My little slice of heaven

[WNYBuckHunter]

8 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

Congrats! Nothing like being able to go out the back door to hunt!

Not to rain on your parade, but... Know you'll do this, but I'd be getting chummy with the adjacent property owners this spring/summer and hinting at retrieval rights, at least. You have some career skill-sets that might be worthy of bartering. Lets assume your purchase of this piece of  heaven does NOT come with any unknown historical hunting access issues!!! In the grand scheme of things, 15ac is not a huge property, meaning a lethally wounded deer running onto an adjacent property wouldn't be unheard of. Just my 2¢....

Enjoy!!

Thanks! Yes, Ive already started building the relationships with the neighbors. We are on a 1/2 mile private road with 3 other houses. The 4 homeowners share costs on maintaining the road, and from what I gather, the 3 others are pretty chummy, doing BBQs and stuff like that. Currently they have a plow guy that comes and plows all of their driveways, the road, etc, but hes not that reliable, we found that out with the last storm where we had 2 feet and were stranded for almost 2 days. Im buying a plow truck, and will offer up to everyone that if they throw a few hundred a year in the kitty to help with maintenance and fuel, Ill plow their driveways as well as the road. I also have a commercial zero turn, and our new place has a very small mowed yard, so Ill offer that up as well. Trail maintenance, tree cutting, etc. also. I am the youngest guy in the tract, the others are all retired, so I wont mind helping with things like that.

[WNYBuckHunter]

1 hour ago, Robhuntandfish said:

one of the spots I hunt is only 12 acres and In reality its only about 100 yards by 30 yards cause most of it is fenced in and leased to a farmer for cows.  I can hunt one little corner of it and just got permission to hunt there this last season.  First evening out got a doe!   Doesnt need to be big to be productive.  

Id rather have the right 10 acres than the wrong 200.

[LET EM GROW]

Congrats, looks good man! Keep us posted. Sounds like you shouldn't have an issue putting your hands on some nice headgear with your mindset and whats already in the area!  From the pics it looks like your plot projects will be fun to tackle and not too much of a hassle for you.. soil depending anyways. 

We will be searching for a new home soon as well, hoping to have some land attached too.. 

[dbHunterNY]

congrats! looks to be very usable with decent cover already there enough that hinge cutting will do a lot. might have to plant rows of switch grass in some more open areas to create some cover for travel corridors. some of those pictures look a little thin with young trees. i've got real close to 10 acres. i can hunt the adjacent rod and gun club but it's more or less a war zone with minimum standards.  i see a 3.5 yr old in the area maybe every other year. it's an awesome spot that's a thick creek bottom leading into an ag field. i cleared a couple small plots for different food and staging.  one thing that's helped a me with a small property making it hunt bigger is hinging trees outward near the property line. pulls deer from the neighbors to bed just on my side. also it makes it impossible for neighbors to hunt borders without blowing deer and pushing down into my property. tough hunting low impact and with winds but it means i usually just hunt it with a gun.

[chas0218]

On 1/27/2018 at 8:23 PM, WNYBuckHunter said:

Last year we decided to start looking for a bigger house. We would have been fine with just a few acres, but I really wanted something a bit bigger, and hoped for something huntable. We ended up finding a great deal on a nice house that came with 15 acres. This property is a couple of properties away from where my girlfriends ex hunts. He was good enough to tell me a lot of info about the hunting in this area. Last season he took a mainframe 10 that he said scored in the low 150s. I suck at guessing scores, but I saw photos of the buck and it’s a hell of a good deer. The year before he took an 8 Point that was close to 140. According to him, there are only 5 or 6 guys that hunt this tract. None of them do drives ever, they all hunt low impact and no one shoots deer younger than 3 1/2. He consistently sees plenty of deer walking around during daylight hours all through the season. We moved in a few weeks ago and I finally had some time today to go for a walk and get a good look at the property.

I had already done some looking with satellite photos, choosing 2 spots that might be good for a couple of food plots. I confirmed that they will be good spots. I also found some very good looking bedding areas, a good sized white oak flat and a ton of Beech trees. I checked Some of the deer trails and located 2 pinch points, with one being absolutely phenomenal looking. There’s a bunch of scrapes and some nice looking rubs from last fall  throughout the woods.

I decided on an area where I will Be concentrating on with some hinge cutting this year. We are also having a logging company come in to selectively harvest some of the trees, and they will be leaving the tops, which should create some more thick stuff. 

I am stopping at the farm to collect trail cams tomorrow, and I will Be putting some of them out back to start seeing what’s wandering around. 

I’ll post an aerial photo and some pics of the plot areas soon. 

My wife and I did the same in March, bought 40 acres with a 1500 sq. ft. house (which is now 3000 and the reason for my lack of hunting this past season). It is a great feeling watching deer go through the back of the yard looking to eat the tops of my seedling apple trees and blueberry bushes. I love every bit of having my own small piece of land enough for the family to hunt on without crowding each other.

[Doewhacker]

1 hour ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Id rather have the right 10 acres than the wrong 200.

Damn straight, I have a spot nicknamed the killing tree that is part of a larger tract but I have killed dozens from that one tree. Going on twenty years and the deer still file past it. I actually stopped hunting it out of boredom. lol

I forgot to add nice spot!!!

Edited January 29, 2018 by Doewhacker

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks guys.

I cropped up the pic of the buck that my girlfriends ex shot in November. I didnt want to include his face, but this is a good example of a 4 1/2 year old in the area.

[Doewhacker]

pfft scrub.

