Can Improve this property?
Whitetail Deer
property
property
If some one were to buy a property like this can it be improved to hold whitetail? North central Kansas. 126 acres
How long would it take? what would you do? can trees/cover be grown? switch grass enough?
property lines
property lines
Here is the satellite image
Im looking for a whitetail property…..and that one is missing a key factor, cover. Too bad it didnt inc that creek bottom.
I suppose you could plant some cover like Hedge but how long is it going to take for it to be effective?
Being totally honest, I don’t see opportunity there. Maybe in 10 years.
But you can always use a blind and bait but that may not be your cup of tea.
I’d rather have 20 acres of thick Kansas River bottom than 200 acres of Pasture in Kansas.
I have a 50 acre piece that is 100% brome pasture that has just a hedge row that runs E/W that I have passed on or killed a few nice ones every year. It's just a travel corridor no more or less and it works with a N or S wind. Good luck.
Another Alaskan buying in KS, thought we might be full by now.
Any bigger aerial photo of the surrounding area? If there’s some areas of thicker cover relatively close, it might have some potential, but as it is, I’m not seeing very much potential in it. But I don’t live in or hunt Kansas.
Can you put some "boots on the ground"? KS is different than most places. I see valleys and treeline's from the aerial, also what looks to be permanent water and a food source.
Don't be fooled by these "Whitetail" sales guys and their trail cam pics...go look it over, you'll be able to discern whether they are using or not it in short order.
Looks like an excellent property. I live and own land in Kansas and my advice would be to forget about planting trees. In that semi dry country, you will waste too much time, water, and money trying to get a stand of young trees to start whilst the deer whittle them down. You could own all the deer in that country by drilling stands of tall bluestem or switchgrass, especially on your hilltops, and leaving standing corn well into the rut. Stop grazing the pasture, and I'd bet money you could nab a buck out of that little row of trees on the side.
I agree with what Thornton said. I bought land in west central Ks in 2009 and planted lots of trees and shrubs. The deer killed all of them in a short period of time. I replanted a much smaller number of cedar trees, mostly for pheasant/quail cover in severe winters. I protected all those trees from the deer and watered them several times a summer. They have done well. I don’t think I could plant, protect and water enough trees to make deer habitat. I have lots of tall grass on my land that holds deer.
Zoomed out view
Zoomed out view
How long does it take for tall grass to grow?
In my yard it gets taller than I like in about a week. Then I have to mow it again.
If a nice size timber is next door it might be alright but i agree with Pat it would be better to have a smaller property filled with timber & cover. If you want to plant trees you can bend a 48" T x 16' L cattle panel in a 4' circle and nothing will touch it for years to come. We did it with dozens of apple trees and it worked. Take them off after 5years & put them on new trees
Create a thick "safety" area and never ever ever set foot in it. Deer will find it.
JohnMC, I love your sense of humor!
Most of the time it depends on as much whats around as whats on and the neighbors.I'm sure you could bring deer there if nothing else just by having food.NWSG is good but not the only answer.It would take 2-3 years to be really good and I would use switch.If you get alot of snow you could lose some cover also.If you planted all in corn and planted areas of switch and shrubs plus 1000 oaks in 10 years it would probably be a hell of a place.Depending on quality of soil how fast something grows.Don Higgins place is in the middle of ag and he keeps them on 130 acres of switch and a few trees.
First thing I would do is check the neighboring properties for outfitters; call landowners, drive around and look for tower blinds/corn feeders, etc. An area like that can be completely ruined for a landowner if it's surrounded by people dumping 1000lbs of corn a week and letting 20 people a year shoot young bucks near the fence lines.
On your zoomed out view there are a lot of pieces of property I'd be interested in. "Yours" is not one of them. But then again I have never hunted Kansas.
I get the feeling like if I was there definitely is a chance that there might be a buck using the piece you are looking at. But if I was investing and buying a piece - nope. All the good stuff is everywhere else.
I’d take the Kansas guys’ comments on this thread, to heart. They would have a better feel for the positive and negative aspects of the area, than most others, IMO. Totally different terrain than my hunting area.
So T-roy if I understand your statement you are saying you agree with Thorton whole heartily?
Would be a hard pass for me .
JohnMC,
Of course T-Roy does. Thornton is the Kansas deer expert and with this property being in Kansas his word is scripture.
Joking aside, Thornton does make some good points about the property.
I would say if this property is priced right it could be a good investment. If top dollar is being asked I'd look elsewhere for better habitat at top dollar.
Good luck wildwilderness.
Anyone planting cedars is going to get frowned at by us folks in the flint hills.
Quinn- the only reason I added my input is because this property resembles a 120 acre property I used to lease that was part of a bigger, fragmented ranch. That 120 reliably held a buck or two in the habitat and areas I mentioned above.
I wouldn’t hesitate. Enroll that field into CRP, save a few patches for plots and do some plum thicket/chokecherry/sumac rows for windbreaks. All the guys in the creek bottoms west and south will wonder where their bucks are during lockdown while they’re up on your hilltop. Probably have a couple resident coveys, few chickens and a stray rooster as well.
Also depends how you wanna hunt. Personally I love Bowhunting whitetails from trees. I hate ground blinds. That piece only has one corner with trees. If you like the ground blind game it looks like it’s certainly possible to get deer on the place. It’s all about enjoyment.
Have you been watching for years and this is the best piece that you’ve seen inside your budget? So many factors at play. But a little money can knock down trees and make plots. No amount of money can make you mature trees in reasonably short order.
