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Post by Land Between the Lakes on Nov 5, 2016 20:33:04 GMT -5
Lack of public land is one of the biggest issues facing hunters and people interested in nature in Indiana.
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Post by poc on Nov 5, 2016 23:27:12 GMT -5
Lack of public land is one of the biggest issues facing hunters and people interested in nature in Indiana. THOUSANDS of acres in Orange County, and I rarely see anyone using it. Too far off the beaten path for the nature lovers I guess.
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Post by medic22 on Nov 6, 2016 10:38:47 GMT -5
Lack of public land is one of the biggest issues facing hunters and people interested in nature in Indiana. THOUSANDS of acres in Orange County, and I rarely see anyone using it. Too far off the beaten path for the nature lovers I guess. Not for long at the rate you and IJ keep telling people that
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Post by Land Between the Lakes on Nov 6, 2016 18:00:01 GMT -5
Indiana is 95% to 97% private land I believe. And, a lot of it is smaller areas scattered throughout the state. If there was more public land, hunters could disperse better, and more bucks would grow older. It would also give more Indiana residents places to enjoy nature.
Each and every western state such as Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, all have at least 10 to 25 million acres of public land. Most southern states have 2 to 4 million acres, so do most northern states. I believe Indiana has at or slightly less than 1 million acres of public land. Statistically speaking, there are around 40 states with a higher percentage of public land than Indiana has. I think the IDNR really should put an emphasis on acquiring more public land. They are working to preserve a large amount of public land in western Indiana along the Wabash River, and in southern Indiana along the Muscatatuck River, so there is some progress being made.
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Post by hornzilla on Nov 6, 2016 19:29:54 GMT -5
Also, there are millions upon millions of acres of federal land out west. Do you really think USFS, BLM, NPS, etc. really closed off all access? Trust me, people were recreating as usual on those lands. Maybe not all lands, there's no way they possibly could. But I do know the Hoosier National was closed for all horse back riding at that time. The horse camp was blocked off. It did work out for Brown County. When we signed in after HNF was closed there was only 3 spots left.
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Post by poc on Nov 6, 2016 19:43:10 GMT -5
The horse camp was blocked off. Dumbest thing ever. It took more money to have someone drive out and block it off than just to leave it alone.
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Post by ironjaw on Nov 7, 2016 21:29:59 GMT -5
THOUSANDS of acres in Orange County, and I rarely see anyone using it. Too far off the beaten path for the nature lovers I guess. Not for long at the rate you and IJ keep telling people that I'll stop wasting my breath then, since you're too stubborn to listen and keep having all those problems down there by you.
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Post by medic22 on Nov 7, 2016 21:33:16 GMT -5
Not for long at the rate you and IJ keep telling people that I'll stop wasting my breath then, since you're too stubborn to listen and keep having all those problems down there by you. Lol. I didnt mean me. You can tell me and kris. Just dont tell anyone else
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Post by ironjaw on Nov 7, 2016 21:36:49 GMT -5
I'll stop wasting my breath then, since you're too stubborn to listen and keep having all those problems down there by you. Lol. I didnt mean me. You can tell me and kris. Just dont tell anyone else I enjoy having friends out there doing the same thing I love doing. The comraderie, experience, and fellowship is what it's all about.
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Post by medic22 on Nov 7, 2016 21:38:27 GMT -5
Lol. I didnt mean me. You can tell me and kris. Just dont tell anyone else I enjoy having friends out there doing the same thing I love doing. The comraderie, experience, and fellowship is what it's all about. Werd. Ill make it up. My step dads mom is on hospice now, kind of screwing up all my hunting plans. That sounded really bad.
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Post by ironjaw on Nov 7, 2016 21:45:18 GMT -5
I enjoy having friends out there doing the same thing I love doing. The comraderie, experience, and fellowship is what it's all about. Werd. Ill make it up. My step dads mom is on hospice now, kind of screwing up all my hunting plans. That sounded really bad. I can't say it here, but you already know what you are.
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Post by poc on Nov 9, 2016 12:22:27 GMT -5
I enjoy having friends out there doing the same thing I love doing. The comraderie, experience, and fellowship is what it's all about. Werd. Ill make it up. My step dads mom is on hospice now, kind of screwing up all my hunting plans. That sounded really bad. You're a jerk, we wouldn't expect more from you.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 10, 2016 16:59:01 GMT -5
Indiana is 95% to 97% private land I believe. And, a lot of it is smaller areas scattered throughout the state. If there was more public land, hunters could disperse better, and more bucks would grow older. It would also give more Indiana residents places to enjoy nature. Each and every western state such as Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, all have at least 10 to 25 million acres of public land. Most southern states have 2 to 4 million acres, so do most northern states. I believe Indiana has at or slightly less than 1 million acres of public land. Statistically speaking, there are around 40 states with a higher percentage of public land than Indiana has. I think the IDNR really should put an emphasis on acquiring more public land. They are working to preserve a large amount of public land in western Indiana along the Wabash River, and in southern Indiana along the Muscatatuck River, so there is some progress being made. Those western states don't have near the population density of Indiana, and thus, not as many people already had ownership of land by the time the state or fed came along and started taking possession of what was "unclaimed". The IDNR doesn't have enough budget to staff CO positions it needs to police the state as it is. So I don't think there is much they are going to be able to do about buying land from private owners to turn public. I'm not even sure if buying land to convert to public use is even a function of the IDNR. That might be something a different agency of the state is responsible for doing. I suppose if someone owns land they want to donate to the state, that is an option. But what is the state going to do with a few acres here and there? Is it worth it to the state to take possession of a 10 acre plat of land smack dab in the middle of other private properties? There is a great example of this if you look at abandoned railroad lines and properties. There are a number of them scattered throughout the state that now belong to the state because the railroads that owned them no longer wanted or needed them. So the state is just sitting on all this defunct railroad land which nobody can really use due to it typically being long and narrow and nestled in between private properties. It would be great if you could find someone who owns 100+ acres who just wanted to donate it to the state. But I just don't think there are too many of those people, and the state doesn't have the budget to buy all this land; if there is even any that is available for sale. Even if there is, I'm not sure - as an Indiana tax payer - that I necessarily want the state diverting funds to buy land somewhere I'll probably never get to use. There are other priorities for the state's budget and I really don't want my taxes significantly going up to pay for this, to be quite honest. That being said, up here in my AO there is a Land Trust company called ACRES INC. that continually buys up and now owns many different properties in the area that they have converted to "nature preserves". They allow people to hike thru these properties; but aside from that, they don't allow you to do anything else on them (obviously - no hunting). It would be nice if there was a private entity like this that bought up private land around the state and then allowed people to hunt on it. But I think that's just a pipe dream.
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