They continue to impress me

[bwoods11]

Iowa has some very good deer hunting laws. The best is the December gun season. It’s 80% of why Iowa is great ! I know first hand as I’ve hunted there for the past 12 years.

If you could shoot bucks in early November with a GUN it would take 2 years and most of the mature bucks would be dead. The December gun season is “the ticket” for bucks to get past age 3 & 4!

The additional trespassing fine is good to see

 

[MN Slick]

For my area, the farms haven't been fragmented at all. It's just OOS or "city folk" with money that have gobbled up land that came up for sale. The lease prices are through the roof, and those are all OOS hunters in my experience.

A 400 acre farm may have had 7-10 guys that hunted it for multiple species in the past, and now there are 2-3 that hunt the same 400 for deer and maybe turkey only.

It doesn't take long for regular joes without the $$$ to feel the squeeze on finding a place to hunt.

What's the answer to all this?? It's not an easy one for any side.....

Unfortunately, the fragmentation has begun. There have been some listing recently that have been chopped up.

 

[letemgrow]

Unfortunately, the fragmentation has begun. There have been some listing recently that have been chopped up.

This is a plat map from the 1930’s for my area of Mercer County. My farm in red was a 120, it’s now the full 160. The farm highlighted in blue is a 498 acre farm now that was 398 in the 30’s. All those little farms directly east of me are now all a single 280.

Had this printed off on a canvas to hang at the cabin at the farm.

Are they splitting up 160’s to 40’s to sell or large farms to get down to that 1/2x1/2 mile range?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

This is a plat map from the 1930’s for my area of Mercer County. My farm in red was a 120, it’s now the full 160. The farm highlighted in blue is a 498 acre farm now that was 398 in the 30’s. All those little farms directly east of me are now all a single 280.

Had this printed off on a canvas to hang at the cabin at the farm.

Are they splitting up 160’s to 40’s to sell or large farms to get down to that 1/2x1/2 mile range?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That map is awesome, I would love it I get my hands on something like that. If I’m piecing this together you are in Mercer co Missouri? That is a super hotspot for quality hunting so I could see people (largely from out of state) trying to consolidate land holdings so maybe fragmentation hasnt happened as bad yet? Idk just shooting off the hip, but it’s very bad down south. If you get on something like onx it’s hard to find big tracts of land in a lot of the areas.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

This is a plat map from the 1930’s for my area of Mercer County. My farm in red was a 120, it’s now the full 160. The farm highlighted in blue is a 498 acre farm now that was 398 in the 30’s. All those little farms directly east of me are now all a single 280.

Had this printed off on a canvas to hang at the cabin at the farm.

Are they splitting up 160’s to 40’s to sell or large farms to get down to that 1/2x1/2 mile range?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anecdotally, this tracks with what we are seeing in our Northeast MO counties. Looking at old plat maps, the farm sizes haven't really changed much. I think our area is likely one of the more rural in the midwest, though. I am sure as you move closer to cities you will find more fragmentation.

My comment from earlier has spurred some interesting discussion. I have been having this debate with friends and family for the last few years - before, during, and after purchasing some land as a non-resident landowner. Word has gotten back to me about locals complaining about all of the out of staters buying land and driving up prices in the process. True, our family isn't originally from the area, but my Dad has been taking each of his sons hunting the area for over 50 years, and has been a land owner there for 30. When does someone or their family become a "resident" or "local"? I think those of us on this forum are obviously a very minor portion of the hunting community that can afford to own and manage their own land. People will always want to maintain autonomy, so I am sure this trend will continue, even if it means breaking up blocks of land for a little bit more profit with each transaction (I don't blame them, by the way). Regardless, the majority of hunters will not be in our position. For that reason, I think all of us should be petitioning for more public hunting opportunities.

 

[letemgrow]

That map is awesome, I would love it I get my hands on something like that. If I’m piecing this together you are in Mercer co Missouri? That is a super hotspot for quality hunting so I could see people (largely from out of state) trying to consolidate land holdings so maybe fragmentation hasnt happened as bad yet? Idk just shooting off the hip, but it’s very bad down south. If you get on something like onx it’s hard to find big tracts of land in a lot of the areas.

