New member intro and ? on farm layout

[armadillophil]

After a long hiatus I am getting back into the land ownership. I was on the old qdma forum and owned a farm in Ohio up until a few years ago that I sold when I moved back to Texas. I haven't step foot into the whitetails wood in 3 years and it is killing me. I had been looking in north Texas Oklahoma for a place but have decided I want the midwest experience and have decided on Kansas. It is 5 hours for me which hurts but the the price and quality of deer could not be found in Texas. I would like any opinions or ideas on this 100 acre farm. It has a 60 acre ag field in middle that is either corn or soybeans. I wouldn't own a lot of woods which concerns me but plan on taking 10-12 acres out of ag and do a 5 acre switchgrass field on southern part of field with remainder switchgrass screens and food plots. Thanks and excited to be back in game

 

[FarmerDan]

For what it's worth, coming from an eastern-er... I like it. If you owned it, would you lease the 60 acres for ag production? You mention corn and beans and I assume you mean it will continue in that use? The field has lots of inside corners where feeding deer like to adventure. Great set-up opportunities inside the tree lines...or back away from the field on paths deer will use to get to those "feeding corners." I would find it interesting to see more of the area around your proposed farm. What happens for you depends a lot on what's within a reasonable distance. It looks like there's plenty of cover surrounding the ag fields. For the sake of discussion, not that deer understand circles, if we went a half a mile radius from the center of the fields and determined the number of acres of cropland and the number of acres of woodlot, do you think it would be 50-50?
Are there pastures and cattle in the area?

 

[scott44]

After a long hiatus I am getting back into the land ownership. I was on the old qdma forum and owned a farm in Ohio up until a few years ago that I sold when I moved back to Texas. I haven't step foot into the whitetails wood in 3 years and it is killing me. I had been looking in north Texas Oklahoma for a place but have decided I want the midwest experience and have decided on Kansas. It is 5 hours for me which hurts but the the price and quality of deer could not be found in Texas. I would like any opinions or ideas on this 100 acre farm. It has a 60 acre ag field in middle that is either corn or soybeans. I wouldn't own a lot of woods which concerns me but plan on taking 10-12 acres out of ag and do a 5 acre switchgrass field on southern part of field with remainder switchgrass screens and food plots. Thanks and excited to be back in game

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Welcome to the forum. Hunting the big woods of the Northeast, I know nothing about ag country hunting. To my untrained and inexperienced eye, it seems to me the only places on that property to hang stands are a mere stone's throw from somebody else's property line. That would bug me.

 

[ksgobbler]

What county?

 

[H20fwler]

Yes, welcome to the forum!
Your new purchase looks like it has some great potential and should provide a bunch of fun for you developing it to whatever your wildlife needs are.
I think your on the right track taking a chunk out for native grass/bedding area...would also ad some type of water feature or two to it.
There are lots of options discussed on this site for wildlife plantings for you to plan if you decide too.

 

[armadillophil]

It is in Chautauqua County. The lack of woods on property does bother me to. I would be keeping about 45 acres in ag. The surrounding area is mostly woods I would say 75/25 and there is only about 200 acres ag right where the property is. Ill attach wider aerial

 

[armadillophil]

Here is wide shot

 

[FarmerDan]

Well, yes. There are pluses and minuses. Everything is relative. I look at land cover and land use - if there's any difference between the two. Wildlife managers don't necessarily think they need to have population estimates, only the trend of kills in an area. Me, to help my thinking, I want to come to some swag about it - population. Again, for me, I can then come to some expectation about what's possible and how to manipulate what can be manipulated to achieve one's desired objectives.

What are your expectations? I still like the layout.

 

[FarmerDan]

For whatever it's worth, here's an estimate of land use in the county. What does that have to do with you? If what you have in the mile around your potential purchases is like the rest of the county, then, I would propose, you can start making inferences about the habitat. Of course, that doesn't help with the layout of the farm. And, allow me a disclaimer. Numbers aren't necessarily the fixed quantities one might expect. Sometimes they wobble. I'm sure these wobble a lot. But, what I see surprises me compared to what I expected. It may mean nothing. I dunno.

