Your land story..

[RatherB]

I was bit by the land bug when I was a kid. I always dreamed of owning acreage and several years ago I was able to finally purchase a good sized piece of my own. 78 acres in north GA. In 2019 I bought another 30 acres bordering it. Then in 2021 I purchased 305 more acres in same county.

My family spends over half our weekends on our properties hunting, fishing and just being outdoors. Not a day goes by I don’t think about my land and count the days till I get back.

Other than becoming a father, nothing else has brought me as much pleasure in my life as being a landowner. With my family at my side we’ve cleared fields, planted plots, built ponds and created countless memories.

My children all share my same passion for the land and I know I will be leaving it in good hands.

So… what your land story… I love to hear other people tell about their purchases. Dreams becoming realities. How did you find your land? What have you learned that you can teach other landowners or those who are still chasing the dream?

 

[earlthegoat2]

I grew up on 60 acres my parents owned. I could walk out my back door and hunt.

Years later I moved away for work and life progression and no longer had access to that land. Found out land was near impossible to get access to if you weren’t from the area or knew the right person. Tried and succeeded doing the public land thing for a bit. Got into a few leases and promptly lost them soon after. Got sick of lease drama.

Spent 5 years saving for a down payment and getting my wife on board and bought a modest parcel of 30 acres for less money than a kitted out F150.

It’s two hours away but I really wouldn’t care if it was 4. There is a lot to love being an outdoor enthusiast and having unfettered access to even small acerage of your very own.

 

[fireman32]

I own a couple of small houses with 2-3 acres each, but I married a gal whose late father owned 40 acres. I live right beside it and there are very few days I don’t walk on it or do something beneficial for the wildlife. Both of my sons and my wife all killed their first deer on jt. It’s a great little place way out, with no shortage of deer. I’d like to sell my small acreages and buy a 50-100 acre tract somewhere. Have to get these two boys grown and gone first though.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Don't have a story yet but always been a dream of mine to own 20-50 acres with a 3 - 5 acre pond. Look every day but gonna have to be the perfect piece for me to pull the trigger. It ain't getting no cheaper!

Not to hi-jack the thread but would also love to hear stories/advice of pond building from scratch.

 

[RatherB]

My pond build story..
I called a couple different contractors in area and found one I felt like would do best job.
Had one site on property with seasonal creek that has water flow about half the year.
Read a lot online about site selection, soil and watershed.
Pulled trigger and they began clearing and digging in Feb 21.
It was a very wet spring! They finished May 21 and then Mother Nature turned the water off. It was very dry rest of year.
Pond was about 1/3 full in November so I went ahead and stocked 400 bluegill fry, 200 shell cracker fry 200 channel catfish and 100 small fathead minnows.
While pond was trying to fill, we placed several different areas of structure around in shallow and deep water. Stumps, wood pallets and other man made reefs.
In April 22 finally got enough rain to bring up to full pool. Pond is exactly one acre and 18ft deep at dam.
Because of how deep water is, I also added a solar pond areator to circulate water. It was expensive but works great.
I also added 100 largemouth bass in April 22.
The water level dropped 2’ during last falls drought but hit full again this January and has stayed full all of 2023.
The bass grew fast and are now all around 10”. The channel cats are all about a pound now.. I need to start keeping them.
Water stays generally clear and seems to be a healthy, thriving ecosystem.
I have solar lights on dock that attracts bugs that feed fish at night. Also have a timed fish feeder that the catfish are trained to.
We planted bald cypress and catalpa trees along shoreline. We keep a canoe at shore and kids want me to put a diving board on dock this summer.

The project was a lot more expensive than I thought it would be. Cost was $40,000.
But I’d do it again. I feel like it added $40,000 in value to the land and it’s a place we hang out and make memories at.

