In the Field Today

5:29 AM – July 20, 2016

Today, I am visiting a couple clients on their farms and will attend the 40th Annual Tawes Festival.  I thought this previous blog post was worth a repost and if you are looking for any help getting the “Perfect Deer Stand” definitely look up Spencer at orionwildlife.com.

Onward!

We have all heard it a thousand times, “the little things are the little things” or “don’t sweat the small stuff” , sometimes however the small things are the big things and it is the detail that matter most.  As a generalist or big picture person, this challenges my scope for business but over many land sales I have found the details really do matter.  Often it is the detail that makes one property rise above another land tract.

Recently, a negotiation on a 100 acre tract of land was well underway and all of the terms in the sale had been agreed to for a normal contract of sale. The price, deposit, closing date, due diligence timeline were all decided on by the parties. Done deal right? Well, not exactly.

A call came in from the buyer regarding the two deer stands on the land.  The deer stands were “well appointed” and well placed. Each stand was a box style elevated platform that were built by a local wildlife management company, Orion Land and Wildlife Management, orionwildlife.com . The stands were oriented along openings in the forested tract where food plots for deer could be planted and managed seasonally.  The cover around these stands was also significant as shrubs were strategically managed to break up the silhouette of the structure, allowing it to blend in with woodline. The current property owner have perfectly managed these food plots for whitetail and it was a major selling point for the property.

So going back to the call; the buyer stated he wanted both deer stands as part of the deal.  Oh boy! The Seller was already planning to have them picked up later the following week. The replacement cost was maybe in the $5K range but once the stand was taken down the vegetation would all be disturbed and the nature of the perfectly concealed stand would be compromised.  Not to mention the amount of labor required to get these stands to the farm and back in place.  Bottom line was we had a little thing becoming a big thing.

I think the Seller ultimately agreed to leave the stands because it was essentially a major compliment and acknowledgement of the Seller’s ability to manage a wildlife property.  So once the dust settled all parties agreed to leave the farm as is and the stands remain intact today and once again it demonstrated how the small things are the big things in land transactions at times and many of you reading this understand it is years of work getting a wildlife farm set up correctly.  In this case I believe it was the work of landowner together with the advice of Orion Land and Wildlife Management that made the difference in setting this property apart and making this deal a reality.

For more information on wildlife management for white tail and other critters call Spencer Waller of Orion Land and Wildlife Management at 443-223-4111.