Hunting land bordering public land - pros and cons?

[Fox]

Being beside public land does not mean anything with regards to trespassing. My dad's home is on 96 acres of swamp in SW Ontario, had tree stands stolen within 75 yards of his house, no public land around. We also have 40 acres of land surrounded by private just west of Kemptville, have not seen signs of anyone but us on that property in 3 years. It all really depends on the neighbours.

Deer move around, if you own a 1 acre plot with food and bedding is near by then you can have some great deer hunting. If you own a 100 acres of corn fields in amongst 5000 acres of corn fields you may never see a deer on your property.

[rf2]

Aren't you the guy who was talking about buying a brand new Bronco next year?
I view buying a piece of land or a cottage as somewhat of an investment, whereas a brand new vehicle is nothing but an expensive depreciable asset. Anyway, to each his own. I understand that everyone has their own dreams.
I do agree that buying a cottage would create a lot of extra work, and it's not my preference to get another mortgage after being mortgage free for the last couple of years. Personally, all I need is a piece of land for hunting etc., where I could build a small off-grid cabin, or even park a trailer, but I have a young family, so I need to consider what they would benefit from as well. Another consideration is that at this point in my life, I can't disappear for a couple of weeks to go hunting up north. I need something close to home so that I can go for a day or two at a time.

A would sagest not to buy hunting land , and not to buy cottage either not to buy Truck either , get a little box trailer put a bed in under a bead cooler box with 4-5 in insulation and when you want to go hunting rent a truck pul your trailer go up north on crown land the rest of the money use to go last minute Cuba for Christmas ( wife will love it ) Cottage cost money to maintain and can't justify the cost , except if you want to be a proud Cottage owner ... Keep it small simple and mortgage free ...

[rf2]

Well, I wouldn't call them "plans" yet - I'm still in the dreaming phase. That being said, I was supposed to go see a cottage that fit my requirements perfectly, and then a 100 acre property that I could have bought without financing, but both of them sold VERY quickly.

It sounds like you were living the dream with the family camp. I've never really been able to experience that. The closest I came was when I was a kid and my dad knew a guy who let him use his cabin and land for deer hunting every fall. That's probably what started my dream of owning my own similar property.

Have to say I'm somewhat envious of your plans rf2.

I was part of a family camp that bordered crown land that has since been sold. We had trails throughout property that connected to public snowmobile and ATV trails that run through the area (near Bobcaygeon). We had our trails posted but quite honestly it would have been a full time job to try to keep people out. We kept a pretty relaxed stance on the joy riders but were vigilant on addressing the issue if we came across anyone hunting or setting up to.

For the most part, we didn't have any persistent issues with trespassers but it did help that my uncle lived in the area and could keep an eye on things.

The crown land groups in the area had hunted the area for years and aside from the odd guy here or there that wandered over the line it was fine.

I have heard some horror stories though. I'm sure you'll ask some questions about the local hunters before laying your money down.





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[rf2]

I read about your adventures with envy! It sounds like you have a piece of heaven there.
By the way, are you talking about your cottage, or another property?

I own a 117 acres bordered on 2 sides by many 1000s of acres of crown. Have not had any trespasser issues so far. That being said nearest trails on the crown are a fair distance from my property lines.

[rf2]

I don't agree with you on the first point. Time and again, I've seen first hand how some people hunting on public land intentionally wander onto bordering private land because they think nobody is around to notice. It's discouraging. I think there is a much higher probability of trespassing if you are bordering public land, especially if you own a piece of property that is not used all the time.

I agree with you on the second point. That's why I feel that I would need a fair sized parcel around here to make it work. I think it would be pretty difficult to find that magic piece of property of a couple of acres that has a lot of game activity. Also, I think it would get pretty boring looking over the same patch of earth from October to the end of December. Now place that patch near a big chunk of public land, and that might be interesting.

Being beside public land does not mean anything with regards to trespassing.
.....
Deer move around, if you own a 1 acre plot with food and bedding is near by then you can have some great deer hunting. If you own a 100 acres of corn fields in amongst 5000 acres of corn fields you may never see a deer on your property.

[Species8472]

I read about your adventures with envy! It sounds like you have a piece of heaven there.
By the way, are you talking about your cottage, or another property?

This is the cottage property. We hunt our own property and the adjacent crown and also other large crown parcels all within about 15 or 20 minutes. Some of its water access some foot some atv.

Think about winter use as well. We use it as a base for sledding and ice fishing. Live bait 10 minutes by sled and Nip is 30 minutes by sled. Nip is an awesome hard water fishery especially if you are mobile.

[Fox]

I don't agree with you on the first point. Time and again, I've seen first hand how some people hunting on public land intentionally wander onto bordering private land because they think nobody is around to notice. It's discouraging. I think there is a much higher probability of trespassing if you are bordering public land, especially if you own a piece of property that is not used all the time.

I agree with you on the second point. That's why I feel that I would need a fair sized parcel around here to make it work. I think it would be pretty difficult to find that magic piece of property of a couple of acres that has a lot of game activity. Also, I think it would get pretty boring looking over the same patch of earth from October to the end of December. Now place that patch near a big chunk of public land, and that might be interesting.

I grew up in SW Ontario, zero public land and people trespassing left right and center. On the 100 acre hunt camp property surrounded by crown land we almost never had anyone else on the property, occasionally a dog ran through the property but never people actually sitting and hunting on the property.

It has a lot to do with access to land and the density of hunters, but the density of hole hunters is a bigger problem, you can get that anywhere.

[Sam Menard]

My deer hunting group owned 160 acres of forested land adjacent to Crown land. 160 acres sounds like a lot of land, but from a deer perspective, it’s not. Deer, especially bucks, have large home ranges so it’s almost impossible to “hoard” deer. Having Crown land adjacent to your property can be very appealing if you have sole access to it. If there is convenient public access to the Crown land, then you will likely face competition from others and, possibly, trespassing issues.

Depending on your location, the Crown land may be allocated to a logging company and, at some point in time, the trees will be harvested which could negatively affect the deer population and hunting success.

I’m not a fan of hunting small acreages as your success often depends on what’s happening on the surrounding properties. I much prefer to hunt larger areas (400 acres+) as I like to wander and explore and not worry about hunting pressure.

To sum it up, if you can find private land adjacent to lightly hunted Crown land, go for it!

[trimmer21]

Any lot with a cabin or camp on it abutting Crown land is nirvana as long as it's far enough north to avoid citiots.

[blasted_saber]

A would sagest not to buy hunting land , and not to buy cottage either not to buy Truck either , get a little box trailer put a bed in under a bead cooler box with 4-5 in insulation and when you want to go hunting rent a truck pul your trailer go up north on crown land the rest of the money use to go last minute Cuba for Christmas ( wife will love it ) Cottage cost money to maintain and can't justify the cost , except if you want to be a proud Cottage owner ... Keep it small simple and mortgage free ...

I really disagree with this. My experiences and enjoyment derived from my families hunt camp is of incalcuable value and I would have it no other way. The time and money I put into it are an extremely small price to pay.