We are exploring buying about 150 acres in TN to retire to in a couple of year. Closest small town is Middleton which is located about 70 miles east of Memphis and maybe 15-20 miles north of the border with Mississippi.
Both the brokers we contacted said the deer hunting was very good so that's a plus.

I was wondering if anyone had any general comments about this area as far as living there, hunting, water supply, etc. Any hog hunting?
Appreciate the information.

you will find deer there for sure but only turkey otherwise. you will find much better hunting and other things to hunt east of there about an hour or more. land should be cheeper and better neighbors as well. just my thoughts. i live just outside of memphis and you R E A L L Y dont wont to get anywear neer here. south and east of nashvill and on east the better. my idea for what it is worth. D O M I T !

Chiggers, humidity, and deer. Where do I sign up?

We are still a free state with the makeup of the legislature likely to stay that way for a while.
One can only harvest 3 bucks total per year in the Archery, muzzleloader and rifle season.

Of course in Unit L (most of middle TN) we can harvest 3 does a day so your venison supply can be assured.

I might be wrong but am guessing W. TN deer will be a bit larger due to agricultural production.

One can "ONLY" harvest 3 bucks total???

Have the hogs made it that far north yet?

Been several years from the last time I drove Nashvegas to Memphis. But I always enjoyed that drive. Spread out smaller towns and some nice land. Looked like a good place to be in my book.

I grew up in Bolivar, which is 15 minutes from Middleton. I hunted in whiteville and just west of there my entire life.

Lots of deer in the area, lots of turkeys. you can find big deer, but we dont have the genetics of the big midwestern deer. if you have enough land and good neighbors, you can grow some truly big deer with good management and food.

no hogs in the area.

coming from colorado, its hot, humid, i hope you love ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, etc...

i couldnt' wait to leave the area, but i'm also 32, not retiring anytime soon. it is pretty quiet if thats what you're looking for. expect to drive a bit if you want to find a decent restaurant, a mall, movie theater, anything of normal civilization.

water won't be an issue. that area of TN is flat with a lot of hardwoods and cotton/corn/soybeans.

lots of small game and a decently long deer season if you bowhunt.

no state income taxes, so thats a plus. the sales tax in hardeman county is i believe 10%, less than that on groceries.

i would definitely travel down and look around a good bit before moving there. i'm biased because i grew up there, so i would tell you to look elsewhere. if you like TN, middle TN starts to get more rolling hills, leading to the smoky mountains into the east. and, its farther from memphis, one of the poorest large cities in america.

i'm counting down the months until i can move to colorado, i'm down to about 13...

Snowwolfe, I'm from that same area and have looked at several pieces of land near Middleton myself recently. The one you're talking about I might just have already been shown.

The terrain will be rolling hills with mixed woods and fields. Deer size will be roughly same as anywhere in the southeastern U.S. Lots of does, button bucks, spikes, forkhorns, 6, 7s and small 8s. Bigger ones are there but generally travel by night and are rare.

As TC mentioned it's only 3 bucks per year, but TN is not managing its herd for trophy hunting as are other states, like MS. We are lenient in what constitutes a "buck". It doesn't have to be a big rack to be legal. The state lets the hunter make the choice on what size rack to take, which most of us find to our liking. Some individual landowners and clubs however have their own rules. Eight point or better is what is done on a property nearby us. Other nearby property is high fenced and they have monsters (also huge fees - which I'm not into).

Anyway, turkey are all over the place.

The area has no hogs, but there's something you should know. They have been delisted as game and are marked for eradication state wide. Landowners and their guests can shoot hogs at will. They want rid of them.

The state's known for bear, but that's only in E. TN.

Middleton is a nice small town. The next larger towns of interest are Jackson TN, Savannah TN and Corinth MS. The state line is real close to Middleton and there are properties for sale on both sides. Same kind of land except I like the game laws and taxes better in TN.

For looking at properties try Mossy Oaks website and Land-Farm.

You'll need to do food plots for deer and turkey, which is what I'm working on now. But even without, you'll be OK on deer. Just put your stand on a big old while oak and wait.

