I don't know anything about local prices per acre in the area there, but in general terms a larger piece of land such as U-Guide suggests is absolutely necessary for consistent, long-term sustainability of any decent number of pheasants at your disposal to hunt (unless you have plenty of other places to hunt as well)...It doesn't take long at all for even one man or a small group to "Burn-Out" a small parcel of land if hunted very regularly without plenty of "rest" in between (which most hunters are not willing to do).
The only exception to this rule would be if you are smart enough & do very intensive homework to land yourself a prime parcel or several smaller parcels of land smack-dab in the middle of a bunch of LARGE farming operations & let them provide all the vast expanses of corn, milo & wheat fields for nesting & food - while you focus on creating/providing the best roosting area, heavy winter-cover & hunting-pressure escape hidey-hole for miles around once all the corn & wheat comes off!
But you had best live somewhere nearby or at least know someone who does & is willing to help you POLICE the place - or choose your land far enough on the remote backside/backroads with difficult access - to help minimize the POACHERS once they sniff out your little land of milk & honey!!!
Better think about it long & hard before you bite/jump: There is far more that goes into owning a top-notch consistently-productive piece of hunting land than meets the eye - which anyone who has ever tried or been-there/done-that even on a small scale can fully attest to! There is good reason why quality operations such as U-Guide & others HAVE TO charge what they do!!! If you think for a NY minute that it is a fast road to an easy buck, just give it a whirl yourself & you will quickly become self-enlightened - most of these guys do what they do because they love wingshooting & dogs themselves & just wanted to find a way to make it even semi-affordable to stay in on a little of the action!
On the other hand, if all you want is a place to maybe accidentally stumble into an occasional rooster or two once in awhile (not all that much different from the public burnt-over walk-ins everybody already complains about), that's a whole nother story and might well be achieved cheaply or easily on a small piece of property without too much money or back-breaking labor-of-love!
All of this and more is exactly why I don't own a piece of my own land - I am not content with just an occasional chance/random rooster-encounter once in a while, and I do not have the time or the money necessary to own/upkeep & constantly police the quality kind of land that I like to spend my limited hunting-time on!
I am fortunate enough to have a few friends who allow me access to several primo private pieces of property and I am not afraid to bust my butt & wear my legs off covering LARGE expanses of public walk-ins across several counties in constant search of the ever-elusive rooster-Mecca!...This much I can tell you though, if you are in a position to create your own proper mosaic of HUNTING-SEASON-SPECIFIC timed & type of HABITAT in a carefully searched-out key location - the results are nothing short of phenomenal!!!
I was privileged to hunt one small, hidden patch of INTENSE cover several times this year - it was the ONLY cover for miles around in that particular area & the GNARLIEST cover I have ever seen in my life (it ripped my clothes & scratched my gun/sometimes nearly tearing it out of my hand, I couldn't even get off a decent shot thru the stuff half the time, the dog even had trouble plowing through it) - but I flushed a couple hundred birds out of it on opening morning & just about the same amount or maybe even more at the very tail-end of the season (visited it about once a month & got a limit or near every time - my best secret little honey-hole by far)! Hmmh, that should tell us all a little something - there is a reason the birds STAYED in there all year long! That is the kind & proper placement of cover I would create if I could!!! :thumbsup:
