If you’re thinking about buying your own slice of hunting land, it’s important to know there’s more to it cost-wise than just the price of the parcel. In fact, there are all sorts of hidden costs that you might incur before you can so much as install your first trail cam, from property taxes and real estate costs to maintenance projects that are more like money pits.

With all of this in mind, some savvy hunting enthusiasts have turned to a full-service hunting community like Brays Island, where there’s far less to think about with regard to expense and maintenance. Here are a few of the items you won’t come across as a property owner at Brays.

1. The Cost of the Land Itself—Hunting requires land, and quite often, a lot of it. In fact, you’ll need several hundred acres of land if you intend to hunt deer on your property, which usually can cost you as much as $4,500 per acre in this region. For hunting deer, quail and upland game, you will want property that offers varied terrain—plenty of woods, open field and water to draw in and sustain a variety of wildlife.

2.Land Management Efforts—The raw land is one cost to consider, but land maintenance is another entirely. Dedicated hunters and land managers spend hours upon hours prepping their plots in order to attract a variety of wild game, from whitetails to waterfowl. This often entails complex food plot strategies and population control tactics. When you hunt at Brays Island, you enjoy expertly maintained, wildlife-rich lands without the time or money associated with land management.

3. Taxes: There Might Be a Lot—Taxes aren’t exactly hidden costs, but they could trigger sticker shock to buyers moving to a new region where taxes may be higher. Since property is taxed based on a percentage of your assessed land value, the more land you have, the higher your taxes could be. If you’re sharing the land with fellow Owners, your tax liability is lower.

4. Creating Access, Including Roads—In particularly rural and undeveloped areas (often the best places to find quality hunting land), you’ll need a lot of vision when you’re shopping around and surveying parcels. These properties are often wild, ill-maintained and inaccessible, which means you have to build them from the ground up. The costs of capital equipment could be considerable in establishing and maintaining access, particular after major storms. You might even incur costs associated with building roads or easements to make your land accessible from the public road.

5. Installing Public Utilities or Going Off-Grid—Even the most basic hunting cabins should have running water and electricity for tasks such as post-hunt showering, cleaning, storing and preserving your harvest. Many rural hunting lands aren’t tapped into the public utilities grid, so they’ll need to be added (if available) or you’ll need to think about an off-grid powering plan. You may also need to pay for land tests, like percolation and underground springs testing, if you intend to install a water or septic system. Naturally, this is not a concern when you live in a shared plantation property community like Brays.

6. Need for Skilled Employees—Very often ownership of substantial parcels of land necessitates reliable, skilled employees. This can be easier said than done. At Brays Island, we have a skilled staff of approximately 150, which cares for our amenities and for the related complex tasks and services, something which would be a major burden for an individual land owner.

The Added Perks of Joining a Hunting Community

At Brays, you get to enjoy the benefit of thousands of acres of shared land, which provides built-in recreation right in your backyard, including sporting endeavors like fly fishing, horseback riding, golf, shooting, boating, birding and more. Additionally, you can’t put a price on the joy of community living and being a part of a great, big family of fellow sporting enthusiasts. Joining us means much more bang for your buck and fewer compromises.