A spot I have hunted for the past 15 years is being sold. I was planning to hunt turkeys there with my son this month. Oh, well. I guess during deer season this fall, I may have to drive to Wisconsin to hunt public land. I'm sure you can all relate.
Welcome to the club!
It's going fast, every year I hope for just one more. Do everything I can but sometimes circumstances beyond our control prevail. Good luck my friend. I would have a hard time going to public lands now.
Thanks, Chumster! Welcome to the club? I have been bow hunting sine 1982 and can't count the number of place I have lost over the years, Paul11.
Sorry to here this, hope you find some ground that will bring you memories that will last a life time.
I my self am wondering what i will do for hunting ground come this fall for deer, but have know idea how to go about finding land.
God Bless Sambo.
Thanks, Sambo. One approach is to buy a county Plat map. It shows the private landowner's names. You can then make landowner contacts in the areas you would like. Try making contact early in the year and offer to work around their farm or help them with other chores, like snow removal...et al. Good luck my friend. I am with you!
Is there no public land in Illinois?
In northern Illinois, it is somewhat limited. In the county I live in, we have one public land location. Otherwise, I have to drive two counties west to get to more abundant public hunting opportunities exist.
Ouch!, Been there. I had it happen to me many years ago. I had an outstanding farm to hunt until the rug was pulled out from under me. I did a lot of carpentry work for that man in return for lifetime hunting privileges on his property. That lifetime only lasted about 8 years. Long story.
Anyway, I'm very lucky to live in an area with a lot of public land that is bow only. I only missed a beat for about 2 years until I started finding some new honey holes.
Good Luck finding a new area. !
I know the feeling all to well. Just lost a 157 acre tract I had hunted for 40 years. I knew it wa s up for sale but there was no way I could afford it. Luckily I have plenty of other land to hunt.
Boy that's to bad. Here in N.Y. near me there thousands of acres of public land....deer numbers are low but you can still get on the land and wander. Hope you find a spot to spend some time!
I really feel for you guys down there .I wish non-residents were allowed to hunt in southern sask. I'd invite the whole works of you up here.To many deer and to many places to hunt ,it is a hunting Utopia.All the best.If it ever changes I'll let you know.
Sorry to hear the bad news right before turkey season. I too, have had that experience several times in the past. Bummer!!!!!
Hopefully, some opportunity even better than what you had enjoyed comes your way.
I thought I was looking at that this year too.
I sold my 40 acres ,Because of poachers and trespassers .I've been looking for land and it is hard to find unless you want to drive 3 to 4 hours one way.
We just looked at a small parcel tonight,It's only 10 acres ,But you have to use a four wheel drive to get to it :bigsmyl: So that gives me some hope that it will keep people away ,Also my wife says look at that ,and there standing on the road we just came up ,A doe came out of the property that we were looking at.
I hope you find some land that you can hunt with your son ,That would be some of the best times.
Even if you come out empty handed ,Your hearts would be filled with memories forever .
Carl
Tough time, been there a few times myself.. It does seem that every time I loose a place, I find a better one..
I'm very sorry for your loss.
That's the reason I bought my own land. I don't see a lot of animals here but enough to keep my interest. I also live on my own property, which makes it much easier to manage. The locals know I don't put up with poaching and will report it to the authorities.
Keep look'in and I am sure another tract will become available. Hopefully better.
I feel for you buddy. I'm sorry.
4 years ago the state public land I had hunted on for 15 yrs was SOLD to a Private individual.
Like to know where "my" and the rest of michigan's people's money went on that one. What a crock!
Good luck to you. Hunting game is difficult enough the way we all do it. Even that much more difficult when you have to hunt for the land too.
But often the best prize is obtained by walking the most difficult path.
I cant be sure just yet but I may be sitting in the same boat with ya, land owner who I lease from called and said he might be selling his 500 acres of CRP and hard woods. Further I may be staring down the barrel of moving out of state as well. Lots of uncertianty in the near future! Nothing to do for it but go out and do everything you can to get another place to hunt I guess.
