What would u do?

Pacahunter said:
Lots of great points. I bought the piece to sell it for a profit. I knew there was going to be good mature buck hunting. I didn’t know it was going to be a mature buck magnet. The best thing is I didn’t have to do any real improvements. The initial plan was to clear a couple acres for a food plot. I’m now concerned a food plot might hurt me more than help. I know that sounds crazy, but if 4 year old bucks are consistently walking around during daylight, clearing timber could impact those travel patterns. I should note that I am limited to one specific location for a food plot, and that location is where the daylight activity is taking place.
I think easy huntable properties very rare, and I stepped into one. I’ve stuck a lot of resources into my other land and haven’t had the constancy of movement as this place.
I always thought you needed hundreds of acres to get consistent mature buck daytime movement. I found out you just have to own in the right place.
Click to expand...

Food plots are NOT a silver bullet. At a hunting club I used to frequent, it seemed like those dingleberries would ruin every decent morning/transition spot they would "make better" by planting a wheat field. I watched great spot after great spot DESTROYED by nincompoops that had no idea what they were doing, removing cover and putting green in front of them. Oh yeah, this great open place will make the mature deer feel REAL comfortable.

Sometimes you need to know when to leave well enough alone, and it seems like you've figured that out.


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The property is isolated. I need to have the logging contracted. At this point I will be forced to clear around an acre for the log truck to turn around. I don’t want this area to be thick bedding, so that’s why I’m thinking a small patch of clover won’t interrupt movement too much.
 
Knowing next to nothing about your place, I will offer this: More clover is never a bad thing. It's one of, if not the best crops for deer. Even if you don't hunt over it, it will feed your deer and promote movement. Without movement, we don't see as many deer. I've had folks ask me about a two acre plot in the middle of my place where there are no stands, bow or gun. Why do you plant that ? Simple. I feed my deer, and they have to get up out of their beds and move through the place to get here. The light bulb usually goes on about that time.......
 
Lol, Awesome!

Soooo... The land is perfect and abounds with huge bucks, but you are considering going in and changing things? Are there not enough big bucks to fill your harvest needs? Does it "need" changed?
 
Drycreek said:
Knowing next to nothing about your place, I will offer this: More clover is never a bad thing. It's one of, if not the best crops for deer. Even if you don't hunt over it, it will feed your deer and promote movement. Without movement, we don't see as many deer. I've had folks ask me about a two acre plot in the middle of my place where there are no stands, bow or gun. Why do you plant that ? Simple. I feed my deer, and they have to get up out of their beds and move through the place to get here. The light bulb usually goes on about that time.......
Click to expand...
This is deep cover, with not many deer on my property. 3/4 mile away there are loads of deer. I do not want to increase the amount of deer on the property. I think mature bucks are attracted to this property because It is isolated and they aren’t bothered by the large doe groups. I know it sounds twisted, but that is my experience in hunting over populated areas my entire life.
I do know multiple mature bucks bed on the property, frequently. I also know they move on the property during daylight. I have good stand locations to take advantage of that movement. I just don’t have experience creating a food source in a core 100% bedding area.
I want to prevent the bucks going nocturnal. I haven’t been super successful harvesting mature bucks around food plots. If I put a food plot in there it will be right next to prime bedding in every direction. In a perfect world those mature bucks will step out of their bed and in the food plot, all times of day. I know the worlds not perfect because I haven’t seen a lot of bucks on food plots during daylight. But I also haven’t dealt with establishing a plot deep in cover.
 
The government still prints gobs of money but no one has figured out a way to make more land.

You obviously don't need the money or you would have already sold it.

Keep the land, kill some big bucks and post us some pictures.
 
If you put a food plot in the middle of a large bedding area, how will you access your stands without alerting deer ?
 
Drycreek said:
If you put a food plot in the middle of a large bedding area, how will you access your stands without alerting deer ?
Click to expand...
The same way I currently do. This particular property doesn’t start until 3/4 mile off the public road. As I reach my property it is very thick and wet. The deer don’t bed within 100 yards of my entry because it’s so wet. I have also destroyed possible betting spots. I cut the grass on the road, so I make no noise as I walk within 100 yards of any possible My approach has been to not hunt the property the beginning of gun season. The deer seem to respond well, and the hunting is Unbelievable:)
 
I'm kind of in the same boat - we have 4 properties we have purchased over the last 10 years or so. The first two where I initially started hunting are now the lowest on my hunting radar and I hunt almost exclusively on the latest 2. I would consider selling the first two properties, but only if I have something better lined up to purchase with the money (like-kind-exchange) to limit the tax man bite of the profits.

