This is something new for me so I post it here for discussion to learn something.

I thought maybe I could raise some cash and put part of my property up for an exclusive season deer hunting lease to a small group, preferably family such as father and son, etc.; someone who doesn't want to be a part of the big hunting club leases.

I don't know where the best place to advertise is, so I posted on craigslist.

I have other places that I can hunt, but yet I still have to give up hunting the lease for the season and accommodate strangers on the property. The property is 50 acres, and will handle up to four stands, and four or five food plots. It's primarily mature planted pines with some hardwood on one side. It's surrounded by ag crops and other deer leases. It's a cross road for deer and serves as a bedding area. With the food plots, which are new, many deer seem to be bedding close to the source of food (peas for now, more later). There is also room for a small, quite, camp. The county this is in is designated as a trophy county. I took one doe off the property last season, and saw some nice bucks. It had not been hunted for many years before that. I cleared brush, lanes, put up deer stands, and prepared food plots, all in the last year.

This has to be worth something. The question is it worth mere to me than the market will stand?

The responses I've had so far have been disappointing insofar as the amount willing to pay. The best offer so far has been $250. I'm thinking $2500. So there is a vast gap, so far, in my valuation and what seems to be the market.

Am I marketing this wrong? Are my expectations wrong?

I am trying to reserve my thoughts on the matter until I have more info.

What do you think?

KB

K
First,
Glad to see you are still among the land of the living.

I lease 1,700 acres with 8 other guys.
Year round access.
Deer,turkey, hogs,dove,quail, some exotics, bunnies and jacks, varmints such as coyote fox and coons. Five deer county, 4 turkey. Unlimited hogs, 24/7/365.
$1,800 yr.

Best,

Gwb

That's what I figured was the deal.

Is the $1800 your part, or the amount of the total lease?

I knew some guys who had a lease in the Hill country, 1000 acres, and gave it up when the lease went to $22,000.

Perhaps my valuation is higher than market.

The thing is that I wont lease it if the market can't sustain what I think it's worth.

First of all, it's worth a lot for me to hunt it. It's a quiet place, with no interference from others, no 4 wheelers, no busy roads, etc., and has lots of deer, no hogs, and the occasional big boy.

I won't sell it cheap. The last thing I want is a cheapskate on my property whacking anything on four legs.

KB

Ultimately, the market decides what it's worth.

I'd say $2,500 would be a good price if it was intensely managed (you maintain the food plots) and it produces trophy deer.

In Texas it would be worth $500.

I've got over $300 in the two food plots already, and that's just one planting, and doesn't count the machine time for clearing and planting. Deer stands I est. run about $100 in materials alone, each, and that's a simple one, with a roof, but not enclosed.

I plan to put in several intensely managed food plots with a variety of food, some matured summer growth, such as peas, and some for winter green, such as clover and/or kale/turnips. The idea is to have the deer in the vicinity prefer hanging out on my property. That's more difficult than one may think, without the knowledge that the surrounding area is flush with harvested crop fields until Nov or Dec, then planted in winter grain, which is green until harvested or plowed under in late spring. In order for a food plot to be effective around here, it has to be deer candy.

For several recent years, this property has served as a bedroom for the deer, and a safe haven from the surrounding hunting leases. The deer are nocturnal on the surrounding open fields of leftover grain.

I also considered, for a camp, putting in a well and power, and perhaps a septic tank, in one corner of the property, but of course, that would add to the price of the lease.

If not leased, I can certainly enjoy a camp myself. A wall tent with a wood stove, and a nice campfire seems like a good idea.

As I said, this area, county, is designated as a trophy area, and has a 12 deer limit. Two bucks, and ten does. The bucks must have 15" spread to be legal. I have seen several bucks on or very close to the property which are legal 15" or larger, some much larger.

If not leased, I'll enjoy it for myself, and let favored close friends and relatives hunt it too.

KB

In Indiana, 50 acres would go for $1000 to $2000. It would depend on amount of timber, the county it is in, and if there is a deer management system in place here and on the neighboring lands.

More timber, more money. Closer to a large city, more money. In a known deer factory, more money. Food plots, more money.

Have you done some internet searches to see what comparative leases go for in your state/area? Basecamp leasing is a big lease company in the midwest and they list pricing on their website if you join as a free member. Could give you some better guidance.

