New parcel purchase options

Brian662

5 year old buck +
So I'm in the market for a new parcel and I've always thought about getting something across the river in WI so as to access more hunting opportunity (buck tags). Depending on where I've looked, it could be anywhere from a 1 to 3 hour drive for me.

I have two parcels in MN that are about 3 miles apart (one is my home site) and I could potentially approach neighbors about expanding those parcels in the future perhaps instead of finding something in WI.

Do you guys feel (strictly for hunting) that you'd rather manage a property a distance away to get access to more (non-resident) tags or would you add on to what you manage closer to home? I understand it is subjective to the individual, of course.

Some factors at play;
1.)I find it frustrating in MN that the gun season is in the middle of the rut as it can be hard to advance deer to the next age class without huge tracts of land. Perhaps adding 50 acres or so would help?
2.)My son is almost five and enjoys doing everything outside with me and hopefully he gets the itch to hunt when the time comes.
3.) Time can be a limiting factor with work and family to successfully manage a property in WI.
4.) One of these years I'll fill my one and only buck tag in MN early in the archery season and my season will be over quickly which will be frustrating.
5.) CWD zones are getting close to my properties and potentially more bug tags may be available going forward.
6.) More parcels equal more herd opportunities and should always have a trophy class deer to hunt somewhere I would hope.

Neither of my current properties are in the shape I want them to be in, but I'm still new to the habitat game and expect them to both produce great results in the next 3-5 years.

Investing in another MN parcel that wouldn't adjoin my current properties is out of the question.

What do you guys prefer, add to what you have or expand to other deer herd/tag potential?
 
I have lived in MN, and owned my hunting land in Wisconsin for 20 years. I had always bow hunted in MN, then rifle hunted in Wisconsin. I had also bow hunted in Wisconsin, but for the most part bow in MN, and gun in Wisconsin.

If you buy good land, you really dont need to do much for improvements to shoot deer. So, if you chose good hunting land to begin with, you can pretty much show up and hunt it. I personally enjoyed having the extra season from the neighboring state.
 
I had an opportunity and blessing from the spouse to add 200 acres just !/4 mile down the road from my existing farm....The properties did not touch....If they had i would of jumped on it...I decided not to just because essentially I would be hunting the same deer. If I add that much land I want something different and something that would not be effected at the same time. If there is a drought or ehd outbreak for example.
 
If you buy good land, you really dont need to do much for improvements to shoot deer. So, if you chose good hunting land to begin with, you can pretty much show up and hunt it. I personally enjoyed having the extra season from the neighboring state.
Certainly that is the case. My preferred method for harvesting my one MN buck is with a bow and I rarely participate in the MN gun season without carrying a bow. I will normally buy a muzzle loader license if I'm not tagged out already.
Nothing against the gun hunters, it just frustrates me as a bow hunter that the gun season is during peak rut in MN.

I think you've got the same ideas as me as far as how I'd go about hunting both states. I'd prefer to let the potential WI land rest and just hunt it during prime time archery and opening weekend of gun season.
 
I live on 40 acres in SE MN and I own a hunting property in Rusk County WI that is about 3 hours away. I've spent a lot of time planting trees, orchards, food plots, etc. on my Rusk County place, but it is really hard to make improvements being that far away. It is a nice getaway since it has a northwoods feel up there compared to the blufflands around home. But the deer hunting is better in SE MN by far and it is much easier to improve the habitat and food plots when you can just walk out your back door and start working whenever you have a few free minutes.

While the deer hunting isn't great in Rusk County, it can be decent and there is a lot of bonus hunting available (bear, waterfowl, grouse, rabbit/hare, etc.) with a ton of public land that is actually pretty good. It is nice to be able to have land in two states so you can fill multiple tags, so I would definitely recommend looking at land in another state if possible. But closer is better since a 3 hour commute to and from the hunting land can be a little much at times.
 
I remember hearing Don Higgins say something to the effect of "I'd rather have a handful of 20 acre properties than a single 200 acre property" because of being exposed to multiple different herds and having a better chance of a special buck being on one of them. I like the idea of having 2 different herds to hunt.

Lots of factors at play. If buying a chunk around existing land takes a lot of neighbor or access issues out of play it may be beneficial. If it doesn't really directly reduce the limiting factors on your herd it would need to have some other strong factors to make it desirable IMO.
 
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Lots of factors at play. If buying a chunk around existing land takes a lot of neighbor or access issues out of play it may be beneficial. If it doesn't really directly reduce the limiting factors on your herd it seems like a waste.
That's a good way of looking at it. Where I'm at, I'd rather have a 10 acre piece that belongs to a buck whackin line sitter than another 20 acre piece elsewhere. Shore up the ground.
 
