Ep. 941: Back 40 - New Farm, No Intel? What to Do Right Now

Wired To Hunt Podcast

MeatEater

Wilderness, Sports

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Just got access to a new hunting property but have no idea where to start? In this episode, Jake Hofer asks Steve Hanson, Don Higgins, Skip Sligh, Mark Kenyon, Jeff Sturgis, Bobby Kendall, and Bill Winke what their first moves would be on a brand-new farm. When time is short and the season’s closing in, how do you scout efficiently, hang smart setups, and make the most of fresh ground? Whether it’s a lease, permission piece, or new purchase, the crew shares how they quickly evaluate a property, what signs to key in on, and how to avoid burning it out too early. If you're starting from scratch, this episode will help you hit the ground running.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There's no shortcut to building gear that won't fail.
0:04.0	That's why First Light built the new Forge Waiters from the ground up,
0:08.2	field tested where failure isn't an option.
0:11.1	Designed for waterfow hunters who show up in the dark,
0:14.2	who break ice at the shoreline, and who stay out when the conditions stay brutal.
0:19.0	These aren't fire weather waiters.
0:20.9	They're built to perform, built to last.
0:23.8	If you're planning your waterfowl season, planned around gear that won't quit on you.
0:28.4	Forge waiters by First Light.
0:30.3	Zero quit, season after season.
0:33.3	Available now at Firstlight.com.
0:35.9	That's F-I-R-S-T-L-I-T-E.com.
0:40.7	You got a month to add three core huge things right there. And then you also have a month to be like,
0:48.2	hey, I'm going to get five really good setups up. By the end of season, you know, I may have a
0:52.8	half a dozen or more on that property,
0:54.7	but I'm not coming in and hanging them all at once. I'm bringing them in on hunts and hanging them. Welcome to Back 40. I'm Jake Hofer, and this week, if you just got a new farm, you just got permission, or even if you've been hunting a farm, the same farm for year after year, you're going to get a fresh perspective from
1:11.1	aid experts on what they would do right before the season with limited impact or maybe
1:16.7	large impact projects. Set yourself up for this fall real quick. The back 40 is brought to you
1:22.0	by land.com, the leading online real estate marketplace to find your perfect rural, recreational, agricultural,
1:30.1	or hunting properties here in the U.S. Now, a lot of these things that we're going to hear
1:36.2	from the expert panel may be things that seem obvious. But I also think after finishing this
1:42.2	episode, getting a reset on, hey, do I have all these things
	...

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