Jeremy

It depends on what part of Georgia it is in. Prime land in GA can lease for as much as $25 per acre. I have seen leases for as little as $8 per acre as well. You said it was in a trophy managed county, so I would think $20 to $25 per acre would be top dollar then.

I have a friend who leases several parcels in GA. He pays $10-$12 per acre unimproved.

I would think with food plots and stands, you would get more.

Lots of stuff to consider when leasing out a piece of property KB above just the financial aspects.

If you haven't found out what the going "Market" is in your region for similar size parcels with similar habitat that would be a good starting point.

Setting up a management plan of your own for the property is another aspect. You mentioned you did not want someone with a "If its Brown its Down Mentality" and that is a good starting point.

You have the state regulations to use as a base for your own rules for that particular parcel.

To give you an example, my boss leases about 15K acres in Archer county and then subleases to various sized groups. He has been doing this since 2000. The total acreage is divided into pastures of various sizes and depending on type of cover/brush, access, and history of deer taken in any pasture, the prices vary from $10.00 per acre per gun up to $14.00 or $15.00 per acre/per gun with a limit on the total number of guns/hunters hunting any pasture.

State regulations for Archer county allow a hunter to take one branch antlered deer with a 13 inch minimum inside spread between the main beams and one deer with at least one un-branched antler (spike) or two spike bucks and 3 antlerless deer (does) with a maximum of 5 deer, people like me can kill 5 does.

On the properties the boss leases, he has additionally set up an age restriction of 4.5 years old or older/mature bucks. He also limits the number of guns per pasture, one group of 16 hunters hunts a 3300 acre pasture, roughly 1 gun per 200 acres.

Issues such as camping on the parcel/use of 4 wheelers/stand-blind construction and placement all have to be addressed by you before leasing the place.

Also, you need to have everything in writing and avoid leaving any "Gray" areas that would allow for individual interpretation by the folks leasing the property.

KB, I've got a place just like what you described. Same size and everything. We bought it from a logger who did selective cutting (and therefore got it for a sharply reduced price). I had him burn and bury the left over wood piles, clear some fields and trails and plant 2,000 mixed kinds of trees that we bought from the state and put in numerous deer plots, which double as dove fields. We then put up deer ladder stands and permanent ground blinds (which I greatly favor over ladder stands). We've also got a structure to stay in. And a rock road was put down so that 4 WD isn't necessary.

I know what it would have gone for as a lease before our family bought it and all that was done, and I think it was $1,500. So, $250 would not be considered. But, the bigger places of course are far more and it's assumed the cost is divided up among club members. One person may have the lease and have ten members paying for it (and may not be paying anything himself). Which can lead to problems, especially if he invites all his personal friends to hunt on him as guests without paying. Stuff like that is why I quit joining hunting clubs.

In any event I'll never lease mine out. I like it too well to do that. I don't want anyone but immediate family and closest friends shooting up my deer, dove, small game and turkey (which we also have - and I'm also figuring out how to pull some geese in). And I like a place to just go shoot my guns and to go in the winter and wander the trails, hills, the swamp and woods and check out the natural spring and creek, and admire it all, gaze at the beautiful sunsets and watch the stars at night and have a family cookout, all while not seeing anyone else there. A kind of "mini national forest" of our own. To me that's worth lots more than a few hundred bucks from some stranger.

Regarding if to set rules, I don't know. A lot of hunters are going to want to set their own and telling them what to do will cut down on the prospects. Some will only want the lease, then want the landowner to stay out of it. And we are not a "management state", so officially it's very lenient. However, some landowners do have minimums such as 8 pt for their guests (a totally impractical rule to follow, if you ask me). But we don't really have enough organized deer clubs in our part of the county that I could tell you what those do. It's mostly just hunting free by invitation or small informal leases. There're no known "per acre" lease figures. The reason I think being just the incredible numbers of deer everywhere. It's too easy to hunt free or cheap.

Oh, in a trail cam pic taken at 1 a.m. up on the hill you can see an eye glowing at max range. You enlarge it and make out the outline of a head, then up to full enlarge and on top of the head there's something that looks like the antlers that Browning uses as its deer head logo. Like tree limbs. But I've never seen it in daylight.

Kinda cool, no? On your own place.

Thanks for the really, really good replies.

Very interesting to read other's experiences.

