BH had told us a number of times through the years that logging a section of woods could help pay for hunting land. We knew of places that had been bought and logged, had seen sections of County and State land that had been logged. My husband and I had already seriously considered a different piece of property – 80 acres – that could be logged. This was land we had hunted adjacent to every year of hunting up north and knew there were deer in those woods. It bordered on a wildlife management area where there were deer most years. We did something we wouldn’t have normally done, but we were ready to try any approach.
From one of the hunting crew we had learned about using County records to accurately identify property lines and with the tax history, we could get some idea of the worth of a piece of land. We had been hunting next to this 80 acre parcel for years. We had met the current owner, chatted a few times. You know, that Minnesota nice conversation that easily starts and ends with discussion about the weather and when everyone is wearing orange, it includes ‘see anything?’ The last few years, we had seen him there only a day or 2, that last year, not at all. Maybe, he didn’t have as much time for hunting? Maybe, he had other places to hunt? Knowing we could get some contact information through the tax information on that County’s website, we decided to send a letter.
I got an email in just a few days. He said that with one thing and another he would consider selling his land. He named a price. Much higher than I expected. Some back and forth, but the conversation continued. He did come back with a price more in line with what we felt the land was worth, but still a little high. Then he explained that there was logging potential on the land. The potential seller had already had a logging company do a walk through estimate of the value of the timber on the land. The seller shared his logging information with us and it was good to see verification of what he was telling us. It seemed like a good idea, this looked like the land we had been waiting for.
I needed to learn more about logging. Generally, there are 3 major ways of timber harvest practices – clearcutting, shelterwood harvesting and selective systems. Selective harvesting takes more time and doesn’t really net the land owner as much income. Selection harvesting is done when a forest or wooded area has just too many trees and they are all choking each other out. Young trees can be added in after most of the standing trees are harvested. The shelterwood system is between selection harvesting and clearcutting. Sections at a time of a forest are cut, allowed to begin to grow in and then the next section is cut. That didn’t seem like an option to pursue with land we would be hunting. Clearcutting will allow new growth more quickly. The logger can move more quickly for clearcutting, there could be a better payment for the owner. Using a piece of machinery called a feller buncher which grabs the tree and cuts it before laying it on the ground, a lot of trees can be cut quickly.
Clearcutting would give us the opportunity to start from scratch with food plots. Now we were interested in considering that option with land we purchased. When we talked it over with our sons, one of them raised some valid concerns. He works for our County Highway Department. He pointed out that the road to this land is a minimum maintenance road. The approach onto the hunting land was narrow, crossing a ditch that was often high with water. The approach into the land would need to be built up, at our expense.
The semi-trucks that would haul the trees when cut would likely have difficulty on the narrow road. Getting the other equipment down the road and onto the land would also be a challenge. With a lot of discussion, we decided to not pursue this land. Even though the owner had even decreased the price, we live hours away and didn’t know how much time it would take to coordinate what needed to be done. I hoped we wouldn’t regret passing on this land.
