opinions on this parcel of land for hunting?

[goosifer]

Yeah, too small. Too few big trees. Thanks, guys.

[goosifer]

I found another parcel for sale in Pembroke, just a couple miles West of this one. It's over 100 acres, with the huntable area about 425 yards wide by 1,300 yards deep. I walked it yesterday for over 3 hours. It was mind boggling the number of deer tracks I saw. The wooded parts are mature enough so there isn't a lot of brushy growth blocking your view. The brushy fields parts have some trails and clearing that make them huntable. There is also a nice pinch point/"bridge" by the power lines that seem to get a lot of traffice. A bit swampy on the WNW side of the property, but not sure how wet it will be during hunting season. (I was glad it was 17 degrees out as there was an inch of ice on top of the wet areas that I could somwhat walk on.) It just meets my criterion for a 30 minute drive. Has a dirt driveway with which I can drive up to the power lines if I needed to, as long as the snow is not too deep. Even had a small pond. Not sure if any fish in it, though.

I hope to put it under contract and get retrieval rights from the neighbors. If anyone has any thoughts on this new parcel, I'm all ears. Thanks.

 

 

Edited January 12, 2019 by goosifer

[TreeGuy]

I have alot to say about this piece. Has potential. With the hardwoods set back and no way to access from Thruway, you will have to plan stands for the wind. I'd go into a bunch of details but I don't have the time right now. Good luck with the purchase !

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[moog5050]

I like it.  Thruway will funnel Deer through those woods.   Morning hunts you might blow Deer from field but that would not deter me.  Stick close to downwind hedgerow and set up early.   Good luck.  

[Lawdwaz]

Buy it goose, it’s a winner. 

[goosifer]

41 minutes ago, TreeGuy said:

I have alot to say about this piece. Has potential. With the hardwoods set back and no way to access from Thruway, you will have to plan stands for the wind. I'd go into a bunch of details but I don't have the time right now. Good luck with the purchase !

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Thanks, TreeGuy. I'm hoping to get you out there.

[goosifer]

Getting this under contract is going to take some patience. The Seller has a lot of issues that need to be addressed.

The hedge row on the Eastern border has all the trees on the neighbor's land. I will have to set up a tripod stand or blind to hunt the fields in the middle from the East. Not ideal, but doable.

There is one monster tree, like 12' diameter, that is exactly on the Eastern property line. Think it's fair game to put a tree stand on the part of that tree that is on my side of the line?

[dbHunterNY]

i would talk to them first about putting a stand on the line. it always seems to rub people the wrong way even if it's facing onto your property.  even if it's not the best neighbor you want to have good relations with them. be firm with your ownership but fair and cordial to get the point across without offending someone. go with a portable blind even on an old wagon/trailer frame you can move around and tweak it's location. mature woods is easier to work with and can be made to have deer to linger if the adjacent wood lots are open too. access seems to be great. any road hunter can make a drop off for their buddy to sneak in off the thruway but at 30 minutes away it's easy to keep an eye on. hunters on the neighbors might change where deer walk through but the obvious flow of travel is there. plenty of room to work and for access based on the wind. even to do nudges to move deer. i do have questions though. what's the topography like? i have some more thoughts i won't share on here i'll PM you with related to that and other things. most importantly you walked it and there's plenty of deer sign. the deer are there whether or not there's an age structure, so it's seems like a winner if you can get issues sorted out to close.

[wolc123]

There is lots of Ag in that area, which makes for some heavy deer.  I killed 3.5 year old bucks, less than 6 miles from that spot, the last two seasons.  Last year's field dressed weight was 182 pounds.  The one the year prior may have been a little heavier but had a smaller rack.   Local farmers hit the antlerless deer pretty hard with their nuisance permits (prior to October 1).  That significantly improves the buck to doe ratio, and the average buck body size (they don't have to compete with as many does for the acorns).  Downsides are: thruway noise, extremely flat, featureless land, and difficulty filling DMP tags.    If your primary objective is a crack at a big, heavy buck, that should be a good area.   Listening to that noise throughout hunting season gets old for me, and makes me very thankful that I also have access to a quieter and prettier spot up in the northern zone.         

[TreeGuy]

Actually there's not alot of ag there. Not within the average sized deer home range. But, if used to your advantage some plots will keep and hold the deer on your dirt.

