[KCROE]

Just got off the phone with a landowner regarding a 319ac farm he’ll allow us to lease this year. It’s in southern York County in Peach Bottom Township off of Paper Mill Road (about 5mi north of the MD line and borders the Susquehanna river). 160ac of this land is wooded and the rest is active crop land. Now the former group that has leased this land is not coming back this year. He heard about s through some mutual contacts and because we’re an archery only group and provide our insurance from the QDMA (which covers us as well as him), he’s willing to let us lease it to us.

According to the owner this a great place to hunt deer and he’s been managing this for quite some time for some nice bucks. His only concern is to make sure that we’re harvest bucks that have racks that are at least outside the ears (which he says there’s plenty of them too). He also wants to make sure that the doe population is kept in check as well. So the rule of thumb is take the does and let the bucks grow and that’s one of the covenants in being able hunting this land. It’s also what will allow us to re-lease the land the following year (which I gather is the reason the other group is not coming back). I’m going to look at the property sometime next week to see how huntable it really is. From what I can see so far on topo maps and aerial shots he’s got a nice place. I’ll make sure to provide photos of any scrapes, rubs, size of tracks, etc….that I can when I walk the place.

The total cost I’m anticipating based on out short conversation tonight (lease plus insurance) should be $7,200. We haven’t finalized a firm price yet but that seemed to be “in the ballpark” according to him. So based on that, if we keep between a 1:10 ratio (hunter per acre) we’re looking at 16 people that can get on this land. So the cost will be $450 person; which for land in Southern York County on an active farm that has plenty of land, food & water...as well as being managed for mature bucks years prior…that should be a GREAT price.

Let me know if you’re interested.

 

[ACEarcher]

Does this landowner have harvest pics from prior years or any trailcam pics of the quality around? Might be interested.

 

[KCROE]

I'll be asking for that info but more importantly I'm going to walk the property first and look for any signs (scrapes, rubs, tracks, droppings, resdual sheds that may have made it this long) that would indicate there's nice bucks on the property. It's one thing to see last years PIC's and what not but I want to see a pattern of uae on the property too.

 

[KCROE]

Not sure if I have your contact info either. If you're interested please PM me your name, number and eMail address.

 

[5BH20FOWL]

I just got the info on facebook. Man I wish you would open this kinda stuff open to geese too so when nothing is in we could hunt that.

 

[KCROE]

You bow hunt for geese? I'd be up for seeing that

 

[5BH20FOWL]

That would be sweet wouldn't it?

 

[KCROE]

For anyone else wanting info on our group you can visit our FB site by searching "Capitol Area Bowhunters" when in FB. Click on "like" while you're there and we'll make sure you keep updates on available properties as well as general deals we come acorss on equipment and from our outfitter friends.

 

[KCROE]

Met with the landowner today and got a nickel tour of the properties he’s wanting to lease us. That’s right….I said pieces of land now. This started out at (1) parcel of property that was 319AC he was going to lease us. Maybe he and I got along pretty good or that he likes the idea of our organization….for whatever reason (and I’m not going to question it) he’s now including all (3) properties he has <span style="color: #FF0000"><u>for a total of 750ac (approx 180ac of total wooded land</u></span>).

We both had some family priorities we had to attend to so we didn’t have the chance to go over the whole place in detail, but he did show me the pieces of land and their boundaries. All of these parcels are pretty nice places too; easy access to the woods, great parking spots, and GREAT habitat everywhere. The fields are loaded with corn and soybean and all of the parcels of land have water running on them as well. Since no one hunted them last year there’s been little pressure on the deer for almost two years . So it has the key elements for great hunting; food, water, shelter and low pressure. And from the very little walking we did there’s was plenty of deer sign to be had. We even bumped a bunch of bucks on the main piece of land that were feeding in the corn but couldn’t make out how wide/tall the racks were as they were pretty far off and I didn’t have my binos either. However, they seemed to be right at the ears to me.

We started to talk about finances. He told me what the other club was paying two years ago and what other clubs are paying now for similar pieces of property ($7,500 to $8,500) . However he understands that our organization isn’t going to cram a bunch of hunters on the property like so many club do and because of that our finances are a little tighter. After talking to him about the issues he’s had with other clubs and a number of other items, I have a pretty good feeling that we’ll be able to get this land (along with the insurance) for about $7,000 +/- for the 2010-2011 season. He basically said for us to walk the property first with a few people and then get back to him with an offer. All we have to do is let him know when we’re coming out there.

So based on the assumption it will cost us $7,000, here’s what I’m anticipating the cost/hunter being:
 1:10 Ratio (18 Hunters): $390/person.
 1:15 Ratio (12 hunters): $585/person
 1:20 Ratio (9 Hunters): $780/person.
 1:30 Ratio (6 Hunters): $1,170/person
 Anything less than 6 hunters I’m more than happy to arrange too.

On my end, after looking at the layout of these properties, (12) hunters seems VERY reasonable to me and the cost of $585 isn’t all that bad either. Then again that’s just my opinion. The end results is all up to what the group in wants the balance of hunter/cost to be…which is why I have these options above listed.

So to that I would like to plan a few days to meet people out there and walk the place. If you’re seriously interested in this opportunity, let me know what dates/times you’re available (preferable weekdays in the AM) and we can walk the place.

Thanks,

 

[KCROE]

Just a reminder that we’ll be meeting tomorrow at 7am to walk these properties. The address is 975 Paper Mill Road Delta, PA and is on various web-based mapping sites (ie Mapquest) as well as a legit address on all NAV systems. I’ll be there in my silver Honda Civic.

 

[KCROE]

For anyone following the updates on this post please see the one under "Sportsmen Connection" forum. Got updates from our tour of the property this week as well as some PIC to share as well.

 

[GEM2988]

can I get some information from someone on Capital Area Bowhunters? Ive tried to send a message on FB but have not gotten any response. I'm looking for land in the 5c area.
any idea who to contact?

Thanks,,

 

[bsneaky]

even 6 hunters on 319 acres seems like alot. some of my leases are 200 acres and i am the only one that hunts it for $1600 a year and its a prime whitetail property. with 160s and bigger being the only thing i shoot

 

[loridr]

can I get some information from someone on Capital Area Bowhunters? Ive tried to send a message on FB but have not gotten any response. I'm looking for land in the 5c area.
any idea who to contact?

Thanks,,

You might want to consider looking elsewhere for a lease...

I was in on the very lease this thread was about. I didn't make it down for the archery opener that year but the other guys did only to find another group also hunting the place. The other group said they too were leasing it and evidently things almost got ugly. Never was clear whether it was Kcroe or the landowner who was the culprit. The others had paid via paypal and were successful in challenging the transaction for a refund, but I had paid in cash and after numerous attempts to contact Kcroe for a refund, never got my money back. After that incident Kcrow also disappeared from these forums.