How many acres minimum for a mini hunting lodge?....

[El Mariachi]

For bird hunting mostly, somewhere in the South? (Florida, Georgia, Alabama or South Carolina). Thinking of something like a family oriented kind of place, almost like a B & B-slash-KOA, with extra curricular activities like ATV riding, canoes & kayaks, swimming, some fishing, a little restaraunt, hiking trails, maybe a separate three stage shooting range and tool shop, some olde school wooden cabins, a hot tub.........basically wifey stuff, kdids stuff, guy stuff, in like a semi-inexpensive mini vacation package. Just trying to figure out another little business idea that may be viable when I finally get the hell outta Cali this year. Any ideas?.....


Thanx in advance,

EL.....

 

[avs11054]

IMO, nothing less than 640 acres (1 square mile). If you think about it, how many times are people criticized for not getting more than a quarter mile from the road when they hunt? Well, if you get 640 acres, the farthest you will ever be from someone elses property (because you never know what they're doing with theirs) is 1/2 mile.

Especially for all the activities you mentioned, I think this would give enough room to comfortably devote a section to ATVs, a section to trails, a section to water sports (if there is water on the property), a section for hunting (including food plots and tanks), and a section for a livable part of the property.

 

[lonegunman]

I'm liking the 640 acre mins myself.

If you want three ranges, including a nice 300yd rifle range, that requires at least 40 acres for range. And you better have good backstops if you want ATV riders or hunters to use the area behind the ranges without getting killed.

Most states require you to be at least 300 feet or in some cases yards from a residence, road or bridge to hunt or shoot. So you would be better off owning secondary land off the main highway and having either a strip to the road or a nice wide easement.


If you have ponds, stock them for fish. You might discover building ponds or damming any small creek is impossible with permits and environmental laws.

ATV trails? I'd pass on that myself. Nice hiking trails to the various managed feed plots for birds or deer would be great. 640 acres means everything is a 15 minute walk, why ride?

You should make your mess,,,,,,,,,,,,,i.e. cabins, shooting range, RV park, playground and whatnot in one area and leave as much space for game as possible. Having a tent camp on the "back forty" for Boy Scouts or hunters would be neat. All you would need it two or three cabin tents, a firepit, outhouse and a few things and it would be like an expedition to kids and teens.

Make sure you have good neighbors and a lot of open space nearby. If you can lease any nearby land and expand your hunting area,,,,,,,,,,,even better. The trick is finding something to make money year round, hunting season is three months tops. You need camping, fishing, bird watchers and other folks to pay the light bill the rest of the year.

You should know,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,640 acres of anything decent will be in the seven figure range. I'd hunt for decent acreage that borders state forest or federal land. If it included river frontage or lake shore,awesome.

 

[Mike1234567]

Cripes... you consider that a "little" business venture?

 

[MtnCreek]

If you're really looking at doing something like this, I would take a trip this fall to Big Red Oak Plantation in Gay, GA (no joke, the town is named 'Gay'). Of the places I've been to, this is the nicest. It's about 3,000 ac of farmed land and old growth pines. It would probably be worth your time to check it out.

The second nicest place I've been to is called Blalock Lakes (I think it's in Fayette Co). It's set up a little differently; membership required and it's really costly (like $10k). PS: I was a member's guest, I can't afford that place!

Good Luck.

 

[Dave Workman]

I'd have to agree with minimum 640 acres, and more if you can get it or lease it. And make sure it has a good pond.

 

[buck460XVR]

Something else to consider. If you're running a bird hunting operation on only 640 acres that includes ATV trails, hiking trails and all the other amenities you mentioned, you'll never hold enough wild birds for those that come to hunt. Sure it is plenty for one or two hunters a week to shoot a few birds, but you won't make any money that way. With the high price of recreational land nowadays, in order to recoup your investment and earn a living, you need several hunters hunting everyday, and they need to fill up or at least have the opportunity to fill up or they wont come back. Nor will they recommend your place to their friends. Even 640 acres of prime habitat with no other activities or infringement could naturally produce the numbers of birds needed for this, much less one with a multitude of other activities and amenities taking up space and adding commotion.This means raising or buying birds and releasing them before your patrons go to field. You also have to plant proper cover to hold even these pen raised birds and that withstand groups of hunters and their dogs traipsing thru it several times a week...many times, twice a day. You'll also need a good dog or two for those folks that don't have one. Many times, you need to get a game farm/shooting preserve license because the longer seasons allow more time for more hunters= more money. It also gives folks a place to warm up themselves and their dogs before season and a way to enjoy a hunt long after the regular season is over. Again, this can only be done with released birds.

 

[oneounceload]

hiking trails and bird hunting do NOT mix well - look up Bray's Island - a private development - 5500 acres with 3500 left alone for hunting, shooting horses, etc - in short a LOT of room for everyone to avoid the other and stay safe

For everything you're talking about, including a campground, SEVERAL sections would be a better situation - especially here in FL where bullets can fly a long ways with the flat terrain

 

[Bobson]

When you refer to mini hunting lodge, do you mean a parcel of land to run a guide/outfitter business on? Or are those types of businesses typically utilizing public lands?

 

[Davek1977]

Running a multi-use lodge on a mere 640 acres seems more or less impossible to me, at least if you are serious about including everything you mentioned. My family operates a 10,000 acre ranch between land owned and leased. I can't imagine trying to run a hunting/fishing/hiking/riding/shooting area on 1/15th of that property, and actually have it be a quality experience people are willing to pay for. It just doesn't seem feasible on 640 acres, or even twice that, by my way of thinking. Without making the place feel crowded and overrrun with people, you are going to need a significantly larger parcel than a single section, especially if you want to effectively manage for a good hunting experience. A decent amount of hunting pressure puts animals on the move, and a single section won't hold much wildlife if its hunted heavily. I just don't see how you could cram everything you want...and still maintain a sense of "wilderness" on 640 acres.

 

[Rembrandt]

Depends what kind if traffic you need to keep the doors open.....natural carrying capacity for "X" number of birds, or do you plan to raise and stock your own?

If you need six clients a week, for 30 weeks to make the operation pay, that's where normal
land capacity would require quite a bit of property.

 

[MtnCreek]

Other than power lines and some low impact or abandoned farms, everyone around here hunts raised quail. All the plantations in my area hunt raised birds and there are several good suppliers of hardy, flight / weather conditioned birds in GA. I buy good birds for $3.25 to 3.50 per bird from a distributor, so I would expect a large volume user could get them direct less. Also, UGA has a publication available on raising and conditioning quail; it's downloadable from their site.

I hunted a small farm in South GA last fall that was about 300 or 400 ac of owned land and another 300 ac or so of leased land. The farm is located about halfway between Columbus (Ft Benning) and FL; show-nuf South GA. Really great folks; the ladies made us a great breakfast and dinner in their dining room and the men guided and worked the dogs. The land was well managed and broken up with pine tree and privit hedge fence lines, making the most out of the huntable area. It can be done on a small tract of land.

I hunted another small farm in Cleburne Co, AL that was probably 800 ac and they did a decent job concidering there were about 30 hunters. They lacked the intensive land managment needed to make the most out of their farm. They also had some pretty poor birds. I think I could have killed one or two of each covey with a badminton racket!

The nice Plantations seem to be very invested in sporting clays, skeet and trap and with the setups that I’ve seen, it does not really take up additional land. Maybe something else to look into.

 

[Sunray]

Look into the cost of the liability insurance you'll need.
640 acres isn't big enough for a rifle range of any kind. Not enough space for the fall zone. Be ok for shotguns though.