Yes sir,

That's generally what is happening. There's less 40/80's and more 160's on that map now as opposed to then.

Some of the 300+ acre farms I could see getting slashed to smaller sizes.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

That map is awesome, I would love it I get my hands on something like that. If I’m piecing this together you are in Mercer co Missouri? That is a super hotspot for quality hunting so I could see people (largely from out of state) trying to consolidate land holdings so maybe fragmentation hasnt happened as bad yet? Idk just shooting off the hip, but it’s very bad down south. If you get on something like onx it’s hard to find big tracts of land in a lot of the areas.

Check out your county's assessor's office. You can also find this plat maps in the local library. Most of Missouri's can be found online, but they take some digging.

 

[MN Slick]

This is a plat map from the 1930’s for my area of Mercer County. My farm in red was a 120, it’s now the full 160. The farm highlighted in blue is a 498 acre farm now that was 398 in the 30’s. All those little farms directly east of me are now all a single 280.

Had this printed off on a canvas to hang at the cabin at the farm.

Are they splitting up 160’s to 40’s to sell or large farms to get down to that 1/2x1/2 mile range?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is a cool map. I didn't expect to see so many small tracts back in the 30's. It makes sense though since you didn't need as much land to make life go back then.

Here's a current listing for 297 that has multiple smaller tracts listed separately as well.

https://www.landwatch.com/mercer-county-missouri-farms-and-ranches-for-sale/pid/418241607

 

[Hoytvectrix]

That is a cool map. I didn't expect to see so many small tracts back in the 30's. It makes sense though since you didn't need as much land to make life go back then.

Here's a current listing for 297 that has multiple smaller tracts listed separately as well.

https://www.landwatch.com/mercer-county-missouri-farms-and-ranches-for-sale/pid/418241607

It is interesting how that is pulling such a high price/acre. They have even dropped it $700/acre from the original listing price!

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

It is interesting how that is pulling such a high price/acre. They have even dropped it $700/acre from the original listing price!

It’s high, especially for no infrastructure but I think there’s a premium getting attached to “larger” tracts in high quality areas. They are the true unicorns in today’s market. If someone wants a decent sized farm it’s easier to pay a premium than to try to piece together smaller tracts.

 

[MN Slick]

It is interesting how that is pulling such a high price/acre. They have even dropped it $700/acre from the original listing price!

And it still hasn't sold

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

This is a plat map from the 1930’s for my area of Mercer County. My farm in red was a 120, it’s now the full 160. The farm highlighted in blue is a 498 acre farm now that was 398 in the 30’s. All those little farms directly east of me are now all a single 280.

Had this printed off on a canvas to hang at the cabin at the farm.

Are they splitting up 160’s to 40’s to sell or large farms to get down to that 1/2x1/2 mile range?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where did you have the canvas printing done?

 

[letemgrow]

Where did you have the canvas printing done?

Cheap Canvas Prints - Starting @ $3.89 Only | Upto 93% Off

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www.canvaschamp.com

I can't say that they're better or worse than any of the other options out there since this is the only canvas I've had done.

The canvas was shipped and secured very well I thought to avoid damage in transit.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

Cheap Canvas Prints - Starting @ $3.89 Only | Upto 93% Off

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www.canvaschamp.com

I can't say that they're better or worse than any of the other options out there since this is the only canvas I've had done.

The canvas was shipped and secured very well I thought to avoid damage in transit.

Did you send them the map and they printed it, or did they get it digitally of the web? The map I have is professionally mounted in a frame and I really don't want to unmount it to send it anywhere.

 

[letemgrow]

Did you send them the map and they printed it, or did they get it digitally of the web? The map I have is professionally mounted in a frame and I really don't want to unmount it to send it anywhere.

I sent them a pic of the map, and I think that it came out extremely well.

Here’s the final product from the pic I sent them. They had a couple preview options to ensure it’s what I wanted before it was made final.

 

[Bill]

I sent them a pic of the map, and I think that it came out extremely well.

