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First time Landowner

streitl

streitl

Member
I just signed the papers for a farm in southeast warren county. This is the first property I've owned. The farm is basically pasture ground. There is a small pond and a creek running through the middle of the property. About 60 acres of timber and 30 of hay. Very little of the 30 acres could be row cropped.

A lot of you own ground. Do you have any advice for a novice landowner? There are probably some things you've done or wished you'd done. I would appreciate the input.

I plan to plant some switchgrass and food plots this fall. Ill plant trees in a few years and build some box blinds.
 
Awesome! You are about to live most of our dreams. I have dreamed and scheemed about owning my own land and have read and read and plotted how I would do it. Seriously consider a consulation for a proper plan such as the service like Dbltree offers. Someone elses knowledge can save you years and years of scew ups and give you a jump start on a hunting paradise.

I you haven't already, check out Dbltree's corner and spend a long time reading and planning.

Good luck!:way:
 
Congrats... I'm also in Warren county, good choice for a location, plant some food, timber stand improvement, you should get plenty of opportunity!!
 
The best day to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best one is today. Plant your trees FIRST, you won't regret it.
 
Some good advice already provided, but I especially echo what Bowman said. Spend a few bucks and get a consultation from Dbltree early on, you will be way better off in the long run with a good understanding in the beginning. You can learn A LOT just by reading his many threads and that is totally free.:way:

Some other random thoughts...

I have had my farm for about 10 years now and I wish I had done a better job of taking pictures, especially in the early days. With the many habitat improvements that I have made it would be really nice to have a better record of when I did what, etc.

Don't be afraid to start small, a tiny clover plot is still better than nothing at all. The satisfaction you will feel when you start to observe the wildlife using the habitat you create/enhance is worth the effort/expense.

For instance, I have been trying to improve my ground to be better habitat for pheasant/quail, especially in the last 2-3 years. Yesterday I saw a mature rooster and heard two others separately, so I know I have at least 3 roosters on my place now. :D That is about a 300% increase from when I bought the place. :D Now if I have a couple of successful nests out there this year I might actually have a whole flock of them this fall.

Predator control - I think one reason that I am seeing more birds is that we have gotten pretty aggressive in the last couple of years on predators and I have rediscovered a boyhood tradition of trapping. It is quite surprising to remove as many skunks/coons/possums/misc as we do and there are still more there. We have decreased the egg-eater population to be sure, but it isn't as if there are none left.

TSI - I should have listed this as #1. Whatever timber you have can be GREATLY improved by doing a quality TSI project on it. I would look into that as soon as you can and plan on doing something this coming winter.

Neighbor relations - (these are my thoughts, others may have different opinions.) I assume you will be an absentee landowner and if so, I would go out of my way to befriend as many neighbors as you can. Some people in rural areas are a little leery of "city slickers" buying the "old Hanson farm", etc. I have made many friends in the area next to farm and the benefits are substantial. If you show up proud and post giant "No trespassing" signs, etc, before even meeting some neighbors you could be setting yourself up for some poor neighbor relations unnecessarily IMO.

As an indication of what good neighbors can mean...last year I had a strange truck on my farm one day and I received 3 separate, independent phone calls from neighbors alerting me to the potential trespasser. (As it turns out it was OK, it was just my son in a different truck than any neighbor had seen there before, but it was very nice to know that people are helping you.)

If you are ever in SE Iowa and would like to take a tour of my place I can show you more and you can avoid the many missteps that I have taken. Congratulations!! You will enjoy it I am sure!
 
Get some small cameras up about 10' high in areas folks might trespass. Pain to think the 1st thing someone is pointing out to you is the PROBLEMS with land but, it's worth it to spend the $ once & spend an hour or 2 hanging cams. I didn't realize until I owned land how much of a worry & headache the trespassing & poaching is. You instantly feel differently about it with your own land. The cameras take care of the job for you, take away most the worries, actually stop the problem and let you focus on the fun.

*And yes, I second having Dbltree come out. For the small amount it will cost you, I guarantee it'll pay for itself a million times over with how much you save in costly mistakes, how much faster you land becomes better and how much knowledge you get. Hands down, do this!
 
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Has anybody had doubletree come to their property and do consulting? What does he do for you and how much does he charge?
 
Congrats on your purchase! Owning your own land is a dream come true for sure! The first thing I did when I bought my land was build a pond. Talk to the NRCS and utilize the Government watershed funding or low interest loans available for these types of projects. The next thing I did was plant trees. Almost 5,000 of them! My main piece of advice would be to start small. I went at it full force and soon learned I had bit off more than I could chew. DO NOT PLANT MORE TREES THAN YOU CAN PROPERLY CARE FOR!!! :D I could work 8 hrs a day every day of the week and not keep up with my plantings. I have some trees that were planted six or seven years ago that are still only a foot tall due to the weeds and competition around them. I recommend planting a few each year instead of all at once. Depending on your income on the 30 acres of hay ground you should look into the possibility of enrolling it in the CRP program. You will be allowed to plant 10% of it to food plots and the rest could become great habitat with a big chunk of it being paid for by Uncle Sam. ;) Have fun! :way:
 
Monsterbuck said:
Has anybody had doubletree come to their property and do consulting? What does he do for you and how much does he charge?
Click to expand...

Yes I have and it's worth the price for sure :way: I am not sure what his rates are now but he will answer a PM very quickly Im sure. It was a great investment.
 
I appreciate everyones input. I've got a lot of good ideas from friends and others on this site. I find myself thinking all the time of things I would like to do on the land - food plots, tree stands, TSI, cabin, and the list goes on. One thing is for sure, the work won't ever be finished. But that's fine. I didn't buy a perfect property. I bought something to work on and make it perfect.
 
Congrats on your purchase!! Like others have said consultation from a forester or private party is a good idea for advice on habitat improvement. Next buy a good chainsaw.
 
I'm in the same boat as you, closed on my place last December.

Like someone else said, takes lots of pictures for historical reference.

I had Paul come out, he gave me as much time as I wanted for a walk around the place, listened to Paul spew his wisdom for about 5 hours. He pointed out one area to hang a stand that I hadn't even considered.

I was down at my place yesterday, the heat was oppressive, drug 10 gallons of water up a ridge to spray a small clearing that I cut this spring.

The sweat felt great.
 
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