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Best County To Buy Hunting Land

11K views 61 replies 34 participants last post by  yellodog 
#1 ·
In your opinions if you could purchase hunting land for big whitetails which part of the state would you buy in and more specifically what county do you think holds big bucks with a reasonable price for the acreage? What are you reasons why? I don’t have a ton of exposure to hunting all over the state and because most of my hunting was done in the SW part of the state I was looking into a farm in Greene county, but just curious what you all think. Thanks
 
#2 ·
I am parcel to Potter County. seen in a supplement to the potter -leader news paper, there were pictures of quite a few nice deer. mostly 7 pointers to 10 pointers and several smaller but nice ones as well. as far as price per acre couldn't venture a quest , but it probably depends on acreage and structures on the property. if you are , looking for property, good luck in your search.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Depends how deep your pockets are!

I get what your saying. Its similar to hunting public land, especially out of state. You try to improve the odds by selecting counties which have produced a higher number of book bucks.

If that's what your looking for in private land than Allegheny is your best choice. But, I'm not sure its reasonably priced?

A farm in Greene County that you manage for mature bucks? If its in your price range, what's to think about? Manage the property for mature bucks.

Good Luck!
 
#4 ·
Allegheny County was the place to hunt for big bucks in the late 80 and 90's. At that time everyone hunted in the mountains and no one hunted local. Now everyone hunts local and no one goes to the mountains.


If you look at the PGC big game records and sort by date, you will see way more big bucks from Bradford county than Allegheny in the last 10 years or so.


PBGR System


Problem with owning land is deer hunting changes over time. What's good hunting today can be bad 10 years from now.
 
#6 · (Edited)
One thing I always wonder about is reporting rate with these record systems and how much it skews the attempts to glean geographic conclusions from the data. Even P&Y I think a significant majority of guys don't enter bucks and a 10 or 20% swing between say PA and Wisconsin materially skews any attempt to compare X vs Y.

For one I had never even heard about the PBGR, so there's that too. I combed through the list and there are a dozen or so qualifying deer I know of right away killed by different acquaintances and none of them were measured (looking at this closer I know of "county records" in Butler for two different categories that aren't entered). Bradford sure does have a lot of entries though, seems disproportionate almost as if it is more well know to the region up there.
 
#5 ·
I'm partial to the terrain in the Indiana-Jefferson-Armstrong-Clarion area, but the NW flat glacial areas Crawford-Mercer-Erie have better top end antler growth potential. All of the above still have some larger properties, the SW has been too subdivided and fragmented to really manage anything without cooperation from neighbors.
 
#7 ·
Bradford County would be my choice.

Little off topic but I shot a deer in Beaver county last year and wanted to get it measured for the PBGR but the area I live in does not have an official scorer when I reached out to other scorers further distances away it it was always hard t make it work between my schedule and theirs. I eventually got is scored but it wasn't easy so my take away if your immediate area has a scorer the more likelihood your area will show more record book deer. I know of several book deer from my area that were never scored just because it became a hassle. I'm not talking 170 class deer but deer that would score over 140. I've noticed Bradford is surging in book deer and yes they obviously got the deer but also have a scorer relatively easily accessible.
 
#8 ·
I wonder how large a tract of land your talking about and if deer are the only thing you will want to hunt.
 
#9 ·
In your opinions if you could purchase hunting land for big whitetails which part of the state would you buy in and more specifically what county do you think holds big bucks with a reasonable price for the acreage? What are you reasons why? I don’t have a ton of exposure to hunting all over the state and because most of my hunting was done in the SW part of the state I was looking into a farm in Greene county, but just curious what you all think. Thanks

I wonder how large a tract of land your talking about and if deer are the only thing you will want to hunt.
I’m mainly bowhunting whitetails. I don’t have a ton of money so as far as acreage it would depend on the price. Would like to get about a 100 acres.
 
#13 ·
I agree with marcus99 , I have a camp in Crawford co. I built there because of the duck , deer and goose hunting . At first I considered buying property ,however once I started looking and then pricing I quickly began to realize that the amount of property I wanted was way out of my price range and that having a piece of property to just hunt on was kind of a waste of money . So I went to plan B and used that money to build a place , basically an investment and then once built I would go and knock on some doors asking permission to hunt. After gaining permission to hunt on a few properties and making a decision which was the best property to hunt on and getting to know the land owner I would approach him about leasing.
The property I lease is 286 acres of which about 100 acres is either corn or bean . Now I have a food plot that I do not have to plant or manage. The farmer and I have become good friends over the years and he permits me to keep my decoys in his barn along with my ATV. I found out that some people are receptive to leasing and while others are not they will often grant you permission to hunt.
Just my opinion but having a place in close proximity to where you hunt is a good first step and that way you can still use the place in the non hunting months. Even if it takes you some time to locate a lease you can always hunt a game land until you find a place to lease. I hope this helps you out.
 
