20.5 acre tree farm with a mobile home on it.... No one knows much about it because it is densly wooded, tree farm.

5 acres is a bit small for high power rifles. think about travel distance of your rounds, backdrop, responsibility for each round you fire.

I set our ranges with burms in the back to trap projectiles. The real problem is if someone starts shooting high. We have alot of little rules about shooting so as to maintain safety for everyone involved. Then there are the Wife's horses who come running to the shooting to see what is up and if we are passing out any food. Silly horses.

I don't have anything like that anymore. Maintenance took all the fun out of it. Take care of the house all week, go to the land and by the time I ran the snakes and critters out of the house, fix this, paint that, sit back to relax a minute and it's time to go home.

The family has a 60 acre farm in MD. Like Patrick said, there is upkeep, mowing, weeding, broken things, and a place not lived in falls apart quickly. Someday I may inherit some of this property. It is a great thing to have, but once you own it it will be difficult to justify taking vacations anywhere else.

You don't live there.
You pay the property tax.
You do the all the maintenance.
You want to go somewhere else for a Holiday? Not likely.

Not unless you own the property. If you do, I encourage you to reconsider your disposal methods. Byron has some good suggestions.

As for me, nope, just properties with houses on them.

23 acres, ATV trails, pond, fields, woods, heated shop, garage, 30 minutes from 3 towns, > hour from Toronto. Walking distance from trout and salmon fishing and another 500 miles of ATV trails....

But I guess it doesn't count, because I live there;)

Downside I go through a sheet load of fuel.

I agree with Mr. Henry's approach.

When looking for land/cabin to spend weekends on, I decided to purchase something within an hour from work so I could live there. Kinda like vacation every night and weekend.

Found a decent house on 19.2 acres almost completely surrounded by state park.

50 minute commute sorta sucks, but at least it is in an antique Porsche through TN valleys.
And the extra 20 minutes or so on the way home is no big deal when I pull up the driveway and start vacation mode.

Thanks for the replies, and advice guys. I agree, 5 acres is somewhat small, heck. we live on 3 now. But this place is in the middle of nowhere, and surrounded by 450 acres of land owned by a cell phone tower company. Nearest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away. Fairly close to two state recreation areas, and within 1.25 hours of our home.
We just found out that a large housing development is going in right smack in our front yard, so our quiet little country existence is about to change. They are supposed to break ground this spring, and just this morning, I saw a bob cat starting to clear some land on my way to work. Bailing on work early today to go have a look. My lady is already both feet in . We can pen a check for this, and the taxes are $45.00 a year. Has two streams, one spring, and electric. I am excited to go look around. The current owner, has moved to alaska.

I highly suggest to CYA depending on the state. When you have land only and rarely used or visited, expect to find squatters, trespassers, hunters - even poachers, ATV riders cutting trees making trails, strangers on horses (who might tell YOU - THE OWNER of trespassing - no kidding!), make sure you have solid liability insurance. Times have changed... they have rights you know... arrrgh. Just posting NO TRESPASSING signs doesn't count. To have a little seclusion, 100 acres minimum is needed. Good luck and enjoy

Yeah, got 20 ac about 45 min from home on a lake. Built a log cabin back in the 80's, now has a barn, solar power system, shooting range. Too hot in much of the summer to enjoy it but love it all the same.

You can't go wrong building a place 5 ac or more if it's remote enough. I built near the nat'l forest in N.W. Pa 25 yrs ago and am so glad I did. It's especially good for your kids/grandkids like no other experience. It promotes independence/curiosity. We started small, but since then we've had power extended + a well/septic added. Those are necessary to get the women involved. Re: break-ins- We were broken-into 20 yrs +/- ago. I placed a cable/lock over the drive & the thieves are too lazy to haul out the booty.Good luck.

Just got back, this place was a no start for us. We were stoked ,because the last 10 miles of the trip took us through some of the most beautiful Pennsylvania farmland that I have seen in a while. Not to mention it was actually a nice sunny day here for a change.
The guy mentioned that he was using the land for agricultural purposes before he moved. He had hundreds of 5 gallon buckets, and large plastic planters filled with soil, and it was all tucked away on one corner of the property somewhat well hidden. If you ask me, it looks like he was growing some weed.
Any how, the way the land was laid out would not work for our purposes, but , we will keep looking. I have been watching for a while , and now that the weather has broke, I will start going to look at more places.
A little photo of some typical Pennsylvania farm country to give you an idea of how scenic this area was. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1362530137.jpg

Nice. When I bought my land I used a book to guide me thru some differences in rural v urban property buying. It was a great resource for me and if it's still in print you might benefit from it. Forget the writer but title is 'Finding and Buying Your Place in the Country'. Quite a few things about country property are different.

Well...here it is ! http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Buying-Your-Place-Country/dp/0793141095/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362530685&sr=1-1&keywords=finding+and+buying+your+place+in+the+co untry