I went ahead and stated the price in the ad to cut down on the number of inquirers thinking cheap.

I got two bites so far. One is a bow hunter with a 9 year old son. He didn't quibble about the price and says he will look at the property this weekend.

Being a bow hunter makes it easier to at last think about it. The only reason I'm sort of comfortable with leasing the property is because I have other places to hunt which are even better and more than I can hunt. I have been working every chance I get to prepare the sites for stands. I have at least five such sites in mind, and so far only two stands erected.

My cousin has loaned me his skid steer since he gets to hunt the stands too, and his sons as well. I have a bush hog and a small tractor too, and those two machines make clearing the bush possible. I couldn't do it all without them.

KB

I reached an agreement today for the lease. I showed the property to a business man and his son and wife, and they liked it, and didn't quibble at all about the price. I'm going to make a spot for his camper, and plant one winter type food plot.

So far it's been an agreeable situation, and the man and his family seem very nice.

I still need to know a few things and write out the terms of the agreement.

One question is - do I need insurance?

KB

That is one of those things you will really have to decide upon by yourself.

Some landowners/lease holders carry their own insurance, some require the folks leasing the property to carry insurance.

It might be one of those things that would bring you a little peace of mind.

KB:

I am not an attorney and am not familiar with the laws in your state.

However, in certain midwest states I hunt, if a farmer/land owner accepts payment for hunting either in a lease or daily rate, they accept liability IIRC.

You would be wise to seek proper legal advice. It is a relative simple request that should not be expensive.

Options might be insurance provided by you or a simple hold harmless agreement. Having the your tenant provide insurance could be problematic. What if they canceled it and didn't notify you? Inadequate coverage?

You want to control and/or limit your liability.

Thanks

KB

I am an attorney, though not in GA. I would talk to your insurance carrier first. Doesn't cost anything to ask them. Depending on what they tell you, I would think that the lease agreement could incorporate some sort of liability waiver on the part of the lessee. (I would NOT do your business on the basis of a handshake. I know some here will think that's an awful thing to say, sad commentary on our times and on America, GD lawyers messing up our country, etc. But it's your property and perhaps your money at stake, not theirs.) For that sort of thing you should talk to your lawyer, someone who knows the laws of your state and could draft such a document.

I did talk with an insurance agent and it was not encouraging. The price was $1,000, which isn't going to work.

I found a good sample lease language on the U. of GA web site.

It's rather long to show it all here, but there are lots of details and specifics. So far I have worked up a draft and sent it to the lessee for review and comment.

The part about the legal stuff follows:


"Although statistically, hunting is safer that many other recreational activities, it is understood that the lessee accepts the land in an “as is” condition and further, the lessee understands that hunting is an activity with risks that may cause injury or death, and that there may be hidden hazards such as holes, fence wire, snakes, wells, swamps, ponds, harmful plants, unauthorized careless persons on the land, other hunters, or other risks that may cause injury or death and the lessee assumes all these risks as his own responsibility. Lessee agrees to hold lessor harmless, indemnify, and defend lessor against any and all claims of loss damages, liabilities or other expense as a result of lessee’s occupancy and activities. Further, the lessee has a duty to inform the lessor of any known or discovered hazards and to avoid them until such time as the lessor can remove or cure them. Lessor is not aware of any specific known hazards at the time of signing this agreement."

Another section reads:

"Lessee acknowledges that it is his responsibility for hunter safety on this leased premise. Lessee shall actively supervise all minors, through instruction and observation. All persons, including those deemed to be adults, shall be subject to lessee’s authority, instruction, and/or correction or other action deemed appropriate, for the purpose of safety of all, and compliance with the terms of this lease."

KB

In spite of what some folks think or believe, this is the 21st. century.

What KB is attempting to do is a legitimate business deal and as such needs to be handle as any other business deal would be handled with pretty much everything expected by both parties clearly written out.

KB your going in the right direction and it is going to seem like a big hassle but once you get it figured out it becomes easier.

Best of Luck with your project.

KB, you've probably already been over this, but fwiw, when we bought our property the first thing we did was take out an umbrella policy. It wasn't anything like $1K, if that's what you were quoted. However, if I recall right, the agent asked if we were running a business on the property and I think he mentioned hunting clubs. Meaning, I think that might have put it in a different class of liability policy. You know what I'm getting at I suppose.

