Roll'd the dice

Northbound

5 year old buck +
Rolled the dice and just bought a 20 acre parcel sight unseen. Not even a picture of the land other than Arial images. Figgure I pick public land spots primarily by Google Earth so why not step up the game! Honestly I just don't have any time to look at property this time of year so no choice.

It appears to be primarily mature hardwoods. All high and dry but drops off fast as soon as onto neighboring state land/river. Some farm land in the area, but mostly big woods of upper Michigan. Power line runs across property which I saw as a benefit for food plot reasons. (Just the single pole lines, not those huge metal contraptions)

My questions are- do I need permission to plant the power lines?
Most important, how do people find their approximate prop boundaries when in a county with no GIS system (no onyx maps)?
There is a easement to get to the land that I'm told is over grown and guessing will likely be hard to find.
I'm hoping for a few solid days of rain so I can escape from work obligations and go explore
 
A single pole line can be distribution voltage or transmission voltage. It can be only an easement or it can actually be purchased by the utility at some point in the past. If it is distribution voltage and out in the country, there is a very good chance that it is only an easement. If that is the case, there should be no issue. Even if it is purchased, the company will likely not care if you put out food plots.

What you need to do is find out who owns the line and give them a call and ask the question. I think you have a high likelihood that they won't mind a food plot at all. All most of them care about is being able to get access to the line when they need to be there for maintenance or repairs. Generally that is not very often. A call to the company will probably get your questions answered quickly.

I retired as a vice president several years ago at one of the largest coops in the state. If you had called me I would have told you to get busy planting and not forget the chicory and red clover...............
 
Rolled the dice and just bought a 20 acre parcel sight unseen. Not even a picture of the land other than Arial images. Figgure I pick public land spots primarily by Google Earth so why not step up the game! Honestly I just don't have any time to look at property this time of year so no choice.

It appears to be primarily mature hardwoods. All high and dry but drops off fast as soon as onto neighboring state land/river. Some farm land in the area, but mostly big woods of upper Michigan. Power line runs across property which I saw as a benefit for food plot reasons. (Just the single pole lines, not those huge metal contraptions)

My questions are- do I need permission to plant the power lines?
Most important, how do people find their approximate prop boundaries when in a county with no GIS system (no onyx maps)?
There is a easement to get to the land that I'm told is over grown and guessing will likely be hard to find.
I'm hoping for a few solid days of rain so I can escape from work obligations and go explore

Just know the power company will come through and clear cut and spray ... they want everything dead to their easement boundries.

Thats what they did on our property.
 
I'm assuming it's a easement but I will check into it further. How do you suggest i figgure out owner of the lines? I live 4 hours away and be nice to figure it out from home, if i can manage to get a free day in next few weeks I'd like to run up with skid steer (brush hog and grapple bucket for sure) clear the access easement and do a throw/mow/spray on the power lines.

How do they typically spray if they do it? By plane or wheeled machinery?
 
There is a big difference in how most power companies view crops/plots compared to trees/brush.

I currently work as a consultant for power companies and serve probably 30 to 50 different companies. I don't know a single one of them that would spray a crop or food plot. If they need in for maintenance or repairs. they may ruin a crop by driving over it with their trucks, but they won't spray it.

Setting trees under power lines (or letting brush get tall) is a whole different matter. Many of them will certainly spray trees and/or brush, because it impedes maintenance and repairs.
 
I'm assuming it's a easement but I will check into it further. How do you suggest i figgure out owner of the lines? I live 4 hours away and be nice to figure it out from home, if i can manage to get a free day in next few weeks I'd like to run up with skid steer (brush hog and grapple bucket for sure) clear the access easement and do a throw/mow/spray on the power lines.

How do they typically spray if they do it? By plane or wheeled machinery?

I would think a realtor could tell you, if you worked with one.
 
I'm assuming it's a easement but I will check into it further. How do you suggest i figgure out owner of the lines? I live 4 hours away and be nice to figure it out from home, if i can manage to get a free day in next few weeks I'd like to run up with skid steer (brush hog and grapple bucket for sure) clear the access easement and do a throw/mow/spray on the power lines.

How do they typically spray if they do it? By plane or wheeled machinery?

Ask the realtor to find out for you which company owns the lines. It should be no trouble for him. He probably will already know without having to check anything.
 
I've dealt with a similar issue before. Like Native said, they welcomed my plotting, because I was keeping sapplings and brush at bay with my clover. They told me they actually preferred it when they were having to clear brush on my neighbors, since he didn't plot.
 
I've dealt with a similar issue before. Like Native said, they welcomed my plotting, because I was keeping sapplings and brush at bay with my clover. They told me they actually preferred it when they were having to clear brush on my neighbors, since he didn't plot.

And that is exactly the attitude that 99+% of them will take.
 
Get a survey done to find your property lines and corners. It is money well spent. When mine was done 27 years ago the surveyors used GPS location devices. They were able to access enough satellites that they set the boundaries and corner stakes with extreme accuracy. This survey was then recorded at the register of deed office in Portage county to make it legal. It was close to where some old metal fence posts marked the property lines on most sides. The exception was on one 40 acre side where it was off by over 30 feet in my neighbors favor.
If I had an unknown easement, I would definitely hire surveyors before I did any kind of improvements on the easement.
Otherwise you are just guessing. You might be walking into future legal problems.
 
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