Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Thoughts on buying land for hunting

Ah, the age old question of investment versus experiences. A strong argument can be made that for the cost of buying a hunting spot, one can pay the freight on some very nice hunting opportunities throughout the world. On the other hand, land is an investment that usually holds, if not increases in value. There is something fundamental in having a piece of dirt. I am fortunate enough to own property in Montana. When I moved to Maryland, I quickly bought 40 acres in West Virginia I thought would serve as a weekend getaway and hunting spot. After a few years, my wife and I sold the property (at a nice profit). Despite our good intentions, we just weren't making it out to the property often enough. We'll probably buy more land when we relocate back west in a few years (after the kids are out of the house). In a perfect world, a hunter will have a chance to have his (or her) own corner of the world and the spare change to go to new place and try different hunts.

I am my Real Estate office in Big Sky today so anyone wanting property down here feel free to call and we'll write it up...grins

Mark D

Hey, get off-line and get to work

There has been land sold recently in my little corner of NW Iowa that went for 5k an acre. There is a culture where I live of farmers who live very modestly but have the cash to buy a half section of land. Land is their gold mine-they think.

It is a point of pride among them and I'm not sure they can even come out ahead at those prices even on the richest, blackest earth.

Instead of a gold mine think corn and ethanol.

I am at work bud, what a view......

Stopped into YGS and got my sportsmans tag, including one for mato of course. Speaking of which!

Dober

"It is the one thing that they don't make more of"........That is what my old man reminds me of all the time.
Do it while you can enjoy it.

The part I like about owning land is that I can hunt my property, I can lease my grazing rights, I can sell a deer lease, I can sell Dove hunts, quail hunts, Turkey hunts, Hog hunts, and varmit hunts. The cost of these hunts alone more than pay my land payments. However, I would not sell hunts. I enjoy my land. It is mine. One day I will sell it and retire. It has increased in price 250% since I bought it just a short time back.

I often talked to my wife about buying land but she said it would be better to take the money and buy a nice lease somewhere. I did for several years and have a few deer heads and memories to show for it.

Now I can have both and when I grow old and can no longer manage it I will sell it and buy a nice bass boat and go fishing.

Jim

We had all better be fighting to abolish property taxes, estate taxes and income taxes, or there won't be any hunting land.

It will all be government land with no hunting and fishing allowed, or carved up by real estate developwhores.

You better do it now IMHO.

Our land was bought late 60s at 75 an acre for 98 acres.
A local piece at 97 acres just went for 997,000.00.

Nothing to see 4-5K an acre. Won't surprise me to see 10K and acre all the time soon enough.

Its decent farming/ranching land. Not many deer. Fewer Turkeys. Hogs in some spots. Doves and Ducks here and there depending...

Its getting stupid, and lease pricing for deer in trophy country... ouch, 10-20 bucks an acre, 500 acres minimum. The other weekend we hog hunted on a lease... they pay 13K a gun, have a mandatory feeding program/food plots, I'd venture to guess they are tossing 20K a year for a lease per gun.

I have 3 acres I need to buy to protect my land in a corner... Won't be able to afford it.

Good luck, Jeff

Jeff...can you say Houston MONEY talkin'!!! I get tickled listening to my kin folks talking about the 100 acre "Ranch" that backs up to Lake Fayetteville, the borrowed bull, cows and calving & mini donkeys that is now the center of their conversation. 10 years ago these refugees from the Dallas and later Houston high fence suburbs couldn't spell cow without thinking of dinner!!! But maybe they guessed right about buying the place ahead of the curve.
Been talking to a Houston based Oil Co Landman looking to finally retire, who within the last couple years sold some beachfront acreage with a waterfront villa & private pool overlooking the channel across from Cozumel, in a Playa del Carmen gated golf course community (on the Mexican Riviera for our uninformed Left Coast & Rocky Mountain friends) and wanted to re invest in mebbe Fayette County where you live in La Grange...sez HE'S already been priced out of the market and having to look further north around Elgin or east of Austin.

