Buy hunting land or save for hunting trips?

[BLACKJACK]

40 acres of land adjoining my place recently came up for sale. It’s typical of land in this area, 20 acres of tillable, about 7 acres of cattail swamp, some tree lines and marginal land. I can get some assistance from the Fish and Wildlife service if I give them an easement to put more water in the cattail swamp and restore the upland but its still going to cost me $20,000 down and $500 a month for the next 10-15 years.

Pro of buying the land is that it would be a nice spot to cruise thru for pheasant hunting, I could put up a couple of deer stands, me buying it keeps some farmer from buying it and ripping out all the trees and draining the wetland (I’d be bummed!!!), it also keeps a developer from putting 3-4 houses on it. It would also be a good investment in the long run; land continues to shoot up in price.

Cons of buying the land is that it’s a lot of money, that $6000 a year would buy some nice guided hunting trips and/or cruises or a 4 wheeler or bigger fish house.

I’m torn – more land or more toys? Is it fair to my wife to buy more hunting land when she doesn’t hunt? But its not every day that you get the chance to buy the property next door! Have any of you ever regretted buying hunting land? What would you do?

[Northland Sportsman]

I would look into buying the land. I did this last year when the option for additional 10 acres next to me became available. I look at it as a long time investment in property I can enjoy all year from my doorstep. It opened up some additional hunting area and buffer from possible development by someone else as you mentioned. You can always plan a hunting trip, but they don't make land anymore, especially next door. Hope it works out for you.

[Scott K]

I would buy the land, it amybe $6000 a yr, but in 15 yrs if you want to sell it, you can , with a profit Im sure. Hunting trips can still be planned, maybe not as many or as far. If you pass it up and a developer comes in and a bunch a yahoos move in, your going to wish you would have bought it. My .002

[Harmonica Bear]

as long as it doesn't put you in a financial hardship, I'd buy it without a doubt. We had the oppurtunity to buy an additional adjacent 40 at our shack up at Lake of the Woods maybe 10-15 years ago. It was one of our groups better decisions. Things can change. We used to have zero other hunters by us and that isn't the case now. And as you stated, the value goes up. 10 years from now you might feel pretty good about the price you pay today. The price we paid for our 2nd 40 is almost laughable at today's prices.

[Mark Christianson]

Blackjack,

Your wife may not reap the benefits of more hunting land, but down the road the increase in value if you ever did sell would be shared with her. You could look at it no different than putting away money for retirement.

And if you are worried about a developer coming in on it, that tells me the value could go through the roof.

40 acres adjacent to where I live sold for $675,000 a couple years ago. Now its houses...

Not saying you will get $675,000, but you wont lose money in the end, thats for certain.

[tealitup]

If you have a friend, brother or hunting partner... buy it together - split the cost

[Mark Christianson]

Sometimes thats not the best option either.

My Dad and brother own their land together. Lets just say equity in who is doing what on the property is skewed enormously...... and the benefits coming off the property are shared equally.....

Also, if you go with someone else on a property, you need to come to terms on what may happen if one person wants out of it.

Shared ownership needs to be carefully laid out.

[Ely Lake Expert]

I'm with everyone else, if its within budget I think you should buy the land. It's worth it short and long term.

[CanOCorn]

If you have kids or plan on having kids... buy it!!!!!!!!

[WaveWacker]

The only possible regrets that you will have down the road is that you had the opportunity to buy it and you didn't. One possibility is to find out if it has a building eligibility. You could sell off a building site if it wasn't going to screw up any other plans of yours and try to re-coop some of the costs.

Instead of working with the F&WS, first I'd go into the Soil and Water Conservation District office and discuss any eligible lands for CRP (actually probably would be the CCRP program as there is no current sign up for general CRP). This will give you an annual payment rate for the eligible areas. These will be planted into native grasses.

[bigbucks]

Don't strap yourself so tight to put yourself in big financial risk, but if it's something feasable buy it. I don't think you'll regret it. I tried to buy the piece next to me when I built & it had just sold, now I have a neighbor. They're great neighbors, but I still would rather have planted trees there & had no neighbor. Now I will always have a neighbor.

[ortonville]

my thoughts on buying land is if you can afford it got for it.there is not going to be anymore made.but it does seem a little steep 20,000 down and 6,000 for 20 years. thats high even for bigstone county

[DigitalFisherman]

We passed on 20 acres adjacent to our 20 about 10 years ago. Now that 20 has been divided into three lots… we used to have the only place within a mile; now there are three other places within shouting distance. Buy the land, you wont regret it.

[nitroant]

Regret what you did not what you didn't do. In this case if you do regret what you did you can always sell it. If you can afford it, buy it.Your wife will reap the reward of a happier husband!!!!

[chucker34]

Blackjack. I am in your area if you remember and I know that land only increases in price and it is getting ridiculous in our county. If you can afford and want to, definitely position it to your wife as an investment! Perhaps there's ways she can utilize it to. Make some walking paths and areas for her to garden or whatever she likes to do. Buy her a motor cross bike. Whatever.

