You don't owe anything. You did your part building the pen. The rancher runs on land that he knows hunters hunt on and have feeder pens. His cow got in your pen, his loss. No different when the neighbors cattle tresspass onto my 70 acres. I am not responsible for their well being. They broke in last week and I called the rancher letting him know 10 head were on my place. Hung up the phone and was done with it. Got a phone call 12 hours later letting me know they got the cattle off and they patched fence all day. Ok, I'll let you know if they break in again.

Extortion $$ in my opinion.

Wow...Sorry to hear that, but if its a good lease and your vested...consider it hiccup..Add some t post's secure the hell out of it and dont look back...Good Luck I have a ton of old extra tpost's and right down the road from you and your welcome to a few if that eases the pain..again good luck

Well unfortunately I received a call from the rancher and things didn't go well. He expects me to pay for the lost cow since it was my fence that the cow died in. We are going to modify our contract for the next year but currently I am not willing to risk my season over $1500 which is what we agreed to. I know that doesn't cover the full cost of replacement but it is more than half.

Never imagined this scenario playing out and it wasn't addressed in our current lease. Learn as you go I guess.

Appreciate the offer. But you are exactly right when you say I am vested. I have already paid in full for this year so I don't really have an option but to protect my investment and enjoy the season. I would like to say next year I will be in the market for a new lease but those are obviously hard to come by.

Only thing I know is I won't have another lease contract without this exact even spelled out in it.

Well unfortunately I received a call from the rancher and things didn't go well. He expects me to pay for the lost cow since it was my fence that the cow died in. We are going to modify our contract for the next year but currently I am not willing to risk my season over $1500 which is what we agreed to. I know that doesn't cover the full cost of replacement but it is more than half.

Never imagined this scenario playing out and it wasn't addressed in our current lease. Learn as you go I guess.

I've been watching this to see how it panned out before commenting. I know I'm in the minority, but I'd probably have to walk after this. "A good lease" simply isn't worth it to me to get shafted by the LO like that. And I say that not to stir the pot, but as a landowner myself. I'd rather hunt public land (and have) than to deal with a crooked landowner.

What happens the next time an incident occurs? A precedent has been set and he now knows he can take you to the cleaners again. There's no way you can stipulate all of the possible scenarios in the contract to protect yourself.

Everyone's mileage may and will vary, but these are my thoughts. I'm walking after I complete my obligation with the contract.

^^^THIS^^^

Landowners have a bit of leverage knowing there would be plenty of hunters waiting in line to lease, probably even overnight a check without seeing the place.

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Leonardo, you did well. It was your fence that trapped the cow and so the responsibility is on you. That he isn't making you pay the full amount is a bonus.

don k is right on his collapsing circle theory. With as few posts as you have, the fence will collapse in quite readily and basically the cow can just push its way in, but it can't push its way out. You needed more posts to take up the slack.