I hate big decisions

[Howboutthemdawgs]

The time demanded of you for family time is going to increase as the children age. Are more kids in the future. Antler size is relative to the area hunted. Get a place you can use at a days notice and the amount of time you get to spend there will make up for the slightly smaller deer. It may even out. You arent killing those big deer in KY - possibly because you cant spend enough time. Being closer may allow you to spend more time and capitalize on the local big deer. Build a nice place and enjoy it more often.

Spot on. Post time change I get three hunts a weekend if I don’t take any time off. Most weekends I get one evening sit. It’s depressing in those terms.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Live your dream and ditch the wife and kids!
Of course I am totally joking

If it were me, I would plant and secure with fencing and weed mat fruit and nut trees in KY and wait it out bud. If your wife is on board with moving after the kids are out of the house you will have a better hunting spot by then without all the waiting and watching oaks grow like I am, it resembles watching paint drying lol Like Bill said, the kids will be grown in a very short time and you will be in a better position to make a more informed call.

 

[Turkish]

Personally, I don’t understand how you guys do it, being 4+ hours away from your farms. I own land just under 2.5 hrs from my house and hunt some other land under 2 hours away. I’m so sick of those “commutes.” My biggest fear is that I can tell it takes enjoyment out of hunting for my young son, knowing he’s got to spend hours and hours sitting in a vehicle. That really has me concerned, as I desperately want my kids to hunt with me. And he loves to hunt, just doesn’t tolerate the riding.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Personally, I don’t understand how you guys do it, being 4+ hours away from your farms. I own land just under 2.5 hrs from my house and hunt some other land under 2 hours away. I’m so sick of those “commutes.” My biggest fear is that I can tell it takes enjoyment out of hunting for my young son, knowing he’s got to spend hours and hours sitting in a vehicle. That really has me concerned, as I desperately want my kids to hunt with me. And he loves to hunt, just doesn’t tolerate the riding.

As someone who's only exposure to hunting for the first several years that required an 8.5 hour truck ride with my dad, I can confidently say I have about as many memories of the drive as I do the hunt. Some quality time was spent talking about nothing other than hunting. I hated the drive then, but am glad we got to spend that time together. Maybe you can make some traditions with the trip where you find a good place to pick up some doughnuts?

 

[buckdeer1]

I couldn't do what you guys do,My place is 5 minutes from my door.But even being in Kansas doesn't mean there are huge bucks behind every tree.If you owned that much land in GA you could probably manage and grow some good bucks.Maybe keep the Kentucky land and lease in GA

 

[BenAllgood]

Personally, I don’t understand how you guys do it, being 4+ hours away from your farms. I own land just under 2.5 hrs from my house and hunt some other land under 2 hours away. I’m so sick of those “commutes.” My biggest fear is that I can tell it takes enjoyment out of hunting for my young son, knowing he’s got to spend hours and hours sitting in a vehicle. That really has me concerned, as I desperately want my kids to hunt with me. And he loves to hunt, just doesn’t tolerate the riding.

I think the road trip is my kids' favorite part.

 

[Rit]

Personally, I don’t understand how you guys do it, being 4+ hours away from your farms. I own land just under 2.5 hrs from my house and hunt some other land under 2 hours away. I’m so sick of those “commutes.” My biggest fear is that I can tell it takes enjoyment out of hunting for my young son, knowing he’s got to spend hours and hours sitting in a vehicle. That really has me concerned, as I desperately want my kids to hunt with me. And he loves to hunt, just doesn’t tolerate the riding.

Maybe it’s not the ride that he doesn’t like.

 

[Knehrke]

I'm amazed that so many of you are traveling so far to get to your properties. That would be a killer for me - even owning less than an hour away throws some serious complications into my schedule, requiring a bunch of professional shucking and jiving during the season.

But by the same token, I don't hunt across the street from my house anymore. It just doesn't feel like I'm getting away.

It sounds like your wife understands your passion. The kid is going to eat up time though, and if you have another...well, two is four times as much work as one lol. But precious beyond all else. And your building something for them to love is going to pay rich dividends as they grow up. Your having family closer is the icing on the cake. I think that you made the right decision.

 

[Someday isle]

I didn’t own land when my kids were born. And I didn’t hunt much at all for the first ten years of their lives. There’s just wasn’t time. In my opinion Being a parent is the most important job you’ll ever have. In 2016 I bought a little piece of property that’s just about an hour from where I live. I don’t care much about antlers so my opinion might not mean much here since obviously you are looking for big deer. Our youngest of five just finished grad school this week. They’re all grownups in their twenties now. And yes, it does go by fast, and every moment you miss is precious. I’m 59 years old and wouldn’t trade missed hunting opportunities for one moment of our children’s childhood. Now that they’re young adults I still treasure the time with them, and on the rare occasion that they can join me out at the property it’s sure nice that it’s only an hour away. To me, the property is about more than the hunt. Maybe you could keep the Kentucky property and just find a small piece closer to home if that’s financially feasible. More importantly, enjoy being a father!

