1 large farm or several smaller tracts

[Rakman]

I’m potentially looking to expand my footprint into another state after my timber harvest at my current property.

Would you rather have one larger tract to manage say 300+ acres, or several 40’s, 80’s, etc? Primary concern is hunting older age bucks. The idea would be to have these tracts all within a 30-45min core area. Please share opinions or advice.

Distance from home nit playing a factor in the decision whatsoever.

 

[Tree Spud]

Assuming large parcel of 300+ acres meets target bucks goals and key habitat requirements (cover, food, water, & other consideration, etc.) ... larger parcel is a no brainer.

Smaller multiple parcels typically means more smaller parcels around you leading to trespassing, neighbor, etc. issues as you can't be everywhere at once. Only caveat would be if a smaller parcel is uniquely located to a key large tract property, where your property is an island off the larger and has restricted access, with the right target bucks you are looking for.

 

[SD51555]

Dream state?

One good small property, completely fenced in with 3-4 fish ponds, and a house cat. Fifty thousand in fence could help a guy avoid having to hold a million or more in property that is still at risk of being upset by bad neighbors, roaming dogs, or a crooked government game agency.

I already have the cat. Still working on the rest.

 

[SwampCat]

If you are going to plant food plots, numerous smaller parcels can be a logistical nightmare. But, if mature bucks are your game, a number of 40/60 acre tracts are much better. Only so many mature bucks going to live on 300 acres. Same number of mature bucks will visit 40 acres as 300. I own 300 acres and 62 acres about 6 miles away. About half the bucks on my wall of fame came from each property. Often, I wont have a good shooter on one property, but will on the other. If I Was really crazy about just hunting big bucks, I would much rather have ten 40’s than one 400 acre tract - not considering logistics.

 

[Skeeter]

Multiple smaller properties with one in each of 3 states like Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.

 

[westonwhitetail]

I like the idea of 2-3 medium sized properties (80-160 acres each). 300 acres isn't enough to hold deer on your property. So having 2-3 properties at least a couple miles apart will increase the amount of bucks you can hunt by 2-3 times. You'll increase your chances of having a dandy buck to chase every year that way.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Owning land in different states will let you kill more than one buck per year as well.

As mentioned above, it is much easier to get food plot and habitat work done on one property than multiple smaller properties.

 

[swat1018]

I have a 211 and a 160. They are about 2.5 miles apart, as the crow flies. I prefer the flexibility of two. Most years one farm has a monster buck, and the other doesn't. We have frequent EHD outbreaks. The farms are on 2 different drainages, and many years one will have EHD, the other won't, even that close together. If as I age I want to make things simpler or need to liquidate, I can sell one and still have one. Lots of pluses to having either situation. I will say that having the farms close enough to drive tractor back and forth in 20 minutes is a plus. If they were very far apart, my opinion would be different.

 

[MRBB]

having helped manage a bunch of lands over the yrs, if it was me, i;d much rather just one property I can build to what I want
having a lot of places sounds nice and is nice at times, but trying to keep trespassers off land , in my area any how, has been a nightmare
having to haul equipment back and forth to other sites grows old fast to
then add in having to deal with so many different neighbors,??
NO thanks on that stuff!


so my vote would be one larger tract of land over several smaller one's!

 

[Bill]

I like on larger piece but see the benefits in several.

My friend bought in MO before me. He invited me out to see the place and help with setting some stands. I owned my first place in MO within a month.

He just bought a second farm in KS. He invited me out last week. I told him to pound sand

 

[Tree Spud]

One of the best things about a large parcel is the seclusion. Nothing beats never seeing another hunter when you are out hunting.

 

[Mortenson]

I have a 211 and a 160. They are about 2.5 miles apart, as the crow flies. I prefer the flexibility of two. Most years one farm has a monster buck, and the other doesn't. We have frequent EHD outbreaks. The farms are on 2 different drainages, and many years one will have EHD, the other won't, even that close together. If as I age I want to make things simpler or need to liquidate, I can sell one and still have one. Lots of pluses to having either situation. I will say that having the farms close enough to drive tractor back and forth in 20 minutes is a plus. If they were very far apart, my opinion would be different.

That's interesting about the EHD.

What percentage of bucks do you think you see that have been on both farms?

 

[Brian662]

I own two parcels just under 3 miles apart. A 70 that I live on and a 46 I bought two years ago. I also have sole permission on a 160 two miles in the other direction. It works out good for having different deer to hunt and bucks to tap into. I haven't identified one single buck that has been on two of the three parcels. It is three totally separate herds and even separate genetic styles to their racks in each area.

I often think about expanding onto the neighbors if they were to sell but I think I'd rather keep expanding to different properties.

 

[bwoods11]

I would lean toward a larger parcel … and one smaller if possible . I like hunting multiple states and hunting different farms.

