Purchasing hunting land

[BryanL]

Anybody have a great source for buying hunting land. Looking at 20+ acres ( would actually be good with 10-20 if right situation) of solid woods preferably within 90 miles of St. Paul. Have done some searching but am coming up short for just what I want. Looking to stay under $40,000, so this might be a pipe dream.

[Dave S]

It's farther than you want to drive but there almost always seems to be DNR or Sheriff's auctions up north where you could pick up hunting land within your budget. Within 90 miles of St. Paul, well, pipe dream is about right. You're looking at $6000-$8,000 per acre.

[knoppers]

if you push it out to say 150 miles, you can get 40 acres, with some low land mixed in for about 40k.

[sportfish]

Look around Mille Lacs and Morrison county . You can still find land in that $900-1500 a acre but most of the time the 10-20 acres are as much as a 40 acre piece . My in laws have a 40 listed for 65,000. If you look around you will find some thing .

[Powerstroke]

You're looking for an unconventional piece of land (10-30 acres of woods) at a pretty low price and near the cities.

To find something like that you're going to have to look through every land for sale HSOforum and listing. After that you'll need to call around to the different towns and townships and gas stations and co-op's to see if someone knows someone who's looking to sell a piece of their land.

The hardest part will be deciding between lowland or higher prices. You can have what you want, but you will likely pay close to double what you want. Good luck. Land prices have been heading back up again and anything tillable will charge a premium.

I would say look farther out.

[hockeybc69]

Last week we had 120 acres sold next to us for $1900 per acre.... Its been pastured for years.

This is east of Fergus Falls. So about 150 miles from St Paul.

Less than 40 acres of total woods on it. Well I use the term woods very loosely due to the fact of the severe over grazing by cattle for years.

I about crapped my pants when I heard what it went for.

[Lunker]

Not a pipe dream. Look around the carlton\kettle river \ floodwood \ moose lake area. Within the mileage you mentioned, acreage can be found for sub 1000 per acre

[NWKR]

Not a pipe dream. Look around the carlton\kettle river \ floodwood \ moose lake area. Within the mileage you mentioned, acreage can be found for sub 1000 per acre

Yup, look in those areas, you may end up going 120 miles from St. Paul to get to some of it. $1,000 an acre for 40 acres should get a lot of hard land as well (maybe 75%). You will have to deal with bears and wolves for deer hunting, but with the right place you could hunt deer, turkeys and grouse. Just hope that no wolves came through in the couple days before season because deer will clear out of an area for a 2-3 days.

[Lunker]

Nwkr, very true. Last year the wolves moved in and the whole archery season was devoid of deer. This year we seem to have just one loaner roaming the property. But the area is definitely capable of holding good numbers of deer as seen in the past, but right now things are tough. But the idea is 'buy low' I believe when it comes to investments, haha. Sitting in the stand right now on our farm in Carlton county. Sure, owning a nice chunkbof property in se Mn or sw Wi would be great, but not realistic for us. Owning 160 here with some ag and an older farmstead was. And we still stayed under that mentioned per acre cost

[brittman]

Deer movement with wolves is subtle. They live with them year around. I believe they go swampy, but do not stray that far.

I have noticed that in many areas of MN, the deer go mainly nocturnal once their summer red coat goes gray. This is an August to September trasition validated by our trail cams. Warm fall temperatures, leaf cover gone, not sure what the driving force is.

If you hunt true ag land woods the deer tend to move more and when they do move they tend to pass through or follow natural funnels. Move to northwoods (aka Pine, Carlton, Aikin and further north) and the cover is much more continuos ... resulting in patterning deer that much more difficult.

[brittman]

Sitting in the stand right now on our farm in Carlton county.

Three years ago there was little if no signal - now it is all bars and 4G. Better signal in rural Carlton County than Washington County.

[BryanL]

Thanks for all the input. Going to check some properties in Pine county out this weekend. Will keep people updated.

[leech~~]

If you can only afford to buy 10-20 acres I would look to try and buy some that is backed up to some state or Fed land. Then if you build a little hunting shack on it you can still branch out and hunt the land around you. Good luck on your dream!

