New hunt camp Bancroft

[Conquest66]

I own 850 acres of land with several small lakes south of Bancroft and the property is full of deer, elk and moose. I am the only one hinting the land and it will easily support a large group of hunters. The Property is 99 percent wilderness and is surrounded by crown land, forestry land and private land but no houses within many miles.

The property has about 10 miles of new roads but need thousands of trees removed, mostly firewood from a big storm last year.

I want to start a new hunt camp to offset the costs of the wood removal but i am trying to determine what would be a fair and attractive deal for hunters.

I am prepared to finance and insrall a number of bunkies for hunting purposes, I was thinking 6 or 8 new bunkies looking for advice for this project on how to barter work for hunting rights and what would be fair.

The fallen trees do not need to be removed but I would like to clean up the property and use the firewood if possible.

Should i just hire people to do the firewood and charge a hunting fee instead? Also how to find members? What is a fair price to charge? Appreciate any positive advice.

 

[buoff]

I would just hire a company that do land clearing to do the firewood. They would have the proper hauling equipment and industrial chainsaws. You can find a few on Kijiji.

Trading hunting right for land clearing will take forever since these guy also have day jobs and they might not live close by.

You can advertise in Ontario Out of Door magazine for members. You can also check there and see what other people charge for leasing hunt camps.

 

[cosmic]

Do you have the timber rights?

 

[Suther]

Thousands of trees is a lot of work, especially if your paying in access...

 

[Deanx]

He does not need them if the trees are already down.

 

[Conquest66]

How do other hunt camps work? How much is access for a Private hunting stand worth for 365 day access? Can I offer access for 1 week only instead and increase the number of hunters? Once I know the value of the access, then I can simply ask for work equal to that value and slowly get the property improved.

 

[Robert777]

what we do or have done in the past is camp work days. So we pay $425 for one week of deer hunting and we use the owners cabin. We would meet a couple of times a year before the hunt to clear the watches and the trails. The camp has been going in one form or other since the 1930s. The watches that we use have been there since the 1970s 1980s.

its hard to turn guys loose with no direction where to cut. You need a plan, for watches and trails. I would get a company to come in and harvest some of the wood. And you would want a group of regular hunters that know each other and have hunted together in order to avoid hap hazard dangerous situation with hunters that don't know each other and just show up for the deer hunt. You need to create watches etc and trails.

 

[cosmic]

He does not need them if the trees are already down.

Correct - But if he has the timber rights, he can entice a logger to come in and clean up, and do a selective cut. If done properly, a fella can get a property tax break.
Regarding camps, it really depends upon how elaborate one wants the camp to be. They range from an old school bus and an outhouse, to a camp with all modern conveniences, including a cook. Practically, a camp that can accommodate 6-8 people would suit the given property size.
As a member of one of the nicer camps in the Bancroft area, a fella is expected to do a couple of work weekends (cut firewood, clear trails, etc) and pay several hundred dollars for camp expenses (communal food, fuel, food for dogs, etc). The membership consists of a regular pool of about 15 individuals, recognizing that not everyone is available for the two weeks of rifle season. The camp is not available on a pay per use basis, having strangers hunt on the property is too risky. However, we do invite guests, typically friends or relatives of existing members.

 

[Wellse]

I own 850 acres of land with several small lakes south of Bancroft and the property is full of deer, elk and moose.
……
I am prepared to finance and insrall a number of bunkies for hunting purposes, I was thinking 6 or 8 new bunkies looking for advice for this project on how to barter work for hunting rights and what would be fair.

In my opinion 6-8 bunkies is WAY too many! I think you’re asking for problems allowing that many people access to your property, I could foresee arguments over which “camp” has access to which portions of your property.

I think it would be more attractive (and command a higher premium) to have one camp, with sole access (exclusive of yourself of course) to the entire 850ac

 

[DBeato]

Forget about trading work. rent and use the money to get work done.
Build accommodation for one group of hunters at a time. Make it nice enough for renting to other users outside of hunting seasons. We paid 750 a week for bow on the Island, rifle hunt was 1800.

 

[FatCatsDad]

1 weeks labour is worth $2000.

How much is a 1 week hunt.

It's about $2000 but food guides, lodging etc is all included

 

[Conquest66]

In my opinion 6-8 bunkies is WAY too many! I think you’re asking for problems allowing that many people access to your property, I could foresee arguments over which “camp” has access to which portions of your property.

I think it would be more attractive (and command a higher premium) to have one camp, with sole access (exclusive of yourself of course) to the entire 850ac

The property is rugged with many lakes and ravines. My thoughts for the bunkies was for camping but also to allow a hunter to potentially hunt from the bunkie or at least not have to walk 2 miles into the hunt spot. Also not sure how to divide the land, is 50 acres per hunter too much or too little? Also this offer is for year round 365 day access.which is much more than 1 week hunt.

I am happy to share a detailed map with you if you DM me, I don't want to post it here.

.