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[dbHunterNY]

11 minutes ago, TreeGuy said:

Actually there's not alot of ag there. Not within the average sized deer home range. But, if used to your advantage some plots will keep and hold the deer on your dirt.

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yea i didn't come up with any ag crops remotely searching from this end of the state. lots of grass, mowed fields and pastures but that's about it. not much for high energy crops. not even straight alfalfa hay fields. sound the same that way for anyone who's actually in that area? seems there's weird right of ways or trail access. maybe snowmobile club trail system access or something.

[goosifer]

1 hour ago, dbHunterNY said:

i would talk to them first about putting a stand on the line. it always seems to rub people the wrong way even if it's facing onto your property.  even if it's not the best neighbor you want to have good relations with them. be firm with your ownership but fair and cordial to get the point across without offending someone. go with a portable blind even on an old wagon/trailer frame you can move around and tweak it's location. mature woods is easier to work with and can be made to have deer to linger if the adjacent wood lots are open too. access seems to be great. any road hunter can make a drop off for their buddy to sneak in off the thruway but at 30 minutes away it's easy to keep an eye on. hunters on the neighbors might change where deer walk through but the obvious flow of travel is there. plenty of room to work and for access based on the wind. even to do nudges to move deer. i do have questions though. what's the topography like? i have some more thoughts i won't share on here i'll PM you with related to that and other things. most importantly you walked it and there's plenty of deer sign. the deer are there whether or not there's an age structure, so it's seems like a winner if you can get issues sorted out to close.

Of course. I also want to talk to them about retrieval rights. Actually, there are two small strips of land between me and the thruway (side by side). One is owned by the neighbor to the East. The other appears to be landlocked. I will try to buy that one. Not sure about coming in from the North from the 90, though. Seems dangerous. The topography is a gentle incline from WNW to ESW. Some higher ground near the road, but can't hunt near the house. Thanks, dbHunterNY.

topo superimposed on aerial map

 

[goosifer]

9 minutes ago, dbHunterNY said:

yea i didn't come up with any ag crops remotely searching from this end of the state. lots of grass, mowed fields and pastures but that's about it. not much for high energy crops. not even straight alfalfa hay fields. sound the same that way for anyone who's actually in that area? seems there's weird right of ways or trail access. maybe snowmobile club trail system access or something.

the one going NW to SE is power lines, land owned by National Grid. The path the comes in from SW to ENE is a gas easement. There is a corn field next door to the E. I would imagine lots of snowmobilers and ATVers. No way to stop them with the way the land is laid out. Hopefully, they just stay on the gas easement or power lines.

Edited January 12, 2019 by goosifer

[dbHunterNY]

2 minutes ago, goosifer said:

Of course. I also want to talk to them about retrieval rights. Actually, there are two small strips of land between me and the thruway (side by side). One is owned by the neighbor to the East. The other appears to be landlocked. I will try to buy that one. Not sure about coming in from the North from the 90, though. Seems dangerous. The topography is a gentle incline from WNW to ESW. Some higher ground near the road, but can't hunt near the house. Thanks, dbHunterNY.

topo superimposed on aerial map

 

yea it's flat which gives you lots of options for easier access and hunting layout. plus better for what i PMed you about.  thruway wasn't meant for you to access. i'm saying trespassers will still use it if they have a reason to do so. it does provide a barrier for deer travel though and work to your advantage to hunt the back side with the right winds.

[land 1]

I would check that the gas lines and power lines are just right of ways and  not owned by the company hunted a piece of land  where the power line property  it was actually owned by National Grid and they would not do anything to keep people off, and since it was not actually owned by land owner had people walking the line all the time and there was nothing that could be done 

[goosifer]

4 minutes ago, land 1 said:

I would check that the gas lines and power lines are just right of ways and  not owned by the company hunted a piece of land  where the power line property  it was actually owned by National Grid and they would not do anything to keep people off, and since it was not actually owned by land owner had people walking the line all the time and there was nothing that could be done 

the power lines are owned by National Grid, so I expect to have that issue, unfortunately. The gase easement, which looks like a nicer path, is more problematic, but ultimately no way to keep off tresspassers. I will of course post it.

