# Enjoy it NOW!!!!



## kgpcr (Sep 2, 2006)

I just got back from ND and i was stunned. When we drove through Oakes we went past a place we used to hunt and right next to it was a 1/4 section of CRP well it was about the best nesting cover you could find and now it has been plowed under and will be corn next year. From the farmers i talked to much is going to be lost in the next few years to CRP going to corn. I think we may have seen the best bird hunting we will see for a long while. When CRP dies so does the pheasant hunting. Look no further than Iowa to see what happens. I saw the same thing in more places than Oakes as well but that was such prime cover it made me cry.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Had a 1/4 section of CRP that I was looking forward to hunting this weekend, but I found out last night it has been burned and will be going into corn next year. The good ol' days are now (plus, the past couple of years) We all knew it was coming, now it's reality. You won't have to worry about pressure in the coming years.


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## mburgess (Aug 11, 2003)

I've seen some CRP getting disked up and burned between Valley City and Jamestown. Sad thing is the good hunting here is pretty much what has kept me here. If the hunting starts going bad, I'll have no reason to stay here once my kids get a little older. I'm sure I'm not the only one who stays here because of the outdoors. There is much more money to be made than what is here.


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Rick, Unfortunately you are right on the pressure.....in the long term. But wait until the available land starts to shrink in the next 5 years....I'm guessing it will take everyone that hunts pheasants a couple of years to alter their plans and the pressure will be immense during that time.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

LaMoure county is loosing 20,000+ acres of CRP this fall and are scheduled to loose another 25,000 in Oct of 08!

We need to remember this when listening to the debate concerning the current farm bill. Even though funding is being promised for this program, they are not adjusting the rate of payment to the farmers and landowners to keep the land in grass.

One neighbor who is taking his land out of CRP wanted to keep it in. When his contract extension offer came back it was $4.00 an acre less than what it was currently in for and almost 2/3 the going rate for land in that area.

To oppose such restrictions is not being anti farmer, and with such provisions in place, we should not be supporting the current farm bills in Congress right now.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Field Hunter said:


> Rick, Unfortunately you are right on the pressure.....in the long term.  But wait until the available land starts to shrink in the next 5 years....I'm guessing it will take everyone that hunts pheasants a couple of years to alter their plans and the pressure will be immense during that time.


Yep, there will be those that will not believe what the landscape looks like in a few years here. They also will come and see it for themselves. I would also be willing to bet that it will still look better than their hiome states in many, many cases, so they will continue to come and there will be elbow to elbow pressure on the available shrinking landscape. Unless we get cellulose ethanol a'cookin. It will get ugly around here for a few years!!!!


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

mburgess said:


> I've seen some CRP getting disked up and burned between Valley City and Jamestown. Sad thing is the good hunting here is pretty much what has kept me here. If the hunting starts going bad, I'll have no reason to stay here once my kids get a little older. I'm sure I'm not the only one who stays here because of the outdoors. There is much more money to be made than what is here.


Bingo! That is me to the T! I moved back here from Santa Barbara CA because I was so homesick for hunting & fishing. I'm sure it will take a few years for people to figure out that it's gone to the sh*ter, but out of staters aren't going to pay big bucks to walk all day to maybe get a shot at a rooster or two. (Remember the mid to late 80's?) They will move on to greener pastures. I'm REALLY going to enjoy this weekend and be thankfull for the ride we've had. Oh well, I guess we can always go and shoot roosters off the road next G/O's place! :beer: Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

It won't take long for people to realize the drop in game populations when the pheasant limit drops to 2 per day and 4 in poss.Or 2-3 ducks per day with 1 or 2 mallards.Or 1 deer tag per person.They will see that and stay home.Who would drive a 1,000 miles 1 way to take home 4 ducks or pheasants?Especially if gas prices continue to head for $4-$5 per gallon which they already are in Canada.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

This thread has been started already. If corn prices hit rock bottom in the future crp will come back. theres just more money to be made with corn right now. If crp is that important to you then go buy a small tract of land and put crp on it. Not everyone can afford to do what they want. Some of us don't have alot of a choice. We make the most of our acreage or we lose it all.