 

[Conquest66]

1 weeks labour is worth $2000.

How much is a 1 week hunt.

It's about $2000 but food guides, lodging etc is all included

My thoughts were to provide a high end bunkie at or near the hunt location. If a hunter is offered 50 acres of land for a private hunt with bunkie, then I can trade that for 2 weeks of work?

 

[Conquest66]

Forget about trading work. rent and use the money to get work done.
Build accommodation for one group of hunters at a time. Make it nice enough for renting to other users outside of hunting seasons. We paid 750 a week for bow on the Island, rifle hunt was 1800.

The problem is that the land is deep, remote and rugged and I built about 10 km of road so far into the property but it's impossible to get logging trucks in and the local logging companies aren't interested because the cost to get the lumber out is too expensive. It's ideal for somebody bringing a pickup truck in and taking out a bush cord of firewood or a few veneer logs, etc. this type of thing is fine but more than that becomes commercially unviable so that's why I'm looking at this hunting camp concept.

 

[Bigbubba]

I would build accommodations for 6-8 people max.
Plus a kitchen/ eating building.
Rent it out by the week to a group that know each other.
You could easily get steady customers year after year.
Some for moose, some for deer.

You don’t want people there who are strangers to each other- that’s a huge problem.
Don’t mix hunting groups…


Hire someone to cut the wood. Who knows maybe some of the hunters will want a job?

 

[bush1]

I would build accommodations for 6-8 people max.
Plus a kitchen/ eating building.
Rent it out by the week to a group that know each other.
You could easily get steady customers year after year.
Some for moose, some for deer.

You don’t want people there who are strangers to each other- that’s a huge problem.
Don’t mix hunting groups…


Hire someone to cut the wood. Who knows maybe some of the hunters will want a job?

Lots of good posts here and yours is as well. Agreed that it would be a bad idea to separate hunters and give them only certain areas. Some would be better spots than others and that would cause friction.

One larger camp with good accommodations will attract hunters and the ones you like can be invited back and the ones with attitude can be discarded. It’ll take a few years but you’ll eventually get a good group together.

Our camp was a pay once a year for yearly access and a food fee for the actual hunter periods. We changed directions and now rent out the camp as an Air B&B and that money covers all yearly expenses so it’s just a food fee for the hunting days. Works great.

 

[bush1]

The problem is that the land is deep, remote and rugged and I built about 10 km of road so far into the property but it's impossible to get logging trucks in and the local logging companies aren't interested because the cost to get the lumber out is too expensive. It's ideal for somebody bringing a pickup truck in and taking out a bush cord of firewood or a few veneer logs, etc. this type of thing is fine but more than that becomes commercially unviable so that's why I'm looking at this hunting camp concept.

The windstorm that affected your land also affected an extremely large area and I know 2 individuals not too far from you that both have more than a few thousand acres each of damaged forests. My friend did the aerial survey for them with his Heli and they now have logging companies in doing the cleanup. These guys have deep pockets so the logging companies will cater to them first and with the proper equipment there’s hardly anywhere they can’t get lumber out of.

 

[cosmic]

My thoughts were to provide a high end bunkie at or near the hunt location. If a hunter is offered 50 acres of land for a private hunt with bunkie, then I can trade that for 2 weeks of work?

Well - This is limiting the hunter to still/watch hunting. Most deer hunting in the area is done by dogging (with or without dogs), and that is what the hunters will want to do. As stated by others, you're better off building one central camp (c/w services) and renting to a regular gang. You could build a couple of bunkies for summer camping on lakes, etc with limited services.

 

[canadian hunter312]

The problem is that the land is deep, remote and rugged and I built about 10 km of road so far into the property but it's impossible to get logging trucks in and the local logging companies aren't interested because the cost to get the lumber out is too expensive. It's ideal for somebody bringing a pickup truck in and taking out a bush cord of firewood or a few veneer logs, etc. this type of thing is fine but more than that becomes commercially unviable so that's why I'm looking at this hunting camp concept.

Considering how much wood the average house uses each winter any trees that are already down will be rotten before your intended hunters get around to needing all that wood. Some of the trees I cut up for firewood would take a few big pickup loads per tree. IMO firewood just isn’t valuable enough to entice someone to go through the effort of driving deep into the bush multiple times for some firewood. You also need to consider that most locals in remote areas already have hunting land access meaning your hunters will likely be driving a considerable distance to get there thus making it pointless to bother with firewood.

I also think 6-8 cabins is way too many for that size land. Maybe 2-3 tops?

It sounds like you’re trying to make as much return as possible from your land which I totally understand. But I can’t think of anyone I hunt with who would bother driving anywhere north for 50-100 acres to hunt.

 

[1ABNDT]

Get in touch with the local snowmobile clubs in the area, they are always cutting new trail through bush and could more than likely be able to give you some guidance, help, donations.

Let the township know that you plan to start a business, I have no doubt that they would help you to help them bring more dollars to the area.