I'm glad I have hung on to this dinky lake house, as unimproved ag land that 3-5 years ago that was selling at $3/5k an acre is now pushing $10/12/15k an acre because of the long planned 60 mile extension of the Dallas North Tollway only needs one or two more parcels of land to be bought or condemed in Grayson County
and the dirt will start flying...and end one block from the end of my street within the next 5 years. A buddy with 23 acres that backs up to Army Corps land up a creek completely away from any lake frontage like I have sez his land is appraised at $12k an acre now and he thinks it'll hit $30-40K+ when the surveyor stakes are planted two blocks away. They ain't NO MO' Cheap land in North Texas for sure.
Ron

What I did was to locate land for sale that was situated in such a way that it bordered thousands of acres of state land, BLM land, and National Forest. My land borders the gravel county road and separates the road from all that public land. Theres a big ranch to the south of me so they hunt their own land and dont mess with the public land. There are three other families to the north of me and only 2 of them have hunters in the family so basically three families are the only ones with legal access to thousands of acres of public land. You have to cross one of the four parcels of private property to get from the road to the public land.

If you find the right piece of land it doesnt have to be huge to provide you with huge opportunities. The west has many such situations where you can buy a 40 acre section and have almost exclusive access to many times that.

Sorry, but I think that is just wrong......I don't see any justice in allowing private landowners to control access to PUBLIC land that all of us pay for! I'm definitely not a fan of Government interferrence in private land ownership, but that is exactly the situation when the Government should step in and force an easement into the public property!

One would think the public road would trump the private property issues in the above case.

Lodgepole, I am not jumping on your case as you did not cause the situation you just took advantage of it. Bully for you and I mean that sincerely.

Howsome ever there is still something that strikes a wrong note by landlocking public land. The state or federal should provide access to it. Doesn't have to be a paved road or even the easiest way in but access to public land should be provided to the public without having to use a helicopter I believe.

BCR

1

I have posted on this subject au nauseum, but nevertheless I�ll bore folks again with a couple of old posts that I made regarding public land access.

The most serious issue facing both resident and non-resident hunters is the continuing loss of access to big game habitat. As a hobby, I relocate old CCC pack trails that were built for the USFS in the 30s. To gain access to the National Forest, the government acquired easements across private lands to construct the CCC trails and roads. I would encourage everyone to look a USFS map from the 50s and compare the number of access points available to the public 50 years ago to the number available today. Some Forests have given-up, without even a whimper, 70% of the trailheads that originated on private lands and have not provided alternative access to the public lands that were served by the original systems. CP.



1) In the western United States there are millions of acres of state and federal land that have absolutely no public access. The Outfitting industry in particular and adjoining landowners in general have done extremely well in exploiting this situation.

2) During the 1930s (CCC era), there was a major effort to develop public access points to Forest Service ground. Subsequently, thousands of these easements that were developed in the 30s were forgotten and abandon by the Forest Service. I could write a dissertation on the reasons and the politics behind the lost of public access to federal lands, but I don�t think I could stand the frustration. Nevertheless, I can assure all of you that the hunters of the 50s had one hell of a lot more access routes (primarily pack trails and some primitive roads) to federal land than we have today. CP.

"There are millions of acres of public land with no public access"

Sounds to me like a great business opportunity for a guy with a helicopter!!!!!!

Yeah, nothing to it�

I think you need to apply for a SUP (Special Use Permit) and get after it. However, I�ll forewarn you that you will likely get one hell of an expensive education, and in the end, there is only a remote possibility that you will be granted a permit to pursue your business opportunity. CP.

You are saying that a special use permit is needed to fly people to public areas or to use public areas? I think the permit that grants someone the ability to fly people to public areas for pay is called a commercial pilots liscense. The air above the land belongs to the Federal Govt. and is overseen by the FAA and their Regs. The land also belongs to the Govt. and is public. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Jim