Bought Some Hunting Land

[jbell1981]

Less than 2 weeks ago, the place I had been hunting 25 years had fallen apart and I had no clue where my boys and I were going to hunt. Well as of this weekend I am now the owner of 40 acres up near Warroad. The land needs some work, hasn't been used in 15+ years but it was the right price. Heading up this weekend to build a temporary bridge over a drainage ditch and start getting some trails cut. It's thick. I walked it to check it out and it needs lots of brush thinning. Most of the trees are aspen, birch and a few pines scattered around. 2500+ of state forest land across the road too. 

 

[ozzie]

Congrats!  Now get out there and start building memories!!  Jealous as can be

[leech~~]

Nice!  Don't forget to bring up some of these!   

 

Also whats the deal with the land usage at the arrows? You need to make sure your neighbors or you know where the lines are, or you may run into issues with each other.

 

Edited September 17, 2018 by leech~~

[Mike89]

congrats!!!

[jbell1981]

1 hour ago, leech~~ said:

Also whats the deal with the land usage at the arrows? You need to make sure your neighbors or you know where the lines are, or you may run into issues with each other. 

 

Me and that landowner have talked. I think we have an agreement for that area. Shouldn't be a big deal. Should it become one then I guess I'll have to get it surveyed and find out exactly where the property lines are. I assume the county GIS sites are pretty close though. 

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, jbell1981 said:

 

Me and that landowner have talked. I think we have an agreement for that area. Shouldn't be a big deal. Should it become one then I guess I'll have to get it surveyed and find out exactly where the property lines are. I assume the county GIS sites are pretty close though.

 

Dang, I would have never signed an agreement until I clearly knew where the lines where, the seller should have had it surveyed to know what the Heck he was selling people. People have gotten shot over them.   But, that's just me.  Good Luck.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2018 by leech~~

[jbell1981]

27 minutes ago, leech~~ said:

 

Dang, I would have never signed an agreement until I clearly knew where the lines where, the seller should have had it surveyed to know what the Heck he was selling people. People have gotten shot over them.   But, that's just me.  Good Luck.

 

 

 

 

It'll be fine, don't need to be a debbie downer.  The magenta rectangle is the only part in question. He's just a guy the same age as me with kids the same age as mine who want to hunt and hunt safely. I'll get it surveyed at some point, maybe sooner if he sells. But for now we have talked and are good. 

[Mike89]

I like that!!! go for it!!

[MJ1657]

Congrats on the land purchase.

 

No need to show up and shake things up by posting your land unless you run into issues. 

[Wanderer]

I do understand what Leech is getting at, but ya, gotta give the good neighbor approach a chance.  Good neighbors are priceless.

 

Congrats from me too!

Edited September 18, 2018 by Wanderer

[nofishfisherman]

You're doing things the right way in my opinion.  No reason two rational adults with the same goals can't come to a common sense agreement.  If things don't work out with the agreement then you can always get the line survey and then go from there.  

 

Its hard for us to get a sense for how big the issue could even be since we only see the small snapshot of the property and can't see much of the neighbors property or see how he could possibly be using that corner of your property. 

[Big Dave2]

12 hours ago, MJ1657 said:

No need to show up and shake things up by posting your land unless you run into issues. 

 

11 hours ago, Wanderer said:

 gotta give the good neighbor approach a chance.  Good neighbors are priceless.

 

8 minutes ago, nofishfisherman said:

You're doing things the right way in my opinion.  No reason two rational adults with the same goals can't come to a common sense agreement.  If things don't work out with the agreement then you can always get the line survey and then go from there.  

 

I agree with all of this.

[jbell1981]

1 hour ago, nofishfisherman said:

Its hard for us to get a sense for how big the issue could even be since we only see the small snapshot of the property and can't see much of the neighbors property or see how he could possibly be using that corner of your property. 

 

He owns a square 40 to the south. He has a stand (facing his field) and plowed field that encroaches my property (per the county GIS site) by 50ft. From old aerial photos, this strip has been plowed since at least 1991. Basically I'm letting him keep his stand and field where it is up to the left side of the magenta box. That strip offers little value to me. Even If I asked him to move it, i'm guessing it would go at the bottom left of the magenta box, rendering that strip still basically useless. 

[jbell1981]

Here is a larger map of the area. Mine are the (2) blue outlined 20's. The deal is done at this point and I'm happy but feel free to to say shoulda, woulda, coulda. 

