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  • Texasjack

    TGT Addict
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    1   1   0
    Jan 3, 2010
    5,867
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    Occupied Texas
    My retirement dream was a place to shoot and hunt. Life has a way of crapping all over dreams!

    I planned on working until I was 63-65. ......

    Oh, man, don't you know it. What's the old saying? Men make plans and God laughs. A good friend and I used to dream up what we'd do as we got older and how we'd have a place to take our son's and such. A few serious diseases and a divorce and working for companies run into the ground by idiots took it's toll. It wasn't for a lack of trying.
     

    GoPappy

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    9   0   0
    Dec 18, 2015
    1,277
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    Good plan on the skid steer, although a compact track loader is a better idea.

    If you have feral hogs on your property you’ll need the skid steer or CTL to repair all the damage they’ll do to the land. Trust me when I tell you it’s a never ending battle.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
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    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2019
    47,022
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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Good plan on the skid steer, although a compact track loader is a better idea.

    If you have feral hogs on your property you’ll need the skid steer or CTL to repair all the damage they’ll do to the land. Trust me when I tell you it’s a never ending battle.

    An alternative method is to keep them out in the first place. The same fencing that is used to keep hogs in, can keep hogs out as well.

    We are using T-posts, six strands of barbed wire and 5 foot hog wire on all of our outside perimeter fencing. Once you start keeping the hogs out, and then either trapping or killing any that happen to be inside the fencing, the problem will end pretty quickly.

    It won't keep every hog out, but it will drastically reduce the number of them in your pastures, or on your land from doing damage.
     

    andre3k

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    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
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    Houston
    Seller accepted my offer. I asked for the stands and feeders. I mainly wanted the stands knowing how high lumber prices are now. Seller is taking everything and I really can't blame him. It was worth a shot. Closings are running 45 days out, lets hope this deal doesn't bust before then.
     

    cygunner

    Devil's Den - Gettysburg
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    0   0   0
    Jan 20, 2021
    841
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    Cypress, TX
    Seller accepted my offer. I asked for the stands and feeders. I mainly wanted the stands knowing how high lumber prices are now. Seller is taking everything and I really can't blame him. It was worth a shot. Closings are running 45 days out, lets hope this deal doesn't bust before then.
    Outfit off 290 at Hegar road probably has most affordable feeders and stands in the area. Just a guess as I do not have deer hunting opportunity.
     

    Catherine1

    Active Member
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    0   0   0
    May 10, 2021
    488
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    USA
    Seller accepted my offer. I asked for the stands and feeders. I mainly wanted the stands knowing how high lumber prices are now. Seller is taking everything and I really can't blame him. It was worth a shot. Closings are running 45 days out, lets hope this deal doesn't bust before then.

    Best wishes to you!

    Cate
     

    TEXAS "All or nothing"

    Active Member
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    Mar 24, 2021
    922
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    Texas
    Lumber company comes and looks at your place and makes an offer. You accept and they go to work. There will be a logging road.

    Hogs will be there. I never saw a deer while I was in that area.

    You didn't ask, but I'm offering this.
    I've never been to an area more racist than Jasper. I worked restoring power after hurricane Rita. '05.
    And a lot of family trees don't fork.

    Good luck.
    I've lived in Texas my whole life and have been to Houston once back in '15 for high school football championships and it was like I was in another country/state. Not my taste and was glad to get out of there! Some like it there, but I'm not 1!
     

    EZ-E

    King Turd of Shit Mountain
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    May 4, 2017
    7,628
    96
    Middle of no where
    Seller accepted my offer. I asked for the stands and feeders. I mainly wanted the stands knowing how high lumber prices are now. Seller is taking everything and I really can't blame him. It was worth a shot. Closings are running 45 days out, lets hope this deal doesn't bust before then.

    Congrats on the purchase.

    We just got 14acres in East Tx last year. The property had water & power ran, we just had to put in septic, extend some water lines & we had it mulched.