[dbHunterNY]

8 minutes ago, goosifer said:

the one going NW to SE is power lines, land owned by National Grid. The path the comes in from SW to ENE is a gas easement. There is a corn field next door to the E. I would imagine lots of snowmobilers and ATVers. No way to stop them with the way the land is laid out. Hopefully, they just stay on the gas easement or power lines.

gas easement must have been what i was looking at then. power lines are plain as day. snowmobilers and ATVers are easy to deal with. snowmobile clubs very easy despite they do much of there work in and around hunting season with signage and what not. they're no worry and work with you though to keep you happy if access goes through there. didn't seem to be a lot of corn fields though. it wouldn't hurt you unless they left some standing to hunt. even then it'd pull deer from the west through the property.

[land 1]

goosifer unless your getting a good price that will be a total pain in the back side, I recall one guy would walk the power line every am and pm just about every day of the season, I get the land owner didnt own the land but National grid piece was like 50 or 70 yrds wide they gut would shoot at anything on the edge, and if he didnt drop it the deer would end up dead on the hunting property......

[dbHunterNY]

1 minute ago, goosifer said:

the power lines are owned by National Grid, so I expect to have that issue, unfortunately. The gase easement, which looks like a nicer path, is more problematic, but ultimately no way to keep off tresspassers. I will of course post it.

i said easy but should've said manageable when it comes to atv and sled traffic. you being fairly local can get anyone who's local you find riding through on your side and to work with you.

[dbHunterNY]

3 minutes ago, land 1 said:

goosifer unless your getting a good price that will be a total pain in the back side, I recall one guy would walk the power line every am and pm just about every day of the season, I get the land owner didnt own the land but National grid piece was like 50 or 70 yrds wide they gut would shoot at anything on the edge, and if he didnt drop it the deer would end up dead on the hunting property......

power lines aren't a public free for all. our farm has them. if you see someone hunting them call an ECO they're trespassing.

[goosifer]

4 minutes ago, land 1 said:

goosifer unless your getting a good price that will be a total pain in the back side, I recall one guy would walk the power line every am and pm just about every day of the season, I get the land owner didnt own the land but National grid piece was like 50 or 70 yrds wide they gut would shoot at anything on the edge, and if he didnt drop it the deer would end up dead on the hunting property......

Actually, it is a good price, I believe. I made them a full asking price cash offer. The per acre price is 1/3-1/4 that of other parcels in the area. (Lack of frontage is a reason for that, but doesn't adversely affect huntability.) I don't know, a lot of parcels around there have power lines running through them. Can't see giving up on what appears to be a good hunting property at a good price for that reason. Hope you're not right . . . .

[land 1]

db I agree 100% but if you dont own the land   and National Grid does own it and wont have anyone come out and sign complaint for trespass what is ECO going do...Just what happened where I was hopefully it will work out good luck goosifer nothing better then having your own property

[G-Man]

1 hour ago, dbHunterNY said:

power lines aren't a public free for all. our farm has them. if you see someone hunting them call an ECO they're trespassing.

Same as railroad track.. 

[G-Man]

The only issue there is the frontage home.owners.. they tend to think all they see is theirs to hunt. Sometimes allowing them when your not there in exchange for keeping eye on place or mowing driveway or plowing it is a good way to go.. my advice is meet the neighbors well before season and dont just start with well my.land so beat it. Sometimes they are much more beneficial to you as friends ..they may have equipment to put in plots or mow trails..

my one neighbor booted the rear neighbor off his property the rear neighbor owned an L shape piece and was simply cutting the corner.. long story short when he shot a nice buck and it ran onto L shaped piece he was not able to retrieve it even with dec trying for him..had he simply asked and talked to see where guy was going he may never of had that problem.. 

[goosifer]

2 hours ago, G-Man said:

The only issue there is the frontage home.owners.. they tend to think all they see is theirs to hunt. Sometimes allowing them when your not there in exchange for keeping eye on place or mowing driveway or plowing it is a good way to go.. my advice is meet the neighbors well before season and dont just start with well my.land so beat it. Sometimes they are much more beneficial to you as friends ..they may have equipment to put in plots or mow trails..

my one neighbor booted the rear neighbor off his property the rear neighbor owned an L shape piece and was simply cutting the corner.. long story short when he shot a nice buck and it ran onto L shaped piece he was not able to retrieve it even with dec trying for him..had he simply asked and talked to see where guy was going he may never of had that problem.. 

You bring up a good point. For my current land, the neighbors in front asked if they could hunt back there and I said no. I've never gotten to know them.  wonder if how things would have been different if I had said yes. For the Pembroke parcel, if/when I go under contract, I will definitely talk to all the neighbors about retrieval rights, if they hunt, etc.