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what a rough day!!!

patch86

patch86

New Member
I'm kinda late on posting this, but anyways. Last year I got permission to a new farm that looked very promising. I soon hung three cameras at each end. As the year went on I had some great photos of a few very very nice bucks and some that had great potential. Never closed the deal there tho. So anyways I headed out there first season to do some Turkey scout/hunting. As I passed the last hill to get there my heart literally sank to my feet. 90% of the farm was bulldozed! I realize its not my ground or anything like that but it still really really sucks. I'm sure it happens allot people loosing ground but it don't make it any easier. Just wanted to rant and maybe hear some more crappy stories so I don't feel so bad. Man this sucks!
 
I shot several nice bucks on a piece. Ranging from 190 to 150. I don't even hunt it anymore because every time I go out to the land owners son in law bull doeses more and more of it. I know its not my piece but pisses me off none the less. On day I will hear he rolled a tractor or something because he is farming stuff that should be farmed.
 
I hear ya, I don't have a clue y he's dozed part of this. If you tried to drive a tractor on these hills your nuts! Not to happy about it but what can you do. To bad I'm not rich I'd just buy my own land. Haha. O well! Not gonna happen
 
That sucks! I have some farmer friends that do that and I gave up on hunting most the places years ago. Beyond just the dozing, a bunch of em grazed cows in what timber was left. talk about ruining land.
On my land I'm doing the exact opposite- tree planter is going hard each spring, adding native grasses, increasing timber size with edge feather & tree plantings and NO COWS!
 
Sligh1 said:
That sucks! I have some farmer friends that do that and I gave up on hunting most the places years ago. Beyond just the dozing, a bunch of em grazed cows in what timber was left. talk about ruining land.
On my land I'm doing the exact opposite- tree planter is going hard each spring, adding native grasses, increasing timber size with edge feather & tree plantings and NO COWS!
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We are in the exact same boat Skip... except we've got a bunch of pasture yet. :D

Man I hate to watch those bulldozers tear out big chunks of timber, or go along a field edge and "clean it up". Then those same guys will shoot the breeze with you and make comments such as, "boy... you guys been seeing any pheasants or deer around lately? Man there just aren't as many as there used to be."
 
My Dad this year took out 2-3 acres of Timber. My Dad also showed me an arial of what are place used to look like (Back in the 80s and 90s) it's cleared now. There used to be a willows, HUGE Oaks, Cedars, and more acres of pasture ground. He's taking the pasture out this year (2 acres with 3 trees). The spots around to hunt just keep getting less and less because the farmers need more acres to farm.

Sligh1 said:
That sucks! I have some farmer friends that do that and I gave up on hunting most the places years ago. Beyond just the dozing, a bunch of em grazed cows in what timber was left. talk about ruining land.
On my land I'm doing the exact opposite- tree planter is going hard each spring, adding native grasses, increasing timber size with edge feather & tree plantings and NO COWS!
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Cows SUCK, I lost 50 acres of GREAT Timber to those things! He just set 'em out.
 
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Need and want are two different things. It's a shame that what takes years to grow can be destroyed so easily. Not that I don't understand the farmers point of view.
All the talk I'm hearing of what a huge crop this could be this year has me wondering if the farmers are going to cut their own throats over producing.
 
it's going to get even worse in about 10 years when the government takes away tax exemptions from farmes who have their wooded/un-pastured acres in the Forest Reserve Program... why keep the timber up when they can doze it down and make $7/bushel of corn on it.. pisses me off also.. I've actually lost more places to hunt to housing additions..
 
I hear ya! Years ago I had hunting rights to an awesome piece of land. Had 80-100 acres of timber and about the same of tillable. Shot many great bucks off this property. The person that owned the land passed away and the children took over. Well, they cleared a bunch of timber, wanted $$$ to lease the hunting rights, etc. Needless to say I never hunted there again.

On a good note. I have been fortunate enough to be able purchase 150 acres of my own land on which I have done the opposite. Add trees, 25 acres of CRP, several acres of food plots, water, etc. I now have a deer and turkey hunting paradise! I may have this setup that my kids have to carry on the same way with this land after I am gone (hopefully many years from now!)

It is too bad the almighty dollar controls every aspect of our lives!!!
 
sorry to hear that, I lost two propertys this year that I have hunted for a long time. One because people couldnt stay off of it so the landowners decided to end hunting altogether. And the other because I no longer work for the company who owned that land. Only thing we can do is move on, lucky for me I hunt several other properties and own land myself
 
I only own 40 acres. Former owners took some nice big oaks off it, but left a few. Even though the acreage is small, I am glad I got it, to keep it and improve it for wildlife. Some parts of it,,actually most parts, I don't walk in until late winter,,to let nature do it's thing without human disturbance, so common on every inch of neighbors lands all around me. I believe the wildlife responds too.
 
Bowtech84 said:
We need 2 dollar corn that would slow it down:rolleyes:
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Not only are farmers the guys who graciously allow me and my family to hunt on their land, they're also my friends, so I wouldn't wish that on any of them. If I had a choice I'd hunt land that didn't have cows too, and sometimes I do. That being said, I know the cattle have helped to make it possible for the landowners to keep these farms and buy new land which we can hunt. The old saying "don't cuss the farmer with your mouth full" seems kind of fitting here :D

I can also show you pics of several great bucks taken in the last 5 years on land that is annually pastured with cattle...they're still there :way:

NWBuck
 
I know what ur saying nwbuck. If it wasn't for the farmers we'd have nothing. Just needed to rant a lil. Either way it still sucks.
 
NWBuck said:
Not only are farmers the guys who graciously allow me and my family to hunt on their land, they're also my friends, so I wouldn't wish that on any of them. If I had a choice I'd hunt land that didn't have cows too, and sometimes I do. That being said, I know the cattle have helped to make it possible for the landowners to keep these farms and buy new land which we can hunt. The old saying "don't cuss the farmer with your mouth full" seems kind of fitting here :D

I can also show you pics of several great bucks taken in the last 5 years on land that is annually pastured with cattle...they're still there :way:

NWBuck
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Well my family farms and so do all of our friends. We live in a farming community. Farmers are pretty well off right now and there is no need to take out timber and farm fence row to fence row. What do you think is pushing them to do that? 7 dollar corn! So they can buy more ground? Perfect and when they get their hands on it they can destroy the timber on that so they can get that extra acre. Maybe the people that own the ground you hunt arent like that i know not all farmers are the same.
And i believe the old saying that fits here "money is the root of all evil". You keep that attitude you got and corn prices keep going up not only will you be not hunting deer because there is no habitat you will also be wondering why your hard earned dollar doesnt seem to go as far. And i hope for everyones sake it doesnt come to that.
 
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Add to the farmer problem with wildlife habitat, to the suberbiasprawl I see, that is even using up the good Iowa farm soil.
 
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