I agree with the other guy above....if you can buy 50 or so acres that is adjacent to gov't/state/private land, you've just effectively increased the size of yours.

That's what I did only with 27

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great input .... thanks ..... i think all make valid points and i have to sit down and re think my stragies....... thanks

I agree with Ohiobuck. The right property is a hell of a lot more important than the size of the property. You can hunt a 25 acre tract of thick woods with houses on three sides and a nice 500 acre wooded property on the forth. The deer will wanderinto your smaller tract (Provided you don't put preasure on them) seeking a quiet bedding area or safe zone. You may in fact take the big bucks off the larger property. If you are looking for hunting property, pick a thick safe area for deer and cutYOUR trails in it to hunt it affectively.

People mention being adjacent to public land as a good thing. I used to think that was great too. But really it isn't! Land adjacent to public land has more tresspassing problems and the deer are pressured way more. Who wants to spend tens of thousands of dollars to hunt the same deer that everyone else gets to hunt.

If the small parcel is in an area with big land owners or land that just isn't hunted very hard then you'll be fine. If everyone has a 40 and invites 3 friends with them to hunt then you're sqrewed.

Just my two cents.

I think it depends on a lot of the things others have said here, plus one or two others (at least). My wife and I own 98 acres with a fair amount of deer on itthat we share (own together) with my hunting buddy and his wife. That can be a nice situation to have, sharing costs and maintenance, etc. with a good hunting buddy you see eye-to-eye with.

It’s a beautiful piece of mostly wooded land (pretty even mix of evergreens and hardwoods, mostly oak and hickory) with several small ridges at the foot of a mountain with a small amount of pasture at the bottom and (other people’s) corn fields about two hundred yards below it.

But the real key to its success as a great deer hunting habitat, IMO, is the public land behind it. It’s George Washington National Forest (over a million acres), with no public access points (other than private landowners like us) for 6 miles in any direction.

The deer get some pressure from a neighbor who hunts year round (illegally), bagging 20 to 30 deer per year, according to a couple of his cousins, who I know. Luckily, he mostly hunts with a bow out of season. So the deer are always somewhat wary, but they’re huntable with a bow in the national forest until rifle season, when it becomes much tougher to hunt in the national forest. Then I hunt with a bow on our land, which then becomes a “safe haven” with all the noisy activity going on in the national forest.

By the way, we are selling this piece of land after this hunting season, if anyone is interested. We’re going to build a house on a 40 acre parcel near the top of a high ridge (also borders on national forest with no public access nearby) and need to sell this parcel for the cash to build.

I agree with you on the neighbors if your next to public land then your in trouble when it come's to managment. I maybe different were your from but up here in Minnesota managment hunters are the minority, most hunters especially public land hunters aren't going to pass up anything with horns.

Jellio where are you looking for land in MN?