I want my own land?

[scottflesher]

I think the largest benefit of owning our own land is knowing that you'll always have a place to hunt and being able to "manage" the deer. I'm from and hunt (my parents still live there) in a very small town. 20 years ago, anyone would let you hunt their land. Even when you did get permission, there have been times that the property was sold between hunting seasons, so year to year permission was never a guarantee.
Now it's harder to get permission and you can bet when you do, they'll be others who also have permission which makes your planned hunts harder as others may set up not too far from you. Now with hunting gaining in popularity, it seems less and less are allowing hunting.
While we don't own enough land to effectively manage the deer, it's easier letting a medium buck walk knowing he has a decent chance of surviving the hunting season and that barring something crazy, as the owner I'll be able to hunt the same land the next year.

The major disadvantage is neighbors. Both small tracts of property we hunt are bordered by property that's hunted. While we live under ethics and respect for the others landowners wishes, we've had several occurances of tresspassers. I know they wait until our vehicles aren't there and they have their way with our property. It's really frustrating.

[Sailfish]

100 acres are corn and soybean,.

Ain't that the berries!
Corn (and the beans) were off the charts good for farmers this year.

Congrats.

[Rick Larson]

I bought 40 acres of mature cedar swamp in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan back in '97 for $20,000. A few observations: You are quite right to consider an economic collapse, but even more important are these very, very high prices for acreage can not be sustained in the face of the changing weather conditions, and more importantly, the high price of fuel.

I am positive, most of the farmers are making more, but keeping less because of the high fuel and fuel-related input costs. Most of the owners of large houses in the countryside are being squeezed by the rising cost of transportation fuel, the rising cost of countryside electricity, and with the exception of natural gas, the rising cost of heating fuels.

What is left are those that own woodlots. My 40 acres is 114 miles away and the cost of driving my truck there is beginning to have an effect. Worse yet, the surrounding territory has since been chopped up and sold to others like me who put up a camp and hunt. More hunters equals less deer. This fact shows up clearly in the trail camera pics taken over the last decade.

On the positive side, my camp is close to a very wet marshy public area, and the dry conditions had me way back in there (adapting to conditions as it were), where I shot a seven point buck with my bow!

Good luck with your decision!

[Ohio farms]

Yes, I noticed that too Sailfish. Corn/soybean prices have been up a while now. Cost of planting has been up too, but all in all things are good. NE Ohio had decent rains at the right times too, so that helped a lot.

[luvhuntin]

Here`s something i thought of this weekend while doing some browsing online. there is a 500 ac public hunting area not too far from here it always has lots of deer and usually has some property that backs up to it for sale. Now right a way bad thoughts come to mind about even considering ground like that but it`s intriguing to me just for the fact that it would be a way to get some bang for the buck. it always has deer and lots of them tons of crops around it that drags them out and it does`nt have much for bowhunting pressure. if a guy had a home base close he could possibly have a pretty good inventory figured out by the time season starts and have his stands set ready to go for opening day. it also has a sanctuary on the other side of the gravel road that is just as big if not bigger than the public ground.

NAH sounds too perfect

[JPH]

My two cents as a small time landowner is this. If you are doing this to bring about big buck success, you'd better be ready to buy a lot of ground in a prime area and put a lot of work into it. If you cannot do that, and big bucks are your primary goal, go pay an outfitter instead. On the other hand, if you are looking to create a deeper connection with the land you hunt and the game you take, no matter what it may be, then I would encourage you to go for it.

I love my little sliver of North Missouri, even though I've never taken a buck over 120" in 10 seasons there. It's not about that for me there. It is about having a place of peace and connection with nature for me and my family. That has been worth the money.

[Ohio farms]

Exactly JPH. If those are your reasons for owning the land, you will never be disappointed.

[Woods Walker]

I agree also with JPH. It's a wonderful experience. Just don't count on it as an investement. I did, and it looks like it may be the financail Armageddon of my life. Of course, I'm in Illinois, which is like in the bottom 5 of the worst economically run states in the country.

I shoulda' stayed in Wyoming which is in the top 5!

[kellory]

luvhuntin, This is the view from one of my favorite stands. this is on one end of my 9 acres. You tell me, is it worth being able to hunt without permission? In any weather you choose? This is not my greatest producer, but more than a dozen have come from here.....

1201121041.jpg (1.38 MiB) Viewed 272 times

1201121040aA.jpg (189.41 KiB) Viewed 272 times

1201121040cC.jpg (198.28 KiB) Viewed 272 times

[luvhuntin]

JPH
I`d love nothing more than to shoot big deer every year like the large landowners/ farmers/hunting personalities with 1000 or more acres to hunt do. But I`m risk averse. & with a niece on a full ride pitching for Iowa state softball the next 4 years The wife has some winter vacations planned around games in warmer climates( I can`t wait to get back to TEXAS and take another trip to the GHWB WW II museum in Fredricksburg again i never got to see all of it last time)

I really do want to be able to spend time enhancing what ever it is i end up with. small or no payments are a must, so I can lay out alot for operating expenses. the private ground we hunt is 80ac of cattle ground that had a timber harvest about 4 years ago. the outfit that did it left a HUGE mess, you can`t really walk in there without tripping over some thing. my buddies laugh cause i`m always picking up every stick I see and putting it in one of the piles they left helter skelter all over the land. It drives me and my knee nuts!

here`s a question for you and KEL (and anyone else with small parcels for that matter) how and when do you access a spot like that? with only ten acres driving a pickup up to it and parking in the morning does`nt seem like a productive strategy unless it`s during the rut and all day sits are the plan. how much do you hunt them if time and money are available? How many stands do you guys set?
I`m not really in it for an investment I`d just like to know the landowner approves even if I sleep in my stand some night