Ideal 40 Acres
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Octang
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Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Octang » Mon Feb 05, 2018 5:59 am
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?
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- Jdw
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Jdw » Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:09 am
I think the neighbouring properties and property owners would be important. The neighbourhood will likely have an impact especially if you are looking to see many mature deer.
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Stanley
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Stanley » Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:09 am
I would absolutely have to have 40 acres surrounded by bigger blocks of timber.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Grizzlyadam
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Grizzlyadam » Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:19 am
40 acres is tough because you can only hunt it so much before it goes cold. Lots of different options to make it good like bedding food sources etc. IMO in a perfect world it would have a large piece of unmolested unhuntable property on either side that both tapered down to an hourglass patch of timber going right through the middle of the 40 connecting both pieces. Hundreds of acres of varied terrain and timber/thickets, water company property or something. Also it would have a good food plot on either side of the bottleneck. I would kill some does in the plots early season then leave it alone till the rut and catch bucks transitioning between the two sides.
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pewpewpew
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby pewpewpew » Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:45 am
Either mature hardwoods that could be logged, or brushy, nasty, viney trash.
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Octang
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Octang » Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:03 am
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.
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Tim H
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Tim H » Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:24 am
My 40 acres would be a spot where I could build a cabin on and have the possibility of power. The land could really be anything, however I'd like to have no neighbors and have it surrounded by a couple thousand acres of county land.
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ZSV
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Unread postby ZSV » Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:35 am
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.
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby tuff4x4 » Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:40 am
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
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Octang
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Octang » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:10 am
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.
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PK_
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby PK_ » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:14 am
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.
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fireforeffect
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby fireforeffect » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:47 am
IMO it would be ideal if the lot was adjacent to public land, but far away from any access. In essence, you would have a back door entrance, miles away from the orange army.
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Jonny
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Jonny » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:51 am
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
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muskieman
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby muskieman » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:52 am
We have 44 acres. Pretty good land. 130 foot elevation change. 26 acres of timber, creek bottom, rest of property two separate fields with crp - young brush/timber. 5 food plots totaling 4 acres. Surrounded by timber and some ag fields. 160 acres next to us with 1 guy hunting it.
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Twenty Up
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Re: Ideal 40 Acres
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Unread postby Twenty Up » Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:04 am
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.
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