In our case we had no thought of charging anyone to hunt so that remained irrelevant. And will continue to be the case.

However, the umbrella policy covers a lot including the things I was concerned with, such as a stray bullet leaving the place or a guest (non-paying kind) finding some way to get hurt or maybe a tree falling across the line and damaging something.

Anyhow, just one other fwiw thought, the commercial quail preserve I sometimes go to requires (each time I'm there) a signed release of liability form. It's lawyer drawn. How such things hold up in today's courts however, is harder to say.

Signed the lease today and got my price. The lessee is a business man, and he, his son, his son-in-law, and a friend of the son will be hunting. Using the skid-steer and the bucket with teeth, plus a bush hog on my tractor, I cleared a spot for his 30' camper. I made sure to tell the lessee and the boys, twice, that the piebald buck was not to be shot.

Also today, I planted and fertilized two more food plots on the lease, one large and one small. The large, Approx 2 acres, in GA winter wheat, the small plot in Austrian winter peas, oats, wheat, and I forgot the other seed in the fall blend. Tomorrow I plan to do four other small and medium food plots on the other sections of the farm not leased. Two in winter wheat, one all in Austrian winter peas, and one in the Pennington Fall Blend.

I'm already seeing lots of deer, several every day. About a week ago, I had two does come out apparently to see what I was up to. They just stood and watched for a while, turned and flicked their tails and walked into the woods. I noticed that around here deer are not frightened by farm equipment. Often I can just drive pretty close to deer and they don't even run away -- if I'm on the tractor. They run if I'm in the truck. They don't run from the skid steer either - they might walk away, but they are obviously not frightened.

Last week I cleared and plowed a spot, about 3/4 acre, that was growing very tall and thick weeds. The next morning I went there again to inspect my work and throw out some roots, rocks, limbs, etc., and the fresh ground was covered in deer tracks. They must have used it as a playground overnight. That's the spot where the Pennington Fall Blend is going tomorrow.


KB

Hope everything goes well with this KB.

If nothing else it will be a learning experience.

Some learning experiences are pleasant and others are not. Several of my "learning experiences" have come from situations that didn't go well. Thus I'm a bit risk adverse, but I can't stagnate or avoid all risk, and which is why I asked a price that hopefully makes it worth the risk and considering what I have to give up.

KB

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
Hope everything goes well with this KB.

If nothing else it will be a learning experience.

I have someone plant our food plots and last year he used a mix with glover, wheat, rape and oats. This year it's a different brand, but he didn't know what's in it. Basically it's whatever is available in Oct when the planting is done. I once drew up a map showing what and where to plant, with wheat here, and various others in different places. Our farmer set me straight. He said unless you want to buy a tractor and do it yourself the only thing practical is use whatever commercial mix is available and use it all the way around.

I asked if he's going to bush hog it first, and was told no, he'll disc under what's there from last year and go ahead with the planting. And I'm kinda glad you mentioned the fertilizer, because that reminds me to ask about that too. It certainly does better with than without. I found that out the hard way when the last person we used skipped the fertilizer when planting sunflower for doves. It was a bust. I wound up having to hunt elsewhere.

The glover part of the mix comes back but I think the rest are annuals. One thing I did learn is, in the summer all this makes terrific hay fields. So, I'm going to try to find someone who wants to mow it for hay each year in exchange for whatever favors I can think up.

I have personally learned to drive a tractor, but I can't keep doing it. The old back is not up to it...man, those things are rough riding.

Anyway, sounds like you're got an unusually good deer herd for 50 acres. On ours, you could get about as many antlerless as you want, but for a decent buck you'd have to be there a LOT. I usually do that end of it somewhere else nearby with a much bigger place with a lot more deer woods. On the small places, I think it'd be only pure luck without setting the table for them with food plots...

I doubt that I would be able to do the food plots without my own tractor. Yes it rides rough, and has no power steering and changing gears is primitive, but it runs good and it's what I could afford. It has a 35 hp Perkins diesel.

I have a five foot harrow and a five foot bush hog, and a hopper type fertilizer and seed spreader which runs off the PTO and 3 point hitch.

On the food plots I've done, they are new this year so the ground needed a lot of prep. I used my cousin's skid steer to clear the big stuff, logs, limbs saplings and their stumps and roots. In some cases I had to move a lot of dirt to level and fill holes and the mess left by a logging operation.