[ESSGuy]

My dad bought 20 acres that abuts Nemadji forest in 1998.bought from an aquantaince for $8,000.00. Total bargain.we built a cabin in 2003. We walk out the door, go 50 yards and we have thousands of acres to hunt. This forest is tough to hunt with the wolves and bears, but we have gotten some nice bucks. We used to hunt in Grand Marais,bigger deer and easier hunting there. Nemadji forest is just plain tough.

[Meat-Run]

BryanL

I just sent you a PM please give me a call I think I have something you're looking for.

Meat Run

[gurkster]

If you can come up a little in price I know of 32 acres for sale in Rush City/Rock Creek area. Close to the river, bear, deer, waterfowl, turkey, grouse and pheasant are all in the area (pics of all on the property at different times). Lots of public land close by too. Land is mixed high/low with a couple of duck ponds on it.

[BryanL]

If you can come up a little in price I know of 32 acres for sale in Rush City/Rock Creek area. Close to the river, bear, deer, waterfowl, turkey, grouse and pheasant are all in the area (pics of all on the property at different times). Lots of public land close by too. Land is mixed high/low with a couple of duck ponds on it.

How much more are you talking? Feel free to PM me. I looked at some places today and did like one of them. I was surprised to see it was actually in Kanabac county. I'm not sure what rules are there for building cabins, in Pine county there are no building permits so I wasn't too worried. Read something online you structure has to be over 800 sq feet in Kanabac. Not interested in that so I hope I'm reading it wrong.

[ClownColor]

Land Bin . com...I look all the time and plenty of land 10-40 acres for $40k or less. Most seems to be near moose lake, carlton, dulth area but have seen some near Aitkin as well.

[gurkster]

BrianL - I PMed you. Let me know if you didn't get it. FYI - A way around the minimum cabin size is to put a trailer or "fish-house" on the land. No minimum size and helps save in taxes as they are not a fixed structure they are mobile or being stored on the land. Now you may store your fish house there for many years, or not move your trailer ever.

[BryanL]

BrianL - I PMed you. Let me know if you didn't get it. FYI - A way around the minimum cabin size is to put a trailer or "fish-house" on the land. No minimum size and helps save in taxes as they are not a fixed structure they are mobile or being stored on the land. Now you may store your fish house there for many years, or not move your trailer ever.

Thanks for the pm and the tip on cabins. Have an offer in right now I'm waiting to hear back on.

[BryanL]

Purchase offer has been accepted. I was able to find a patch of land just under 20 acres that I am really happy with. Mostly wooded and flat. Little wet but not swampy with lots of big mature oaks. Some open area but mostly wooded. The big pluses are it is on a decent gravel road with a great driveway as well as a really good building sight with water and electric all ready in. It is also right across the road from State Forest land. I was also able to stay under my budget. All in all pretty happy with the whole thing. Scheduled to close the day before deer opener. Had not planned on hunting it this year...but maybe now. I can get there from my house in St. Paul in an hour and 20 minutes. Thanks for all the help and tips!Now I need to figure out a cabin option. Awful tempted to get a prefab portable cabin delivered. For the price it seems difficult to beat.

[gurkster]

Congrats - I am excited for you. It sounds like my old place, only mine bordered tax forfeit land rather than state forest. If you haven't done this you may want to ask the seller if you can get in it now and scout it and setup stands, etc for deer season, assuming you have a closing date already. When I bought my land the owner let me setup and deer hunt the land before I bought it, as I closed after deer season. ENJOY!!

[gurkster]

Congrats - I am excited for you. It sounds like my old place, only mine bordered tax forfeit land rather than state forest. If you haven't done this you may want to ask the seller if you can get in it now and scout it and setup stands, etc for deer season, assuming you have a closing date already. When I bought my land the owner let me setup and deer hunt the land before I bought it, as I closed after deer season. ENJOY!!

[CaptainMusky]

Awesome Congrats! Something you can enjoy for many years!

[BryanL]

Thanks guys! I am hoping the current owner is willing to let me put a few ladder stands up and allow access. I am pretty excited to get started on making it my place and getting it the way I want it.