David
Active Member
In August, my family and i bought a farm in Abbeville County, SC. before i get into the "tour" let me say thanks to all of you. I have been reading your posts for years. Its an amazing place here. The wealth of knowledge i have gained will never be paid back. I feel like i have very little to offer such a knowledgeable group of people, but if i can help i will. Years ago someone posed a question on here...something to the effect of "what is the best advice you can give a new land owner". Hands down it was my favorite thread. i cut and past nearly every response into a word document that i kept on my computer. Some the tid-bits i placed on the document were probably from other threads. When we closed on the farm i actually had that document printed and in hand at the closing. As soon as we were done i drove to the new farm, thanked the good Lord for his blessings and read through the advice (for probably the 100th time). here are a few of yalls responses....
When i read back through them and when i am working on my Farm Management Plan i often have two extreme and varied feelings. One is of extreme thankfulness and excitement. My family and I are so blessed to have this place. It is by far my favorite place on the planet and has been so much fun. Often when I go, I intentionally don't take a list of things to do, but instead i take a long walk...by myself...and do nothing but explore. I have four young daughters, so when the family goes, i actually make it a point to not hunt (very much). I do not want my family seeing this place as "daddy's hunting land". I want them to love it as much as I do. The other feeling is of being overwhelmed. I have to figure out how to spread that much lime? The wild hogs are relentless! When will the timber company actually show up for harvest! The vines! The weeds! The drought! We are almost out of diesel fuel! I doubt the feelings of being overwhelmed are ever going away, but at those times, i literally will remove stuff from my list. Sometimes i will move them to a long term list, others i will simply realize they may never get done. The reason i even mention this is to say, if someone asked me "what advice would you give a new land owner" i would tell them to relax, chill out, be thankful for what you have. In a world of convenience, get ready to wait....a lot. Trips to the farm often result in nothing being accomplished, but a bad day in the woods is better than a good day at work.
Farm tour begins in the next post.
- Work your trail system so you can access from the perimeter of your land with all winds
- Put in small water holes off your sanctuary by your food plots
- Learn to trap or find a trapper that you can trust.
- Have fun, don't make it a drudgery and you are never going to get everything done that you want to.
- don't do ANYTHING!!!!!
- Learn the lay of the land
- hunting access is THE top priority
- Remember Rome wasn't built in a day - it's ok for it to be a work in progress - it's going to take time.
- If it stops being fun - your doing it wrong. Yes it can get frustrating at times, but when it's more work and strain then you need to back off.
- As you are learning your property, don't get caught by your preconceived assumptions--master the art of observation
When i read back through them and when i am working on my Farm Management Plan i often have two extreme and varied feelings. One is of extreme thankfulness and excitement. My family and I are so blessed to have this place. It is by far my favorite place on the planet and has been so much fun. Often when I go, I intentionally don't take a list of things to do, but instead i take a long walk...by myself...and do nothing but explore. I have four young daughters, so when the family goes, i actually make it a point to not hunt (very much). I do not want my family seeing this place as "daddy's hunting land". I want them to love it as much as I do. The other feeling is of being overwhelmed. I have to figure out how to spread that much lime? The wild hogs are relentless! When will the timber company actually show up for harvest! The vines! The weeds! The drought! We are almost out of diesel fuel! I doubt the feelings of being overwhelmed are ever going away, but at those times, i literally will remove stuff from my list. Sometimes i will move them to a long term list, others i will simply realize they may never get done. The reason i even mention this is to say, if someone asked me "what advice would you give a new land owner" i would tell them to relax, chill out, be thankful for what you have. In a world of convenience, get ready to wait....a lot. Trips to the farm often result in nothing being accomplished, but a bad day in the woods is better than a good day at work.
Farm tour begins in the next post.
