Post by mgderf on Jan 27, 2019 14:13:54 GMT -5
I've hunted Indiana whitetail for more than 35 years.
I have ALWAYS hunted other peoples property.
For the past decade I've been blessed to have permission to hunt the property of 3 customers who live side by side by side. Three properties that abut each other, with a total of roughly 15 acres of woods, situated on a steep hillside.
Houses occupy the top of the hill and there is a road at the bottom of the hill.
The hill is only about 30 yards tall. I could throw a rock to the road if not for the trees.
My brother and I have both hunted this land, at the same time, and almost always have success. Some years we have taken as many as 5 deer between us from this small piece of ground.
This year was different. I still have permission to hunt the 3 properties, but now I have SO much more.
My uncle called last February to tell me that he had just closed on 50 acres of prime, wooded, bottom land in mid-west Indiana, about 1 hour from my house.
When I asked him why he bought it, he said, "So you guys will have someplace to hunt"!
WHAT???!!!
Then he went even further.
He put our names on the deed! I am now 1/4 owner of 50 acres of woods. The western most boarder of our new property is actually the raised berm that was the tow-path for the old Wabash-Erie canal! We are less than 1/4 mile from the Wabash river. Just 5 miles north, on the same road, sits one of the largest apple orchards in the state!
We have roughly 1800 feet of roadside, but that is misleading. We have enough level ground to park MAYBE a half dozen cars before the property drops off to the bottom land.
I knew dragging a deer out of this property was going to be an issue, so I bought a 1939 Ford 9N tractor for this purpose.
I used it in November to drag the largest buck I've ever harvested out of our new property.
Not a trophy by any means, but a personal best for me.
He was a very respectable 9 pointer and I took him from about 80 yards with a JM stamped Marlin 1894 in .44mag.
I also took a doe, and the brother took two doe. Unfortunately the uncle says he didn't see anything he could get a shot at.
I'd like to see him take a nice buck next year.
I have ALWAYS hunted other peoples property.
For the past decade I've been blessed to have permission to hunt the property of 3 customers who live side by side by side. Three properties that abut each other, with a total of roughly 15 acres of woods, situated on a steep hillside.
Houses occupy the top of the hill and there is a road at the bottom of the hill.
The hill is only about 30 yards tall. I could throw a rock to the road if not for the trees.
My brother and I have both hunted this land, at the same time, and almost always have success. Some years we have taken as many as 5 deer between us from this small piece of ground.
This year was different. I still have permission to hunt the 3 properties, but now I have SO much more.
My uncle called last February to tell me that he had just closed on 50 acres of prime, wooded, bottom land in mid-west Indiana, about 1 hour from my house.
When I asked him why he bought it, he said, "So you guys will have someplace to hunt"!
WHAT???!!!
Then he went even further.
He put our names on the deed! I am now 1/4 owner of 50 acres of woods. The western most boarder of our new property is actually the raised berm that was the tow-path for the old Wabash-Erie canal! We are less than 1/4 mile from the Wabash river. Just 5 miles north, on the same road, sits one of the largest apple orchards in the state!
We have roughly 1800 feet of roadside, but that is misleading. We have enough level ground to park MAYBE a half dozen cars before the property drops off to the bottom land.
I knew dragging a deer out of this property was going to be an issue, so I bought a 1939 Ford 9N tractor for this purpose.
I used it in November to drag the largest buck I've ever harvested out of our new property.
Not a trophy by any means, but a personal best for me.
He was a very respectable 9 pointer and I took him from about 80 yards with a JM stamped Marlin 1894 in .44mag.
I also took a doe, and the brother took two doe. Unfortunately the uncle says he didn't see anything he could get a shot at.
I'd like to see him take a nice buck next year.
