Posted: 12/20/2006 5:57:12 PM EDT
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Hey all, I have been contemplating buying a piece of land in this great state of ours - just to own. I'd like to get something that would at the very least, be suitable for going to shoot on from time to time (ala the Hun Farm). Perhaps hunt and other stuff, but for now, just to own and use every once in a while. I figure that land value will only go up, so at a minimum I could view it as an investment. Now onto the question. How many acres would be big enough to use for such a purpose. I keep thinking about 80-100 acres or so would be plenty, but is that too much (you can never have too much)? If I want that much land within a reasonably short drive from Houston, it would be very expensive. Fairly cheap for that much land 4-6 hours away, but how much would I really use it? Would 30-50 acres be plenty? That could bring something closer to my targeted budget range. Any thoughts would be appreciated. |
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I think it mostly depends on how the land, and adjoining lad, is set up. An American football field, 360 feet by 160 feet, is about 1.3 acres. The lets you have a nice 100yd range. But again.... a lot depends on the lay of the land, what is behind you.... how your neighbors feel about gunfire, how close they will be, etc..etc.. We had a 40 acre farm... it was ok... but the way it was set up, we really couldnt get much more than a 200yd shot because of what was around us. |
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Legally if you have more than 50 acres in Texas and it was not annexed into a city before 1981 or so, you can pretty much do anything you want on it wrt to hunting/shooting. The real key is to pick a rural location that is unimproved. No paved roads, no electric, no water, etc. If you find a place like this, 50 acres will let you do a lot, of course shape and such of the land means a lot too. |
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I've also been thinking this would be a cool idea if you could have your own land to go out and go target shooting/hunting/whatever and not have to worry about the irritations of a standard range (shooters close by, noise, rules about ammo, rules about rate of fire....). Browsed around on some web sites a couple nights ago looking at stuff listed on the web outside of the Austin area(hill country) and definitely didn't look cheap seemed like it would be hard to get very close to 2k/acre(probably more like 5k) without buying huge plots of land like 100's - thousands of acres. Not sure if there are any tricks on finding good deals on 25-50 acre plots of land maybe you just have to drive around and find for sale by owner? Guessing ads for lots of ranch acreage lots have somwhat inflated prices? |
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IMO, you want land that is no more than 2 hours away from where you live, so you can easily visit it on weekends or even weekdays during summer months when it stays light until 9 or 10 p.m. The State used to have a program to encourage veterans to buy land and would help with financing so long as you bought 10 acres or more. I don't know if that program is still available, but it would be worth checking it out. You should also find out what is necessary to keep the agricultural exemption in place for property taxes. Of course, if you have a few cows to qualify, you'll have to maintain your fences and have some source of water, either a reliable well or stock tanks that don't go dry during August. If possible, buy land with the mineral rights intact, you never know when a big gas or oil deposit might be discovered under your property. |
I was looking at 6 acres and a house a while back and was daydreaming about how to build a cheap, safe hundred yard range on the property. I was thinking about just bulldozing a big backstop and side berms, but then the range would be depressed and would fill with water when it rains. I suppose it could be done at a very slight incline, so that it drained out one end or the other, but that might be trickier than I first supposed. I also thought about getting concrete pipe and shooting down it into a backstop, but I imagine the echo would be tremendous. Anyone else have any ideas for building your own range? I guess just keeping the ground at the same level and building berms would be the simplest answer... |
And this is why I would recommend anyone considering this to get a minimum of 50 acres. Here's why:
eta: Oops I see RenegadeX already mentioned it but here's the statute anyways. |
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I have 16.83 acres 9 miles north of the little town of Woodville, which is on highway 69 and highway 190 in east Texas. It is at the end of the county road and has hardwoods and some pine timber on it. There is no electricty at it or water, power is avilable but you would have to get a well drilled for running water. I use to hunt on it but live to far now. It is for sale if any one is interested in it shoot me an e-mail. Thanks DRJ |
The place next door to us just went for something around $3k per acre(grayson county) It's getting pretty tough to find decent land for anything under $2K/acre now. |
If it was easy, everyone would have 100 acres. Took me 2 years of looking, many weekends in extreme rural towns, and several offers before it came together. |
DMN classifieds, land for sale led me to several rural real estate brokers. Land I bought was not actually for sale at the time, but the agent knew the guy and he had talked of selling it so the deal was made. People actively selling land with signs, ads, etc. probably want top dollar. You need to talk to the local people and talk them into selling land they will never use. The guy I bought it from lived in Dallas, and was 75. Cash did more for him then the land, as he was never going to use it. |
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Pretty rough country between Hwy. 90 and the border, not to metion the Rio Grande. There is also not alot of reason for someone to want to develop or even live on the land. Water is pretty deep. We just fill up 55 gallon drums with water in Sanderson and live off of propane and campfire. Rough life, but someone has to do it. |
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A little of both. Most not. One of the borders is down the middle of a large canyon. No fence. Part of it along the county road. No fence. Where it directly borders another property is a fence. Kind of in disrepair, though. It is open range for cattle, but none there now. Keeps taxes low. |
Have a one or two acre pond dug and you will have all the dirt you need. Then stock the pond and have fun fishing as well as shooting. |
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Hi, You dont want a stray bullet landing on another preoprty no matter if their are no houses back their or not.. It is 160 acres per square mile so you would have to buy at least 2-3 sections or have a very good backstop.. Backstop would be the most realistic option but still not fool proof. Most people dont understand and to see signs at the range "no rapid fire" but liabilty and bullets traveling 3 miles can bite a range owner in the ass. |
There are 640 acres per aquare mile |