railway system, and the building was closed. That door was soon to be opened, however, by David and Shari Woelk with the establishment of the Barrel Springs Hunt Club of Tribune, Kansas.
“We took possession of the building in May 1999,” said Shari Woelk. “My brother Alan was buying day old pheasant chicks and raising birds for controlled shooting areas, and he kept telling us there was room in this business for more people. We had land- what’s now over 6,000 acres of hunting property-so we decided it could work.”
“This building offers a couple of important things,” she said. “Folks can’t just come to this part of Kansas to hunt in the morning and go back home in the afternoon; they need a place to stay. There’s also pretty limited meal service in this area, so the three home-cooked meals a day are a very important part of our hunting package.”
 The typical hunting group comes to Barrel Springs in the late afternoon, and they’ll have an impressive steak dinner, complete with potatoes, salad, and homemade desserts. After that, they’ll find their rooms, and then spend the evening in the common area visiting, playing cards or watching the big screen TV.
In the morning, hunters sit down to the big country breakfast that all consider to be among the high points of the trip; this is a meal designed to keep them going through the long, cold morning of hunting. Bisquits and gravy, mountains of scrambled eggs, giant cinnamon rolls, and more. A final cup of hot coffee tops off the feast, and then hunters gear up, gather the dogs, and the guides drive them to the field for a full morning of hunting.
In the controlled hunting areas, each hunter is guaranteed 6 shots a day. (“We can’t control how well they shoot, but they’ll get at least 6 shots at birds.) David is one of the guides. The guides don’t carry a gun, but are there to assist the guests, and to handle the dogs. Hunters can bring their own dogs, too, and the farm has kennels for 20 dogs. The Woelks will clean and package the game, and provide the local transportation. The hunters hunt all day, unless they ask to go back in. The whole package is $325 per hunter per day.
 Not a “Pet and Punt” Hunting Experience
“The most important thing I can tell people about getting into the hunting business is that you need to find out what the hunter considers to be a successful hunting experience.” Shari offered.
“Even though 90% of them actually want a controlled shooting area experience, there are still some folks that insist they are looking for a natural place to hunt.”
“One fellow told me he didn’t want a ‘pet and punt’ experience--- where you reach down and pet the pheasant on the head, and then you have to punt him into the air to get a shot.”
“If the birds are raised right, he certainly won’t get that. But for those who really want a natural hunting habitat, instead of the controlled shooting area, we have 3,000 acres of natural area, in addition to the areas with controlled hunting, food plots, and natural weed rows.”
“But you really need to talk with them a little while to find out what the hunter considers to be a successful hunting trip. For some, it’s just the chance to watch their dogs work, while other’s consider the hunt a failure if they don’t bag 2 or 3 times the state limit. They can do that here legally in the controlled shooting area.”
“My other piece of advice,” she added quickly, “Is that if you tell a hunter you can provide something, you’d better be able to back that up and do it.”
 Marketing
Shari indicates that 80% of her customers are return clientele, but often they may only hunt every other year. She works very hard to make up the difference.
“You can spend a ton of money on advertising, but usually new customers learn about us through word of mouth,” she said. “I also get 3-7 calls or emails a week that tell me they found us through our website.”
Shari is the current president of the Kansas Sport Hunting Association, which offers a “Pay to Play” program. In addition to the association membership fees, you pay $75 to participate in this marketing program. KSHA markets around the country, and the calls come to an 800 number. When a new call comes in, an email is sent to everyone on the “pay to play” list, giving him or her the potential customer information. It is up to the individual operator to follow up on the lead.
Shari says that in September and October, they sometimes receive 3-4 leads a day from KSHA. While she’s only booked one hunting group immediately from these leads, all the names and information goes into her database for future marketing. She can track every person and tell you how they found the hunt club, in addition to their name, address, phone number and email address.
The Woelks go to a few of the hunting trade shows, but she frankly questioned whether it is cost effective. The same is true with the few magazines they have listed in. She did acknowledge that sometimes you are planting seeds that don’t produce immediately, and cited one caller who mentioned seeing them two years earlier at the Denver show.
 Steak Dinners
The same fine steak dinners served to their hunting and lodging guests are also available once a month to the local community. Shari places a small ad in the local paper, and requires reservations for the dinner. She offers two settings, one at 5:30, and the other at 8, and the dining room will be full for both settings. The dining room seats 40 people at the tables. She also sells gift certificates for the dinners throughout the year.
The Barrel Springs Hunt Club has a Kansas commercial restaurant license, and hosts a good number of corporate dinners and private parties. In fact, she has “Christmas parties” scheduled into January and February this year because there just weren’t enough available dates.
By moving the lounge furniture down the hall when needed, she can seat as many as 80 for dinner, and rallies the entire family to help. This would include Dave; Shari’s mother, Joyce; her daughter Cori; son Cody and his wife, Angie; and sometimes brother Alan Waggoner and his wife Carol.
You Can't Do It All
 “I had to have some help somewhere,” Shari said. “Dave and Cody run the farm and cattle, and I run this business. Dave and I take care of the kennels twice a day. There are three meals to cook and clean up, the phone’s always busy, and so on. So I employ a lady to do the cleaning. The cleaning is something I can hire out, and tell her exactly what I expect. I couldn’t do that with the home cooking.”
Hunters and guests can drive blacktop right up to the front gate, and the Barrel Springs Hunt Club is “centrally located, only 5 hours from Denver, Wichita, Colorado Springs, and Amarillo” according to the video on their website.
For more information, visit the website at www.barrelspringshunt.com, or call 620-376-2701.
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