 

[Turkish]

Maybe it’s not the ride that he doesn’t like.

It is. Not sure of the point you’re trying to make. See last sentence of my previous post.

For these reasons, I’ve decided to look for a lease close to home. I’ll continue to seek to add to what I own, but won’t concentrate on it being the main hunting place, if I can avoid it.

 

[White Oak]

But sometimes they must be faced! I bought my property, a beautiful 250 acre tract in western Kentucky, 2 years ago January. So second deer season. Love it. But...it’s every bit of 6 hours from my home northeast of Atlanta. Not a huge deal until we welcomed a child in February, our first and only, now it’s a “big” deal. My wife is great, i have been able to go up several times this spring, summer and hunted last weekend so far with several more hunts to come. But the reality is it’s not easy to go anymore and I know that the amount I want to go vs the amount I realistically can go is running a massive deficit. The cabin is nice but small, unfinished, and off the grid, not exactly welcoming for the wife and small child. The hunting is good but so far the reputation of the area has outweighted the reality, no shooters on camera for my standards (140 or better is what I’m after). Both neighbors have shot 160’s so far this season so it’s not like hunting a unicorn.
The dilemma, do I sell my place and buy in Georgia. I have been looking and found some stuff that’s interests me that is actually larger and one in particular has a house/lodge on it that is more than I would ever deserve. A place where my wife and kid could come up and spend the weekend no problem with electricity, air conditioning and a full functional kitchen and the absolute best part...2.5 hours doorstep to doorstep. The problem is I have big deer dreams and though Georgia has fine deer for the areas I can afford it doesn’t necessarily stack up to western Kentucky. I would say a 130 class deer in this area is not uncommon by any stretch but a 150 is gonna be an anomaly (according the record books, whatever that is worth, the top 10 in the county are all over 160 so not dink’s). Oh also I hate hot weather, Georgia’s freaking hot, I love cold, I hate rattlesnakes and I love the midwest broken ag and timberland.

If you’re still with me what would you do. Ultimately the decision lies in do I stay in kentucky, hunt and work when I can with the chance at “better” hunting, but understanding there will be some inevitable hurt feelings cause I want to go more than it’s responsible to do so. Or sacrifice the chance at a world class deer for the comfort of a place my family and hell even friends could go easily, a place I could run down for a day trip if I wanted or a short weekend or whatever that wasn’t 12 hours of driving and more land under my control which has always been a goal.

I hate big decisions...

250 acres is a right nice piece of land . If you can find work in that area, build a house on the 250 acres and move there.

 

[WeedyJ]

Why ask for MY opinion? (Family over booners). Like I told my buddy when he kissed a girl at the Christmas party and wanted to know if that was cheating....I said, "Go ask your wife :-)"

 

[Peeps]

Here’s what I did. I love big deer and also want to get out of the city when I retire. About 5 years ago my wife and I decided we wanted to find our own land with a house to go to on weekends and then to move to when I retire. I at first thought deer deer deer. But then I decided to focus on family enjoyment instead. I knew that if we got a place for deer I wouldn’t want the wife and kids running all over the property all the time. But I do want them to explore and have fun at the property.

So what we did is we got a 40 ac piece with a small house 1 1/2 hrs away in an affordable area with not much big bucks. Easy to get to. Put in trails, food plots, fruit trees, ect. The kids tear around on the wheelers, explore the woods, and have a blast. Wife and kids even go there without me when I’m working. We have our “pet deer” there and have shot some deer there. We will build a new house and move there when I retire. I also lease land for the big bucks 3 1/2 hrs away. My recommendation is get something closer to enjoy with your family and lease or take trips for your big buck hunting.

 

[WeedyJ]

Didn't have time for a full reply this morning. I live in Atlanta, technically Sandy Springs. My place is in Oglethorpe Co. and is a 2 hour drive. The drive is no big deal to me, because I get on 316 to Athens quickly, then usually stop in Athens for Tractor Supply or something. Leaving Athens, I'm in the countryside within minutes and enjoy the ride. I'm usually excited on the way down and exhausted on the way back. I go once per week, but my kids are grown. You've got Jackson, Elbert, and Oglethorpe close by. I have never hunted outside of those counties with my kids, never killed a big deer (because I suck as a deer hunter ), and have a TON of wonderful memories hunting, working and playing in those areas. My son is in medical school in Augusta, and will drive to our farm 1 hour away from him to hunt with me on opening day this weekend. Then I'm heading back with him to watch UGA-Bama and cook some steaks. When he was at UGA, he was 45 minutes away and we would get together on a Thursday afternoon for deer or ducks.

