Land Purchasing Question

I am looking at 2 pieces of property in Middle TN. One is 310 acres, about 260 acres is open land. This is reclaimed coal ground. My question is, do any of you have any experience with reclaimed ground? If we buy this land we plan to plant a majority of it in pines. There are 2 ponds that are about 2 acres each. There are also 3 more sludge ponds as well. The biggest draw on this property is the price. VERY CHEAP!!!

The next piece of property is 500 acres. This land is mainly cutover (about 8 years old) there are mature oaks mixed in (about 1 per acre). There is water on this ground and about 40 acres of open land as well. This land is priced well too. Which would you purchase between these 2? They are close in proximity so and probably pretty comparable for hunting. Any thoughts are welcome!

First off, what are your goals and objectives? why are you buying land? What do you intend to do with it?

On property #1, of the 260 acres of open ground, how much is reclaimed mine ground? How does it lay? steep, rolling, etc. All reclamation isn't equal, but a lot of the stuff I've seen won't hardly grow a pine tree. Large scale pine plantings are pretty overrated for deer, and unless something changes, the pine markets aren't very good either. Id manage a lot of that reclaimed ground as early successional cover with some scattered small (<5 acres) pine plantings for thermal bedding cover.

2 things I like about property 2, you can always clear new ground if need be, and it sounds like you wouldn't have to plant anything to have good cover.

Don't know about the area your looking in ,but in my area, old strip mines are preferred wildlife habitat. Depends on the reclamation I'm sure. I still don't necessarily want to buy any myself though because I want timber for income. Pine is about all that will grow for timber on the strip mines in my area and it just isn't that marketable, at least now, and the forecast isn't good for the future supposedly without being close to a port. It's all situational and we cannot really say without knowing the exact properties.


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The ponds mentioned...are their environmental factors and who would be liable long tern for any issues.

Hey MTNHUNTR, how did the situation work out? I'm a realtor, would love to work for you if need be.

I'm more of a bigger is better kind of person. As far as actual qualities of the land, you can change that with time (and money). One thing I always say, you can't control anything that happens next door to you. My land is my home, so that is kind of double for me.

Buy both, problem solved.

I wish I had seen the original post.
The MSU Deer Lab had a great podcast about buying land. What are your objectives? What costs can be shared? etc.

http://extension.msstate.edu/content/episode-028-offsetting-the-cost-conservation