I am going to switch gears a bit with this post. While it is no doubt obvious that a lot of personal benefits are received by Jeanette and me with our farm ownership, the main goal of land ownership was to offer a recreational oasis for our family and friends. 
Quite frankly, this has gotten off to a bit of a slow start. Our family is quite dispersed with the closest of our kids living about 2.5 hrs away and the most distant living a two days drive away; yes, our Fayetteville son Chris, his wife Clara, and their 3 sons moved recently to St. Louis :(. We have had some meaningful experiences however, and we continue to have the belief that “if we build it, they will come”. Continue reading
Category Archives: Hunting
Hunting
If you remember back to the beginning of this blog, you remember that the lead introduction to land acquisition was my adventure into leasing hunting land. This post will highlight some of the early hunting related experiences associated with our new timber farm acreage. Since it is a discussion about hunting, there will be discussions and pictures of dead animals so proceed with caution! Continue reading
The Decision
Which land?
While the first impetus for a land purchase was deer hunting, what we really were searching for was acreage of enough size and with enough varied features to facilitate a variety of outdoor activities. Our family likes to fish, hunt, watch wildlife, hike, etc. We set our target on 100 acres or so with woods and water. We really knew nothing about purchasing undeveloped property, and quite frankly, most of what we have learned, we learned after the purchase! Continue reading
How it Began
How the heck did we become land owners in the first place?
Our son, Brad, and I had leased some hunting property in South Carolina south of his home in Charlotte. We both shot our first whitetail deer there and really enjoyed having the space to get away. There were however two main problems with this. First, it was not ours to manage; we had to use it pretty much as it was. Second, while it was relatively convenient for Brad (about 45-60 min drive), it was pretty inconvenient for me (3.5 hr drive). While the drive was fine for a fun, destination trip, it was too far for me to “pop in” for a quick recognizance visit. This planted the seed so to speak, for us to purchase some land of our own to manage as we wished for our enjoyment. My wife, Jeanette, and I started a search. We first looked at available properties between Fayetteville and Charlotte. We focused on areas within about a 1.5-2 hr drive from us. We found some promising acreages.