[leech~~]

31 minutes ago, jbell1981 said:

Here is a larger map of the area. Mine are the (2) blue outlined 20's. The deal is done at this point and I'm happy but feel free to to say shoulda, woulda, coulda. 

 

Hey jbell1981.

I am really glad for you and I hope you didn't take my word of caution above about making sure where the propriety lines are in the wrong light? I was only thinking of you and your boys having a trouble free experience with your new future hunting land.  You stated that your old spot of 25 years went away which can be very frustrating to find a new place. I know as I have hunter public land all my life and have lost many of good spots to logging and other reasons.  Actually just last winter part of where we hunt now was logged off so we will be out scouting yet again.  

We can't afford buying our own land but if we did we would try to make sure we could always count on where we can have a stand to be in every opener without finding some Trespasser or relative of the neighbor who hunted a spot since no one else used the land the last 15 years. Many of land boundary line disputes happen every year it's just sad to find out there is an issue on Opening morning!  Good luck and have fun with your boys and your new place, wish we could do the same! 

[nofishfisherman]

I'd have probably done the same.  I assume his stand on your land is facing toward his property.  Not much is gained by forcing him to move his stand 50 feet.  It doesn't really gain you any more usable space from the looks of it.  I'd give the agreement a shot for a while and see how it goes.  Just remain friendly with him in case something in your original agreement needs to get changed.  

 

I'd probably still get the property surveyed and posted.  it looks like you've got more neighbors and if you're not local you don't know who else may think they can hunt your land while you're not there.  If the land has been vacant for awhile I would bet you'll find a stand or two or at least evidence others have been there in the past few years. Just tell the neighbor you're letting keep his stand that you're posting but that he's still cool to use the stand that way he doesn't get surprised by the signs early one morning.  Probably also want to work out a gentleman's agreement to help keep an eye on each others land while you're not there. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by nofishfisherman

[jbell1981]

25 minutes ago, nofishfisherman said:

I'd have probably done the same.  I assume his stand on your land is facing toward his property.  Not much is gained by forcing him to move his stand 50 feet.  It doesn't really gain you any more usable space from the looks of it.  I'd give the agreement a shot for a while and see how it goes.  Just remain friendly with him in case something in your original agreement needs to get changed.  

 

I'd probably still get the property surveyed and posted.  it looks like you've got more neighbors and if you're not local you don't know who else may think they can hunt your land while you're not there.  If the land has been vacant for awhile I would bet you'll find a stand or two or at least evidence others have been there in the past few years. Just tell the neighbor you're letting keep his stand that you're posting but that he's still cool to use the stand that way he doesn't get surprised by the signs early one morning.  Probably also want to work out a gentleman's agreement to help keep an eye on each others land while you're not there. 

 

I will get it surveyed at some point, just not a high priority just yet. I'll just post the side along the road for now and maybe the east side. He lives there year round and told me he has never seen anyone or heard shots on the 30 south of me and the 40 north of me. When I walked the property, I found 3 stands, all 3 belonged to the guy I have been talking to. The one he uses, an old ladder stand he is taking down and an old permanent that is rotted out. 

[nofishfisherman]

Sounds like a good neighbor to get to know if he's going to be around all the time.  

[jbell1981]

1 minute ago, nofishfisherman said:

Sounds like a good neighbor to get to know if he's going to be around all the time.  

 

Kind of why I want to work with him rather than just [PoorWordUsage] him off. 

[jbell1981]

Had a semi-productive weekend despite being cold and rainy most of the time. 

 

Had a good talk with the neighbor. Gave me lots of tips for the area and shot the breeze for a while. Even though I have repeatedly told him he doesn't need to, he is going to move his stand. Also, found out the 2 parcels south of me have also recently sold, so there may be a bunch of newbies in the area. 

 

A border patrol officer stopped by and chatted with us for a while. He seemed like great guy and resource for the area. He has actually hunted the land I bought in the past and his son took a bear out of there last year. 

 

We got a bridge built. Probably just a temporary solution. Our power poles that we brought up were a little short to make it perfect but it will do it's purpose for now.  

 

Seen 6 deer (or maybe the same group of 3, twice). Even found some bear droppings. 

 

Didn't get much for trails in due to the wet weather but plan to head up again next weekend. 

 

This is looking down the clearing to the east, my property. 

 

Looking to the south. Property line is at the posted sign. Was sitting in this old stand for a while watching deer browse the clearing. 

Edited September 24, 2018 by jbell1981

[Jmnhunter]

Nice! get any cams up there? 

[ClearwaterAlaskaOutfitters]

Congrats. It looks like a perfect location for hunting covered with trees.