Lamenting lost lands

[Johnpl]

Yet another of my favorite hunting areas is no longer available. The old timer/farmer/hunter who owned it for the past 60 years passed away recently and his heirs discovered they were sitting on a fortune in land value, and decided to sell off for development.

I can't believe how deeply this effects me...this beautiful area is no longer available to roam, much less hunt. I'll miss the rock where I'd eat lunch, the ridge where my son saw his first deer, the trails that I found so comforting and peaceful. I remember, almost word for word, conversations from years ago, held at different spots in this area. I'd stand in these spots and relive these moments. I guess this is what it means to be attached to the land.

Anybody else have these thoughts or feelings when faced with "Posted" signs?

 

[birddog]

John,

In the past ten years, two spots where I have shot deer now have houses precisely where those deer once were downed. I just lost an 80 acre parcel behind my house, not to a developer but to a new landowner this past fall. Many places I once had access are now being eaten up by developement. It's not a matter of not having access -- the farmers around here still usually say yes -- but the problem is, much like yours, that the farms are simply ceasing to exist. The erosion of large tracts of land by small pieces developers who cut them into tidy little slivers seems to be a steady march.

And to answer your question, yes, I have those feelings. It's always a heartbreak to lose a piece of land -- especially like the one you describe -- where you once made memories that can never be replaced.

I'm not trying to sell a book here (check it out at the library if you want) but in my book Thursday's Bird, a major underlying theme of the book is loss of hunting land (pheasant hunting grounds, in the case of the book). Give it a read some time, you might like it.

Best,
Joel Spring

 

[valkyrie.rider]

I recently moved from Colorado where public land abounds and ranchers will still allow polite hunters, to Texas where I was very disapointed to find that

1. There is almost no public land
2. No one hunts for free

Texas hunters have to lease land to hunt upon and dont seem to think a thing about it. Guess I was spoiled before I got to this place....

 

[WhiteKnight]

I just lost an 80 acre parcel behind my house, not to a developer but to a new landowner this past fall.

You and me both.

 

[TJC]

Yup, I hunted the same land for nearly 20 years. It was a very nice piece of just about 175 acres. In NJ, that is like gold. Well the one owner died, the sons took over and didn't get along with the other owner (Uncle) and sold their piece. That left me about 90 acres for 3 years. Then the Uncle sold his share and the new owners, developers, said no to hunting.

I had a number of memories from that land not to mention I shot more deer there than I can really remember. Last count was close to 100, both does and bucks.
I'll probably never have a place like that again.

 

[Byron Quick]

Byron Quick
Moderator

Registered: Dec 2002
Location: Waynesboro, Georgia
Posts: 1850
Good times gone

My cousins and I finished dismantling what we wanted from the cabin. We removed all the useable tree stands. Then we burned what was left to the ground.

Good memories, folks.

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John's two in one.

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Good times, good company.

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Good times, good company.

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The bunks beds lasted longer than the cabin.

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Leave no stone upon another stone.



Oleg, you've got pictures of the gathering last year that I lack.

I'd appreciate you posting some here of the people I omitted.

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http://www.olegvolk.net/gallery/thanksgiving03

We thought we had removed all of the ammunition. Judging from the cook offs we missed a couple of hundred rounds...and one Coleman lantern propane tank.

__________________Just wait folks, I've requested that Oleg move the links to this site...I'm not all that computer savvy. Hey! Give me a break! I'm 50 for God's sake!

 

[454c]

I don't mind seeing posted signs but watching big farms get split up and packed full of houses sure makes me grit my teeth.

 

[Art Eatman]

BTDT. Twice. That's why I went out and created my own little playground. It took the best part of thirty years, but it's been worth it.

Art

 

[bernie]

I am young but I follow Art's philosophy. I have a small place that adjoins my fathers place. It is a nice place to go deer, squirrel, and crow hunting. If I could just buy a little more property, and then keep the trespassers off, I would be in absolute heaven.

My property belonged to some cousins of my fathers, and when they went to sell it they gave me first chance, which I took. They really wanted to see the ground stay in the family.

