I'm in the process of purchasing some hunting land with a few members of my family (approx 4 or 5). In your opinion, how much land (acres) would you say that we need to purchase so that we don't crowd the land or each other. Also, more than likely the property will be surrounded by other vacant land (ex.farm or ranch). Thanks for the advice guys.

If I were you I would not want more than 1 hunter per 20 acres if they are stand hunting, and it would depend on terrain, food sources, deer population, etc. There are lots of variables to consider.

I agree with Criggster if you owned the bush in the middle of farmed fields. What happens when friends come along? If the land is cheap enough go for 200 acres with emphasis on land features (gullies, streams, pathways, etc.). Some of the worst land makes the best hunting.

Dan O.

I don't like to be crowded with my hunting, maybe 1 per 80 acres or more. I would hesitate to purchase land "with" anybody, even family members. Contiguous properties in individual names would be alright, just plan ingress/egress in the deeds. You could give each other hunting permission on your property.

I would plan to have 100 acres per person. I have 100 acres w/ between my father and I and when we hunt hard for a week straight, we will run into problems with having enough stands to hunt and having enough time to rest certain stands. I really don't like to hunt a stand more than 2 hunts (morning or evening being a sit) per 3-4 days so that they don't pattern me. It is difficult to do this with less than 100 acres per person.

I would think that it would depend on the type of land and cover. I only own 19 acres, but it is hilly and covered entirely with trees and brush. I have two stands at opposite corners of the property about 400 yards apart. Two people can easily hunt it at the same time and not even until one person shoots.

I have a lease of 546 acres and it is divided into 8 zones or about 60+ acres per zone on average. We also have one club stand in each zone. So 2 may hunt the zone. The zone hunter must stay away from the club stand by 200 yards. This is big woods for the most part and shots over 100 yards would be rare.

If your smacken the little ones 20 acres per person. If your looking for some mature bucks, min 100 acres per person. With 4 or 5 guys walking around it won't take long to spook deer on a small piece of land.

If the land borders other lands that you can hunt on, I think 50 would be enough. The main question here is, how expensive is the land where you want to hunt. Here in the Hudson Valley, NY 500 acres would cost a fortune. Don't know about the land down in Florida. How much are we talking about per acre. If it's cheap, get as much as posible.

I'm with wildpigs remarks. Comes down to what you can afford, the more the better to try and manage a deer heard. Me, I was able to find 92 acres in the Southern Tier of NY and I pretty much hunt it myself with 7 hunting locations within it.

Also, be careful about buying land with others. What sounds like a great idea now, will be a nightmare later. JIMO.

Good Luck!