Hi all - quick intro here. I am from PA and currently under contract on my first farm in Iowa. I am curious whats thoughts are on a good time to reach out and introduce myself to the neighbors? With onX and a little googling, facebook etc. i was able to find contact info for a couple of them. None of them are local to their farms and with me being out of state, doubt our paths would just cross while at the farm sometime. Would ya'll wait til after closing or dont see a harm in reaching out now that under contract? Looking forward to learning tons and enjoying the process with this first one!
CottonwoodCanyon
PMA Member
I'd say get everything squared away with the purchase first. Once everything is official, then go for it. Congratulations on the new farm!
Daver
PMA Member
Personally, I would wait until after closing, but that's just me. Most neighbors would be happy to get to know other neighbors in my experience and hopefully share info and try to establish goals, etc. We have had good to very good success with this over the years. I will say though that you should be prepared to hear some different perspectives on what a "big buck" truly is and/or be prepared to learn that some people have a harder time passing bucks than others, ahem.
I am not trying to slam anyone, but sometimes "new to Iowa" folks will get all googly eyed over what is a big buck to them and crack it the first chance that they get. These are commonly 3 to 4 year olds in the 140" to 160" range and are EXACTLY the ones not to shoot if you truly want REAL big bucks.
Neighborly conversations can get interesting when people agree to pass certain age class bucks and then someone actually shoots one, or more, of said class of bucks because, "It's the biggest buck I have ever shot...", or "I know we weren't going to shoot that one, but tell that to my son, buddy, self...etc.", or "I got all shaky and my instincts took over...", or "I only draw a tag every 4 years and it was the 2nd biggest one we had on cam and I couldn't pass him...". I could keep on going with "hypotheticals"
but the point is...in my experience, shooting the hi po 3 and 4 year olds, often greatly aided by cell cam surveillance, is the main limiter on true giants in a given neighborhood. Now then, EHD in the area trumps all of these scenarios, but is mainly out of our control.
There are many dynamics to think about, but it is best if the neighbors know each other and work together as much as possible.
I am not trying to slam anyone, but sometimes "new to Iowa" folks will get all googly eyed over what is a big buck to them and crack it the first chance that they get. These are commonly 3 to 4 year olds in the 140" to 160" range and are EXACTLY the ones not to shoot if you truly want REAL big bucks.
Neighborly conversations can get interesting when people agree to pass certain age class bucks and then someone actually shoots one, or more, of said class of bucks because, "It's the biggest buck I have ever shot...", or "I know we weren't going to shoot that one, but tell that to my son, buddy, self...etc.", or "I got all shaky and my instincts took over...", or "I only draw a tag every 4 years and it was the 2nd biggest one we had on cam and I couldn't pass him...". I could keep on going with "hypotheticals"
but the point is...in my experience, shooting the hi po 3 and 4 year olds, often greatly aided by cell cam surveillance, is the main limiter on true giants in a given neighborhood. Now then, EHD in the area trumps all of these scenarios, but is mainly out of our control.There are many dynamics to think about, but it is best if the neighbors know each other and work together as much as possible.