On buying, I'd personally expect a discount if it has power easements, especially the big ones. Also you can get a discount depending on what it's near and on whether recently clear cut or selectively cut and on whether it's been replanted with pines and on if it's regularly shaped and on if it's got water. Typically expect the asking prices to be $2K per acre give or take.

Generally speaking W TN is ideal for lots of outdoor stuff. Terrific dove hunting. It's a huge tradition here. I put in dove fields each April for the opening day shoot. Great fun. We used to be known for our quail too, but that's all history now. Not enuf left to hunt.

We have some ducks out in Hardeman County (Middleton), but it's woodies. If interested in migratory ducks like mallards and the geese you're in luck. We're in the heart of the MS Flyway. Mostly that's E AR and N MS. Reelfoot Lake in NW TN is also famous for that. That will mostly be guided hunting. AR is mostly club hunting with some guiding.

We're also a day's drive from gulf coast fishing and seafood. Many of us head to Destin FL and Grand Isle LA for that.

For a water supply outside the town you'll do a well. I'd save myself some trouble by buying land with a modest home already on it with water, septic tank and electricity. I looked at one like that recently near Walnut MS, close to Middleton. I'd get one with a stream or pond also. Those can be found. And be sure to ask if there's a year around spring.

W TN is a great place to live. But as domit said, avoid Memphis. We live there - and are looking for the door. When TN's politics eventually become undesirable, Memphis will be the cause.

Appreciate the information. I am attempting to work with two different agents on two different tracts with Mossy Oaks but the agents are not very helpful with any of the questions my wife and I have.
In no hurry but I might contact a different agent.

We have 1000 ac between Jackson and Memphis. Nice country.

My company has a factory in Middleton and I visit the area several times throughout the year. It is a very pretty area, the people are very friendly and I always see deer. Have not hunted there but I would love to.

Thanks for the comments. How is the water quality? Is it difficult to have a well drilled?

Well water quality should be good to excellent. It's good in nearby Grand Junction and LaGrange. Memphis itself sits over the "Memphis Sand Aquifer" (also I think called "Mississippi Embayment Aquifier System") and has some of the nation's very best drinking water. That's one of the very few good things about that place. But I don't know if it extends out to Hardeman County. Your well guy will tell you about that and the cost and other things, like if building a lake is practical.

There's a place in Hickory Valley on #18 between Boliver (county seat) and Grand Junction that does wells. Middleton is some 15 miles east so there might be someone there too in that business. Just ask around. It's not so much a matter of difficulty as what you want to spend and where you want to put it. You'll also need to look into having electrical power run and septic tanks. I'm not sure whose power district that is. They don't go by state lines; it depends on whose power source is closer.

And you'll need to get you an umbrella insurance policy, to protect against injury liability on your place.

Check out the taxes. Be sure to apply for the greenbelt exception. On property taxes, our 50 ac is grand total about $100 a yr. By comparison in good old Mempho for a $200K home you get nailed for $4,000 a yr in property taxes. That's roughly the same what the taxes are on unimproved, unincorporated land in Hardeman County for a 2,000 acre farm.

You'll also need to decide if to do your own farm maintenance or hire someone already equipped with tractor and implements. I'm personally using a young fellow who we bought our place from for that. He has the equipment, energy and knowhow. That way, I can just concentrate on the deer, doves and turkey.

Appreciate all the advice. Seems the more I learn the more interested I am. Our main purpose for buying the land is to have our own little piece of ground where we can build a retirement home and be able to hunt on the property and be able to walk out the front door and shoot. Deer hunting is a must but not concerned if we have super big bucks. Turkey and squirrel would be a big plus.
No interest in putting out food plots, would be easier just to pay someone else to do it.

I am surprised there are no hogs in the area. Is it simply a matter of time before they move this far north? Always thought they would be a blast to hunt with a handgun.

Please keep the comments coming. Right now I am waiting for the Mossy Oak agent returns my phone call.

I live in East Tennessee, but took annual trips to Hardeman County to deer hunt for probably 20 years. There are loads of deer & turkey there. If the property you are buying has not been timbered, it is likely mixed hardwoods , which is great deer habitat. A few agricultural fields or food plots would likely enhance the property in terms of attracting wildlife, bot most of the woodlands with any kind of mast producing trees in that area contain deer.
As others have stated, that area is pretty rural.