I’m not a huge fan of a property being to far from where I live but across the state line for a hunting only property may not be that bad. I would be pretty picky about the property I settled on farther away making sure it already had some great deer hunting qualities do to the commute involved. I grew up in northern Wisconsin and there where tons of hunting properties in my area that only saw activity the week of rifle season do to long commutes for the out of area owners.
 
Couple thoughts come to mind.

1. I did the distance thing for almost ten years. I was 6 hours away with no family constraints other than my cat. I finally moved closer, so now I'm only 2.5 hours away. Now that I've made the move, I should have my head examined for how long I made that 12 hour round trip. Having kids is gonna compound the difficulty of getting away and being able to do stuff. Not such a big deal if you're not going to try to remake the surface of the earth like I try to.

2. Look into Wisconsin property taxes ahead of time. I'm not up to snuff on it, but I've heard some horror stories unless you're in a farm tax class or fork over some of your forest management say to the state.

I'd try to forecast how many days you think you'll be able to be there per year and divide those days into the annual cost of owning it. Sometimes that math gets away from us. Even my place, my number of days hunting divided by the annual cost of ownership were as high as I'd like them to be. And my place is very affordable.
 
For me the Wisconsin property tax is cheap compared to MN, but I can only speak for my land, and not anyone elses.
If you have the funds, a property with half ag, and half woods is ideal. Rent out the land, and that should pretty much pay for the land payment each year. Plus the farmer that rents it will plant a crop that feed the deer and you wont have too.
 
For me the Wisconsin property tax is cheap compared to MN, but I can only speak for my land, and not anyone elses.
If you have the funds, a property with half ag, and half woods is ideal. Rent out the land, and that should pretty much pay for the land payment each year. Plus the farmer that rents it will plant a crop that feed the deer and you wont have too.
I think the days of the farm ground paying the land payment are long gone with today's current land prices. About the best you can hope for is the crop ground to cover taxes unless the property is predominantly agricultural.
 
I think the days of the farm ground paying the land payment are long gone with today's current land prices. About the best you can hope for is the crop ground to cover taxes unless the property is predominantly agricultural.
Lotta truth there. Myself, brother and sister own the farm I grew up on. 100 acres with 58 being tillable which we rent out. It covers the yearly taxes and put a little bit in our pockets. But it wouldn't nearly pay for the farm if it were bought outright. But covering the taxes is certainly something. This is in North Central Ohio
 
I think the days of the farm ground paying the land payment are long gone with today's current land prices. About the best you can hope for is the crop ground to cover taxes unless the property is predominantly agricultural.
I think he meant the rental income pays the annual taxes. There would be a ton of interest in a property if the rental income came remotely close to paying the monthly mortgage payment.

On the other hand, if you put down a large enough down payment it may be possible to make the payment with the rental income but that would only be because of the large down payment.
 
I live 188 miles from my property. The last time I walked it was Labor Day weekened, then I stayed out for hunting considerations. Only got to hunt for 2 days and then life got in the way. I havent walked my land since Sept 4th. Now its buried in 2 feet of snow. It SUCKS living far away from your property. Having said that dont pass up an opportunity if you can make a solid purchase. You can always resell. Land is a great investment.

I miss my woods and my trees dearly.
 
Being a distant owner you have lots to consider. Trespassers, vandalism, poachers, to name a few. Just think about how much you can do in a 2 hour drive time if your closer to home. You can't spend 1- 3 hours on a plot or management if you have only half a day and 1-2 hour drive time.
 
I am with Buck about missing my land. When I didnt live here, I would go to my land every other weekend, and the rest of my time I spent planning, and thinking about what I was going to do, and geting the stuff to do for my next trip there. It drove my wife crazy.

I think it kept me sane.
 
Fortunately my land is only 15 minutes from my house. We have a family camp in Northern PA that is about 2.5 hours away and I have a hard enough time getting up there to hunt. I'm not sure how you all do food plotting/habitat stuff with land that far away. I'm on mine almost every weekend throughout the summer. I try to stay out after september but even that is tough.
 
Well, we came to terms on a place yesterday. I won't say too much about it until we close the deal, but I'm pretty excited. It's a 2.5 hour drive from home. My wife is excited too (which is very surprising) and makes life easier. Close in June and maybe I'll start a land tour or something so you guys can take the journey with me.
 
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Well, we came to terms on a place yesterday. I won't say too much about it until we close the deal, but I'm pretty excited. It's a 2.5 hour drive from home. My wife is excited too (which is very surprising) and makes life easier. Close in June and maybe I'll start a land tour or something so you guys can take the journey with me.
Congrats! Looking forward to hearing the details.
 
Congrats to you . I personally own a farm 5 hours away and I make it work. Two and half sounds very manageable!

It becomes a nice destination. Cell cams help to monitor the property . Best of luck !
 
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