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How many farms/properties do you hunt?

deerhunter93

deerhunter93

Well-Known Member
I've always been curious as to how many properties people have access to hunt and what the ratio was to public/private/lease/own. What kind of access do you have? How many properties can you hunt? And how many of those properties do you actually hunt each year?

Me personally:

2 public pieces - one I have hunted a long time and this will be my first year hunting the other.

2 permission farms - I haven't deer hunted either in a few years because other guys hunt them but I shot a turkey on one of them this past spring. One of them I don't know the other hunters and the other property was near where I went to college s0 when I was a senior I told a few underclassmen who to talk to and to mention my name. They both shot bucks off of it last year so it's cool to see their success. I still have permission to hunt it but it's fairly far away and I'll let those guys keep hunting it.

2 urban city hunt properties - I have three properties that I do some urban doe management hunting on (two are adjacent to each other) but I moved further away this summer so I probably wont hunt those a whole lot this fall.

I have hunted with a couple buddies on their farms but that is about one weekend every other year.
 
For bow season I pretty much hunt two properties. 1 is owned by a good friends grandpa and my brother started hunting it probably 15 years ago. My brother doesn't bow hunt anymore so I have sole access to it. The second property I just gained access to in 2015. It's 160 acres of mixed CRP/crop/timber that is owned by an out of state guy. He grew up with my parents, so there's somewhat of a relationship there. He had a friend that lived nearby take care of the farm for him (watch for tresspassors, etc) in exchange for hunting rights. Over the course of maybe 5 years previous to 2015, I had asked him for permission to shed hunt and coyote hunt it so he knew I had a desire. Then one day out of the blue I get a message from him saying his friend took a job in Nebraska and he wanted to know if I would take over the position of watching over the land in exchange for hunting rights. ChaChing!

I have stands set up on two other properties that I may hunt once or twice a year. Beyond those 4, I could hunt/get permission on quite a few other places, but as of now I kind of enjoy keying in on just a couple of properties. Heck, I have a hard enough time figuring out where to hunt with just the two main properties much less expanding that number to 5 or 6!

During muzzleloader season, we regularly hunt about 6 different properties (a couple are adjoining).
 
I have access to 8 properties, all private. Range from 250 acres down to 35 have hunted most of them since I was pretty young, a couple I just recently gained access too. many many many hours over the years of learning farm chores :)
 
over the years it has ranged from public to private - but most years have been on 2-3 different properties. Once I got into private parcels that allowed food plot work, it shrunk the number of parcels since I could only get the plot work done on about 2 separate parcels since I only have small ATV equipment.
 
3 private for me also, but would not have a problem going to the public lands if needed.
 
7 private, 3 owned, 3 leased, 1 permission and I do still hunt some public. Really cuts down on pressure. I don't hunt any given stand more than a couple times a year. Im maxed out for time and likely to cut back and consolidating moving forward
 
6 in MN, 1 in Iowa

Owned, with one lease (primarily for pheasant) but has a few deer on it.

Have a friend in ND, who owns quite a bit of land, we exchange hunts, he hunts my IA farm--we trade off.
 
was limited to public for the past 5 years since moving to a new area, but just picked up permission for a very small (10 acre) property that has not been hunted to the landowner's knowledge (legally). It's close to home and bowhunting only, should be no problem to shoot a couple does on at least
 
I have permission on 2 private, totaling less than 80 acres. I also hunt one public place close to home. There is another public place that I would like to hunt as I have found several very nice sheds on, but just haven't figured out how the heck I would hunt the place, its weird.

I did have permission on two other private properties, both over 1,000 acres each, but have lost both due to one losing the connection due to the farm hand I knew changing jobs and the other being sold. My avatar pic is from the place that sold and I have a shed off of that buck. Both of the big places I lost had some studs, but was never able to connect. Had permission on both when I was early on in my bowhunting career.
 
4 that I own. 2 that i mainly hunt. Love those 2 as much as a guy could. Probably largely due to the process of going from nothing to having them. And years of work improving them with a lot of work!!!
Started from horribly over-run and decimated public and wide open crowded permission ground.... to each year got better & better until finally I owned what I hunt. I did enjoy things about every single year (yes, with a lot of frustrating moments in there as well!! ;) ) & im glad I started with the over-run ground i did. Shaped my hunting skills and my outlook on what good & bad management look like and the reasons why.

Now I have room to bring some select friends and kids and manage it the way that I feel is best for land, herd, habitat and peace & quiet. Lot of work but rewarding & plans are to leave to my kids 10x better than I found it and teach them to do the same.

Fun stuff. Enjoy the journey and hunt guys. Whether it's public or hiking back in the middle of no where. Every stage of hunting & any type of land/hunting has its challenges, lessons & rewards. I enjoyed the start on public land and every year in between to owning the farms I wanted for many years. Great memories since day #1 no Matter where I was hunting.
 
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One private, and 3-4 public areas. On the private it's probably 1000 acres with 8 other guys hunting it.
I've found that on both the public and private, that most of the guys that hunt it really don't hunt it all that often and they hunt pretty lazy as far as wind, access, scouting and educating deer. I actually had bigger deer to hunt on public last year.
 
I used to have permission on a dozen or so cool properties, but fatherhood and family life can act as a temperance, and just maintaining relationships with that many landowners is a LOT of work. Now I mainly focus on 2 private chunks, with some random hunts on family ground thrown in.
 
I hunt 1 property in IL that we are fortunate enough to own

Hunt 7 pieces in Indiana that are all private access. Fortunate enough to have made friends with some great landowners that allow us to access and hunt some phenomenal ground

With so many properties I really lean on cameras to help me determine which farms to hunt.
 
I have access to 3 private pieces. Two are family-owned and I hunt those the most. The other is rented pasture and I don't hunt it a lot, once or twice a season (bow and shotgun). If I go with a group during shotgun, I can access a few other pieces. I prefer hunting alone or with my brother, so usually just hunt the 3 pieces.

And just to be "that guy", I technically have access to all public hunting ground in Iowa with my Iowa hunting license. :D But seriously, I've checked out a few public areas, but only hunted one during shotgun season several years ago.
 
1 private here in Missouri.
Have some preference points saved up for Iowa, so I might try to draw next year and look at some public places. Have done some aerial scouting of those places, but I'm sure other public hunters have done that as well. So, I'm sure it will take some time walking them to really find out.
 
IOWA:
Lease 4 farms about 500 acres
Permission on another 1700 acres
-this will be my last year hunting as a resident since we moved to Illinois at the beginning of August. So I may not lease as much moving forward.

Illinois:
Own a small farm 20 arcres...
Permission on apx 1500 acres
Lease two Farms

Missouri:
Permission on about 1000 acres.

Ohio:
thinking about going in on a good lease in Ohio


I have more land than I have time to hunt. :) Good problem to have I guess :)
 
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