Thanks for all the encouragement guys. I'm sure something will work out for the better. Maybe some day, after my kids get out of H.S. & college, I will buy a place of my own.
I wish you all a good hunting season this year!
Seems to be happening quite a bit these days. Either the older guys are passin on and the kids are selling out or more and more folks are getting into the leasing their property out. It's everywhere here, but then again, I live in Howard Co. Maryland, dead smack between B'more and DC. High rent district in this neck of the woods. I have been hunting public land the last couple years (mainly in Garrett Co, not too far from Deep Creek Lake, DCL). I was hunting on a friends private land but he got in $$$ trouble and sold it off. I know where your coming from, firsthand. DCL is a good 2.5-3 hour ride from my house and unimproved forest land sells in the $6K/acre out there and the closer to home, the price shoots up, real quick. Most private land of any size anywhere in between is already leased out.
How about joining a hunting club in your area? It can be cost efficent and open some good hunting to ya. I hope to make a move on some land in a couple years. Maybe a cabin on a couple acres that backs to a national forest? That's the idea, as of right now.
Good luck on your search and don't be afraid to knock on doors and ask about hunting. Maybe you can find a nice spot you and a couple buddies can pool together and lease out.
JL
QuoteOriginally posted by longbow fanatic 1:
A spot I have hunted for the past 15 years is being sold. I was planning to hunt turkeys there with my son this month. Oh, well. I guess during deer season this fall, I may have to drive to Wisconsin to hunt public land. I'm sure you can all relate.
The same exact thing happened to us in Feb. 2010
We had the same 120 acre lease since 1995 and I took my biggest 2 white tail bucks on that property, a 145" 12pt. and a 155" heavy 10pt.
Countless other really nice bucks, gobbs of turkeys, and many, many does hit the ground from the end of my broad heads to fill the freezer over those years. I actually matured as a bow hunter on that piece of ground and I knew the place like my own bedroom. I knew where the deer bedded, where they fed, travel routes, and where they would be at different times of the season. It took me years to figure out how to cut those gobblers off before they left my property and traveled onto the neighbor's place, and I knew where to be when they would return around noon. That was the hardest part of learning how to be a good turkey hunter was teaching myself patience by not giving up at 9am just because the birds weren't talking. I knew where all the roost sites were and I'd wait em out in hopes that they would return to the area before legal hunting time ended at 1pm. I can't count how many gobblers I duped at 12:45pm when I was probably the only turkey hunter left in the woods while everybody else had gone to town for lunch.
Lots of fond memories on that property and the best years of hunting in my life along with some of the most depressing lows of my hunting career took place on that small parcel of timber, power line cuts, and open pasture/hay fields. Lots of hot summers sweating my tail end off trying to get that fall food plot in the ground and then praying for rain.
All gone in an instant to a big "Pay to hunt" operation on the other side of the fence from us. Money talks boys and hunting is big business nowadays.
Thinking about this again brings back painful moments when I found out it was stripped out from under us without so much as a phone call and we had a narrow 2 week time frame to get all our stands out and anything else we didn't want to lose.
It's sad.....Really sad that this sort of thing goes on and happens more and more these days.
I feel your pain Longbow Fanatic, I honestly do.
Hang in there and I hope you find a new and better exciting place to hang your bow that's loaded with turkey and deer my friend. :campfire:
Been there--it is the worst!
It's a Big club. The land I hunted for 17 years was bought to build a lake that was never built. The farmer was forced to sell it, and now he can't even hunt it.
I'm in the club a couple times over. Eastern Massachusetts is tough. Not much public land, decent amounts of deer, LOTS of anti's, and no such thing as a secret spot. Any area has already been seen by a hundred guys and their friends. The one decent piece of private land I had sole permission to hunt on, was sold. But it didn't matter, ten guys were sneaking in and hunting it illegally anyway. Not enough room for us over here. I like to hunt other states now to get away from the masses. Nothing like going to your stand on private land with sole permission and finding cigarette butts and candy wrappers on the ground below your tree.