We have two kinds of squirrels, gray and fox. Young grays are fine eating and taste just like the proverbial chicken. But an old heavy fox squirrel you have to parboil for a week before eating. I prefer handgunning with a .22 for them (a Model 41 Smith). I've made some shots with it where I even surprised myself. Great sport.

They have hogs in E TN and some in M TN. They are also in the Holly Springs Nat'l Forest just south of #57 which is the highway thru Grand Junction to Middleton and on to Pickwick Lake. They are said to be in NcNairy County, the next one east of Hardeman. So they've come that far. But, the state doesn't want them statewide and they are no longer considered wild game that you need a license to hunt and take to check stations etc. You can read up on all that and more on the TWRA website. You should be checking that out anyway. If you really want to hog hunt, MS has lots of them and it's close by.

Now I don't want to hit this too hard, but the warnings about nearby Memphis are serious. Murders there and all kinds of violent crime fill the evening local news literally every night. One horrible one just yesterday. And just to be honest with you, keeping a gun handy if "out there" by yourself far from your vehicle in any of the near Memphis rural counties including Hardeman is advisable (check out getting a handgun carry permit). I'd also get a place with limited access and a gate you can lock that can't be driven around. Otherwise the local "top citizens" will think it's a public hunting area. And again, just to be honest, on the farm across the road from us where I've hunted for decades they have broken into hunter cabins and barns and stolen everything not red hot or nailed down and have poached many times and (I suspect) have used it for drugs and we've caught them using it for a "lovers lane" and we once found a burned out car abandoned on the place. And in the town a couple miles away they'll remove a trailer hitched to your vehicle and steal it along with the 4-wheeler on it. And when they leave evidence behind, like their cell phone, and you report it, nothing happens.

A popular remedy for this on unimproved property is to keep hunting equipment like 4-wheelers in a large steel shipping container with heavy locks.

But, the good news for you is, Middleton is getting far enough east out of the shadow of Memphis so that all this may not affect you much.

Anyway, like I was saying, I think you deserve hearing about both the good and the negatory...

Unless there is some particular reason the Middleton area appeals to you, I would suggest looking 40-50 miles east, over around Wayne County/Waynesboro. Gives you a lot more options for hunting/fishing, further from Memphis, far better water quality (above and below ground). The Buffalo River is available for canoeing and smallmouth bass, the Tennessee River/Pickwick Lake for largemouth, stripers and catfish, the weather is better (fewer tornadoes due to the rising elevation) and land is likely a bit cheaper, with more woods and fewer farms.

One of the members here has been really gracious and offered me a ton of valuable advice and even has checked out a property in person for me. I decided to try to find an area further east closer to Nashville.
No offense to those who live on the west side but just about every person who pm'ed me suggested the same thing and that was not to be anywhere near (within 100 miles) of Memphis.
Appreciate the input.

I failed to mention that the channel catfish out of the Buffalo are probably the best-eating catfish to be had. It's clean (almost entirely spring-fed) and they live their entire lives in current, so the flesh is firmer than in lazy fish.

Tasty channels and smallmouth in the same water is hard to beat AND you catch a hellbender every once in a while for novelty.

For the outdoor-minded the Wayne-Perry County area would be hard to beat. Halfway between Memphis and Nashville (about 100 miles either way), reasonable land prices, plenty of deer and turkey plus all the small game you could want (except quail), better-than-average water quality (all limestone bedrock), folks mostly mind their own business and assume you'll do likewise, mostly wooded with big chunks of timber-company land...

i think you made a good decision moving further east. i'm not sure if its the same a little farther east, but meth is a pretty big problem in the more backwoods areas. a few folks i went to high school with have done some jail time for meth related activities. very sad.

I found this out on the net, which is educational on picking a place relative to the crime problems - http://247wallst.com/special-r...states-in-america/3/

TN is rated the worst nationally. There's a "but" however. It's because of the dark cloud called Memphis, the 5th worst city in violent crime nationally and Nashville, the 18th worst. In a state not as populated as many that drags us all down here.