Then when the hazards were removed, I ran over it with the bush hog. Then followed with the harrow set to cut as deep as possible, which required perhaps six or eight passes to soften the dirt up in some areas.

Then I let it sit for a while to let the weed seeds germinate. After there was a good stand of weeds I would plow them under, then wait for another batch to germinate and harrow them under too. I was able to do that with all but two plots, and those two have been planted without the benefit of waiting to plow the fresh weeds under. Hopefully the weeds will be dormant during winter anyway.

We have a weed called coffee weed and I have an abundant crop mixed in with the iron clay peas that I planted in July. Coffee weed apparently loves fertilizer.

I don't yet know how to control the weeds. I'm reluctant to use chemicals but may have to.

Next spring, after turkey season I plan to harrow everything under and do that several times before planting two different plots in the iron clay peas again. Then I'll spend the rest of summer in Alaska again, and do the fall plots in GA again next year about this time. I hope multiple harrowing passes a week or so apart will allow weeds to germinate then killed with the harrow.

Also, something to consider is that I don't yet know how well the food plots will work. These deer are spoiled with lots of food sources. I tried to plant candy, timed to mature when the field crops around are at the minimum and put the plots in places surrounded with woods and just a small lane for my access. I was worried that there may be too much shade, but apparently it's not a problem as the summer peas have grown well.

They have been eating the tops off the iron clay peas which is a good sign that I did something right. I notices today that the peas are maturing and have lots of pea pods. The literature I've read says that deer will feed off the pea pods all winter.

I just finished the fall/winter food plots today. It was really not any extra trouble in not planting all the plots in the same seed. I just backed the tractor with the spreader hopper up to the back of my truck and dumped the bags of seed for a particular field into the hopper. For each field I returned for a refill. Same with the fertilizer, so I wouldn't get confused over what went where. I used mostly winter wheat to get the volume of green for the least money. In two large and one small plots wheat is all I planted. One small plot is all Austrian winter peas. Two small plots are in the Pennington Fall blend. Counting the iron clay peas, all the plots sum up to about seven or maybe eight acres -- of which about 3 acres is on the lease.

KB

Don't know if it would work in your area KB but some folks around here mix their seeds and fertilizer together in their spreader and that way they only have to make one pass with that, then go back over it with either a disc set just enough to break the surface or a harrow set the same way. don't know about your part of the country but in places here in Texas there are some real good browse plants that come up on their own if the soils crust is broken up somewhat.

As a 78-year-old who has lived his entire life in Arizona, where only 18% of our state's land mass is in private ownership, having to lease land to hunt on is as foreign to me as paying for air to breathe.

Heck, being limited to hunting on one 50-acre parcel doesn't even compute.

However, I have hunted deer on a friend's ranches in the Texas Hill Country many times and know that there is a huge difference between there and home. For one thing, I've read there are 70-100 deer per section across the Hill Country. Arizona's highest density deer habitat is nowhere near that.

I own 68 acres south of Tucson in prime Coues deer country. Although we've seen deer on it a few times (the topography is such that I can see from one hill virtually everything that moves on my property), the chances of a shootable buck wandering onto my land in daylight during a hunting season are slim.

If someone were to offer me $3 per acre for hunting rights, I'd accept it in an instant -- and feel guilty all the way to the bank.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

some folks around here mix their seeds and fertilizer together in their spreader and that way they only have to make one pass

then go back over it with either a disc set just enough to break the surface or a harrow set the same way.

don't know about your part of the country but in places here in Texas there are some real good browse plants that come up on their own if the soils crust is broken up somewhat.

With 20 bags of fertilizer and 14 bags of seed at 50 lbs each, I didn't even think about pre-mixing. Seems like extra work to me, unless dealing with less quantity.

I used the harrow to disk it in. I set the angle of the disks shallow and ran them only deep enough to leave no areas untouched.

I can easily see what comes up on its own around here when left alone. It's probable there are some browse plants in there, but in most places it is really thick and over six feet tall with a variety of weeds. I don't even know all the species names, but much of it is coffee weed. The way the weeds smell when I cut them leads me to think they are not tasty.

