5 Must Have Features of a Hunting Farm

You want to buy a farm and your passion is deer hunting… corn and beans don’t excite you unless its late season and they are still in the field!  I love a good hunting farm just as good as the next guy but I’ve found that almost all buyers overlook the most important features in a farm they want to buy for their hunting lifestyle.  Income is always a huge factor in a buyer purchase but how does that relate to hunting?  It doesn’t, it just helps you pay the bills and that’s pretty important but here are 5 “must have” features of a hunting farm that you really should be looking for when buying recreation property.

1.  South Facing Hillsides- Hey if you love deer hunting you also love shed hunting and where are you going to find deer in the winter time?  Don’t overlook the importance of how the sunlight hits the property you are buying because even if you have found the perfect farm that looks beautiful to you in the Summer or Fall it may not fullfil your desire in the Winter and Spring.  Certainly its impossible to find a farm that has all south facing hillsides but you can maximize it in some locations.  The buyer looking for a 40 acre property may only have one hillside, make sure its not north facing.

2. Terrain Features.  I’ve shown many farms to many buyers and they are often more impressed with the view than they are the surface of the land.  I understand that because its not hard for me to fall in love with a farm either!  They are all beautiful things to me but to get the best deer hunting farm it takes research and discipline to find the “right” one.  2 terrain features that I have often written and spoken about are convergence points and saddles.  A convergence point looks like a circular shape on a topo map while a saddle looks like an H or an X on a topo map.  The reason these are important is because they present high opportunity locations, more deer move through these features than any other part of the land.  Its a natural point where many trails will come together.  A saddle in the timber can be a magical place during deer hunting season and while they are not rare they don’t exist on every farm.  Convergence points make great food plot locations that will fill up with deer every time its feeding time and present a myriad of stand site locations for different winds.

3.  Water-  Water is an incredibly important element in a deer’s life and while some properties may not have it, most have some way to collect it by installing a new berm or digging a hole.  Water is just as important as food and a property will not have the holding power it should without water.  It doesn’t have to be a big pond, honestly mud puddles are just as good a water source as a pond is but make sure you will have some way to provide a supply of water.

4. No Road Frontage- Lets face it, when you buy a property with road frontage a portion of the property is not effective hunting, you lose that entire portion of the property that is near the road.  Not to say that a stand close to a road can’t be effective but I can’t stand to sit and watch cars go by.  I don’t like the risk of people on a road being able to look in and shoot at deer from the road… plain and simple I’m not fond of road frontage or as little of it as possible.  Its hard to find properties without road frontage, located on a dead end road but when you find them I count it in my top 5 “must have” features.  Make every acre count!  One thing that is worth mentioning here is that some no road frontage properties will often have access by easements, buyers are not always fond of easement access and I honestly do not 100% understand why.  I do get that neighbors sometimes can be ….. oh say difficult so I understand that aspect of easement access but to be honest I’ve never had an issue accessing even one property that had a legal solid easement to it.  You should always have an attorney review any easement you are considering purchasing, I am not an easement expert but a lawyer can tell you if you have a solid legal easement that gives you 100% access all of the time.

5.  Good Dirt- Absolutely overlooked 100% of the time and so easy to find.  If you buy hunting land in Iowa you’ll probably end up with good dirt by default, bu there are cases where you won’t! If you are looking to build health deer, grow big antlers and a property that provides you the experience you want to achieve look first to the foundation of the property… the dirt.  Deer grown on high calcium soils will absolutely grow bigger, there is no argument when you research where the largest deer come from they come from counties with high calcium content soils.  Realize that food plots that are designed to provide food for deer are much more than just food, those plants are a vehicle that transfers nutrients from the soil to the deer.  A plant is a carrier of the nutrients.  Plants are the most natural way to transfer nutrients to a deer.  You can buy many things in a bag but nothing will ever be more effective than mother nature.  I’ll be covering this in a few blog posts later on but dirt is the absolute foundation of growing big deer and the secret I don’t think many people really understand.  Good dirt is a “must have”

There you have it my top 5 must haves in no particular order.  To get all 5 in one place is not impossible but to get at least 3 of them and you are building a great property that is not only going to provide the experience you want but its going to be a great investment for years down the road when you decide to sell or upgrade to a larger property.  When you are buying hunting land you have to think “naturally”  you have to think like a deer, you have to be part scientist, part farmer, part cattleman, part biologist and bring together all of the elements that will maximize your property, your experience and your investment.  Happy hunting, be safe and be sure to share your photos with us when you are successful.

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Buying Recreational Land, iowa hunting land, QDMA, Whitetail Properties