Pheasant Camp

HollowWatcher

HollowWatcher

Member
Where I come from most people dream about Deer Camp, however its always been a dream of mine to own a pheasant camp. I have been looking at land in Iowa, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota and was wondering what everyones thoughts were. I would like to be in area where there is a good amount public land and that have a consistent numbers of birds. Does anyone know of any realtors that specialize in this type of stuff? Great site by the way!

Danny
 
There are LOTS of land here for sale that is close to the river and crops. this is a huge impact bc of water, and crops.. howver if you get into a hilly area, theres no crops.. but more deer than pheasants.

Try this site out. its got a lot of land available for your needs.. if its not too far to drive, i can locate the site youre interested in and take more additional pictures for you. let me know!

http://www.homesandland.com/Real_Estate/SD/City/Pierre/Page.html

a friend of mine east of pierre has crops and lives right next to the river. every time im out there, birds flood the driveway but fall time comes, they are smart birds.. they hide.
 
Did a quick look at the reality around Clark, SD and it looks like you can buy a little house for under 50K...wish you can buy a home for that price in my area. I still don't mind the hotels when I am out hunting but I would really like to buy a little house and spend about a month every fall hunting the midwest.
 
Thanks for the info guys! Is there any areas in North and South Dakota that I should try to stay away from? I would hate to buy property in a area not known for pheasants.
 
HollowWatcher said:
Thanks for the info guys! Is there any areas in North and South Dakota that I should try to stay away from? I would hate to buy property in a area not known for pheasants.
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Central South Dakota is usually flooded with birds.. and is the main attraction for out of state hunters during the season.


You could find more lodges around the north central (which is more of a tribal area) to south central where Pierre down to Winner, to Gregory are hotspots for pheasant hunting. there are lots of places for sale or even small farm houses. You can find a suitable house for your needs for a month and hunt wherever.

If you do find a house with land, do you plan to crop it or leave it weeds and plant a shelterbelt type of hunting?

Alot of owners (my dad has operated a few places for weed controls) that are from out of state that own thousands of acres usually hire a farmer to farm their ground and when season comes, thats where the income comes in along with the crops the farmer harvest with a share price. there are THREE that my dad has managed and they do very well with harvest AND pheasant season.

those places usually plant food plots and that is what brings in birds and other wildlife animals. its a buffet for them.
 
HollowWatcher said:
Thanks for the info guys! Is there any areas in North and South Dakota that I should try to stay away from? I would hate to buy property in a area not known for pheasants.
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For what your looking for, I would stay away from the Black Hills area. And that North East quarter of North Dakota and most of the far South West corner.
I wouldn't spend much for a old house, it would be so run down you would be spending valuable outdoor time fixing. Instead use the money for acreage like a 80 or even bigger:10sign: Spend your outdoor time on pheasant cover.
Have a trailer or motor home for the lodging.
Good idea you have, best of luck with it.
 
mnmthunting said:
For what your looking for, I would stay away from the Black Hills area. And that North East quarter of North Dakota and most of the far South West corner.
I wouldn't spend much for a old house, it would be so run down you would be spending valuable outdoor time fixing. Instead use the money for acreage like a 80 or even bigger:10sign: Spend your outdoor time on pheasant cover.
Have a trailer or motor home for the lodging.
Good idea you have, best of luck with it.
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Ya i mentioned buying a trailerhouse in a PM to him which around here for a used 2000 built trailer house could roughly be 30,000 to 50,000 depending on double or single wide. So far i have found 150 acres or more. i havnet found what he was asking for unless it wants a farm house... but most of them are over 100,000.


Pierre down to Gregory would be the hotspots. west or north or even east of those area would be "eh" to me.
 
HollowWatcher said:
I wouldn't farm the land, but would do a lot of habitat work on it. Thanks for the info!
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Being in the real estate business forever...the only suggestion I would give you is take a few days off and go to SD and ride around for a couple of three days....get that warm fuzzy feeling about an area...find a guy that would farm it ...tell him why your buying it ...and work out a deal around your needs that is fair to him. I am sure that would work for both of you. I wish I could do what you are going to do...maybe soon I will be able to...I wish you luck and hope you have good luck.:cheers:
 
Hollowatcher, it's a great dream you have and I encourage you to pursue it.

It isn't easy and that is why not everyone who wants to do it....does it.

I wrote an articel way back when about the cost of owning a pheasant camp vs. hunting at one of UGUIDE's pheasant camps for a week.

It may provide you with some good info as you consider options and put together a cashflow model. Enjoy!

http://www.uguidesdpheasants.com/articles/pheasant-hunting-fees/

I actually have a to-do to rewrite this article based on current land rates, programs and other factors and if I get that done in next couple weeks I will post that link here as well.

Good luck camp hunting.
 
Hey Chris, I read your article very interesting. Am I taking it right that you figure 175 acres is enought for 6 guys to hit every weekend and be happy with the birds they will see?
 
Depends on the land. Say you have a quarter with a creek meandering for a half a mile. Brush, cattails and reeds etc. surrounded by grasslands and more brushy coulees. Add in a few 4-5 acre plots of food/cover type annuals. MAN! you could have 5-6 people hunt every day.:)
 
MNMT, I have actually seen something similar to that back home. A guy I know has a creek running through the whole farm and then run in to a river which borders most of the farm. He also plants some crops on hill tops an just kind of sparatically throughout the area. I hunted it one afternoon with him and my uncle after some guys from out of town hunted it in the morning and we still got 4 roosters.
 
moellermd said:
Hey Chris, I read your article very interesting. Am I taking it right that you figure 175 acres is enought for 6 guys to hit every weekend and be happy with the birds they will see?
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It's more on the extreme edge and a minimum but given the right circumstances (hatch, harvest, quality of 175 acres in food plots/grass) I have seen 400-600 birds harvested on one season off that configuration.

I think Benelli Banger could attest to this also but don't wnat to put words in his mouth.
 
landman said:
I think you would need between 700 to 1000 acres for that much hunting for most situations.
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Man of Land,

I think you are right for most situations in more conservative year over year pattern of success.

To that end my next article will be based on acreage purchase of 2000 acres at $2000/acre. Assuming model of 25% huntable acres that would breakdown the food plots, CRP, other into about 500 of that 2000.

Let me just say this, when you see that numbers on that scenario it will make a UGUIDE hunt look REAL cheap compared to owning that pheasant camp.

Where I came up with the 2000 acres is that is wat most clients expect when booking a private exclusive pheasant hunting property.
 
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