Had 5 acres and a house in MD on a salt water river. That 5 acres was inside 1200 ac with monster bucks and I had perfect setup with entry and wind. Saw more than one giant there but all I could do was hunt. No land work just hunt but man was it good.
It better be in the right vicinity, check with your local taxidermists on where the big boys consistently get harvested. I’d rather have 20 acres in a known big buck area than 300 acres that looks awesome for big buck habitat but just doesn’t hold the number of & quality of bucks. I learned the hard way, I was in a unique situation where I bought my first farm at 18, it was definitely a decision an 18 yr old would make hahaha. I find another one, way better looking & good neighbors at age 20. I buy it, 240 acres in central KY put 60% of the fields in grain, farm looks unbelievable driving through it, aerial would have you really excited. But no matter how much food, how many improvements I just could not get more than two mature bucks a year on it & they were always 135”-140” 8 pointers or a 5.5 yr old 147” 10 point. If I had a 150” it was a rare, 1 in every 5 years type thing. Back when I started buying hunting land I was paying a thousand or so an acre, I sold the original first farm that was pitiful no matter what I did bc I messed up & bought it for looks, how it looked. I was able to make a modest profit & focus entirely on this second purchase farm, I still own it today. I bought a third farm with my father who owns a lot of farmland around here when I was 21, mainly to run cattle on. After a few years I started focusing on this little 22 acre field in the back corner, there was a strip of timber in a narrow creek bottom & the neighbors had some brushy patches & fencerows. So I put the 22 acres in corn & a small clover plot near my stand, that one little field in cattle country, on the edge of the Industrial Park & near a subdivision has produced bow kills all but two deer seasons. 161” being the largest, a 158” drop tine buck, & several 143”-150” 8 pointers. The 240 acre tract still struggles, even with grain fields, cover, CRP & a variety of green plots, every fall it’s the same results. My neighbors there deal with the same, they are trying to grow & keep big mature bucks & they get pics of the same bucks I’m getting. The only positive to this farm is what I purchased it for compared to what it is worth 16 years later, it’s increased in value 400%. Why don’t I sell it ? Good question, bc I have not been able to find a farm for sale in a particular area around here known for its high concentration of big bucks. I’ve learned from my mistakes & I’m not buying a farm bc it looks perfect & has a ton of deer sign, it’s got to be a farm in a distinct area that has the numbers & size. This area lies around the Kentucky River & it’s tributaries, mainly the area north & south around Daniel Boone’s old settlement Boonesboro. That area is where my taxidermist & I see the consistent 160” - 180” bucks getting harvested year after year going back to the 90’s. So I’m being patient, & I’m not looking for a large tract or even a medium size tract, 25 acres plus in that area is better than having 2500 acres in other parts of my area as I’ve found out first hand. BE PATIENT ! Take it from someone who wasn’t at first & learned that mistake the hard way. It doesn’t have to look perfect, it doesn’t have to have tons of cover to hold big bucks. If I showed you where I’ve harvested most of my big bucks you’d have trouble believing me judging by how it looks & the surrounding area. But it is still not quite like that area around the KY River, & I’ve hunted in several states over the years & I’ve found the same to be true in those states & places I hunted. They all had particular parts of the county or region that held bigger bucks & more of them.
1000 acres for me. I can set it up the way that i want to. Food plots, pinch points, funnel, box blind on crops, cedar thickets, creek bottom. Stands set up for every wind direction. I can let the deer grow to 5 to 7 year's old.
Be careful, small parcels come with lots of inherent problems. Both inside, and outside your boundaries. I’ll take the bigger parcel every time. The stepping-stone approach to get there has merit, if you’re young enough!
100% agree,,, i was looking at 20 to 50 acre lots but they just didn't have as much potential to hold deer as a bigger parcel so i found a 240 acre parcel fully forested with creeks so im hoping to transform it into something that can hold deer
