Gonna miss Iowa
Whitetail Deer
Hey Guys, as some of you may know I own a farm in Iowa. Im a non resident but I fell in love with the idea of buying a farm in the whitetail Mecca. I came to Iowa on the recommendation of Lou (City Hunter) May he Rest in Peace. He grew up in the Bronx and went to school with my Uncles and he owned a farm out there for a number of years.
I would see the bucks from his trail cameras and drool. Anyhow I became good friends with my real estate agent Steve. He is another fellow bowsiter and goes by the handle ( Hans1). He helped make this place what it is today. 214 acres of southern Iowa paradise approx. 1 mile from where Lou's old farm was.
I purchased this place with every intention of eventually someday retiring and moving out to live on the place. I have some unique investment opportunities that came up back home and I would be doing my kids a great disservice if I chose hunting over them.
With all that being said if anyone is in the market for a truly special place in southern Iowa with proven big buck history please reach out. It would be great to have it stay in the Bowsite family. Maybe Steve Can chime in and help with any questions.
Sounds awesome, wish I could afford it. What's your price?
Grunter. That's funny. Can't afford it before knowing the price. You might be a negotiator in real life !!
Tough decision Leo-------->
Zone 5 correct? Lou had me start building points to go hunt his farm back in the day but he didn't renew his lease and I ended up going solo after all and had a great time on Public Ground.
I hope it all plays out for ya man,
Robb
Yep it’s in Zone 5 in a small town called Mystic. Here’s a picture from last night that came through on the cell camera
Hey guys here is the listing.
Hey Robb
Lou’ place was just on the other side of the tracks from me. Maybe a mile or so away. I have been making several trips a year out there even when I didn’t have a tag just to work on the place. I really love it out there. Some of the nicest and most helpful people you will ever Meet live in Iowa.
This years project included clearing out an old grown out interior field and planting it to 5 acres of clover. Always something to do on a farm.
$3200/acre seems very reasonable to me.
Leo, why is acreage so much cheaper in the southern counties than elsewhere in the state?
Matt
My guess is farming productivity. The Southern counties have much larger tracts of timber, providing fewer opportunities to farm every square inch. The red counties are influenced by population centers, the "Iowa Great Lakes" and really productive farming ground.
Good luck selling and enjoy your kids and time spent together.
GG its all about the dirt. I don't know all the terminology but the higher the quality of dirt the higher the yields will be on crops. So as you can see the price goes up pretty fast on better dirt. Back years ago you could buy southern Iowa dirt really cheap before word got out about the deer. Wish I could have been here with the money in the early nineties.
It’s called CSR, or “corn suitability rating”. There are several factors that go into it, but basically, the higher the CSR, the better cropland it is. GG’s land values chart is mostly reflective of cropland values, vs recreational ground, but, like scrappy pointed out, the deer craze has caused the recreational land values to ballon as well. 20+ years ago, timber land could be had in southern Iowa for $200-$300/acre or even less. The red counties on the map are mostly all ag land, with very little timbered ground, for the most part.
Bummer for you, Leo! Hopefully your other opportunity pays off in spades, and you’re looking for another Iowa farm in the near future!
Iowa ain’t going anywhere man, sounds like u got your priorities right. I wish I had the money and the time
Looks like a great property, and investment. How painful is it to not be able to hunt it every year? I'm sure it will get bought up soon.
Looks like a great property, and investment. How painful is it to not be able to hunt it every year? I'm sure it will get bought up soon.
I was driving by there about four years ago and right before I got to walnut city out in the winter wheat field I saw a giant shed antler. I just couldn't let it lay there so I started banging on doors looking for the owner of the farm. The neighbors in the area pointed me to the right farmer who was more than happy to let me go grab that shed due to the fact of the two ruined tires from sheds the previous year. He was so happy I wanted to pick up sheds he pointed out about 2,000 more acres I could walk. I found thirteen sheds on that one small wheat field that afternoon. There was no other wheat fields around and it isn't planted around there normally so the deer were hammering it.
The red counties have better CSR because they are mostly farmed fencerow to fencerow and the deer hunting isn't as good
I disagree, 4nolz. It’s simply more fertile ground. Also, other than a couple of counties, the red areas aren’t the most highly populated areas, either.
GG, higher CSR averages and higher yields. Plus lots of land in Southern Iowa is a mix of timber, draws, and tillable. So you might have a 240 acre farm but only 60 acres is tillable where as parts of North and Northwest Iowa every square inch of a 240 would be tillable.
Hopefully a resident buys it.
TRoy-more fertile/flatter makes better CSR the southern tier is Hillier/terraced etc just more cover.We mol agree I think all are factors for deer and csr
nolz, you are a smart guy. I sometimes am not. But, I’d need a PhD in ufo language to Understand parts of your last post. :^)
Oh, okay Leo
1 Spring I loaded up my toyhauler and the Work Horse 6 x 6 and went over to help do some projects on his place.
Neat area
We got quite a bit done in the 3 days I was there as it's a heck of a machine
Leo does someone custom farm or cash rent farm it? How many farmable acres? What County?
Leo nevermind I clicked on your link and found the listing details thanks??
Good luck Leo - looks like an amazing place.
Are there no landowner tags in Iowa?
"Would be hard to justify unless you live in IA, as you will only be able to hunt it every 3-4 years. I'm fortunate that in that I have friends in IA that let me hunt their ground. If I was looking to buy as a NR I would be looking at Northern MO."
I hear this all the time....it's apples to oranges. I see land listed with a selling point "it's only 5 miles from the Iowa border, great deer hunting". Cross the state line and it just as well be on the moon....FYI we have a centerfire rifle season in mid november, Decemeber muzzy and a four month bow season with xbows allowed, multi buck tag state. Hardly Iowa.
BullBuster.....Yes, but they are only available to “resident” landowners.
To answer some of the above questions about the farm. It is located in Appanoose county. It’s about 5 mile from lake Rathbun a 10,000 acre man made lake. The farm is currently cash rented on 60 acres @ 150.00 per acre for a total of 9000.00 in yearly income. The prices in other parts of Iowa reflect the higher quality crop land which is measured as CSR or crop suitably rating.
Me too. I have farms on the MO side and IA side, not far from Leo’s place. Lately my MO farm has better deer on it. It’s larger than my 227 acre Iowa farm. I keep holding on to the the iowa farm hoping one day we will get one of the giants everyone talks about. Mid 160’s is the best there so far.
Leo’s place looks like its set up for some giants. I like all of the timber.
