My property and my plan. Pictures, progress, etc.

Well, after many years of waiting I have finally been able to purchase my own hunting property. I was looking for around 40 acres to buy and manage for wildlife so that I can have a place to call my own. I wanted to be able to take my kids out and teach them about hunting, habitat improvement etc. Well last fall I came across an auction which had a small 8 acre piece of land for sale. Though I was looking for a much larger piece I decided to look at this property due to the fact that there wasn't much time left in the auction and it was still quite cheap for where it was located. I have always said I would rather have the right 10 acres over the wrong 100 acres. After looking at the property rather quickley I ended up purchasing it in the online auction. I closed on it in January 2013.

There were a few factors that helped me decide to purchase this property even though it is quite small. One of the main factors is that it is across the street from a pretty good sized wild life refuge which allows no hunting etc. This property is the main connecting piece between the refuge and large tracts of agriculture land and some low lands. Another factor that helped me decide to buy it was the fact that if it didn't end up working out as a place to hunt I felt it was a pretty good investment given it's location and the price I got it for. The other factors were the fact that the property though small has quite a bit of diversity, a ton of buck sign from multiple years, and even though it was a forclosure there was very little trash on the property or signs of tresspassing etc.

Now being a small piece of property one of the most important factors in my opinion are your neighbors. I have talked to the three closest neighbors to my property and they have all been great! I have gained permission to access my property through two of the neighbors land and permission to track and recover deer on all of the surrounding property if they leave my property after being shot.

A short time after buying my property a 2 acre field that almost connects to my property was listed for sale. The North east corner of the triangle field comes with in 30 yards of the South East corner of my 8 acre piece. I decided to purchase this property as well so that I had a place to build a pole barn for equipment storage, camping with the family, planting fruit trees with my wife and kids for ourselves. (The kids were a little bummed that I told them we wouldn't be picking the apples, pears, etc. from the trees I planted on the 8 acres because they were for the deer etc.) I figured I could also use this 2 acre field to access my 8 acres as well as plant food plots just outside of my property making my 8 acres all depth of cover with ample bedding etc.

Here is a picture of the two pieces of property I purchased. Across the road to the North is the wild life refuge. North is to the Left in this picture.

Now, prior to purchasing property I have read many books on property development, etc. as well as countless hours on the internet. I actually purchased a Kubota BX2360, a disc, 3pt. spreader, 1 bottom plow, 4ft. tiller, and 3pt. sprayer before even owning property. Deals came up and I took the field of dreams approach to getting property. If you buy the implements the land will come . I read Grow Em Right, Whitetail Success by Design, and a few other books. Though I had an idea what I wanted to do I still decided to have Jeff Sturgis come out for a property visit. He came out to Mike4282's 50 acres on one day for a property visit and then the following day we went to my property. While there we developed a plan, got a few lessons on hinge cutting and Jeff even went through a tank of gas in his Stihl getting us started. At the time of the property visit I only owned the 8 acres and did not have the 2 acres yet. Below is a rough sketch of what has been done on the property so far. (Sorry for the poor quality outline, I am not real computer savy and have to write/draw with my right hand because I tore my UCL in my left thumb earlier this year.) I had to dig up a few supplies to finish the sketch.

Here is a rough sketch of what I have done so far on the property. North is up in this photo. I simply printed a black and white arial photo and sketched on it.

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My property and my plan. Pictures, progress, etc.