Looking to buy, rent or share land in Eastern Washington

liquidsys · Mar 10, 2016

I currently live on the west side of the mountains in Washington, but frequent the east side for sun, camping and sometimes shooting. Increasingly I dream of owning, renting or sharing some land out east for recreation. I don't intend to live on the property, but would love to shoot, hunt (and allow others to as well), camp etc on it. Possibly someday build a tiny little cabin with some solar panels on it at best, but not a primary concern at this point.

I have a few questions I'm hoping you guys with land already (or experience shooting on open land) can help with.

Currently I'm looking at somewhere around 40-80 acres of land. 40 is what I guestimated would be the smallest square plot of land I could get away with for shooting in most areas, as I figure if it's a square plot, that'd give me 1/4 mile on each side. That's not a lot of range, maybe 400 yards, 200-300 realistically, but it opens up some fun anyway.

Would others agree with that acreage or is that too small / going to put me too close to others? Clearly I'd try for some natural boundaries like butting up against a mountain and such to help facilitate that.

Additionally, do people do any land rentals / leasing / property share deals for like minded people? I wouldn't even know how to start that search other than word of mouth. I've tried for about a year now to find someone with a nice plot of land out east but so far have only gotten a few invites for people with 1-10 acres that just don't work well for this type of recreation.

If I have to buy, I'm looking to spend less than $150k if possible, and there seems to be some options out there around 40-55 acres for land that looks a bit useless for anything other than what I'm talking about. What have others done?

Thanks for any info!

joeyk_ak · Apr 20, 2016

Liquidsys,
I am also looking to accomplish the same goal in the next few years. While I don't have the funds to buy a property now, I will in the future. It sounds like you have come across some of the same resources locating the properties that I have (Zillow and Landwatch). Personally I like Zillow because I can do a satellite map and road map right from the listing.

I currently live in NC but I will be moving back there in July. I like the idea of having a place that I can go to and know that I can spend some time there in a permanent structure and just recreate. I think that 40-50 acres is enough especially if you can find it in a rectangle shape instead of a square. If one is motivated enough you could probably do it in less space but you would have to make berms of some sort to contain your shots.

I don't know where to look for land sharing. I have learned while living in NC that a lot of land is private land and it is hard to find good hunting spots unless you have family or friends with farms or a hunting lease. Around here the hunting leases allow recreating during the non hunting seasons on portions of the property. That might be a place to start for land sharing.

I also wonder if it would be better to own a smaller plot of land 5-10 acres with a permanent small cabin that is really close to open public land so if you want to shoot long range you could make a trip there on a 4wheeler or hoof it in if you are really close. You could shoot handguns on 5-10acres with a berm.

Have you talked to any real estate agents?

I really enjoy going over to the hwy 12 area and scouting for long range areas on public land. Hiking in the woods is something I enjoy and throw a rifle in the eberlestock pack and it is even better.

Let me know how your search goes!

-Joey

liquidsys said:
I currently live on the west side of the mountains in Washington, but frequent the east side for sun, camping and sometimes shooting. Increasingly I dream of owning, renting or sharing some land out east for recreation. I don't intend to live on the property, but would love to shoot, hunt (and allow others to as well), camp etc on it. Possibly someday build a tiny little cabin with some solar panels on it at best, but not a primary concern at this point.

Thanks for any info!