The New 22

tynimiller

5 year old buck +
Being somewhat new to this site I won't assume everyone is a familiar face and introduce myself briefly. Name is Ty Miller and I am from the Northern edge of Indiana in Elkhart County (hunt primarily/grew up) and St. Joseph County (currently reside).

Some may recognize me from other forums or from Small Acre Hunting....a small website/entertainment/consulting website I operate which focuses on average everyday hunters that cannot afford big time leases or don't hunt huge tracts of land the common man simply doesn't have access to. Attempting to prove more and more that big time things can happen on a small time scale.

With all that said, anyone familiar with the Elkhart County area real estate market knows the hope of owning land near or around my home/work was a pipe dream. Honestly after a consultation visit to a property up in Wisconsin and seeing the sale prices of the big woods land up there I decided on a 22 year plan (being 28 at the time) to pray continually for God's will to be done and His doors to open if he saw fit for land to come my way.....if in 22 years nothing had come to be near me I was going to buy elsewhere....so the twilight of my working years and then retirement I could hunt my very own ground. I grew up hunting and still do hunt my parents 9 acres...another small 27 acre spot....and my "big farm" is a 70+/- acre farm with only about 60 I'm allowed to hunt on and only a 1/3 of that not flat ag fields.

Then this past late February....a door opened. It wasn't the best ground...nor did the owner see much usable value in it due to its layout and he'd gained it in a purchase a long time ago as part of the deal or no deal.

The deal was amazing and one even my wife couldn't believe....I shook that man's hand so fast after I walked it one day, got in my truck...and I have zero shame to admit I cried like a little boy on Christmas.

Now there is a slight chance this property will be used to turn for a profit in an attempt to buy a portion of the farm I currently hunt (MUCH BETTER LOCATION) but if not this little chunk has some serious potential!

Brief Description of Property:

Acreage: 22.27 Acres Total

Layout/Terrain:

Fairly flat for the most part with only small grade changes (never more severe than 10degrees).
It is for the most part a North/South Rectangle with a 2.2 acre wooded square attached on the NE corner of it. The main rectangle has a nearly 1000 foot long pond (about 10 to 30 feet wide varying spots) that is placed basically smack dab in the middle of it like a key hole.
On each side of the pond are two fallow fields which at one time were both farmed. The one on the West side has sat fallow the longest and about 2/3 of it not seen a plow or farm equipment long enough to have cedar trees taller than me (I'm just shy of 6ft.). The East side was farmed as recent as 4 years ago and is predominately overcome by multi-flora rose and other thick briar variations as well as sycamore saplings scattered everywhere.
Mature trees are located circling the pond, the woods, some along the borders and some in the southern forest as well.

OVERALL AREA DESCRIPTION:

Rural most definitely. There is a large 100 acre ag field to the SE and some woods to the south, but beyond those to the SW, S and SE are housing developments and further yet a river and commercial buildings. To the West are homes immediately. To the East is a large open field and creek bottom, which than butts up to an industrial complex. To the NE is a blueberry patch of about 24 acres, to the direct N and NW are houses or businesses. But N of the Blueberry patch (across a road) is another section of woods and ag fields probably in the 200 acre or so size. For a total of about 450-550 acres of "contiguos" woods/ag fields.

Further N is the toll road, which I know deer cross some, and if they do they then hit immediate large scale ag fields and woods (thousands of acres).

I'll post a bunch of pictures and then continue to update this thread with things we accomplish or do. Right now all we've been able to do (pops and I) is get the main access trail to the fallow fields cleared back, 80+ Norway Spruces in the ground, and lined up a brush hog to use on the briar thick fallow field which will be the area for numerous planned food plots. (This paragraph copied and pasted from a post elsewhere yearlier this year)

Updates:

Video #1

Video #2

Well....going into the season the plan was to avoid hunting this place until we lose all but my parents property and this one during gun season....but that was with one exception and that is any kind of Easterly wind meant a less than 100 yard walk to a stand which is North of that "sanctuary" zone on the West side of the stand up where we'd planted some chicory/cereal grains/clover.

I'll let this video share the story of my hunt and the first buck ever (and deer) hitting the ground at the New 22...



Lot more to share and add to this thread as we move forward.....water holes, food plot expansion, screening creation, fruit and hard mast plantings, hinging, logging and even topographically changing areas....
 
Welcome to the site.... Great story and a successful hunt.

Don't be afraid to share your site, we welcome others and hope you do the same on your site.

-John
 
Very nice!
Welcome to the site Ty.
 
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