You're welcome to come hunt in Indiana with me sometime. Give me a shout or shoot me a PM.
I feel you brother, we had 1400+ acres here that we hunted on for 11 years, and we lost it the beginning of last years hunting season.
I'm Very sorry to hear about the lost hunting land. I'm reading these post and have a couple of questions. Do all these land sales go to people who don't hunt? Or canned hunting? I drove around to all the farmers around here, and when they found out that I was using a bow and arrow they willingly gave me permission. Anytime! Also no driving on their property , only to recover animal. But I did find a rap on the door and a face to face was a lot better than an impersonal phone call. Again I'm sorry to hear of this. Maxx
I don't know about longbow's situation but in NJ everyone is worried about getting sued. The land I was hunting on is going have a road going through it soon, so they are going to start clearing the land, unfortunately we could have hunted the whole of last season as they haven't done very much over the winter, probably because it was sever for us in comparison to past years.
Then they'll build more houses on the rest of it so they can clog the roads more and contribute to green house gases and then charge us more in taxes to get rid of the pollution, and build more roads to handle the new surge of cars so they can put up more toll roads because they waste the taxes we give them on other B.S., and on and on and on, until we go poof.
Sorry for the rant.
I can't count all the places I've hunted over the years that have been sold, developed, or I chose to not hunt anymore for one reason or another. Private land in this part of the state can be very difficult to come by, which is probably why I do most of my hunting in Wisconsin.
HERE IN NO CA THE POT GROWERS RUINED THE HUNTINGONON A NICE 10000 ACRE RANCH THEY AQUIRED THE RANCH NEXT TO IT AND KILLED EVERYTHING THAT CROSSED THE PROPERTY LINE THEY WERE ABLE TO BUY PROTECTION
I told you I gave up my 40 Acres of land because of poachers and trespassers.
I just got a phone call that gave me the news that I was accepted on a bid For 10 acre Of land with a well and established Our house and a driveway and cleared camping area with an outdoor wood oven. It's Across the road from over 75,000 acres of public land. The downside is the state is looking for money so they are clearing some of the timber in the public land. But there's so much public land around that area I don't think I will be running out Of Public land to hunt.
But I was totally amazed to see how many deer trails and signs ,Bedding areas ,That are on the 10 acres .The 10 acres is nestled between 80 acres ,And 40 acres behind it.
Hopefully ,This year's hunting will be little bit better. But anyway it's going to be a nice place to put my 12X14 Davis will tent,Especially this winter with the wood stove. Once I get to know the land in that area ,It will be nice to invite some people that aren't as fortunate to come and hunt and some of the land there with me.
Carl
I am so encouraged by the fine men and women who are on this site. Everyone has been so supportive and encouraging. I truly feel all your pain(s). It is so difficult to find and retain hunting property, not to mention how high dollar leases have changed the hunting landscape.
I wish you all the best and a great 2011 season.
Dennis
I know the feeling. My brother and i have Bow hunted this 380 acres for 10 yrs. then one deer seas. the farmer told us he leased his land to a hunting club and that we couldnt hunt it. Was very bumbed out. I feel your pain.
I'm in the same boat This year, The land I hunt is owned by my brother, we have been hunting there for the past 20 years! This year we are losing all land around it to houseing devoplements! The past 2 years we have seen the deer numbers drop to nothuing and the same with the turkeys! so my brother is hanging it up and selling off! All the farms around here are leased out so All I have is over hunted state land or state land that has very little game on it but at least I have those places to go to to lose all the madness! Soon all I'll have left is the memorys!(But I have lots of good memorys)
Public Land, it's free!
I have a few friends with some property but the majority of my hunting is on public ground. The worst part for me is when I put up a stand and within a few weeks multiple stands are put up too close. On public ground the sites that are easily accessible from the parking area seem to be the ones cluttered with stands while just a bit deeper in you can generally have larger portions of land to yourself as long as you don't mind a longer hike in and out.