Ideal 40 Acres - The Hunting Beast (2024)

I love hunting the wide open expanse of public land, and I am completely addicted to its unique challenges. I don't think I could ever stop hunting public land. However, I am strongly considering purchasing my own 40 acres this year to hunt as well. It will help diversify my investments (at least that is what I tell myself) and I really want some land to make some memories with family members who won't hunt public. Though, I haven't decided yet what type of land I am looking for specifically. Most likely I'll go after something with a mixture of high and low ground, but I've always been drawn to bottomland forests because that is what I hunted as a child.

So as I start dreaming, just for fun I'm curious what everyone feels like their ideal 40 acres would look like?

Stanley wrote:I would absolutely have to have 40 acres surrounded by bigger blocks of timber.

I agree. I love the feel of a big woods, plus I would really enjoy creating food plots. I would suspect a food plot would be far more effective around heavily forested areas than smaller woods surrounded by ag fields.

First Sit YouTube
The Hunting Beast YouTube
Stealth Outdoors
Hunting Beast Gear

We’ve been saving for this also. I will never stop hunting public, but I’d like to have a place to get my kids on some turkeys/deer that wouldn’t be a long walk.

It would have high ground near the road for a campsite/future building spot and the back would have a creek or river going through it that connected bigger blocks of timber for the rut. I would also prefer that there weren’t homes near the borders. Along with the river the low ground would be a combination of crp/timber/a few acres for food plots.

tuff4x4 wrote:I own 47 acres and it is hilly terrain and all wooded, surrounded by a lot of hilly wooded area. I have 2 food plots, biggest is almost half acre and the others are just logging roads that I planted in clover..No where near enough food. I only hunt it maybe 10 times all year . I have seen first hand what happens when you over hunt a spot. It is depressing what I seen the first 2-3yrs of owning the property then after that not much of anything for about 5 years (I mean shooters). Now I am hunting public and other places so the mature buck sightings are really coming back. And a lot of that has to do with good neighbors.
My advice is that if all you are going to do with the 40 acres is just hunt it then look for something next to public land , swampy land or surrounded by ag.. Best place I can think of would be a piece just outside of city limits next to city limits around the water or sewer department...That way deer bed in city limits then come out to the "country" through your property...I might know of a place like this but it is not for sale.
With all that said I love the fact that I own land but now that I hunt public land there is no way I could give that up. Good luck

Yeah, I grew up hunting on private land, and I always just thought we hunted crappy land, but we were actually WAY over hunting it. Hunting public land too will help me not overhunt my own land. Good to hear you figured it out and are seeing more shooters.

I find it interesting you say buy something next to public land because I used to think that would be ideal, but I have since shied away from the idea because I figure public land would create way too much pressure in the area and I may run a higher risk of tresspassers. On the flip side, the public land pressure could be good, as it may push the deer to my land, but still I think I would rather have a QDMA neighbor ideally. Though I do really like the idea of having a few hundred extra acres to hunt attached to my own land.

My ideal 40 would be in an area with good trophy potential and would be the only piece of timber/cover for several square miles surrounded by ag with a year round water supply.

Easy to patrol for trespassers and pretty much shooting fish in a barrel if treated right.

No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.

Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal

I agree with stanley on being connected to bigger blocks of timber. 40 acres IMO isn't enough to consistently hold mature deer, but 40 acres connected to a couple hundred acre woodlots is awesome. My buddy has 10 acres with maybe 2-3 acres with woods on it. I'd take that land over a good amount of 120 acre properties in the surrounding area.

If I'm buying land, I'm buying once and crying once. Buying in an area with good neighbors and no public for a couple miles. Don't want to deal with trespassers coming from the public land, and want my money to get me into a good deer density. Some place to pluck a couple does and maybe a nice buck every now and again. Public would still be where I chase the big boys. Fill the freezer at home

Ideally, you own ~40 acres of timber and creek bottom adjacent to all Ag.

I'd find a county with history of big bucks, near public or a QDMA Co-op where young deer are allowed to mature. Or where the pressure forces them to you.

Trust the Process~~ Lost Boys Outdoors ~~

YoutTube:

https://youtube.com/channel/UC7TXknGut5WfZQ6CbddgqYg