I hope nothing I wrote came off as cyber scouting. If so, sincere apologies. Certainly not my intention. Asking information about purchasing an existing spot or developing one- definitely not looking to move in on anyone else's! As far as acreage... I think that would depend on a whole bunch of factors, as well as the area, like you mentioned. Existing impoundments and water control structures seem to exponentially multiply the price/value of land in NC, from everything I've seen. Guess I am experiencing a touch of "sticker shock" coming from the MS flyway, where they are more of the norm. It seems to me that if I got a piece that was relatively undeveloped for duck hunting, and just had some waterfront, or a decent amount of swamp acreage, I would hope to find something in the hundred plus acre range. If it has some water control structures or systems in place already, with successful hunting having already occurred there, I would likely not be able to afford something that large. I do, however, think I would feel cramped on anything smaller than 50 or 60 acres. The farm I used to own was 250, but I'm not under any illusions of coming anywhere near that in this area, given my budget. Much different land prices out this way. I'm also into diversity of habitat and hunting locations. Just as an example, I would prefer a place with three holes that occasionally killed a few birds, rather than one hole that killed everyday. I think hunting a variety of locations is part of the enjoyment I get from the sport. As I often hunt by myself and fund my own planting, etc, I'm certainly not looking for forty or fifty impounded acres! Given my budget, I guess my ideal situation would be maybe a hundred ac, with at least half of that being naturally swampy. Could take my time developing ponds/impoundments on the higher ground over a few years. Idealistic is not the same as realistic, so I'll just have to see what comes up. From everything I'm learning about NC, the price goes up and the acres go down, the more water control is already present. Rather than have a set number of acres I'm looking for, I'm viewing it as variables that would cause that to go up or down. Thanks very much for reading, replying, and asking
Jon
