How is Desoto National Forest

Poor soil, low trophy quality, dog hunting. Go on the Magnolia record book data base and see where the big deer come from. Few will be from that area.

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Poor soil, low trophy quality, dog hunting.

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Sounds like my lease.

Until dog hunting is banned on national forest lands (is coming soon) I wouldn’t buy land bordering a national forest with someone else’s money!!!

You’ll be miserable and fighting with locals and coonasses all deer season. Theres a reason why whatever property you’re looking at is for sale. Good luck with whatever decision you make.

I grew up on the edge of desoto. It’s as tough as hunting gets. Pine Savanah, monoculture pine, and clearcut with poor soil. It’ll occasionally produce an above average deer that somehow was able to get old, and stringing together a couple good hatches does mean it’ll get a few decent turkey years, but 5 hunters are going to hear every gobble and meet you there. If you go into it with the right expectations you can enjoy yourself. Crime is no worse than anywhere else in MS, you’ll have people mess with it if you’re not there a lot, this will depend more on exactly the spot you’re looking at and if it’s visible from a road, etc.

hunting anywhere near an area where they run dogs will make your time as a still hunter a miserable experience

My old man has property out there. If you're a trophy guy you'll be disappointed, but he always has venison in the freezer.

WBY, you got me thinking. How come you never see dog drives in the delta?

I've had a couple places bordering Desoto. I bought there because it is some of the most reasonably priced timberland within 2 hours of NOLA. The deer are not as plentiful as the Arkansas club I was in. You may have to work a little harder than you do in better soils, but is isn't that hard to get a doe every year with an occasional racked buck.

The dog hunters seemed less active in the past couple years, way fewer races passing through. The local hunters seem to stick to the roads/logging trails. In a couple decades out there, I have never run into a hunter deep in the woods.

lot's of dog hunter in the Delta, the dudes on horses are the worst but they squirrel hunt, pig hunt and deer hunt with dogs. And they don't care how many are already hunting a block of woods they turn out right on top of you.

There are some WMA's and federal reserves that don't allow dog deer hunting but most allow the dog squirrel dudes

Because $10k box stands and automatic corn feeders are way more en vogue than hounds. Much less work, makes for easier shooting, and prettier IG pix.

I’m in total agreement that dogs are a problem when they trespass. But I’m here to tell you that hunting was better 20 years ago (for the good hunters), when there were dogs aplenty and no baiting.