Options to buy land

You have an opportunity to purchase land.

  • Purchase 30 Acres

    Votes: 6 10.7%
  • Purchase 40 acres

    Votes: 46 82.1%
  • Flip Coin

    Votes: 4 7.1%

  • Total voters
    56
No way would I buy land just to hunt on right now. Its simply not worth it unless your planning to live on it.

300K would but a TON of hunts (likely more than you can take in your lifetime actually).
To piss away $300k on hunts when you can have a place to spend time w family and then grandkids.

We think diff on this one.
 
To piss away $300k on hunts when you can have a place to spend time w family and then grandkids.

We think diff on this one.
And that’s ok too.


Land ownership isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. People often forget about taxes, liability, $hitty neighbors, trespassers, maintenance.
 
Listen to the American Land man and The land man podcast.I really think there may be better deals that I have seen advertised but i don't live there and these may be closer to cities which make them more expensive.Land appreciates about 75 per year most years. But that is alot for 40 acres
 
Theres places cheaper on midwest land group and I would check landwatch also there could be deals to have from the smaller auction and real estate places. Get something close.Mine might be too close but i can drive back when I forget something as it's 6 miles
 
And that’s ok too.


Land ownership isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. People often forget about taxes, liability, $hitty neighbors, trespassers, maintenance.
Yep,I have owned 119 acres for 20 plus years and killed well over 100 deer but im done.Im sick of all the cost and maintenance and the few guys that I let hunt probably wouldn’t hunt if i didn’t let them.IM sick of have decent neighbors but ones a cocksucker.
Im 50 and when my last daughter is out of high school in three years we are selling out.
Hopefully moving a to a area with more outdoor activities.We live in rural Oklahoma.
Plan is to invest some of the funds and go on a good hunt once or twice a year with the interest .Maybe a hunt and a fishing trip.
And a vacation for the wife.
You could invest the 300 instead of buy off grid land and blow 10000 a year and never touch the principle.
 
I have a very hard time seeing either one as being enough ground to hunt much. So I'd go option #2 as you can stick a house on it, and more dirt is better.
Many years ago, my grandparents needed money to,pay bills. They sold 5 acres, out of their 40 acre plot. That five acre strip has had deer, including bucks killed on it every year.
 
Many years ago, my grandparents needed money to,pay bills. They sold 5 acres, out of their 40 acre plot. That five acre strip has had deer, including bucks killed on it every year.

Oh I dont doubt it. People kill deer in their back yards all the time.

I'll stick with what I said though
 
Oh I dont doubt it. People kill deer in their back yards all the time.

I'll stick with what I said though
I live on one acre and kill 3-4 deer a year in my yard a season (depending on our yearly limits). I have 40 acres that don’t have enough time to use and get maybe one deer a year, and it’s loaded with deer.
The convenience of hunting in the yard is awesome for filling the freezer.
Not much of an adventure.
 
I bought 20 acres of offgrid land in NW WI in 2008. We built a cabin on it the following year. I have only ever twice deer hunted my own land, I hunt the county land all around it. I do grouse hunt it once per season, one of 50ish spots I hunt.

The 20 acres makes a good basecamp with some buffer from neighbors but its not a hunting spot its self. On the other hand its all woods of a similar age class, 10 acres of the right mix can be a good property.

The offgrid thing is limiting though. I threw well over $50k down the drain trying to make solar work for a seasonal cabin before eventually ripping it all out except for the panels on the barn roof. Newer stuff is better now and I may make another go of it but right now I have an 11kw kohler generator, a honda 2200i and an anker solix 3800 battery. Honda runs the cabin fine but not the well, and not if we want to run an AC in the summer. Solix could in theory run everything but not on my one transfer switch system, I will spend $2k this fall to change that around and add a 3rd pannel and 2nd transfer switch to make that work. But it only runs it for a short time, will also spend $2k on adding an expansion for the solix to get more like 14 hours out of it, and really should add two of them.

Need a propane fridge to keep anything in it or have it be even useful for short trips, they are expensive. Can leave any kind of heat on when not there so rely on the wood stove. Lots of hassles for off grid and I second guess that every year. And I only paid $25k for those 20 acres. $300k for 30 acres and no chance of power would be an absolute non-starter for me unless I was looking at a private lake back there or something.

That said I do love my cabin and live there full time for a good part of October and November working via star link etc.

Depending on part of the state you are looking in I know of a really nice 40 with power from the road (small quiet road) that is going for just over $200k, feels over priced to me but I just cant get used to current land prices. It is north though so not exactly big buck haven.
 
30 acres
  • ½ mile deeded easement in good condition
  • Off Grid only
  • Only recreational use. Can put up recreational cabin and storage
40 Acres
  • Right off State Highway
  • Can build permanent house if you would like with all utilities

Offgrid and easement and restrictions on 30 are red flags.

2 qualities I left on the 40 list are proper, not bonuses, should be gimmies.


  • The 30 acres is about a 1 1/2 drive. The 40 is about 30 minutes.

No brainer here...you will hardly ever go to the farther one. You will go often to the close one.
40 ac. Buy the piece you can sell the easiest if the need arises.

This! The property with the easement may still be available for a while, so, if you buy the 40 first, you can probably buy both.
 
For small parcels, neighborhood is everything in relation to having decent bucks to hunt.

I have a 40 on the other side of the Mississippi from you. Lots of deer and my improvements have impacted the use of it by deer, but there just isn't any really impressive bucks in the neighborhood or at least there hasn't been since 2021. Nothing you can do to make them exist if they dont in the area. For me it takes some of the excitement out of hunting it knowing that there is near zero chance of a 140"+ buck swinging through.

For hunting purposes, an easement that limits access to one part of the property is a bad deal. With certain wind directions you could have a hell of a time just getting to your land without alerting the deer on it. I tend to like min traffic road frontage that the property can be screened from more from an access perspective.

In regards to building a house on it - if a guy is ok with a very modest/small house that could be a consideration. If talking 2000+ SF, it seems like a guy needs an extra couple hundred thousand $ vs a comparable already built house. Really killed my buzz about finding the perfect parcel and building.

Proximity is huge. My 40 is about an hr away. Any little task i want to do out there comes with about 3 hours worth of drive and load up/unload time that prevents a lot of trips there.
 
If talking 2000+ SF, it seems like a guy needs an extra couple hundred thousand $ vs a comparable already built house. Really killed my buzz about finding the perfect parcel and building.
Strong advice. Building from scratch costs way the eff more than people that have never done it think, and more than the internet will tell you it does.

Plus it becomes a part time job. I always say I'd put an employee on leave of absence if they decide to build a custom house. Its all-consuming even with a good builder.

Add a 1.5-hour distance gap that gets dangerous. 30 mins no problem.
 
I have a very hard time seeing either one as being enough ground to hunt much. So I'd go option #2 as you can stick a house on it, and more dirt is better.
I’m curious to hear what you think is enough, and why, as someone who has a ~10-20 year out goal of acquiring “enough” connected land to live, operate a subsistence farm, and hunt on.

I’m messing with a 4.5 acre property for blacktail right now with mixed success, 2 years in.
 
No way would I buy land just to hunt on right now. Its simply not worth it unless your planning to live on it.

300K would but a TON of hunts (likely more than you can take in your lifetime actually).

Generally agree. It is hard to throw a value on having something you can visit and do as you please on though especially when it is an appreciating asset.
 
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