With a planted food plot, even if some of the weeds are mixed in, increases the ratio of deer candy significantly. As I said, to compete with the crop residual and winter cover crops, a food plot has to be like deer candy. The idea is to keep them close to or on the property. One thing about the big fields is that the deer feed there only nocturnally, and mostly around the edges. Being more secluded, they will eat on a food plot during the day, especially does. Most of the plots that I planted don't have stands overlooking them, but instead positioned near the trails where the bucks seem to have a highway for their travels.

KB

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:
As a 78-year-old who has lived his entire life in Arizona, where only 18% of our state's land mass is in private ownership, having to lease land to hunt on is as foreign to me as paying for air to breathe.

Heck, being limited to hunting on one 50-acre parcel doesn't even compute.

That's partially why I posted this thread. The variety of hunting environments vary a lot across the country.

When I was a lad, the idea of hunting leases was unimaginable to me and anyone I knew. Heck, we didn't even have deer and hogs around here until I was in my 20s.

Now, all the surrounding woodland is leased for hunting, or hunted by the farm family in one case, but mostly leases. There are even a few high fence areas nearby, an idea which is still absurd to me.

I've hunted deer in Texas, East Texas and the Hill Country. Leases are a big deal there too. I lived in western states for many years, and hunted public land.

Also, deer hunting in southeast Alaska is way different than anywhere else. The hunting areas there are vast and lots of deer. It's just getting there that's the problem. Most likely there will never be leases for hunting there.

Anyway, it has been an interesting experiment so far. Managing the property for deer and turkey has been something I wanted to do for a long time, and the opportunity came only when I retired and have the time and energy. It's something interesting to do.

As I tell my friends and relatives, don't take this for granted because right here - right now, we are living in the good ole days of deer hunting. The deer population is plentiful and healthy. There is no CWD here - yet. As I remember, ten does are allowed per season, plus two bucks. The ten doe limit is not relevant to me because I can use only about two, so that's all the does I'll shoot.

This year I'm looking for the big buck.

After all, even with all the money and time I've spent is still less expensive than trips out west or Alaska or perhaps even to Texas for hunting. And the primitive weapon season is in right now. The rifle season runs from Oct. 19 till mid-January.

KB

quote:

Seems like extra work to me, unless dealing with less quantity.

Most of the ones doing it out here are working on acreages of more than 50 acres. They are doing it on pieces of land large enough to combine when the grain ripens.

It could possibly be more work for smaller plots.

I'm hoping to draw turkeys in when the plants ripen in spring. Last year I had turkeys coming in to the corn feeders. At least three of them were jakes - hopefully matured toms now.

The idea just occurred to me to take photos of this year's hunting events like a chronicle, and perhaps post them here.

KB

quote:

As I tell my friends and relatives, don't take this for granted because right here - right now, we are living in the good ole days of deer hunting.

Ain't that the truth. Man, we better enjoy this to the hilt, because it's never going to get any better than right now. Anyway, a few disjointed points on the 50 acre deal -

For turkeys, I was told that chufa is like cocaine for those birds. It's not the plant, but the insects attracted to the underground tuber that turkeys grave. However, after looking into it I decided to pass on it because some of what I read wasn't that positive about getting that stuff started. Turkeys btw love ticks and chiggers. And turkeys are the other reason I built my ground blinds.

On the deer mixes, from ours wheat is the main thing I see growing from it. Along with lots of glover, I think both red and white. You see the oats and rape too, but less obvious. And weeds really weren't a problem last year, so no chemicals were indicated. It stayed a beautiful yellow/green shade all winter.

The wheat stays kinda low and is full of deer tracks everywhere.

Now, one important point on picking the food type - there are lots of plants the deer like OK and will attract them, BUT you've got to use things like wheat and glover simply because they can't eat it all at "one sitting" which is exactly what they do with leafy vegetation and large grain. For instance, you know what deer REALLY love? It's soybeans. Across and down the road is a 350 acre place I've been hunting on since the '70s. Got a huge (by our standards) 8 pt there last season. The running joke is, the farmer's food plots are his 150 acres of soybean fields. He didn't even bring in the combine last year. The deer got every last plant. Kinda neat like, and shaved off close to the ground. Like the whole fields were combined over. But, they CAN'T do that so easy with glover and wheat. Btw, they do the same to your sunflower dove fields, if they get the chance. And believe it or not, the deer will do this to young trees too. When we did our mass tree planting, the forester said be sure to not put them out in the fall, or the deer will think the pine seedlings are lollipops. It's another story, but the armadillos are into rooting up hard wood seedlings. You can guess how I found that out.