Obviously if I need money at some point for a kids college or medical procedure, then all options are on the table.

I would not mess up a good thing trying to add a food plot - keep improving on your other properties and if you're maxed out on improvement on those, then I'll send you my address and you can start on mine. ;)
 
Drycreek said:
If you put a food plot in the middle of a large bedding area, how will you access your stands without alerting deer ?
Click to expand...
The same way I currently do. This particular property doesn’t start until 3/4 mile off the public road. As I reach my property it is very thick and wet. The deer don’t bed within 100 yards because it’s so wet. I cut the grass on the road, so I make no noise as I walk within 100 yards of any possible bedded deer.
Most hunting pressure is to the east. My approach has been to not hunt the property the beginning of gun season. The deer seem to respond well
 
Pacahunter said:
The same way I currently do. This particular property doesn’t start until 3/4 mile off the public road. As I reach my property it is very thick and wet. The deer don’t bed within 100 yards of my entry because it’s so wet. I have also destroyed possible betting spots. I cut the grass on the road, so I make no noise as I walk within 100 yards of any possible My approach has been to not hunt the property the beginning of gun season. The deer seem to respond well, and the hunting is Unbelievable:)
Click to expand...

Well then, my answer is still the same. Clover. Grows pretty well in the shade, and I would create a couple small plots with a Grandpa Ray's clover mix. Inner Sanctum or Mass Builder. That's what I would do, but it sounds to me like you're trying to talk yourself out of it, so if it's great hunting the way it is, leave it alone.
 
Pacahunter,

Just out of curiosity, where are you located in Waupaca Co? My cabin/parcel is near Iola. I don’t think the land prices by me have reached the $5,000/acre mark that you and Bull have mentioned, but I’m not seeing a ton for sale: Whitetail Properties has exactly zero listings for the county.

Just sold a 40-ac parcel in another county: multiple good offers in the first week. Market for hunting land in WI seems hot right now. It’s possible that everything decent is way up in price, but never hits the open market, so I’m not noticing the price increase by me. Looking at comps over the last couple of years, looks like most hunting parcels are going for between $3,500 and $4,000/ ac in the county. Am I wrong here?

I also think it’s funny that you can go five miles west and once you lose the Waupaca Co zip code, the prices seem to drop drastically.

Regarding your land investment, my forester tells me that timber land in WI has had an average appreciation of between 4-8% per year throughout the history of our state. (He made the point that properties with sound timber management tend to appreciate at a higher rate). Given that fact, unless something REALLY BAD happens to our deer hunting—like CWD variants starting to cause human disease—I think your land will increase in value in the long run. Seems like a pretty safe investment.
 
The $5-$6k prices are buildable parcels. I had a guy offer me $6k/acre for one of my pieces this winter. I would sell it but I’m not paying that income tax and I can’t find anything to off set the tax. It’s crazy, the guy I bought my place from paid $52/ acre in the early 70s.
My neighbor quietly has a 60 for $400,000. It’s a beautiful place for a house. They won’t get all that for it, but I’m sure they will be close. I offered them $135000 for the only real buildable portion, which is 20 acres. They had no interest in that. Another neighbor offered them more than $135k, he was shot down too. They are not going to break the buildable land up from the hunting land. Not when they can get over $6k/acre for all of it.
Had another 60 a couple miles away go for $6k/ acre. The buyer put an enormous stick built garage on it that’s probably worth more than my house. Another guy down the road paid $5300/ acre for a field and a little woods. Straight up hunting land isn’t fetching these prices, but quality buildable parcels are.
Lots of people with money in the eastern part of the state. There’s a few in Central Wisconsin to. They want to live in the country, and are willing to pay for it. Hunting means little to some of these people. That’s why I’m hoping a non hunter drops that $400000 next to me. Those blackberry choked, steep hills would make an unbelievable sanctuary to border.
 
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Paca,
If you don’t mind me asking, what general part of the county is your property located in? Reason why I ask is I’m thinking the higher prices are up by Big Falls (NW Waupaca Co.). Thanks
 
Go to the Waupaca GIS. Harrison township. Charlie Mills - owner of mill fleet farm just bought 200 acres for $1.1MM off Comet Rd. I’ve not been on it but I’ve heard it’s cut so hard you will not take a stick of saw timber off it in our lifetime. There are no building on it. Just vacant hard cut rolling hardwoods. It looks like that on the GIS

There is squat on the market. Good parcels go without ever hitting the market right now

The deer hunting is awesome. I don’t know Charlie but heard it’s all about deer for him
 
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