Little Help.....

[monsterbuck07]

Had a farmer approach me about one parcel of land that we own. He saw where it was about to come up for the reinstatement date for the CRP; he however is a very good and well known farmer in the area and asked to plant crops. I hunt the land with my older brother however the land is in our parents name. There are torn on whether to keep it on CRP (been on it for about 15 yrs) or start planting crops on it. My question is what would you do? Whats the advantages of both or one of them? Of course I like the cover however I also hate seeing the deer feeding 500 yards down the road in another field he plants? Any advice? Land holds 91 acres

 

[BSK]

What tax ramifactions are there for taking the land out of CRP?

How much high-value food sources are on the property now?

How much other good cover habitat is on the property now?

I would place the value of good quality cover above all other things, including food. That's especially true on small properties. Deer can and will travel considerable distances at night to feed. But during hunting season, during daylight, hunter-wary deer will be in or near the best sanctuary cover around.

 

[monsterbuck07]

This would be our yr. that we could get out of CRP without ramifactions as far as I know.
The Land (91 acres) has no food source on it just a few white oaks, but other than that the only land with food sources are the lands he farms around us.
He will plant crops in one large 60 acre field that meets a tree line that has two other overgrown fields on the other side. My thinking is that would be a perfect set up having deer having to go through the woods to bed. TrLine is roughly 50 yards wide but REALLY thick undergrowth. We have seen a buck (140's) bedded there twice in the huge field but he has always been coming back from feeding. Im still torn

 

[Quailman]

monsterbuck07,

Just so you know, you can plant food plots on CRP lands (depends on the CRP practice). It just has to be an approved part of the CRP plan. I am assuming this land was enrolled under the general CRP signup and is probably either a CP1 (introduced grass), CP2 (native grass), or CP10 (existing introduced grass, which is a former CP1 that was enrolled again). If it is, you can put a percentage of the enrolled lands in food plots.