Our 53 acres was all woods three years ago, so I understand what you're going thru with finishing converting it to cropland, which essentially is what food plots are. We had problems with logging roads full of deep ruts that became mosquito and snake holes. We had to get a dozer in and add fill and wound up going ahead and clearing these and making a couple roads and then converted the "roads" to more food plots. And in the fields you've got to pull mostly by hand all those left over limbs, logs and stumps. And if it's never been plowed, the first time takes about three passes. Lots to do for sure.

One thing we have you probably don't is a large stream running through and a lot of very sandy soil (an ancient creek bed), which presents its own challenges on the conversion to food plots.

I'm now in the process of trying to purchase an adjoining 106 acres to go with it, and will have my hands full with that.

Our places sound very similar otherwise and in about the same state of development. If you can, maybe look into posting some pics...

Shack,
That's very interesting. Are you in Georgia also?

I want to plant some clover, but felt that the weeds are too much until I work the soil some more.

Also, you are right about the soybeans. But they are a summer crop. Around here there is probably over 1000 acres within a mile radius. It is near harvest time judging by the leaves are turning yellow. The deer can't eat it all. But neither can I compete with that. After the fields are harvested it all changes especially when they plow in the residual. But then they usually plant the winter cover crop, such as wheat sometime in late November.

My previous posts may have been a bit confusing since the lease portion is the 50 acre section. But the farm is over 200 acres. Only the 50 acres belongs entirely to me, but I can hunt the rest of it too and some of the surrounding farms too. So, the food plots, 7 to 8 acres, is counting the whole 200 acres.

There is a stream that passes through the other 150 acres. It's fed from the watershed off the surrounding farmland, so it mostly flows after a rain. But it's along that creek where the bucks travel, and hogs too. There are lots of rubs and scrapes. I'm working today to finish up a stand where I can watch a portion of that area.

Best regards,

KB

That's fascinating and again, it does sound very similar. But, no I'm not GA. I'm over in W TN. It would be somewhat similar I imagine. We're rolling hills. Not mountains like E TN nor flat Delta like MS or AR. Land here is typically a lot cheaper than the flat lands because they can laser level those places and irrigate them for rice and soybeans. Our crops here are not irrigated, so the farm yields are lots less. But irrigation land is vastly more costly. The typical crops here are soybeans, corn, cotton and milo in about that order. For doves we use sunflower and millet. Sunflowers attract them better. Cut millet lasts into the winter and does a surprising good job of attracting deer and also makes very good hay. I got my big 8 pt over a spent millet field.

Speaking of which, something kinda interesting. Being a hunter makes you into a farmer of sorts. I didn't start out that way. All I wanted to do was pop a cap, and all the talk about crop prices was almost background noise compared to the intense desire to hunt the Hell out of every duck, deer, dove, quail and turkey. But I learned there are things that have to come first or that stuff doesn't happen and I've wound up knowing a whole lot more about agriculture and forestry than I ever intended when I started down the "life afield" journey.

Anyway, I've basically got unlimited places to deer or turkey hunt free if I wanted to venture off our road or across the line into MS or other places in TN, but really I only use a 350 acre nearby place plus my present 53 acres, which soon I think will be increased by purchasing the adjoining 106 acres. Property in our area only very rarely comes up for sale. Almost never really. So I'm real interested in that.

We don't have the hogs you mentioned. The state doesn't want them and if you're a landowner you can shoot them on sight. They do have them though in nearby MS and they are headed our way I hear. Personally I've never been hog hunting.

We've got two streams. One is large and I've thought of trying to create a place on it to launch a canoe. The smaller one is a seasonal run-off ditch. Not really even a stream. I'm trying to clear it of logs and leaves. Talk about hard going, that's a job for you. I put on heavy gloves and hip waders and work on it in cold weather. I wouldn't put my hands in there in hot weather. That'd be a good way to earn a quick trip to where they have anti snake venom. Anyway, at the present rate it'll take me about four more years.

So far we've not run electricity. I like kinda keeping it semi primitive. But someday we might decide to do a little travel trailer or something...