 

haha

[WNYBuckHunter]

53 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

congrats! looks to be very usable with decent cover already there enough that hinge cutting will do a lot. might have to plant rows of switch grass in some more open areas to create some cover for travel corridors. some of those pictures look a little thin with young trees. i've got real close to 10 acres. i can hunt the adjacent rod and gun club but it's more or less a war zone with minimum standards.  i see a 3.5 yr old in the area maybe every other year. it's an awesome spot that's a thick creek bottom leading into an ag field. i cleared a couple small plots for different food and staging.  one thing that's helped a me with a small property making it hunt bigger is hinging trees outward near the property line. pulls deer from the neighbors to bed just on my side. also it makes it impossible for neighbors to hunt borders without blowing deer and pushing down into my property. tough hunting low impact and with winds but it means i usually just hunt it with a gun.

Wind is going to be my biggest issue, as the back part of the property sets up West of the house. I just have to be choosy on the winds I hunt. Im going to make a run to pick up a bunch of smoke bombs soon and start wind mapping the place before the leaves start popping out.

[moog5050]

39 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Wind is going to be my biggest issue, as the back part of the property sets up West of the house. I just have to be choosy on the winds I hunt. Im going to make a run to pick up a bunch of smoke bombs soon and start wind mapping the place before the leaves start popping out.

Use those just off winds to your advantage john.  SW and NW are pretty common.  Might be different access for both to the same stand but both may be viable.

[Nomad]

Is there a covenant covering the road plowing and maintenance ?

Our friends live on private road along the Bay, it’s written in the dead, about shared costs of road and dock maintenance, and still there are issues .

One guy winters down South and doesn’t think he should pay for plowing , one doesn’t use the dock, then another was selling and listed “your own private dock “. Always an issue .

Oh ya congrats , and I pulled your soon to be Muddy stand and sticks , Sat.

[Dom]

Dude I give you some good dang credit for being able to live that close to your Girl's ex and posting pictures of his deer.It is tough I have to put up with my wifes ex as well but they have children together if not for their connection like that I would tell the guy to shit in his hat and wear it.

[WNYBuckHunter]

20 minutes ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

Is there a covenant covering the road plowing and maintenance ?

Our friends live on private road along the Bay, it’s written in the dead, about shared costs of road and dock maintenance, and still there are issues .

One guy winters down South and doesn’t think he should pay for plowing , one doesn’t use the dock, then another was selling and listed “your own private dock “. Always an issue .

Oh ya congrats , and I pulled your soon to be Muddy stand and sticks , Sat.

No, nothing in the deed, just an agreement. It will work out better with me plowing.

Thanks! Sounds good! I figure Ill need 8 stands to cover the different wind directions and spots I want to at this place. Just PM me with details and we will get it figured out!

[WNYBuckHunter]

21 minutes ago, Dom said:

Dude I give you some good dang credit for being able to live that close to your Girl's ex and posting pictures of his deer.It is tough I have to put up with my wifes ex as well but they have children together if not for their connection like that I would tell the guy to shit in his hat and wear it.

He doesnt live nearby, just hunts a piece thats less than 1/4 mile from our rear property line. I have no issue with the guy most of the time. We talk a bit here and there when he picks up or drops off the kids. Keeping things amicable makes for a less stressful life. Same goes for my kids moms.

[grampy]

2 hours ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Id rather have the right 10 acres than the wrong 200.

Bingo!!!!

[Dom]

I see sounded like he was a neighbor.Likewise I am have same kinda issues myself.Back to your slice what kinda tubs will you be possibly useing for watering holes/old bath or something else/I like this idea

[WNYBuckHunter]

4 minutes ago, Dom said:

I see sounded like he was a neighbor.Likewise I am have same kinda issues myself.Back to your slice what kinda tubs will you be possibly useing for watering holes/old bath or something else/I like this idea

Whatever I can get for free/cheap lol. Kids plastic sandboxes work well too.

[Dom]

7 minutes ago, grampy said:

Bingo!!!!

For sure.

 

2 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Whatever I can get for free/cheap lol

Bello might report ya for burring trash HA HA.

[Five Seasons]

On 1/28/2018 at 8:47 AM, WNYBuckHunter said:

This is my first time working my own land with my own ideas and no one else to work around. I’m hoping to take a nice buck this year, but my main goal is going to be getting to know deer patterns and getting Haley her first deer. 

Im going to use this thread as a chronicle of the planning and work I’ll be doing. 

Out of the 4 houses I've owned, the one I missed the most was the one with some land. I really almost enjoyed the food plotting and restoring the old apple orchard more than hunting it. I don't think the wife and I are in our forever home so it's not all lost. But settling for a nice house and little land was really our only option. When we moved back we looked for 5 months before we gave up and couldn't deal with apartment living anymore. Good land that is somewhat close to work is harder and harder to find.

Glad it worked out for you. If you're anything like me you'll spend more time outdoors than on the house doing the things you want there instead. Man the first few years do not provide any couch sitting time.

[Steuben Jerry]

Congrats on the new place WNY!

It may not sound exciting to some, but I thoroughly enjoy my outdoor/woods projects each year.

Hope you have a ton of fun with it and make some long lasting memories!

[JRod 8G8H]

Property looks and sounds great. I hunt 5 acres in 8H and sometimes see 3 up to 23 deer per sit. Our 12 acres in 8G is perfect size for a couple stands, perfect to sneak in and out undetected, and still give some neighborhood deer a sanctuary and bedding area. Look forward to seeing your plots too. Looks like a winner. Good luck