mmilovan

Im looking to buy a pice of hunting property in Illinois to hunt mostly deer. What is the best layout for a piece of property(hills, woods, creeks, open fields) be? Any personal experiences would be very helpfull.

Mike

IL_ray_phillips

Buy a piece that is divided up between hardwoods and agriculture. If you have corn and beans you have lots of deer.

mmilovan

Hard to find perfect blend of agriculture and hardwoods. Its mostly one or the other. ANy idea which is better?

Blueditch42

If you have the money to buy you a good chunk of hunting ground then buy the hardwoods and have some of it logged off and cleared then put your own crops in.

timbercruiser

I would contact a couple of realtors and tell them what your budget is and the approximate area you are looking at. Then as they locate the various tracts look at them on their own merits.

IL_ray_phillips

Don't think there is any scientific ratio of woods to ag. I have killed some of my biggest bucks in fence rows with corn on 1 side and beans on the other. I also have 1 spot that has 450 acres of hardwood surrounded by small ag. fields. Don't venture to far into the woods cuz the deer usually come out to the fields. Timbercruiser is right on with the realtors. Find an area you want to buy ground tell them what your limit is and they will be on it. A good site for IL ground is www.buyafarm.com The guy sells alot of good deer country in So. IL.

uncle matt

I sense you are not wanting to spend a pile of cash.

Yes the ag fields draw deer like crazy. I think corn is a better draw than beans but most crops get rotated so just cause a field is corn this years doesn't necessarily mean it will be next year - and some farmers do not rotate but maybe every 5 years depending on what the soil can handle.

If you get a split of woods and ag - who's gonna do the ag? You can usually lease the tillable out without much problem and this can help pay for the property.

Anyway, creek bottoms are always a good draw (travel corridor) and you can easily find their choosen or prefered paths at creeks. So I'd look for somethingthat might have a creek or dried creekbed that waters up occasionally, running thru the property.

But remember that if you don't have ag ON your property, but there is ag around your property on a side or two. Then that ag can be your draw at no cost to you. Sometimes having someone leasing your tillable acres doesn't quite work out as you may like. Weather can determine so much as to when a guy can take his crops down, and the soil will also need to be turned over in alot of cases. If there is a window in the weather, the farmer may have to be out there just when you and your buddies were hoping to be harvesting some deer. It just sometimes works out that way.

On our farm, when that happens, we have go to plans that haven't worked out too bad for us.

We started with about a hundred acres, with farmhouse, garage, chicken coop, well house, barn and trailer. $40,000. The next land south of us went up for sale at $80,000 but never sold - but wehave rights on it anyway, along with 40 sq. acres across the road.

So we ain't done bad.

mmilovan

Guys,
Thanks for all your suggestions. I am looking for atleast 40 acres but probably not more than 70(thats all i can afford right now). I have a couple propertys in mind all ready and was wanting to know what would make one property more valuable than the other. Checking surrounding properties for ag is a great idea as well. I will concentrate on not only the property but whats around there as well. Thank you.

pjhunts

A blend is best as said before, but I would definitely look for a good fence row connecting woodlot to woodlot, brushy spot, pond, etc.