    Septic.... traditional or areobic
    Traditional you need sand soil, we paid about $5400. If you have clay soil you need areobic system....about $7500. Areobics also have more issues & moving parts to replace.

    Our place was heavily wooded, so had the neighbor come down on his skid steer & rotary mulcher to clean up. We cleared about 5 acres of all the under brush & trees smaller than 7 inches. The down side to mulching is it doesn't get all the roots, so you have stuff growing up all the time. A bulldozer gets everything up, so dont have to worry about all old roots regrowing.

    If you buy a skid steer & plan on mulching, you better have a hi pressure air compressor to clean out all the dirt & debris from the radiator & oil coolers.... those things get dirt built up pretty fast, about every 4 hours you need to blow it down... or you will over heat & burn it up.
    My neighbor got his 1st one about 3 years ago. They had the motor replaced twice over that time. So original & 2 replacement engines.... those were replaced under warranty due to the hours in it. This last time, it had a injector go out & burn the engine up. Luckily they have some good farm & ranch insurance. Insurance totaled it out & they got a new one. They run a Kubota SVL95 with a rotary mulcher Vs a flat brush hog attachment. I think they got over $100k invested with machine & mulcher head.

    The location & how wet it gets is also an issue. I have a buddy that just got property surrounded by black gumbo clay...if it rains... he ain't getting to work the next day...unless the sun comes out. So now he has to add a bunch of rock down his private rd... about 1/2 mile.

    I talked to A & M forestry in Palestine a few months back about doing some timber harvestingon our place. They said most forestry guys want to harvest a minimum of 30 acres to make it worth their time. They also leave a mess. I was at a friend of a friends property a few months back & they had some pine harvested, they left a huge mess for him to clean up or burn.


    All i have is a tractor with front loader & a brush hog to maintain our place. Its worked out pretty good since we already had it mulched. It cost us $5k to have him mulch for a week. Sure was alot cheaper than having to buy a skid steer & mulcher.
     
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    baboon

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    4   0   0
    May 6, 2008
    22,455
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    Out here by the lake!
    EZ-E has a nice place! Having it mulched had to increase it’s value as well as use.

    I have an old friend who lives on a 350 acre place not far from EZ-E’s. I remember when it was cut for timber. Worse then the brush piles they left was when the timber companies skid steer caught fire. Luckily it didn’t burn them out.

    The biggest problem they had was when was what was cut was disputed by a neighbor. I don’t know the finer points of that dispute, but I did see $70K worth of timber rot.

    The timber company did cut in lots of pathways which was nice. Luckily for my friend he had access to a bulldozer that only cost him fuel cost over the month it took him to make the place right after being cut.
     

    EZ-E

    King Turd of Shit Mountain
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    May 4, 2017
    7,628
    96
    Middle of no where
    EZ-E has a nice place! Having it mulched had to increase it’s value as well as use.

    I have an old friend who lives on a 350 acre place not far from EZ-E’s. I remember when it was cut for timber. Worse then the brush piles they left was when the timber companies skid steer caught fire. Luckily it didn’t burn them out.

    The biggest problem they had was when was what was cut was disputed by a neighbor. I don’t know the finer points of that dispute, but I did see $70K worth of timber rot.

    The timber company did cut in lots of pathways which was nice. Luckily for my friend he had access to a bulldozer that only cost him fuel cost over the month it took him to make the place right after being cut.


    I love my tress, i couldn't imagine if we bulldozed everything flat. The neighbor down the road did that at his place. Yeah you can see 1500' to the back of his property & its a big pasture now....but he has no shade & no cover for critters.

    I like how we have ours, now that we have about 2 acres across the dry creek cleared its pretty fricking sweet.
    It reminds me of Hickok45s place.