Also depends how you wanna hunt. Personally I love Bowhunting whitetails from trees. I hate ground blinds. That piece only has one corner with trees. If you like the ground blind game it looks like it’s certainly possible to get deer on the place. It’s all about enjoyment.
Have you been watching for years and this is the best piece that you’ve seen inside your budget? So many factors at play. But a little money can knock down trees and make plots. No amount of money can make you mature trees in reasonably short order.
Quality stand Big blue stem grass and interior food, all u need on there, deer don’t need trees
That looks like a piece of property I would love to hunt. Those are the kind of pieces I can usually get permission on. Land like that rarely gets leased up in our area because it doesn't look like a picture perfect deer spot. I circled what looks like a thicket that I would about guarantee will have either a buck and hot doe bedded in it during the rut. Or a lone buck that took up refuge there when the rifles start going off.
The more i look at it the more it looks like tremendous amount of work.
Yes,you can improve any property’.If it’s being willed to you,start planting and have fun.If you are purchasing,there are a blue ton of better properties with better habitat,better entry/exit,better connecting creek bottoms and more protection from gun hunting neighbors.Your making it too difficult with that piece.
Below are several of the 12 bucks I saw in 1 day on my pasture permission while the neighbor sat in his creek bottom wondering where all the bucks went.
Like KsRancher said, I also hunt these areas because they rarely get leased. Nonresident don't have a clue how to hunt them without a rifle, residents won't touch them without a deerstand and cornpile and they don't want to pay per acre for large areas where the deer movement is unpredictable. I'd still say go for it because you do have trees and agriculture if you like to hunt that way. I've got a feel for my area, and I'm almost always right about when the bucks will visit these spots.
Couple more pasture bucks I sneaked up to 25 yards from.
Sure looks like tree branches in a few of those pics.
T-roy- first photo location. You are correct. Several large trees on the pond dam.
2nd and 3rd photo locations. There were 3 bucks in this area at the same time. This google earth photo is old, because every tree and shrub on this property was dozed or cut as proven by the tree on the hilltop that is felled next to the buck.
Last two: there were several trees with a creek, but certainly not a timbered creek bottom. The closest one is over a mile away.
I don’t think anyone is saying there wouldn’t be deer on the piece. Permission hunting or leasing is one thing to get a piece of property that has bucks out in the open and best capitalized on a few weeks a year.
The OP is looking at buying/investing serious money into a piece of property. If you’re going to buy something to own and work on year after year you’re going to want something that has deer 24/7/365 that also set up to be huntable.
No one is saying it isn’t possible to kill deer on that piece. It’s just not nearly as good as many many many other pieces. If you’re going to buy and commit, why take 15th best?
I killed an otherworldly buck this year on a permission piece that wouldn’t even be on my radar if I was buying a piece of property. And I still wouldn’t buy it if I had the money. Hunting a piece vs buying a piece for hunting are two very different decisions.
There are a lot better properties in KS. If you want to treestand hunt then look for forested river bottoms mixed with CRP and grain fields.
Not sure what kind of money they are asking, but in my area of Kansas, the prime hunting properties are bringing $250k to $300k for small 80 acre tracts. 2 weeks ago, a 60 acre tract by my country house brought $7k/acre. If he got this for cheap, ($2k acre) it would be well worth the time to improve it.
There is plenty good looking country all around. You will, without a doubt have many big bucks travel through there between the bigger timber. There is a lot you can do to improve it and get the bucks to stay there. You don't have to have tons of big timber. Deer are only 3' tall.
I'm not sure I would buy that piece if I were shopping, unless it was a really good deal. If I did own it, I would expect to shoot some good bucks off of it. It can be better in 5 years. Pretty good in 10 years and very good in 20.
Man what is with the double posts lately
I'm a Western guy, but these are the types of properties I've been hunting and scouting the past several years in western KS, NE, and IA and they're hit or miss.
There'll be sign. If you put up a camera on your few trees, you'll have some good pictures somewhere between Sept and Dec. But if you think you'll sit it for a week or two, it'll be hit or miss: No deer, or a giant. And if your experience is like mine, you'll learn where you should have sat as he walks by at 80-150 yards or blows out because you chose the wrong entrance.
I'd love to have that place if I had 20 years to develop it and was able to keep poachers out reliably with good internet for the cameras and reliable LE.
I'd rather have a smaller place with good bedding.
John…
A friend just unofficially listed his 130 acres in Jasper county Missouri if you’re interested? If so, PM me and I’ll give you the contact info. It’s 50/50 ag and mature trees (red and white oak) that has a good size creek that winds through it. It’s in SW Missouri just a few miles from Kansas. Again, he hasn’t officially listed it.
If I'm buying I would pass for a better set up. If it's in the family I'd be planting trees and doing CRP and food, lots of it. Doesn't have to look like a whitetail haven to hold some nice deer. I guess it just depends how old you are and if you want to do the work. You can always hunt public while growing your property.
Improving a property for whitetail hunting can be a fun and rewarding project. With 126 acres in north central Kansas, you definitely have some options! As for how long it will take, that depends on the property's condition and how much work you want to put in. It's always a good idea to consult with a local expert or wildlife biologist to get specific advice for your area. And if you ever want to check out some prime real estate, look into
the reserve residences far east in the far east - it's a great spot! Good luck with your project!
LBshooter I agree, "run what ya brung"