#14 ·
Depends how much you want to spend.
30 acres, Good Hunting Now. $199,000.00 It's been on the market for 133 days. It has 5 acres of secluded woodland/wet area that produces bucks.
Now... if you got 5 years to invest so to plant it with pines, etc. and not only create a large sanctuary, but room for food plots and even a place to put a house/cabin/trailer.
It may even hold more deer than mine holds, right across the road from it!
First pic shows part of my sanctuary. The second is a great crossing area. Guys night out with the youngsters.
 

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#15 ·
Sadly one thing you must consider is regardless if you buy or lease, if you aren't living there then good luck keeping out trespassers.

You might be able to lease a farm, but do you expect the farmer to patrol it for you when you are not there? Worse situation for an absentee landowner. Word would get out. And it would be crawling with ying-yangs in no time.

Some areas of Greene county and Fayette county dont take well to "outsiders". Fayette born, got kin in both counties, so I know.

I'd take that money and use it on some hunts of a lifetime in places like Iowa or Kansas, and save yourself the aggravation.
 
#18 ·
I would choose Lehigh or Blair county to purchase land and create a whitetail habitat if I could. I've hunted all over the state and I've seen the largest bucks in these two counties. If I had to choose one, I would choose Lehigh.
 
#31 ·
What not Potter? lol, Potter produces some big old buck. I am convinced some of those buck have never seen another human. The old timer i know up there killed 1 last archery season that was 8.5 years old and the year before he got one in archery that was 6.5. He owns 15 acres that borders Susquennock SF. Every rifle season when i go visit him he shows me all the buck he gets on camera leading up to rifle. Some big boys on that mountain if you can find them. Another guy 2 years ago shot a 7.5 year old 16 point in archery 300 yards from this guys property on SF.
 
#20 ·
Back in the early 1990s my money went farther buying 100 acres in North Central PA. Reason being not many great paying jobs.

Sure I had to travel 4 hours to get there but after about 7 years I sold it and was able to buy something closer to my primary home and was able to cut off a hour and fifteen minutes each way on my travels.
 
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#23 ·
Go to landwatch. Choose PA, then filter the property to the county your looking at.

Try to find a good neighborhood (likewise goals) or coop if such thing even exist in PA if you want trophy bucks.

Lots of things to consider. But if you find the right small tract it can produce. For instance a funnel between ag or larger tracts of timber etc.

Coming from 30acres I went for bang for the buck with the 160 I bought 4 years ago. Since I have 2 sons and some family that hunts.

SW and SE parts of the states are gonna kill you in taxes. Just for vacant land. Something to consider.
 
#27 ·
One more thing to consider, even if the land is "junk", an old strip mine, the potential for the Marcellus shale gas drove land prices through the roof, at least in SW PA.


Before if you could not farm it, or easily develop it for homes, land prices were limited. Now, any decent sized tract of land is pricey.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Properly made Sanctuaries is very important in more ways than one. This one has water. Make it properly, and they will come. What's keeps big bucks home??? THE GIRLS, and plenty of them will be there in a properly made sanctuary. Remember, a wood plot can be a sanctuary, under certain conditions, but make it right and you would be surprised how well it works. 5 Years is all it takes starting from just nothing but an open field. This place had one already. Someone earlier here said, 3k an acre. Maybe for all woods on a dirt road. Around here, it's about 4 - 5k an acre to start for woods and some fields. Nice areas, 6 -7k
with more open. Again, this is 30 acres, about 25 acres fields. 199k. I'm sure you could get it for less. State owned, Blacktop road frontage. Across the road from another 40 acre sanctuary. Low tax district too. Hey, there's nothing in it for me, I'm just trying to help out someone that takes there deer hunting serious, like me.
Also, to "build" your sanctuary correctly is not expensive. Basically the cost of pine tree seedlings and some clover seed. You can also decide how much you want to let in farm land.
 
#30 ·
For what land cost I think I’d treat myself to some trips for things you would not find in pa. Now land can be a good investment id you decide to sell down the road or timber witch you would have to for wildlife reasons. To ever have large enough average to really manage deer the average joe just can’t afford it.
 
#32 ·
Chester county is the home of a lot of trophy buck but be prepared to shell out million$ of dollars for a small farm. I'm with the lease proponents. One needs to remember the opportunity cost of shelling out a couple hundred thousand that is going to be dead money. Better to invest that amount and use the earnings for a lease.
 
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