    From the back porch towards the back creek
    20210513_112912.jpg


    Looking across the dry creek
    20210304_150510.jpg
     
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    andre3k

    Well-Known
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    2   0   0
    Aug 8, 2008
    1,038
    96
    Houston
    Pretty much everyone I've talked with said the timber companies will tear your place up getting those trees out. I'll probably pass for the time being. A few trails are already in place going to the feeders and stands. Electric is already run to the campsite. I'll have to check on getting a water meter installed at the road. I can trench a line and run it to the campsite.

    I'm going to wait on a skid steer until these truck prices come back to earth. Everything is so high right now including heavy equipment, but it seems like used tractors have stayed somewhat reasonable. As long as I can keep the current road and trails maintained that's good enough for now.

    My first major purchase will probably be a 40ft container so that I can keep maintenance equipment at the property.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
     

    baboon

    TGT Addict
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    4   0   0
    May 6, 2008
    22,455
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    Out here by the lake!
    My first major purchase will probably be a 40ft container so that I can keep maintenance equipment at the property.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
    Make sure your heavy on insurance for the it and the contents! As my old buddy says” plenty of outlaws in these parts”!

    Here at my new place I have left my Stihl weed wacker out on the front porch for a week. In Houston it would be gone going inside for a drink.
     

    EZ-E

    King Turd of Shit Mountain
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    May 4, 2017
    7,628
    96
    Middle of no where
    Pretty much everyone I've talked with said the timber companies will tear your place up getting those trees out. I'll probably pass for the time being. A few trails are already in place going to the feeders and stands. Electric is already run to the campsite. I'll have to check on getting a water meter installed at the road. I can trench a line and run it to the campsite.

    I'm going to wait on a skid steer until these truck prices come back to earth. Everything is so high right now including heavy equipment, but it seems like used tractors have stayed somewhat reasonable. As long as I can keep the current road and trails maintained that's good enough for now.

    My first major purchase will probably be a 40ft container so that I can keep maintenance equipment at the property.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

    We've got 2 20' containers we use. Im gunna spread em apart & put a roof over them to create a car port for parking the tractor & buggy.

    You'll need a 1ton & goose neck trailer to haul that skid steer. They are heavy by themselves.... about 14k lbs for a big machine like my neighbor has. He uses a 3 axle goose neck & a mini Freightliner truck to pull his skid steer to jobs.
     

    Governors20

    Active Member
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jun 11, 2012
    547
    11
    Austin
    Everyone wants land, but only land owners know how much work it is to maintain. Buyers never see the costs! We own land. I took a non developed piece of land and put in a road, cleared, built a cabin, ran water, etc. I did everything myself with the help of a Bobcat S650 skid steer I bought. Long story short, I could have paid off my mortgage before I could have used the bathroom at the cabin. Oh yea, the more you do, the more it costs. We run cattle, so I cleared a bunch of pastures that were over grown. Now I use a 100HP tractor and a 15 foot batwing to mow it. We did have logging companies clear a bunch of trees. Then we used the money to have a dozer come in and clean the place up. If you don’t like mowing your yard, don’t buy ranch property. If you don’t mow it, it’s worthless in 2 years.
     

    baboon

    TGT Addict
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    4   0   0
    May 6, 2008
    22,455
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    Out here by the lake!
    I have a buddy who has a family farm. He has never liked the place. When his father gave him & his brother their pieces. They started making improvements. They burned the old farmhouse & barn, new gate, fixed roads hired someone to make one tank bigger and clean up 20 years of neglect.

    Eventually they figured out they needed to buy out a couple of cousins. One cousin pretty much kept shooting deer whenever he wanted.

    They had a garage built which they quickly filled. And just as quickly had their shit stolen. Someone convinced the younger brother there was money to be made in hay. Soon the younger built a hay barn & bought a bigger tractor.

    The place looks better then it ever did in the years that I have been going up there. My buddy works off shore and just not around as much as his brother. They both live in Houston and spend lots of time driving back and forth.