 

[bwoods11]

Nice parcel, Ag is good! Food+income.

Consider planting a 5 acre block of cedars and you’ll have a bedding area in 5-7 rears

 

[armadillophil]

Most of this county is woods and pasture. This county does not have a lot of ag like other counties. I would expect to be able to kill a 150 plus every year which I know is not an issue for this area.

 

[Scott S]

" I would expect to be able to kill a 150 plus every year which I know is not an issue for this area."

Unreal. I'd be thrilled if I expected to kill a deer every year on my property. Sounds like an amazing place. Snatch it up and make it even more incredible. Also, take pictures and share them, please.

 

[Telemark]

That place looks like it has limitless potential. Really cool that it is adjacent to the big woods and surrounded by a strip of trees and a stream on the other sides. A bit of choice bedding and some diverse food options should make it the hottest spot around.

I would definitely give it a year or two of hunting and scouting before changing anything. This is based on my experience as well as reading everyone else's. You might not need to do much at all.

 

[armadillophil]

I agree on taking it slow. I bought small place in Texas when I moved back here. Had 7 mature deer on camera and one over 160. This was on 38 acres. No one had been on this property in 12 years. After my first hunting season I hired a mulcher and cleared trails, planted 2 food plots, etc, etc. Hunting went down the toilet. Kept it for 3 more years and only had a couple mature bucks on camera after the "improvements"

 

[Bill]

One or two “tops” guys hunting that place during the rut, in Kansas, could have a ball from October 25th to November something....

The whole place is a pinch point! (West side at the very least)

Certainly depending on the neighbors, but that place looks like “the” travel corridor to and from large chunks.

 

[Telemark]

The whole place is a pinch point! (West side at the very least

Yeah, the more I look at the map the more I like this property.

 

[bwoods11]

I would definitely have a stand or two on the SW corner where the draw that comes from the big timber enters your property !

 

[hillrunner]

After a long hiatus I am getting back into the land ownership. I was on the old qdma forum and owned a farm in Ohio up until a few years ago that I sold when I moved back to Texas. I haven't step foot into the whitetails wood in 3 years and it is killing me. I had been looking in north Texas Oklahoma for a place but have decided I want the midwest experience and have decided on Kansas. It is 5 hours for me which hurts but the the price and quality of deer could not be found in Texas. I would like any opinions or ideas on this 100 acre farm. It has a 60 acre ag field in middle that is either corn or soybeans. I wouldn't own a lot of woods which concerns me but plan on taking 10-12 acres out of ag and do a 5 acre switchgrass field on southern part of field with remainder switchgrass screens and food plots. Thanks and excited to be back in game

If you are buying this property for from an investment standpoint with deer hunting being a side benefit, I think it could be great. I see a lot of potential stand sites.
If you are purchasing with deer hunting being the main goal, I'd keep looking. Main reason being there is no block of timber on this property large enough to create any sort of sanctuary. You will be at the mercy of your neighbors. Whatever goes on with the neighboring property , every deer on your property is gonna feel it too.
If those big blocks of timber to the north and east are hunted lightly or managed decently, you could have a great situation drawing them in for food but I hate to have to depend on the neighbors . They could just as easy be shooting every deer in sight and running coon hounds several times a week.

 

[j-bird]

I think you have good news and bad news here. I agree in that it appears the property is a huge travel corridor. I see it as a triangle with a block of cover North and then 2 more in the SW and SE corners of you. This is going to promote some great rut related movement because the areas of travel will be mostly be defined by the limited cover. The bad thing is.....with a lack of cover on your place.....you are going to struggle to actually hold deer if you continue to farm the field. Does will be easier.....but bucks will be a significant challenge. This also then means that until the rut starts to promote activity the hunters in those other blocks of cover will have first crack at those nicer bucks.

I see this place of going 1 of 2 ways. Either do very little with only implementing maybe a few water holes and a few small kill plots while you continue to farm the core of the property....maybe some native grass field buffers. This will work with the rut hunting, but limit your ability to actually manage mature bucks. OR you convert the entire core of your property to habitat. which may make rut hunting more difficult (because of the potentially lack of defined travel), BUT you could hold a mature buck.

That is simply what I see at a glance.