doesn't it make you sick???

[eburgtrapper]

So yesterday i found out that the land that i have been hunting the last five years is getting sold, but not only sold, subdivided. It made me sick to the stomach, because it is prime deer habitat and winter range for elk! Has this happened to that many of you guys? i hope not, what a horrible thing...

[EastWaViking]

Yes, it is terrible.  Urban sprawl, and the sub dividing of old farms stinks.  I've been lucky enough to sort of put back together a farm where we live, 5 to 10 acres at a time, we are now up to 30 with a right-of-first-refusal paper on 11 more!  The bad thing is, it is like buying pizza by the slice.... costs more than buying the whole pie.  But it is definitely worth it.

[bowsandhose]

one of the places i hunt is for sale 

[backyard bucks]

More and more it is happening. we have had some great local blacktail spots where we have taken several bucks (both PY and BC)  be taken over by the never ending sea of new housing projects.  sad but i guess that is what they call progress..

[NW-Eric]

A PROPERTY I HAD PERMISSION TO HUNT RECENTLY SOLD WICH IS SAD CAUSE WE HAVE TAKEN DEER ELK AND BEAR ALL OFF THIS PROPERTY AND ITS ONLY 5 MINUTES AWAY.

[boneaddict]

Well I know where eburgtrapper hunts.  Made me sick too.

[alchemyforge]

What bothers me about these land sales is that the houses, if they are completed, will sit vacant for YEARS given the current state of our economy.  Given the price of fuel (though we may see some minor relief... may) and that bank loans will be more difficult to obtain means that fewer people will want to move out to these places or that they could afford to if they wanted to.  My brother moved to Wenatchee and his wife insisted that they buy a brand new house.  They have four neighbors.  The house behind them is still unfinished and he can't even put up a fence or seed the lawn because occasionally one of the trucks for the developer runs through his side yard (they had to signed off that they knew the developer used their property for access when they bought the place).  The houses that are finished are mostly vacant.  

Now who wouldn't prefer to see that "community" be left as a small woods with plenty of woods/meadow edge?  I smell venison!

I applaud the Snohomish county council and their attempts to block unmitigated growth within the county: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080617/NEWS01/802285715 and I hope the city of Lynnwood's annexation attempt fails (I'd like to move a few miles east of where I currently live, just to get a more reasonable tax structure AND to be able to pursue a small business without having to pay off three different city agencies in addition to the state).

[WOLFMAN]

The Teanaway unit is a sad example of this. Some really excellent hunting grounds being turned into golf courses,summer homes and winter getaways. Hopefully this doesn't continue elsewhere.

[Slamadoo]

you dont have to give your area away... but i was wondering where abouts this land is? i hunt around ellensburg and so i have an interest in this. this kind of thing sucks balls

thanks

[DOUBLELUNG]

This is the biggest threat to game populations - worse than wolves and other predators, tribal treaty abuses, poaching.  No habitat = no game.  

I bet this state was paradise on earth with a million people.  At 7 million, it is still a decent place.  Too bad nobody is doing anything to control the ultimate human population.  Sure wish we'd pick a number, nationally and at the state level, and implement a coherent strategy to stay there.  I'm not anti-human by any means, I do hate to see us sliding toward a hugely declining standard of living due to overpopulation.  

[klikboom]

Funny that you should mention, i drug my blacktail last year down from the hill into a housing development. I walked over to some home builders and traded my carrying lumber skillz for a ride for my buddy to my truck, and to let us back in the gate.

[Bean Counter]

This is a small reminder that is going into a large bucket that I need to buy some hunting land sooner rather than later...  I'm not going to leap into action over this thread... but it it is a small yet firm move in that direction.

[bow4elk]

fact of life these days.  Best investment you can make is land.  Nobody is making more of it.

[jonnyz94]

I'm with doublelung, all i hear from people is "nobody is going to tell me how many kids i can have" but yet NO ONE reconizes that when you have 4 kids and those kids have 4 kids and each of those have 4 more etc.
4x4=16 x4=64 x4=256 etc. x 3 billion people on the planet = no more room or resources.
I know a lot of you will hate me for saying it, so stand in line.

[alchemyforge]

While I agree (and I have made the conscious choice to not have kids myself) another problem is that people want the convenience of city life, with the -ideal- of country life (that is to say, a couple of birds in the one tree the developer planted in the front yard).  The American Pioneer spirit and love of the outdoors is still strong... but people are lazy and want to have it all. So we get developments that have 4 lane roads that lead to a Target or Wal-mart with the attached strip mall and video store.  But then new people come along and say this foremely idyllic development "in the outdoors" is too "developed" (because the early adopters decided that, yes, they can have their mini-farm on 0.08 acres AND only have to drive five minutes to get their nails and hair done or to go "antiquing.")  So the sprawl pushes farther and farther out.  Next thing you know, the place you went hiking in college, or fishing/hunting as a kid (or in some cases, last season) is now someone's private resort where that sort of "sporting" is looked down on or is just impossible.

But then there's the other side of the coin and we have debate threads about whether private land hunting is considered "elitist."  So do we, as outdoorspeople, buy individual hunting lands?  Do we start a collective (yikes- did I just propose the formation of hunting clubs like in Europe... sorry)...  I can't say I blame the private owners when they want to charge fees for hunting or otherwise keep people off.  I know that if I manage to scrape together the dough for a getaway/hunting lodge of my own, I won't be too thrilled the first time I find a pile of garbage (or worse, have to call the FD to put out a fire that some ingrate started).

We need to pay attention to who we elect and make sure that people who care about the balance of growth and preservation are put into office.  Developers aren't exactly the enemy (because without them 99% of us would be homeless) but there needs to be rules about how much, how often and where these places can be built.  Otherwise our honey holes and not-so-honey holes (where we go to "fish" not necessarily "catch"   ) will be gone.