What does the property look like?  What is on it?  Some of these things you can alter, create, or remove, such as trees, cover, fields and food plots, lakes and roads.  Others you usually take what earth gives you and you make it work for you.  Topography is a big one.  With enough equipment and money you can change the topography, but it much easier to select the right piece in the first place.

Timber stands are another.  You can alter what you buy, by thinning or clear cutting and replanting.  But then you have to wait for the trees to grow back.  Stands can be as small as a couple hundred square feet, or as large as, thousands of acres.  You want a piece of property that has pines and hardwoods.  The pines are there to provide you with future revenue, and the hardwoods are there for the wildlife.  And most people don’t want to wait 25 or more years for a newly planted forest to develop.

One thing you cannot control is what is around your property.  The “neighborhood” your property is in is directly correlated to your enjoyment.  You cannot fix a dump, rock quarry, or a chicken farm.

I look for pieces of land that offer diversity, not monocultures.   I want pines and hardwoods, as well as, swamps and mountaintops.  And it has to have water.  Every deer, turkey and quail needs water live, just like you and I.  The more elements there are to a property, the more well rounded it can become.