The Hunting Land Buying Process

Chad Law with an 11-point buck taken on Nov. 2. It’s the biggest buck killed so far on family land in Macon County.

I’ve been avidly hunting my whole life, starting with my dad. I harvested my first deer when I was 6 years old. My family takes it way more serious than most.

We’ve always had a few clubs we’ve been in and even managed a few hunting clubs over the years. I’ve experienced the club atmosphere, including the negative aspects where there are guys usually fussing, claiming deer or claiming spots as their own.

Growing up from a young age, I knew that being able to consistently harvest mature bucks and have a place to hunt big deer works best when you are a landowner. Being able to control the amount of pressure a deer receives in any given area is paramount in being able to keep him daylight active.

Knowing this, I had to go to the drawing board and figure out a way to make this happen… realizing that land is a commodity that you can’t make more of also drove me to buy being able to ensure my kids a place to hunt one day. I was hoping my kids wouldn’t have the struggles with clubs like I did growing up.

In 2016 after I was married and had a stable income, I began to comb the real estate ads all over the state. I was in search of that special piece of hunting ground that I would keep forever and give to my family when my days were over. I settled on a 25-acre tract.

Now this was great hunting property, but from a real estate perspective it was the bottom of the barrel—90% of the 25 acres was in the flood stages behind a very old neighborhood and rundown houses. I paid $1,000 an acre for—25 acres for 25K. It was only woods with a creek bottom. It didn’t even have a road on the place. But having hunted all my life, I knew the hunting potential of that little tract.

I hired a dozer guy and had roads and two food plots put on the place. I got great deer pictures immediately. With the improvements, I told my wife, “Why don’t I just put this out there and let’s see what happens.” Within the first month it sold for three times what I paid for it.

The author’s father, George Law, with a Peach County 13-point buck taken this season.

Knowing that the process worked, and with the ability to see the potential in a tract for a purchase to make sense, I went home after the closing and told my wife we’d be crazy not to do this again. And so we did, and about 50 to 60 properties later, we have been able to consistently harvest big deer while always having places to hunt on our own properties.

I tell people all the time real estate found me I didn’t find it. I wasn’t interested in setting out to be in the real estate business, I just wanted a place to hunt. After all this, I’ve proven that you do not have to be a millionaire to own land or to be able to consistently harvest big deer. What I’ve found is that owning a few smaller properties can be as good or even better than owning a 1,000-acre farm somewhere, for many reasons. One single area probably is not going to have a 160-inch deer on it every single year. And one area is also controlled solely by its neighbors. Right now, I own seven pieces of property that are 50 to 100 acres. This allows us to keep the pressure off of one spot, being able to give some properties a year to “rest.”

And say you do have bad neighbors. This will make a mature buck move to your place, being daylight active on yours and nocturnal on theirs.

Side note, if you have a job, you can own property and kill big deer. A 177-inch gross deer I harvested came off a 2.5-acre property that was just in the right place. I paid 6K for that lot. The key is that a tract has to be in the right place and the property around it doesn’t get hunted. This property happens to be surrounded by 1,000 acres that a college owns. My dad just this year harvested a 151-inch gross deer on the same piece.

What I’m saying is, get away from permission farms and own some dirt. It doesn’t take much to make it happen. Permission farms are to be lost at any given time if the owner sells. When you buy, you get to walk onto a blank canvas and you can make your dream a reality.

Hunting has been a huge blessing for my family. It opened the door to real estate, and between that and the good Lord, it has opened more doors than I ever dreamed possible. Since 2015m we have been in the GON Truck-Buck Shoot-Out twice, and between my dad and I, we have killed 11 deer between 140 and 177 inches.

The selling process should be the easiest. Once you have gone in and done all the work to the property and harvested a giant on it, now you have to sell it to be able to get you to the next step of having more properties or a larger one. The goal is harvesting a wall hanger every year. I have sold land directly to other hunters who are looking and to people to build a house on—or whatever it is that they see in their vision for a particular tract. I’ve also worked with and used many agents to sell through as well. Grantson Martin with Whitetail Properties has helped me a lot. Being able to have a tract listed and presented the right way with good deer pictures, pretty food plots and stands will make it sell much faster. I’ve bought and sold some properties twice knowing that I could with proof of what’s been harvested on the place. The net 152-inch velvet buck from 2020 I harvested came off a property I’ve owned twice. Obviously, the goal is to buy low and sell high, but don’t be greedy. Remember, a goal is to have places to hunt, so you can’t let it be all about the money. If I’m making any, it’s more than I had the day before, and  it allows me to go look for another 150 incher. We can all relate that half the fun is the chase!

Owning is better than leasing or just getting permission. At least you only lose the hunting rights to a property on your terms. On one deal, I had a lawyer look at me and say, “You do know this 2.5-acre property is land locked right?” I told him he’d be buying it if he knew the kind of deer that were walking on it. I paid 6K for it and have harvested three bucks over 150. Compare that to taking three trips to hunt out West somewhere that would have cost me 30K.

Do your research and buy some land!

The author with a 153-inch net velvet buck taken in 2000 on a small Pulaski County tract he had purchased.