    I get the feeling the younger brother is growing tired of the place. My buddy wanted to build a house on it, but couldn’t convince his parents into moving into it. He knows having no one home with his being gone is a bad idea.

    It’s a nice place, but the #1 rule of real estate is location. Neither of them will sell now until their parents are gone. I mentioned what I would do with it several times over. Then again I suggested control burn on the house for 10 years.

    Bottom line they are paying the taxes on it and neither of them are hurting for money. It ain’t like more land is being made everyday. They should end up doing well if they can keep their shit from deciding them.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2019
    47,022
    96
    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Pretty much everyone I've talked with said the timber companies will tear your place up getting those trees out. I'll probably pass for the time being. A few trails are already in place going to the feeders and stands. Electric is already run to the campsite. I'll have to check on getting a water meter installed at the road. I can trench a line and run it to the campsite.

    I'm going to wait on a skid steer until these truck prices come back to earth. Everything is so high right now including heavy equipment, but it seems like used tractors have stayed somewhat reasonable. As long as I can keep the current road and trails maintained that's good enough for now.

    My first major purchase will probably be a 40ft container so that I can keep maintenance equipment at the property.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

    @EZ-E and @baboon are correct. My father had a timber company come in about 25 years ago, and they cut and cleared most of his pine trees, Granted, because of the pine weevils he would have lost them anyways, so he did make some money off them, but they left one huge mess, and some is still there to this day.

    A better option would be to look into a forestry mulching machine. EZE used one on his place, and my brother has contracted a guy with a pretty decent sized one on his place, and I much prefer the after results better of what the place looks like. I also wouldn't clear any large trees out either. Just the underbrush and small trees. Get it opened up and let the grass grow. Unless you plan on growing hay and baling, just clearing the underbrush and getting grass on it, you can still run cattle or livestock and they can still graze on it.
     

    Axxe55

    Retiretgtshit stirrer
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2019
    47,022
    96
    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Everyone wants land, but only land owners know how much work it is to maintain. Buyers never see the costs! We own land. I took a non developed piece of land and put in a road, cleared, built a cabin, ran water, etc. I did everything myself with the help of a Bobcat S650 skid steer I bought. Long story short, I could have paid off my mortgage before I could have used the bathroom at the cabin. Oh yea, the more you do, the more it costs. We run cattle, so I cleared a bunch of pastures that were over grown. Now I use a 100HP tractor and a 15 foot batwing to mow it. We did have logging companies clear a bunch of trees. Then we used the money to have a dozer come in and clean the place up. If you don’t like mowing your yard, don’t buy ranch property. If you don’t mow it, it’s worthless in 2 years.

    ^^^This!^^^

    I only have a little over 7.5 acres, and it's a handful to keep up with. And it's pretty much a daily job just taking care of it. It is a lot of work to mow and weedeat and to clear. But it's labor of love for me.

    For almost seventeen years we have lived here, and there is just no way I could ever adjust to living near people again. Once you go rural, and embrace the lifestyle, it's hard to ever go back to living near people or in the city again.
     

    TX OMFS

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    0   0   0
    Nov 3, 2014
    4,756
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    San Antonio
    Setting all else aside, let’s just talk about the shooting part. It start’s with the Local Government Code Chapter 229 which regulates what a municipality can regulate re: discharge of a weapon within the municipality or the ETJ.

    This is where the 10/50 acre restrictions stem from. If the plot isn’t subject to those jurisdictions and conditions in which they apply, then County Ordinances are the next place to check and Newton County isn’t very helpful there as far as online resources after a quick search. Then, any deed restrictions and/or CC&Rs are controlling. Let’s not forget if/when you’re hunting, TPWD does have regulations related to discharge of a firearm relative to residences.

    If the deed isn’t platted in a subdivision, then no other entity has the ability to regulate.

    @benenglish - We need this information stickied. It comes up all the time. How much land do I have to have to shoot?
     
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