Here’s the final product from the pic I sent them. They had a couple preview options to ensure it’s what I wanted before it was made final.

I just looked up the township range for my place. Nothing is the same as 1930. The roads are even different and many property lines look different. Many many smaller lots then today. The old timers around me say there was a homestead on nearly every 40.
The map did show the school house that was on my land. The old wood stove from the school was in my barn when I bought. Local museum wanted it so I told them come get it. It crumbled to pieces when they picked it up with the fork lift...

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I don't "blame" locals or NR for the way things are, its just human nature. But i sure like it when states fight to keep quality hunting for their residents of all economic classes vs selling it to he with the most $.

Don't necessarily disagree with a lot of points in favor of NR landowners getting preference for licenses, but I'd rather a state manage it's wildlife for the benefit of all residents than the benefit of it's coffers.

 

[letemgrow]

I just looked up the township range for my place. Nothing is the same as 1930. The roads are even different and many property lines look different. Many many smaller lots then today. The old timers around me say there was a homestead on nearly every 40.
The map did show the school house that was on my land. The old wood stove from the school was in my barn when I bought. Local museum wanted it so I told them come get it. It crumbled to pieces when they picked it up with the fork lift...

Same here,

There's old roads that are not there today on the plat map. The dead end my farm is on used to be a through road.

 

[SwampCat]

Iowa has some very good deer hunting laws. The best is the December gun season. It’s 80% of why Iowa is great ! I know first hand as I’ve hunted there for the past 12 years.

If you could shoot bucks in early November with a GUN it would take 2 years and most of the mature bucks would be dead. The December gun season is “the ticket” for bucks to get past age 3 & 4!

The additional trespassing fine is good to see

I have a little different take on Iowa - my opinion, of course. Iowa hunters recently killed about 110,000 deer. Deer Population estimates vary from 400,000 to about 500,000. If we go with the middle, hunters are taking a little over 24% of the herd on an annual basis. In my home state of AR, we kill 190,000 deer out of an estimated herd of 1,000,000. We kill 19% of our herd. We leave twice as many deer in the woods every year as does Iowa.

We have up to a six week rifle season covering rut. 12 days or ml. Five month bow, including crossbow. Two bucks - both with mg if you want. Gun season covers rut. Dogs allowed. Baiting allowed. We are allowed to hunt all the “wrong” ways. Yet we dont kill as high a percentage of the herd each year as does Iowa. Arkansas is consistently one of the top states for average buck age harvested at 3 yrs old.

As said above, if gun season were held during rut in Iowa, most of the mature bucks would be gone in two years. Our gun season is set to include rut. I had maybe 8 or 9 mature bucks on camera. Pretty sure all but two of them made it - and we killed those two.

Most state deer managers have an annual harvest goal of 20 to 25% of the total population. Iowa is on the high end of that goal and AR is on the low end of that goal. We should be producing more big bucks than Iowa if all it took was putting age on bucks.

I once heard a podcast that said 8% of Iowa was deer cover. About 80% of my county is deer cover. Cover is everywhere in my state. That is why with dogs, bait, and six weeks of rifle season with a two buck limit, we can not kill as large a percentage of our deer as Iowa hunters do, with much more restrictive regulations.

The reason AR is not Iowa is because of nutrition and genetics - not season structure or bag limits. In my area of the state - the West Gulf Coastal Plain, which makes up the southern 1/3 of the state - our average 5+ yr old buck gross scores 111 inches. What does the average 5+ yr old buck score in Iowa.



My grand daughter killed this 5 yr old buck last fall. It weighed 195 lbs, on the hoof - which is a very heavy deer for here. I have only seen four deer here that weighed at least 200 lbs - and I used to work game check stations here.


Iowa’s regs are not designed to produce big bucks, they are designed to prevent all the deer from being killed.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I have a little different take on Iowa. Iowa hunters recently killed about 110,000 deer. Deer Population estimates vary from 400,000 to about 500,000. If we go with the middle, hunters are taking a little over 24% of the herd on an annual basis

Sorry what’s your take? They kill too many deer?