Getting into the Country: Heritage Turkeys, Birdwatching and Upland Game Hunting at Twin View Farm

The payoff for good land stewardship is enjoying the abundance of the natural landscape. Whether its waking up to the chorus of songbirds in springtime, watching the soaring raptors on summer thermals, or collapsing in a chair after a great day of hunting in the fall, Twin View Farm offers a wealth of experiences.

UPLAND HUNTING

Twin Views owner has hunted upland birdsacross North America. He believesTwin View offers some of the best woodcock habitat/cover he has hunted. For an after-dinner hunt, there is a favorite cover within a 10-minute walk out the back door of the farmhouse, which will nearly always produce at least a couple of points on a 15- to 30-minute hunt. Yet there is ample cover onTwin View Farm for days of hunting. During the October and November migration, the covers are continually restocked as northern birds pass through the Champlain Valley.

A food plot is planted each year for game utilization and a pleasant wait in an adjacent tree stand is likely to result in sightings of deer, turkeys and other birds and mammals. Successional habitat in old pastures particularly on the north portion of the property has resulted in the development of outstanding cover for woodcock and grouse.

Turkeys are in residence year-round including through the spring and fall hunting seasons. Deer are present on Twin View continuously from March through December. The food plot keeps the does around through the hunting seasons assuring the presence of bucks as well. Beaver ponds are utilized by migrant mallards, wood ducks, black ducks and multiple other species especially during the hunting seasons when activity on larger ponds and sloughs moves the ducks around.

The property has enjoyed light hunting pressure during the tenure of the current owner.

There is state-owned land open for hunting on the east side of the property which offers good rabbit and upland habitat and it too is rarely hunted.

WILDLIFE HABITAT

Twin View straddles the Middle Branch of Dead Creek which runs for nearly a mile south to north. The stream attracts beaver, otter, mink, and muskrat as well as ducks, geese and other migratory shorebirds including heron and egrets. The banks of the stream serve as a natural corridor for travel of mammals large and small including white-tailed deer, bobcat, fox, and coyote. Substantial small animal populations including squirrels and cottontail rabbits are found in the hardwood forests and streamside thickets respectively. Raccoon, opossum, skunk and the occasional porcupine are in evidence as well.

The habitat diversity that makes for great game species promotes a vibrant songbird population, assisted by feeders in the wintertime. The raptors, too, take advantage of the summer thermals to soar above the farm, and of the abundant edge habitat to hunt for their own suppers as well.

Theres plenty more to do outdoors at Twin View Farm. The barn is equipped with 2 large stalls and the trail system through the property provides access to the hunting areas as well as a large portion of the perimeter. Theres wood for cutting and hauling with your draft horse or raise heritage turkeys like the current owner. The large Hangar/shop can house 3 Piper Cub sized aircraft (see photobelow). The 900-foot grass airstrip is suitable for light aircraft.

There are currently approximately 70 acres of tillable land. The tillable landis presently in grass producing haylage for dairy cattle. Several fields within these 70 acres have been in corn in recent years.

Twin View Farm is the largest remaining parcel of what was the Rupert Grandey farm. Mr. Grandey lived his entire life on the farm and served in the Vermont legislature. The original farmhouse circa 1905 is across Grandey Road from Twin View Farm.

Would you like to be the next steward of this exceptional property? Twin View Farm is forsale. Contact Dia and Story Jenks for more information on this or other great Vermont farms.