Maybe-The end of another era.
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Bowriter
08-May-17
I am leaving tomorrow for three or four days, catching big, bull bream and bass at White Oak Plantation, near Tuskegee, AL. I have been a regular there over the last 25-plus years. I have killed deer and turkeys and caught countless big bass and bream. For 13-years, I co-hosted Does and Bows, a bowhunt for women only. This could be my last trip. Once managing over 20,000 acres of habitat, the operation has been scaled down and all but 1,200 acres with lodge and office etc., sold. Now, that too is for sale and maybe soon gone. Another big chunk of habitat and huge portion of outdoor life...gone.
From: midwest
08-May-17
Sold to whom? Was this a large piece of public property?
From: Halibutman
08-May-17
Did the land disappear when it sold? I'd imagine the folks that bought it are enjoying the wildlife and probably hunting it, or was is subdivided and developed?
From: Bowriter
08-May-17
It was private property in several tracts and under a wildlife managementy plan for almost 25-years. When sold, the sold acreage was almost all logged except for about 700-acres, including two, 50-acre lakes, that went in one tract to father and son out of Atlanta. That is now, also for sale, again. The remaining 1,200 acres is composed swamp, pine, clearcuts now several years old, food plots and the land around the lodge with 4-acre lake, office and executive quarters. Lodge sleeps 30 with full dining room and kitchen.
From: Halibutman
08-May-17
I don't know about over there, but here in east Texas clear cuts used to make us excited. Nowadays, they spray the clearcut to kill everything, prohibiting the "forb factory" of the old days from happening.
It's tough to lose your hunting spot. It happened to one of the more historic clubs near me recently as well.
Everything changes. If the sale and transition of private land teaches us anything it's that we need to protect the public ground!
From: sawtooth
08-May-17
Sounds like a new beginning for someone else.
From: Bowriter
08-May-17
Never operate as it had. Too much of it split up and logged. Make a good corporate retreat. Probably one of, if not the best, managed hunting operations in the Country. Quite a spread in one of the Big Three, when it shut down. Been host to a lot of industry hunts and outdoor writers over the years.
From: Halibutman
08-May-17
25 years is nothing. The lease I spoke of has been a contiguous parcel under management for generations. The same guys have hunted there since the 1950's. It didn't sell completely, and the lease remains active, but some members lost their areas altogether.
From: Bowriter
08-May-17
Halibut- This was not a lease or a club. It was a commercial operation, hosting as many as 450 hunters a year for deer and turkey. Fishing was added with the new lakes, about 12-years ago. Biggest bass to date is just over 13-pounds, biggest bream right at 2. The operation also hosted many weddings and corporate seminars. If you google White Oak Plantation, you can get an idea.
From: elkstabber
09-May-17
And Wil Primos recently sold his big place in MS too. Does this mean that paying hunters simply weren't profitable as a business plan? Its kind of hard to believe that hunters are spending less money nowadays.
From: Jaquomo
09-May-17
A friend who specializes in brokering hunting leases told me the demand for leases is dropping way off. He had a number of available properties that went unleased this year.
Have we reached the willingness-to-pay threshold for "pay to play" in some areas?
From: Fuzzy
10-May-17
man that sucks :(
From: kadbow
10-May-17
No news here. The only thing that is constant is change.
From: Habitat for Wildlife
10-May-17
Lou, Figured it had to at some point. The masses move on to the next trendy activity.
From: Bowriter
11-May-17
But the fishing was tremendous.