 

[RatherB]

Early 2021 when project began

 

[RatherB]

Fall 2021 when pond was still filling

 

[RatherB]

Spring 2022 when pond was nearing full pool

 

[RatherB]

Spring 2023 pictures. Fishing with Claire and a family of geese.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

My pond build story..
I called a couple different contractors in area and found one I felt like would do best job.
Had one site on property with seasonal creek that has water flow about half the year.
Read a lot online about site selection, soil and watershed.
Pulled trigger and they began clearing and digging in Feb 21.
It was a very wet spring! They finished May 21 and then Mother Nature turned the water off. It was very dry rest of year.
Pond was about 1/3 full in November so I went ahead and stocked 400 bluegill fry, 200 shell cracker fry 200 channel catfish and 100 small fathead minnows.
While pond was trying to fill, we placed several different areas of structure around in shallow and deep water. Stumps, wood pallets and other man made reefs.
In April 22 finally got enough rain to bring up to full pool. Pond is exactly one acre and 18ft deep at dam.
Because of how deep water is, I also added a solar pond areator to circulate water. It was expensive but works great.
I also added 100 largemouth bass in April 22.
The water level dropped 2’ during last falls drought but hit full again this January and has stayed full all of 2023.
The bass grew fast and are now all around 10”. The channel cats are all about a pound now.. I need to start keeping them.
Water stays generally clear and seems to be a healthy, thriving ecosystem.
I have solar lights on dock that attracts bugs that feed fish at night. Also have a timed fish feeder that the catfish are trained to.
We planted bald cypress and catalpa trees along shoreline. We keep a canoe at shore and kids want me to put a diving board on dock this summer.

The project was a lot more expensive than I thought it would be. Cost was $40,000.
But I’d do it again. I feel like it added $40,000 in value to the land and it’s a place we hang out and make memories at.

Thank you and congratulations on a great place

 

[Dutch]

I bought my 1st piece of property in Taylor county (10 acres south of Butler) in 2010, fully wooded for $20k, plan was to retire and live there. Mainly hunted it the last 13 years. Never improved it any just a camper.

Decided I wanted more land to retire on, so started looking a few years back, unfortunately land prices in the areas we wanted to live had skyrocketed to more than I could pay. And I did not want to take on a 15+ year land payment close to retirement.

Daughter and grandkids live in Troy, so we started looking in that area and found a beautiful piece of land (33 acres) near Brundidge, that was the right price and was full of hardwoods and 2 creeks. Bought it for $99k after survey and closing costs. Best of all paid cash for it, so its free and clear. It was part of a hunting club that was being broken up and sold, it has a "cabin", power, well, and septic system on it. And with the large swamp backing up the property I don't have to worry about neighbors behind me.

Sold the property in Taylor for $45k, a nice profit. looking forward to living at the new property in a couple of years.

Some pics...
Cull Buck Farm is the name of the place.

 

[JustUs4All]

My story is a little convoluted. As a boy, I lived in a house in town but "The Farm" was only 6 miles away out in the country and we were out there nearly daily while I was growing up. My father was running cows there while my grandfather was alive and we were milking some so there was milking daily in addition to hay to bail, cows to feed, fences to mend and firewood to cut. We heated with wood, my grandparents heated with wood and my grandmother cooked on a wood stove until I was well into my teen years.

My grandfather had been able to purchase a 250 acre farm in the early 30s. They moved in to the mid 1800's board and batten house that stood near the border between the two farms and in 1935 my granduncle built them a new home on the site after cutting the old house in half and rolling the parts into position for use as barns. In the early 40s my father was able to purchase the 250 acre farm next door. The principal access point for both farms is the 1/4 mile long driveway to my grandparent's home. It is centrally located with dad's farm to the left and grandad's farm mostly to the right.

At my grandmother's passing in the 70s, my aunt, her youngest daughter purchased the interests of the other siblings so as to hold her parent's farm together. At her retirement in the 90s she moved to "The Farm" and renovated an 1820s house that she had moved to a spot more centrally located on her farm. At my mother's passing in 2000, my brother and I inherited my father's farm.

Shortly after my mother passed I found myself single again but soon located the person that I should have married in the first place. At that point I had a very comfortable home in town and was nearing mandatory retirement. We were married about 4 years later and I took her out to look over The Farm. After a lot of walking we loaded up and were headed home. As we drove down the hill in the driveway toward the road she asked me who lived in the house behind us (my grandparents old home). I explained what it was and that my aunt owned it and rented it when she was approached by someone she trusted to take care of it. My wife said, "That's where I want to live". There was no wiggle or equivocation in that statement whatever.