Memphis is a special case. It is absolutely horrible for all kinds of violent crime. Just the other day, all because of what lives here, a real nice young guy's little toddlers will have to grow up without a father.

The place is also the nation's absolute worst in being bitterly divided on racial lines and not only that, what passes for an electorate has this knack for putting in office the very worst, most ignorant of their species. And it's the home of those who think it's OK to have multiple illegitimate off-spring with every female they meet. I could give more examples, some of which many here might not even believe because of how outrageous.

Even in "good parts" of the city you don't if you value your life go walking at night by yourself on the sidewalk on the street where you live. And if "they" even think you might have something of value in your home, you will get hit. The only thing that keeps them out of your home is they don't know for sure which homeowners have guns and which don't. The ones who don't are getting a free ride off the ones that do own guns. All that's a damn shame; Memphis was such a wonderful place to grow up in as a kid in the pre 1965 days. But, that was under different management.

Now, Snowwolfe, I wouldn't tell you all that without adding what I think is a helpful suggestion. Those of us in Memphis interested in the outdoors, when we finally get enough and are ready to leave and can "get the Hell outa Dodge", very frequently look West, not East, to a particular area.

It's Arkansas, not middle or even east Tennessee. It's the mountainous areas of that state that beckon. You have the Ozarks (Mountain Home or Mountain View for instance), the Ouachita mountains or the Boston mountains (Springdale, home of Tyson Foods and Fayetteville, home to the Univ. of Arkansas) or the Hot Springs area (historic horseracing mecca, high up in a nat'l forest). The culture and politics are the same as rural Tennessee. The scenery is gorgeous. They do have a state income tax, but the sales tax is lower. They are loaded with stuff to hunt, including lots of bear and I think hogs in some parts. They also claim the "duck capital of the world" in the Stuttgart, Ark. area in the heart of the Mississippi Flyway.

They also have possibly the best fast, cold water rivers this side of the West for trout (rainbow, browns and cutthroats) and smallmouth bass. You have the White River (Calico Rock is my favorite for trout/bass), and the Little Red, Lake Norfork, Bull Shoals, Greer's Ferry, the Buffalo (America’s first National River, not to be confused with a river of the same name in TN) and Spring River for canoe river running. And you can find places for sale overlooking these rivers with wonderful views. It's also close to Branson MO for entertainment purposes.

There's all that and much more. I'd check that out before making your final decision. Having options is good.

It will be a long search. Found one parcel in Tennessee we are planning to visit in Jan to do a look over and another one close by as well.
I wouldn't count out Arkansas either as we like what it offers.
Amazing how much land is for sale in todays market. Hard to even look at all the parcels online. All require a fair amount of research and a personal visit before making any decisions.

We found a nice 40+ acre parcel on the Cumberland plateau complete with a stocked lake and excellent deer and turkey hunting so looks like we found our retirement paradise.
Thanks for the input. One gent from here who lives close to the land we are buying was particularly helpful and I lost his email address. Hope he reads this and drops me a message.

PS: It was pretty much a waste of time trying to go through Mossy Oak properties and local relators. At least 80% of my emails were never even acknowledged and when they were and I requested additional information it never came. The only decent relator I found was the one offering the property we are going to purchase

Snow, what county is it? Have you checked with TWRA to see how their deer kill ranks statewide? I ask because your best deer hunting in TN is in the west. The more toward east TN the less deer. That's why some of them come down here each year to hunt.

Cumberland County. Big deer are nice but as long as we can put a couple in the freezer every year is all we want. Property is backed up against a 1,000 acre camp ground that prohibits hunting and has never been timbered off so installing a food plot or two should attract all the deer we could ever want. Besides, be nice just to sit out by the lake in the evenings and watch the wildlife. At least now we have a place where we can walk out the front door and shoot which is something I've always wanted.
Current owner just harvested a 10 and 4 point on the property so we know the land is not barren.