[nofishfisherman]

My guess is that it will be easier to talk your wife into buying the land once then having to convince her every time you want to take a hunting trip.

If you spend $1000 on a hunting trip that money is gone, if you spend $1000 on land it will probably turn into $1500 or $2000 when you sell it.

[MOBY RICHARD*]

The only thing you want to investigate on the Assistance is, if the DNR/Government, gets involved in your water, or otherwise, will it open a public right of use of any kind, now or in the future??? Or what types of restrictions for your use, or a future owner or dividing???

Also DNR will want rights to trespass, to check on, and work on their investment.

A friend of mine sold some small water rights, and now the public can get into the heart of his acreage, day or night, 24 hours, 366.

Read the fine print carefully!!! It is even better to have a Legal-Eagle look it over before you sign.

MN DNR can no longer force anything through Emminent Domain, so do not be intimidated if you feel pressure.

Weigh the long term value/detriment of selling some of your rights.

Otherwise if the price is in line, and you really want the property...Buy-Buy-Buy, or it will go Bye-Bye, and you will probably wish you had.

The only thing worse than wishing you had bought, is wishing you had not sold!

[Powerstroke]

Blackjack, I have to agree with everyone. If you can afford it, then I believe its an easy decision. Its always ahrd to commit a large chunk of money to something, especially land which won't be as great as adventure and excitement of hunting trips, but if you do decide its not for you, you can always sell it. I don't know where you are at, but if that land is going for $3000/ac or more then I would firmly believe it will continue to go up.

Definately check into govt programs that are out there. There are MANY. FInd the ones that fit you the best and enroll. There is a lot of money being given to people to NOT develop land. It really helps with the cost of owning it. Even if you could offset the cost of the taxes that would be helpful.

[jlm]

I guess I am the only one to disagree ....kind of! Land is a funny animal, everyone thinks it s such a great investment, and in some cases it really is! However, if you pay too much to start, it will take a long time to get back the reward. And lets face it, if you buy it, the odds are that you will hang on to it until you die. I would not consider it an investment. Remember, millions of acres of CRP are coming out of contract over the next few years and many of those acres will not go back in(a lot of land will be for sale and this will also impact rent prices). Given that and the fact that land is about at the cusp of ordinary affordability (where the average person can afford it), it is a risk to buy soley on the opportunity to invest. On the other hand, if you are buying it to enjoy and keep in your family...that is another story. If it will provide opportunity to relax and enjoy something....there really is no price tag. My vote would be if you plan to buy it to enjoy it and keep, go for it. If you plan to buy it to make a buck, you might get stuck. Housing markets are an example of this. Think 1980's regarding land price, it can and does drop. It will again and soon in my opinion. If this will improve the quality of your life, spend the money and do it now...you only live once! Good luck!

[BLACKJACK]

Thanks guys for the advice. I've decided to go for it, been making lots of calls to bankers, lawyers, and tax guys and running the numbers thru a spreadsheet. Its not every day you get a chance to buy the land next door!! But then every morning I see my last issue of Bowhunter where the editor had an article about bowhunting in Africa 'just for the fun of it' as he put it. It would be a grand adventure!! I've asked my wife to read the article, kind of throwing the bait out there. But buying this land gets me something that we can enjoy 365 days a year for many years vrs a 21 day trip.

[tealitup]

Great decision Blackjack. Maybe we can have a FM break in of your new property

I wish you luck and enjoyment in your new purchase!

[chucker34]

Good deal blackjack. It's an exciting prospect to know you have or could create prime whitetail habitat in your own backyard.

[Boar]

Good for you blackjack, if you can afford it by yourself, great! My dad owns an 80 of riverbottom with four other brothers an at times there is no consideration for others who might be doing some early hunting or bow hunting, but we tolerate each other cause were family, but it's frustrating at time when ya put in some hard work for bear or scouting deer an someone just blasts up an strts cutting trails an stuff, but there helping in the long run. So the less fingers in the pie the better. Plus land can be a great inherentence for upcoming blackjack jr's. My wife an I are seriously looking into buying something up north na hopefully pay it off before we die off to leave as a security trust for future lil' boars. Good luck boar

[luckey]

BLACKJACK

I own hunting land and since the first purchase, I have twice added additonal adjoining land. I am currently working on another addition. My wife says, you don't need any more land. I agree, I don't NEED any more, but I WANT more. I still regret not buying an adjoining piece about 12 years ago. My advise at this time would be to buy it and worry about what to do later. I bet for every 100 people you find that say "I wish I would have bought that" you may find one that says "I wish I would not have bought that land".

Not that owning land is always a walk in the park, but you probably know that since it sounds like you currently own land. In that case, it's a no brainer, buy it and then you can decided later if you want to keep it. If you don't, you cannot control what happens next door. Remember, you probably can always buy land, but you do not always have the opportunity to buy land connected to yours.