I called my aunt. She said, "I will have to think about it". She was never married and had 17 other nephews and nieces to consider. She also did not know my wife very well at that point and we would be close neighbors. LOL She wound up selling us 40 acres surrounding my grandparent's home. We sold my home in town and remodeled the farm house. We had a wonderful relationship with my aunt right up to her passing a little over 8 years ago. From her estate we purchased another 30 acres to add some more buffer around our home.

It was a round about way to get here but here we are and we are very happy. I hope to leave The Farm for the last time toes up and room temperature. My wife hopes for the same for herself and if averages hold up she should outlast me by a couple of decades.

 

[redeli]

25 acres with a small pond....little over half in standing timber...love it

 

[oldfella1962]

Don't have a story yet but always been a dream of mine to own 20-50 acres with a 3 - 5 acre pond. Look every day but gonna have to be the perfect piece for me to pull the trigger. It ain't getting no cheaper!

Not to hi-jack the thread but would also love to hear stories/advice of pond building from scratch.

Not getting cheaper makes sense - they aren't making any more of it!
Actually, land is cheap in Detroit - but for some strange reason nobody seems very interested in it.

 

[4HAND]

Still waiting to tell my land story.......

 

[Lilly001]

I grew up in a military family (Marine) and lived from Pa to Fl.
I was always an avid hunter/fisherman as was my father.
After I married the wifey and I bought 3.5 acres in Tenn for a mountain RV site. We still own it but have never done anything but visit it every 5-10 years.
In the mid 80s to mid 90s I was part owner of a couple acres in the middle of the Ocala NF.
We used it as a hunt camp ( 4 of us) and we’re there very often as it was only a 3 hour drive.
I then was invited to hunt in mid Ga by a friend who had kin folk up there (Adrian) and fell in love with the area.
That same friend bought a couple hundred acres when he retired (Rentz) and I helped him remodel an old cabin into a nice hunt cabin.
When I retired the Wifey and I scoured the area and found a timber company that wanted to liquidate a 160 acre parcel that was cut and recently replanted.
We stretched our finances and bought it for under 1k an acre (150k total).
We have since built a cabin (still need inside trim) and several food plots.
We have fallen in love with both the property and the area.
Our plan is now to sell our place in Fl (10 acre ranch type w/house and pool) and move the family to Ga.
I’m hoping to buy a few adjoining parcels in the future to get up to just over 200 acres total.
Pictured are the grand babies and a few shot’s of the cabin.

 

[RatherB]

Thank y’all for sharing your stories!

 

[RatherB]

Camp life…
On our original land purchase in Tignall, GA, our camp evolved from a camper in a clearing to a camper under cover with power and a well. Then we added an old airstream (guesthouse) camper that the kids stay in.

Last year we sold the other camper and built a one room one bath tiny house. It made the camp experience more enjoyable for wife.

Now we have all the comforts of home in a smaller package at our land.

 

[RatherB]

On the other 305 acres I bought in Wilkes county it has a 25+ year old established club. (Still does) I kept 15 acres at back of that property that borders Clark’s Hill WMA. We just built a tiny house that I’m about to haul down there to be our deer camp 2.0. It will be a mile back so will be off grid.
The other hunt camp on the property that I lease out is slowly improving since I bought. We tore down a few old building last year and the club is making repairs when they can. I’m glad it’s a great group of hunters that lease from me.

 

[RatherB]

I’m curious how others found the land they own. Was it through a realtor, online, family?

I started looking online back in 2016. I had a house that was paid for so I went and got a home equity line of credit for $75,000.

I figured with that I might get lucky and find 30-40 acres. A property came up for sale on Landwatch.com. It was 78 acres in Wilkes county for $750 per acre. I contacted agent that night, viewed the property two days later and had a contract on it within a week. It was really a miracle how it all went down and I’m so lucky I was able to act fast and snatch it up such a deal. I haven’t seen another property under $2000 in Wilkes county since then. Going rate these days seems to be over $3,000. I’m sure I could easily get $3,000 for this place if I wanted to sell.

After I bought it I had money left over. There were two small tracts that bordered me owned by some of same family. I reached out to them about selling and after three years of back and fourth negotiations, I finally closed on the other 30 acres. Currently I’m working on buying another 125 acres of bordering land. I’m not rushing it. I keep in contact with the owner and he said he is interested in selling someday and when he does, I will be first person he contacts.