After passing on a piece of land, we returned to looking, checking websites weekly.  My browser would automatically fill in my searches for land in that area.  We had identified a geographic triangle that we wanted to stay within.  I knew every piece of property for sale, and listed on a website, in that triangle.   Some pieces of property were listed for many months, other pieces were on the websites only 2 – 3 weeks.  We knew that if there was something we were interested in, we needed to act quickly when we saw the opportunity.   We were firm about staying within that triangle.   It was important to us to look in areas we knew.  We have driven hundreds of miles over the years in that general area.  Evening rides to look for deer is an almost daily occurrence when we are up there in the Fall before hunting season.  There were areas we always saw deer, others more hit and miss and some not at all. 

We are so lucky that our friends go to their hunting land so regularly.  Out of the blue one day, I got a text from N.  Land for sale by owner was posted in a perfect geographical location.  Obviously, keeping an eye on real estate listings wouldn’t have shown this, as I said, we were lucky.  I travel for work and do work in that part of the state.  I arranged to visit there within a few days.  I had no problem finding the land.  I walked into the property and didn’t need to go very far to know this was definitely worth a serious look.  I called the owner and arranged to return with my husband so we could see and talk about the land.

There are a few GPS Apps geared to hunting, and one we’ve been that we have been using for a few years now. We were able to identify the land and saw that it was surrounded on 2 sides with State of Minnesota land.  The land across the road is State land.  The last property line borders land owned by a family that had generations of roots in the area on the family farm.  We didn’t know them well, but, had crossed paths a few times over the years.  They would make good neighbors.  We have driven by that farm every Labor Day weekend and hunting season for all of our years of hunting.  Out for an evening drive to look for deer, we sometimes saw deer on their pasture.  The pasture was the border to the land we were looking at.

Seeing State Forest land on essentially 3 sides was very promising.  The general public is welcome to hunt on State land as long as they understand they must watch for signs of trespass if they are getting to the edge of a property line.  Portable stands are recommended in State land and if you leave your stand, you could return and find another hunter using it.  You have to be prepared to take that risk. The land is there to use, you just can’t lay claim to it.  Cutting a shooting lane is not allowed.  Positioning your stand with the greatest open area for shooting is important.

We have used State land for deer hunting.  One 40 acre piece that BH’s family owns borders on State land.  We would do a drive (walking in a line) through the land and the State land with a few strategically placed hunters on stands – I’ll explain more about that another time. 

Here’s a link to the MN DNR website that would explain how the public can use Minnesota State land for hunting.   https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_forests/rules.html  Seeing a hunter or 2 on State land is not unusual.  With State land on 3 sides, the odds of too many other hunters around us would be low.

Knowing the area, checking the land on a GPS mapping app and having learned a little about timber harvesting, we felt more prepared than ever before to make a quick decision if that was necessary.