regulat0r

i ran into a friend from town who i hunt the same property with. it's a 200+ acre piece that the 2 of us have been hunting for over 10 yrs. we know the owner well and he has always hinted at developing the land someday. well today my buddy said he finally started to develop.

i drove by the property and sure enough, right at the gate where we drive in, there are 3 huge bulldozers that have already started clearing trees. apparently he is planning on building a whole housing development. im devastated. anybody lose their long time spot? any advice??

Bocajnala

I've lost some spots that have been hunted by my family since the mid 1800's just part of our world. Find a new spot, don't give up. Keep hunting, keep the tradition alive. Hate seeing land disappearing. Sorry to hear about this.
Also, public land isn't all bad. I spent alot of time on public land these last two seasons. Private too, but I was giving public land a try just to see. You have to hunt a little differently because you're dealing with other people pressuring the animals, but put your time in and public land isn't all that bad.
-Jake

rupypug

I have lost quite a few spots to development, that is why I hunt all public land now.

mfonts

It stinks to lose your hunting spot, at least you have time to knock on some doors and do some leg work to find another area before the season starts, good luck!

doetrain

I just lost a spot where I have seen and killed half my Deer and my Turkey. My advice is get to know the property owners next to this area and move with the wild game to it. I'm fortunate that this is what I will get to do,but the guy that bought it hunts as well so i'll have more pressure on the Deer in that area. I hope you at least have some Public land that will be accessed or get to know another land owner and offer to work for the right to hunt his or her property,this got me a good spot 2 years ago to suppliment my hunting areas. As well as a Turkey only hunting area which i gained by doing disaster relief work for a land owner.

Valentine

Lost tree stand locations to a bedroom on a new subdivision street. Lost an archery spot for a non hunting park. Lost an archery 3D spot to a subdivision near a small pond. Some timber company properties, where I had lease rights, were broken up and sold.

Even lost a few state leased hunting land locations, that got developed.

Before I bought my last bow, I made sure I had two private locations for practice, first. The archery shop moved within a year, as practice spots dried up.

Can't remember depending on one special place to hunt.

Gunplummer

I mostly hunt Public Land but do have a few very little spots on private land. One is just a fence row bordering a power line. All the spots are just areas where deer move from one "Good spot" to the next. I killed 3 deer in these spots this year. Nobody looks at them because they don't look like a spot to hunt. If you do find spots like this, keep your mouth shut! Bragging about the deer you killed will ruin a good place in a hurry.

Mojotex

I suspect that most of us that do not own our hunting property have been through the same deal. Down here in Alabama there is a precious small % of land within the state's borders that is "public" hunting land. I went this "public" route when I first came to Alabama in the mid-1970's but gave up on public land hunting after two hairy incidents associated with safety. I have been very fortunate to have been able to lease hunting rights since to some pretty good property ... 35 +/- years.

Advice .... not worth much, but I have tried to keep two places going at all times. This has served me very well because in 2006, when a great place I had had since 1977 fell apart. I had another in my "hip pocket". Since then I have secured another "second" spot. I just hope I can keep this going for a handful of more years. But you never know.

Gunplummer

The OP does not say where he is from. Here in Pa we are lucky and there is no end to public land. The only problem is some people live hours away from it. Other than that public land is O.K. here.

postedboys

I just hope Public Land is available forever. I only have my dads 14 acre private which serves as a travel route only for deer. Without public land, I'd be sitting at home. Most neighbors are anti hunting around me.

Public land forever!