I am thinking of buying some land.. I found a nice 5 acre patch on the edge of national preserve in east Texas close to the LA border. River is close, heavy woods all around, and not a lot of neighbors..

I am just thinking bow hunting only and maybe 2 feeders on the property going year round. maybe clear .5 acres or an acre for a food plot later...

Thoughts?

Its small , but Could be enough to have fun with, if attached to the preserve and no high fence or hunting around you.
no camp on the property
1 feeder tops not 2

Talk about cramped, but doable if the surrounding property is a plus. Only makes sense for one feeder IMO. then maybe a small food plot.

Going to make retrieving wounded game tough without permission to go onto someone elses property. The amount of pressure you put on the place hunting will be greatly effected from the size of it.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir//30.2289875,-94.1402138/@30.2307016,-94.1415601,939m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0

Here is a satellite view from google maps.. It is the undeveloped part to the top right of the marked pin

I am going to look at it tomorrow. I know Christmas day fun lol.. the wife is excited to look at it haha

What should i look for? I know trails ect, and current signs of deer or game. I am thinking of paying close attention to the neighbors noise levels. If they are a bunch of party people or a construction company or some thing like that and too much noise I will not even waste my time.

This is one of my concerns as well. I would most likely set up the food plot or hunting area in the center of the property to give the best chances of retrieving within the property. I dunno still alot to think about yet.. still in the baby stages of purchasing. but with my budget I don't have much to work with

I'd check laws. Most places you gotta have a min 10 acres to hunt on

Some counties do this for rifle but never read up on bow

Yeah now might work

All I could find was rifle and shotgun is 10 acres and rifle is 50 acres in most county UNLESS a stand is a minimum of 10 feet off the ground.

However I could not find anything on bow restrictions. If the land is what I want the next step would contact the local game warden in that area

Would you be staying on the property to hunt it or staying somewhere offsite and coming in every day to hunt?

It would only be 2 hours from my house so would drive out to hunt. Would not camp and hunt on that small of a property. But would keep a.camper there for off season, with a camper stationary the deer would most likely get used to it after a while

The biggest problem with 5 acres and bow hunting is that many times the animal will mak it to your neighbors property before it dies. Recovery could pose problems.

3 or more hours from ft worth to hunt on 5 acres ?
that's a pretty long drive just to hunt 5 acres
and on 5 acres you wont be able to stay there when you visit
the deer will know when you are there for sure
and then there is the recovery issue as well
might want to reconsider that purchase unless i missing something here

Do it

X2 especially surrounded by National forest. Just keep an eye on your stuff. Game cams may be needed.

If it's bordered on the nat. Forest I would buy it

Having federal land as a neighbor is a plus, but look at this from another perspective: Assume for the sake of discussion that the seller divided a 100 acre tract into 5 acre parcels. You bought one, as did nineteen other eager hunters. Would you want to hunt in a place that had a hunter density of 20 guns to 100 acres -- without even bothering to count all their friends, family, and guests?

As to leaving a camper onsite, yes the wildlife would eventually grow accustomed to the camper's presence. However, they would not grow accustomed to your periodic presence and the accompanying noise, smells etc., and 5 acres doesn't allow you any buffer room.

That can happen anywhere plus it's easy to find out how big the neighbors are

only thing about federal land....is remember you got a whole bunch of public hunters tromping thru the national forest every year. make sure your property lines are well marked. no trespassing signs up. I wouldn't put a feeder real close to the fence...someone sees it or becomes aware its there...then they can perfectly legally hunt right on the other side of it...and have the benefit of a feeder which nobody else in the national forest would.

as long as its legal to hunt....if you're comfortable with the price and the drive...then I don't see any reason not to. go for it.

to each his own how far you're willing to drive to hunt. I drive 180miles and I love it. wouldn't trade it for the world.

I had a place that was 15min from home once too...also good. but truthfully I'd trade it anyday for where I am now.

I always say you can have the right 5 acres or the wrong 500....

I live in North houston so it is only 1 hour 45 mins from my house. And with 5 q res I csn controll the food plot and feeder easily. Still debating but for 20k can't really go wrong.. at least wpuld have a weekend getaway.

If it's what you think you want, do it and don't look back. Also, try to negotiate the owner down any that you can, even if it's just $500. Would pay for some of year's feed. Good luck and let us know how it all turns out..