But size helps for management!!

 

[willy]

When I was younger and oblivious to deer ecosystems and what they need, my dream was to own several hundred acres for hunting. As I have grown older and have learned more about deer and their needs I realize that I will never own enough land to really control my deer hunting.

I have 3 smaller parcels, 54 acres, 80 acres, and 160 acres. The two smallest ones are 5 miles apart as the crow flies and the other is 145 miles away. All three have been developed to be the best habitat in the area within a 4 to 5 mile radius. Each year there are multiple different bucks to hunt on each farm, different winds give different hunting opportunities so if one can only hunt on a certain day they will always have a wind that is favorable to hunt somewhere.

As with any farm, any deer travels and can be killed on neighboring properties but with multiple properties there will always be a certain buck one can hunt if one has specific criteria they use for pulling the trigger.

EHD hammered one property in 2012 and the other 5 miles away wasn't hit nearly as hard. This past year the 160 had a fairly bad ehd outbreak and limited deer opportunities. Multiple farms is kind of like diversification in the stock market. It gives more opportunities for gains, some go up while some go down but overall it continues to grow yield.

In my opinion, multiple farms offer a lot more hunting opportunities on different herds/deer and other species if one is into that. Turkeys are on each farm now, pheasants on one, and quail on two.

Whether its one 400 acre farm or multiple smaller farms, one will keep busy depending on how much work one wants to put into them.

 

[SwampCat]

I know a guy who owns four different parcels from 12 to 65 acres, and one parcel that is 250 acres. He is strictly a big buck hunter. He lives on the 250. He has one foodplot on each of the other parcels with the exception of the 65 acres, where he has two. All the smaller parcels have clover plots and drilled wheat into those same plots in the fall. He pays someone to spray, bush hog when needed, and plant the others. He doesnt move any equipment back and forth. When speaking of a big buck, I live in the south AR pineywoods and a good buck is a 130 and a big buck is a 140. Anything over 150 is a monster here. He hunts for 140 or better. He told me he had killed more big deer off his 12 acre property than his 250 acre property. I dont doubt that at all.

When I started, I bought 12 acres and built a cabin on one end and a food plot on another. I have kept buying property and now have about 300 acres in one spot. I had almost as many big bucks visit that 12 acres as I now do my 300. And it was a lot easier to kill them, because they were visiting one food plot as opposed to ten, now. I have ten mounted deer heads - four came off my 300 acres, five came off my 62 acres, and one off nearby public.

I drive my 65 hp tractor to my 62 acres and it takes exactly 30 minutes. I trailer my smaller tractor. I dont like moving equipment.

With smaller properties, like my 300 acres and down - i believe I am mostly attracting deer and not so much growing them. I am basically trying to get the bigger bucks within a one mile or so distance, to spend more time on my land. I dont think there are many more bucks within a mile of a 300 acre property than a 40 acre property.

That said, outside influences off the property can make a huge difference. Adjacent hunters, habitat quality, management practices and regulations and restrictions in the area, etc.

No doubt, a larger tract is much easier to work than a bunch of small tracts, but no way can a larger tract be within reach of as many big bucks as multiple smaller tracts

 

[bwoods11]

Most hunters have to start small.

 

[SwampCat]

Most of us on this forum actually LIKE to do habitat work. In my opinion, the original post was about what would be better for strictly hunting big bucks - multiple small acreage or one larger acreage. I have no doubt that multiple small acreages would be much better, but from my my viewpoint, coming from a person who really likes to do habitat work, I would not want four or five smaller acreages because I like to do habitat work. I dread moving my equipment to my other property. I can imagine it would be five times as bad if I owned five properties.

But, If I was strictly interested in hunting big deer, no doubt, there is an advantage to owning multiple properties. If I was really into hunting big deer, I would own multiple properties and almost no equipment, and pay someone to do the food plot work. I would buy cell cams, deer stands, and show up and hunt - and fish when I wasnt hunting

 

[SD51555]

Question for the multi-state buck guys: Do you aim to shoulder mount or euro mount all these bucks? I can't imagine mature buck venison is something a guy would want taking up a substantial amount of freezer space. Or is it a pursuit of a single buck across multiple states?

Personally, I've grown tired of taxidermists after the fiasco with my bear (don't ask). What I'd love to do is be able to get in with an overrun entity and help extract surplus does for the canner. I am a big fan of canned venison, but I've done enough deer to know there is still a difference in age and sex of the animal. If it's not a brag board buck, I'm gonna wait for a clover fattened yearling doe.

We still haven't finished the winter that'll never end in my country. Mother nature cured the surplus for us once again, and that's a shame.

 

[Brian662]

The 9.5 year old buck I shot in 2015 tasted no different than the small buck my buddy killed last year. Maybe it's area dependant but I haven't had bad venison around here.