I am not a lrge land owner. But work with several. two got business loans, the other had a side business. One has a tree farm / ag leasing. The other does organic meat and has a side business doing butchering. The cattle guy has a friend at work that could have a large bit of property if he spent his dough better. He does tree trimming services on the side. Climbing up them and cutting them down around houses. ONe guy at work has a older tractor, brush hog, and trailer. He put an ad out for brush hogging in exchange for hunting. He hunts a 300 acr place by himself. Rich folks just dont want him using a rifle when they're there.
Im on a 600 acre land lease with about 15 other guys. Only 4 or 5 are semi-seriious hunters. You get some aggrivation from guys who want to party there. Loud music at night / running generator in the morning / more atv riding than hunting...... Hard to do QDM there, but the place or the neighbors lease is logged almost year round. We may get a 100 acre spot picked of mature yellow birch or spruce trees. Can do some habitat stuff, but things are limited. Small plots here n there, keeping areas brushy. keep trails clear for younger growth. I love flicntlocks, NY has a mid october muzzleloading week of hunting before the north adirondacks open to rifle. I have been taking time off every year for muzzleloading for a decade. Only 2 times I have had another member there. I'm easy on the booze, the atv, and how deep I wander into the woods being by myself, but have a great time for 200-300 bucks a year membership. I do about 2 acres of food plots, one being a snowmobile trail with a side plot, a 1/2 acre spot, and (2) 1/10th acre shooting lanes with grains n clover.
I volunteer in the snowmobile club. A few members who help out often get to hunt landowners places..... Some guys kind of adopt a spot and plant in the trail like I do. A few apples trees alongside a trail too.
I work around the catskill mountains in NY. Get a place there with a few acres near hunting land cheap. Improve that property while you hunt neighboring state land too. Anything public is BARELY hunted at all during bow, muzzle, and small game weekend. There is easily 8,000 acres within 15 minutes of where I work. Besides opening weekend of rifle, you get hte place to yourself.
The next decade, cash is going to be king. Dollar likely wont come back as strong and more people are less self sufficient. Cant fix the stuff around them. Hands on people will be earning more than the desk folks. Desk jobs including fancy ones like lawyers are easy to be replaced by a computer, just sorting data in many cases.
Keeping my eyes on the prize, but keeping the wife in mind. She wants something on the ocean. I want something near an inlet. Saving up for a place in topsail island NC. Im lucky with a brother in law who has a farm. Food plots planted for free............
Stuff adds up. Fixing stuff around the house yourself. Not buying 48 rifles. Keeping that old car for a few more miles. Firewood is starting to be a good idea again.
Another old coworker of mine stopped buying stupid stuff for a year or two, hit up overtime when it was around, put a down payment on 100 acres and a trailer. He started a small hunting club with buddies from work. They pitch in some, he pays the bulk of it though, but keeps the land. All paid off now..........