Finding the right land plot was pretty difficult and no one plot is perfect for everything. Especially when you want to be within 30-45 minutes of reasonable shopping and medical care. I also found out 100 acres is often not 100 acres. By this I mean many of the plots we researched were nice sized but due to steep hills or terrible terrain a good portion of the land was not able to be used. Then researching the plot shape would often reveal one with irregular shapes making it almost impossible to post it. In northern Arkansas many of the parcels for sale were recently cleared of timber and some would not even transfer mineral rights to the new owner.
The more remote the land the lower the cost but then this was off set by the cost of bringing power to the home site and road construction.

Momma liked this property the best, and you know what they say. If momma aint happy no one is happy.

I guess that makes us neighbors of sorts. Welcome to Tennessee.

It's getting harder to find non logged non cleared land everywhere. It's what they're all doing now. Very common in west Tennessee. The place we bought was selectively cut two years ago and much logging all around this area. But there were trade offs. It opened up the land a good deal to allow for me to put in large food plots for deer. Those will be turned into dove fields also.

The logging was also amongst mainly timber the wildlife aren't interested in, sycamores, sweetgum and maple (they make good telephone poles). So now that I have them gone I'm free to replace those with oaks (including the quicker growing sawtooth and nuttall) and wildlife species and such that we've ordered from the Tennessee Division of Forestry. They have the best deals I know of on trees.

I personally never heard in west Tennessee of the mineral rights not going with the land. And we actually have oil in spots welling up naturally. That's common in west TN and north MS. It's been looked at in the past and judged not to be in commercial quantities. In northeast Arkansas, like where you were looking at, maybe they have other minerals than oil.

One big thing we insisted on was no power easements. Those imo ruin a piece of land, especially the really large kind of power lines. Some guys though don't mind. They use the easements for their food plots.

Oh, final thought on the deer end of the deal. Nearly all land here has deer, but there're two kinds of deer properties. There's the type with actual "deer woods" where the deer bed down and spend most of their time, and there's the type the deer are "just passing through". The former is the most prized. The latter requires you really set the table with food plots and even then you can find that they typically visit mainly at night and then return before dawn to their usual habitat. To determine which type get some trail cams going, check out what kind of trees, how large the woods, and make sure there are well used trails, and see if you can find scrapes, rubs and signs of bedding. Hoof prints alone are not enough. Look for turkey tracks and feathers too.

Thanks for the welcome. We are about 4 years away from building a house there. Not aware of any power easements on this property and I did find out when electricity is brought to the home site that it is buried, same with the "city" water if we decide we don't want a well.
We plan to hunt on the property each fall but will drive the RV over and camp in style.
Stocked one acre lake on the property so nothing quite like roasting a tenderloin and frying up some fresh fish over the evening camp fire.

Appreciate all the advice.

Snowwolfe, if you are very far from the utility company, you might want to at least check solar or wind power as a backup, if not the primary source of power. I have a place an hour out of KC and the power company is a good one, but every time we go there, we need to reset the clocks. In the sticks, things happen. We have purchased a solar setup that will suplement/suplant the existing commercial power. It is not as expensive as it used to be and the farther south you go, the less chance of snow blocking the panels. You can get a grid inverter that will also lessen your power bill if you opt for both types of power.

Just a thought.

quote:

Stocked one acre lake on the property so nothing quite like roasting a tenderloin and frying up some fresh fish over the evening camp fire.

Absolutely. While enjoying looking up into the stars of the night sky.

A lot of it's just the being "away out there" on your own place...

Larry,
My wife absolutely HATES when the power goes out. At our last house in Alaska I had a transfer switch installed and a battery start 7,500 watt generator in wait. We needed to use it at least 2-3 times a year and that was living in a large town (Eagle River). 7,500 watts will pretty much run anything in the house as long as you don't try to run everything at the same time.
Have no issues with installing a similar system but with the utility line buried am hoping power outages are far and few behind.

Today we finally closed on purchasing 42 acres of land half way between Crossville and Cookville. We plan on building a house on the property in a few years and making it our retirement home. In the mean time we will be visiting at least twice a year to vacation and deer hunt.
Our land is all timber with a few small rolling hills. Plenty of oak trees and a one acre stocked lake. Land is complete with deer tracks and squirrels
Thanks for everyone who offered some good advice.

Sounds like a nice place with a good size pond on it.

snowwolf, welcome to the great state of Tennessee.