Hopefully you see my point. Proximity is everything if you are gonna want to spend lots of good time on the farm. Four wheeling, dirt bikes, etc are a few more fun things to do as they grow. If you have to travel to it, your child will not tolerate a 6 hour drive often. Find some place close, or move to where you want to be. Save your money for a good big buck hunting trip once a year

 

[Triple C]

At 64, I can tell you that time spent with family exceeds chasing inches. I hear some talk about scheduling "quality time" with family like they're putting it on a calendar. Quality time comes from quantity time...spontaneous moments when you least expect them taken from the times you never planned. I've got a wall full of 110" to 136" bucks taken from quantity time on our farm with kids and grandkids. I'm there just about every weekend and almost always accompanied by family. Every time I look at each of those deer on the wall I have a flood of memories from the moment each kill occurred. Not to mention birthdays, Thanksgivings, Christmas and just ol' fashion family gatherings from all the weekends we've spent together.

 

[SD51555]

Personally, I don’t understand how you guys do it, being 4+ hours away from your farms. I own land just under 2.5 hrs from my house and hunt some other land under 2 hours away. I’m so sick of those “commutes.” My biggest fear is that I can tell it takes enjoyment out of hunting for my young son, knowing he’s got to spend hours and hours sitting in a vehicle. That really has me concerned, as I desperately want my kids to hunt with me. And he loves to hunt, just doesn’t tolerate the riding.

If you can't find a way to tolerate the ride, I could see that being hard. I can't stand a ten minute ride across town, but the six hour ride to the cabin is no problem. I can't explain it other than I enjoy going to the cabin. In my case, that's how far I've got to go to get to affordable and decent land. It wasn't much when I got it, but it's coming together now. I don't have the juice to buy $2500-$6000/ac land. I'm retiring early before I got that kind of rec land.

 

[spaniel]

I have some low probability hunting behind my house (15 acres), and a real hunting property I bought early 2019 90 minutes away. I can't imagine actioning on 6 hours.

Property management is an issue. Clearing issues, putting in and managing food plots...that all takes time. This spring putting in the plot I broke 2 discs 3 times. Work that should have been done in 2-3 hours took 2 full weekends because when something broke 10 minutes in the whole day was shot. Load it back up on the trailer, drive home, fix, try again the next day or next weekend.

Getting up at 3-4am to make the morning hunt really, really sucks. Then if you hunt the whole day you get home after 8pm. A couple weekends of that was exhausting. This year my 10-year-old daughter elected not to hunt the youth season just because of the travel. Now I left my camper on the property for the season just to make the travel/sleep situation more convenient. Made it manageable for my 8 year old son to do the youth hunt. Next year I'm looking into putting a pre-built, off-grid 200 sq ft cabin down there with solar to provide a permanent fix on that issue. More weekends down there to make that happen. But at that point I could get the wife and family to do some of the trips with me and get the kids out in nature. Now the travel discourages them.

Bottom line I'd never try it with a 6 hour drive. I could slaughter a truckload of deer on my parents' place 7 hours away and they need the help with population control, but I never do it because of the distance.

Now, if there is some longer term plan for the property it may make sense to hold onto and find a closer solution. It's paid off and you have family close, so sounds like that may be the smarter choice. I paid cash for my 53 acres so it makes it a lot easier to justify some things.

 

[Telemark]

Can't you buy a generator? Then you would have electricity there and make things more comfortable for your wife (and yourself).

I would keep the land you like and plant a bunch of oaks and fruit trees. Take your kid there as often as possible and teach him to like the place. By the time he is old enough to hunt, it will be even better than it is now.

I never had deer hunting less than 3 hours away. My family's place was 12 hours away. That's just how it was. We made it work.

 

[spaniel]

Can't you buy a generator? Then you would have electricity there and make things more comfortable for your wife (and yourself).

Running a generator during season within 150 yards or so or stands? No thanks. Not needed for LED lights, making coffee, and phone charging. Can run a separate circuit for AC off generator in summer.

 

[Kdog]

Another guy and I lease 267 acres in Morgan and that is a :40 minute drive. I own more land in Hancock than we lease, but that is a 2-2.5 hour drive that I lease out because I did not feel right about spending that much time away from the family when my kids were younger. My kids are all in college or are out on their own now, so I am considering giving up the lease and hunting my own property next year. You could do the same thing I did, and enjoy the best of both options.

I will be making a change this year. Giving up the close lease and joining a lease a little farter away (:15 minutes) for 1/5 the cost. I have a lot of time and money invested in that place, but have finally reached the point that I am ready to let it go. First thing I will do is to plant the rest of my seeded Dunstan's at the new place, and enjoy fishing a little more with the rest of my time.