Hi everyone,
If there's a better thread for this please move it.
My wife and I just took the plunge and bought 20.5 acres in Central IL. We should be closing in a couple of weeks. I didn't grow up with land, and I have only been hunting for a few years so I would say I am relatively inexperienced. I have so many ideas and questions about how to manage this property and I'm hoping for some feedback and opinions. I will try to lay out as many details as possible.
There is a dirt floor barn/garage on the property, the southern-most structure on the aerial. The single wide is no longer there. In the longer-term we'd like to eventually build a home here, but for now we plan to put a camper on it. We live an hour away. It is bordered to the south and east by a 34,000 acre state fish and wildlife area open to public hunting which includes a 11,000 acre lake, but access to the areas surrounding my property would require parking half a mile away and walking up the road or crossing the river. The 1/4ac pond on the SW end is totally covered in duckweed at the moment. There are three 1/4ac clearings in the woods that I envisioned turning into food plots. There is a great deal of bush honeysuckle of varying age classes throughout the property. I believe most of the property was used as pasture until about 15-20 years ago and from what I have been able to gather may have never been hunted. There are some good oaks, hickories, and walnuts, but a far greater deal of less valuable trees. Most of the property offers thick cover. I am in contact with the local NRCS office about potential project funding to improve habitat and would love any advice on that process as well. I have not covered every square inch of the property but I did walk it with my land broker (highly recommend Midwest Land Group to anyone, they've been awesome to work with) and we saw our fair share of deer sign. fresh and old droppings, fresh and old rubs, trails, tracks. There's plenty of corn and soybeans across the road to the west and further south. I recognize a parcel this small will not likely hold deer but I hope I can capture traffic. One of the first priorities for me would be to establish a perimeter trail. Any recommendations on how to best approach this? I have some equipment questions as well, mostly being if I should spend the money and get a subcompact tractor or if I would be better off with an ATV and hitch implements. Whatever equipment I get will have to be able to get across the creek. The banks are not incredibly steep and when I visited it during drought conditions the creek bed was only an inch or two deep in many places. I thought maybe I could get by with digging out some fords and maybe eventually putting a bridge in.
What would you consider top priority projects? Are there factors I am failing to consider? Any and all advice would be appreciated! I feel there's a lot of opportunity in this property, but I am managing expectations. I don't expect to hold deer on this property and I don't expect to shoot a Boone and Crockett buck. I'm just glad to have something to call my own and look forward to getting away from the suburban hellhole we live in now.
If there's a better thread for this please move it.
My wife and I just took the plunge and bought 20.5 acres in Central IL. We should be closing in a couple of weeks. I didn't grow up with land, and I have only been hunting for a few years so I would say I am relatively inexperienced. I have so many ideas and questions about how to manage this property and I'm hoping for some feedback and opinions. I will try to lay out as many details as possible.
There is a dirt floor barn/garage on the property, the southern-most structure on the aerial. The single wide is no longer there. In the longer-term we'd like to eventually build a home here, but for now we plan to put a camper on it. We live an hour away. It is bordered to the south and east by a 34,000 acre state fish and wildlife area open to public hunting which includes a 11,000 acre lake, but access to the areas surrounding my property would require parking half a mile away and walking up the road or crossing the river. The 1/4ac pond on the SW end is totally covered in duckweed at the moment. There are three 1/4ac clearings in the woods that I envisioned turning into food plots. There is a great deal of bush honeysuckle of varying age classes throughout the property. I believe most of the property was used as pasture until about 15-20 years ago and from what I have been able to gather may have never been hunted. There are some good oaks, hickories, and walnuts, but a far greater deal of less valuable trees. Most of the property offers thick cover. I am in contact with the local NRCS office about potential project funding to improve habitat and would love any advice on that process as well. I have not covered every square inch of the property but I did walk it with my land broker (highly recommend Midwest Land Group to anyone, they've been awesome to work with) and we saw our fair share of deer sign. fresh and old droppings, fresh and old rubs, trails, tracks. There's plenty of corn and soybeans across the road to the west and further south. I recognize a parcel this small will not likely hold deer but I hope I can capture traffic. One of the first priorities for me would be to establish a perimeter trail. Any recommendations on how to best approach this? I have some equipment questions as well, mostly being if I should spend the money and get a subcompact tractor or if I would be better off with an ATV and hitch implements. Whatever equipment I get will have to be able to get across the creek. The banks are not incredibly steep and when I visited it during drought conditions the creek bed was only an inch or two deep in many places. I thought maybe I could get by with digging out some fords and maybe eventually putting a bridge in.
What would you consider top priority projects? Are there factors I am failing to consider? Any and all advice would be appreciated! I feel there's a lot of opportunity in this property, but I am managing expectations. I don't expect to hold deer on this property and I don't expect to shoot a Boone and Crockett buck. I'm just glad to have something to call my own and look forward to getting away from the suburban hellhole we live in now.