 

[scotjute]

There used to be this little saddle mountain just west of Austin that no one ever went to that I would go to and camp out and "commune" with nature while a college student there. It over-looked Lake Austin. Went back last year and houses are going up all around and the rest of the land is fenced off.

I had a choice a year ago between buying a nice house or buying land.
I now live in a garage I built this summer on 50 acres and drive 40 miles to work. When it rains I have to leave the truck by the road, haven't had time to work on the drive yet.

As for hunting leases, they are instrumental in helping ranchers make a living and pay the taxes.

 

[halvey]

If I could just buy a little more property, and then keep the trespassers off

? I always thought about buying my own piece of hunting property with a cabin, but the trespassing issue has always kept me away. I figure if I pay the mortage, plant food lots and pay the taxes and some bubba takes the deer off it, why bother?

Someday though, I want to sell the house and buy a 900 sq foot cabin on 100 or so acres.

 

[huntsman]

they can take the land but not the memories,20 years ago I started an informal hunting journal.Just jotted down some facts about the hunts weather and such and a few of my thoughts. now the places that are long gone can still be there when I read through my journal. I've also been blessed with my own place to hunt that has created not only memmories for me but also my sons.

 

[GLOCKME]

As my Wise old grandma always said,

"They won't make any more land again,once it's gone-it's gone"..

True now as it was in the seventies-more so now eh??

 

[Joe Demko]

No substitute for having your own place.

 

[outfieldjack]

Guess I am lucky...

My wife of two years has a grandmother about 30 miles from here.... she has 200 acres of land that has not been hunted on for about 5 years.... well, she gave me the key to the gate and I have two deer stands up and ready to go!

 

[Little Loudmouth]

Not hunting, but Dad and I used to have a favorite fishing spot. We decided to go down there one day, and there's a house sitting on a hill above the river and a big posted sign grinning it's ugly sneer at us on a tree beside the best spot in the river for rainbow trout.

 

[MeekandMild]

My parent's house used to sit in the woods, with the next neighbor up the road nearly a mile and a half away in one direction and there was a mountain with about 1200 acres the other direction. Then came the developers. I remember when I was 17 and my friend and I ran in to one of them walking through the farm where I had a summer job feeding the cows. He told us, "This land is sold. You can't hunt here any more," in a frantic sort of way. I suppose the frantic tone came because we were both armed and he was a fat little SOB who would have had trouble running to his Caddy if we'd given him any trouble.

I visited there recently. There was an Interstate highway cutting through the mountain and on the side where the farm had been was wall to wall houses. My mother had deer eating everything in sight, but I couldn't do anything about it because the area has been incorporated to capture income from the high rise offices and light industry along the interstate.

Pray for $5 per gallon gas.

 

[huntsman]

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

big yellow taxi-joni mitchell

 

[Art Eatman]

I've been watching all this change in land use for a helluva long time. If you can, find some small tract adjacent to BLM or USFS lands. Or get some guys together and buy a tract, with all conditions spelled out on paper.

The trouble with land is, they ain't makin' any more of it. What's left is getting more expensive, all the time.

Another "might work" thing is to find a tract with an older couple in residence. Try to get a reduced price, with the owner carrying paper and holding life tenure to continue living on the property. Spell out conditions, with buyer being able to hunt and seller not cutting timber...

Art

 

[halvey]

If you can, find some small tract adjacent to BLM or USFS lands. Or get some guys together and buy a tract, with all conditions spelled out on paper.

The problem with buying land adjacent to public land is you'll have a lot of trespassing. In addition, I'd think if it is heavily hunted public land, you piece would feel the pressure also.

Another "might work" thing is to find a tract with an older couple in residence. Try to get a reduced price, with the owner carrying paper and holding life tenure to continue living on the property. Spell out conditions, with buyer being able to hunt and seller not cutting timber...

This is a great idea. I almost did this a few years back on an old farmstead. The house was real old, and the farmer was only 65, so I was worried the house wouldn't be standing when I'd finally get to live there in 10-15 years.