Is it a good idea to purchase a hunting property that is surrounded by the national forest, or would it be better to buy a property surrounded by private landowners.

National Forest!

National Forest every day of the week.

What are you primarily hunting and what is the size of the property you are acquiring?

I am considering a place that is a little over 40 acres and is bordered by the national forest on 3 sides. My thought was to plant a food plot near the center of it and hunt deer. Since it is all wooded, I may try just putting a feeder year round in the center so I wouldn't have to do as much work clearing as a food plot would require.

As it sounds, I'd clear a little spot in the middle & put a protein & corn feeder.

Ok playing devils advocate here, but let's say you get this piece of property and work it up to be a deer fantasy land. What would keep people from finding it and hunting the fence lines. With a place 40 acres big, it would only take three guys to surround your fenced land and keep all the deer away.

How do you prevent that? Is national forest huntable land (maybe that solves the problem right away)

I have thought about this exact scenario many times and this thought keeps creeping in my mind. The thought of having property surrounded by no neighbors is enticing though!

Lots of variables here. Could make your place hunt way bigger or may be an invitation for disaster. No way to tell from info given

Personally, I would prefer to be surrounded by large private landowners. It would be great if your neighbors were management minded or didn't hunt at all. But that's a perfect world situation and isn't that common for a 40 acre place. It could also change in the blink of an eye. Worst case scenario, one of your neighbors could sell and subdivide their land into ranchettes. That would probably put multiple hunters on your fence line. Buying a small property for hunting purposes will always include some risks, but I think a national forest would be a pretty good neighbor. At the least you know that your neighbor situation is not going to change. I wouldn't be opposed to it myself.