Purchasing land

[Buckhunter2]

I am looking into purchasing some hunting land for the first time in my life and would like to get some thoughts or comments on what some of the DO's and Dont's are. What are some of the key things to look for when looking to purchase land outside of the structure of the property, location and things like that. I have got the general area that I want to be in, the price range, and roughly what I am looking for in an open to wooded land ratio but other than that have not a clue on how to get this started.

Any comments or advice or even previous experiences would be a big help.

[buckslayer]

Totally depends on what your main goal is for the land. If you intent is for mostly deer hunting, then I'm a huge fan of having some heavier/thicker hardwoods on some of the land where the deer can bed up, as well as having some areas where you can plant either a few smaller food plots, or at least one bigger plot depending on acerage. I'd also like to have some water in either the form of a pond, or small swamp, or even a small creak running through it.

I wouldn't want a lot of low land as it will tend to flood if there is a lot of rain, but at the same time I wouldn't want to be on the very tip top of a hill either. When the winds pick up and you can find a side of a hill where the winds not bad, the deer will find it too.

What is your primary reason for the land? You'll have a better chance of getting a lot more quality responses.

[Buckhunter2]

The main purpose for the land would be hunting. Say if I were to buy 100 acers what in your opinion would be a good open to wooded ratio. I am thinking that if 90 of the 100 were wooded that would be a very good ratio.

[buckslayer]

If I were to buy 100 acres right now, I'd probably have a total of about 10-15 acres of it clearned if there wasn't already a field to work with on the land. The 10-15 acres would not be all in one place, but rather roughly 2 X three acre fields and a 4 acre one (to get me my 10 acres) or if I was going for 15 acres of food plots, I'd go with three x 5 acre fields. Overall I'd think I'd stick with the 5 acre fields as they won't get demolished as fast.

Another option that I might look at is having ONE larger field in the center of the land. Say 10 acres in size to use as a destination field. I'd never hunt that field until the very late season and use that as a santuary to help keep deer on your property where they can feel safe from the neighbors. Then I'd take the other 5 acres of fields and break them up into five X 1 acre fields to use as hunt plots. I'd shape those into like hour glasses or some other design that has a pinch point in the center where the deer will at some point have to funnel to within about 20 yards or so.

[south40]

First of all, congrats on being able to purchase hunting land. It is difficult to save the money, convince wife, etc. My brother in law and I bought hunting land 4 years ago and it is a lot of work but a lot of fun also. I think that everything buckslayer has said is right on. I would probably like to have 20 to 25 acres out of 100 open. Not neccesarily all food, maybe some tall grasses on some of it. You definitely want thick cover to hold the big bucks. Our property lacked cover so we have been trying to improve that every year. One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is to be aware of how the land lays in relation to prevailing winds/ stand access. For instance, our land lays awesome for access on any west type winds, but sucks for north type winds. Later in the season we end up hunting the same stands because if we dont our scent blows right to the deer.