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## kgpcr (Sep 2, 2006)

WOW alot of hostility to out of state hunters. Remeber we spend alot of money in your state and you benefit from it as well. We pay alot of money to the DNR alone and that goes to help your hunting as well.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

I cannot speak for everyone on this thread, but where did anyone say thet we are blaming farmers for the situation?? I don't. I like to think that if I were farming I would be ecofriendly to the critters, but that is very easy to say when I am not in that position! I think that majority of people realize that it is not the farmers fault that corn is worth more than CRP. I just wish that we could do something to change that.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

kgpcr said:


> WOW alot of hostility to out of state hunters. Remeber we spend alot of money in your state and you benefit from it as well. We pay alot of money to the DNR alone and that goes to help your hunting as well.


What hostility are you talking about????This issue will affect all of us.But since non-res. drive the furthest to get here,it will affect them most.That isn't being hostile.....just factual.


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

It looks bad, but something always happens to level out the playing field. There will still be crp around for pheasants, and when word spreads about all we're losing, there will also be less out of state hunters and pressure.

Ethanol is a joke too, and corn prices will most likely not be like this for a long period. I think we have a while before we need to really start worrying.


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## kgpcr (Sep 2, 2006)

At 3.00 a gallon for gas = corn will be high. Ethanol is not a cure by any means but its the best we have now and they are begging for corn. its a joke but thats the way it is. they need to drop the ethanol subsidy now. Oil will not drop any time soon so the cry for corn will continue. sucks for pheasants and us but thats the way it is


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## ej4prmc (Dec 3, 2004)

That is why I love the west side of the state! We have Rooster's, Grouse, ducks, geese, whitetails, and muley's. You all can stay in the east.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

Sorry if I made it seem like you are blaming people like my family. Its just that some people keep on whining about crp getting plowed under and the ones who do the most whining probably don't do very much about it. Yes three dollar corn won't last, but while it does we will take advantage of it. I do wish there was more crp and other habitat around my area since it is just kind of dwindling but there isn't much I can do about it. I have considered planting some seed in my dads pasture around the pond but that would mean putting up fence or the calves would ruin it. There is also the issue of predator management. Crp is just kind of out of the question for people I know. I may plant a few apple trees to do what I can though.


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

ej4prmc said:


> That is why I love the west side of the state! We have Rooster's, Grouse, ducks, geese, whitetails, and muley's. You all can stay in the east.


So.....


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## FEED JAKE (Nov 27, 2007)

IT IS SAD TO SAY BUT I AM PLANNING ON TAKING MY 200 ACRES OUT OF CRP NEXT YEAR FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

1) LAND RENT TO A FARMER GENERATES ABOUT 50% MORE IN ANNUAL INCOME THAN CRP RENT UNDER CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS AND I HAVE TO MAKE A LIVING AS DOES THE FARMER WHO IS ENCOURAGING ME TO TAKE THE LAND OUT OF CRP

2) THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (AKA FARM SERVICE AGENCY) IS VERY STRICT REQUIRING AND ENFORCING 100% WEEDS CONTROL EACH YEAR AND THAT IS AN ADDITIONAL COST THAT I DO NOT HAVE TO BEAR IF I RENT TO A FARMER. ( PS MY NEIGHBOR'S PASTURE LAND IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE SAME SCRUTINY)

3) THERE IS STIGMA ATTACHED TO HAVING CRP LAND THAT I AM LIVING OFF A GOVERMENT SUBSIDY THAT DOES GET TIRESOME


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## fargojohnson (Oct 17, 2005)

We get $36 an acre for our CRP now if it is farm land we would get $100 cash rent an acre. Not good for the hunting but great for the farming. Its about time the farms get some money back in there pockets.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

CRP loss will be a fact of life. I believe this map is a projected acreage loss by 2010.









As you can see the waterfowl and pheasant ranges are going to take it right through the neck.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Do you still think Dickey co. will be in the top 3 pheasant harvest counties after 2010? NOPE! S.E. & South Central N.D. could (will) get pretty sparse when it comes to pheasants.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Everybody that has jumped on the corn ethanol band wagon will all jump off so when the realize that it takes over 27% more energy to produce the corn to ethanol. Once that happens they will realize that switchgrass is the way to go. Though it will be a few years for the to happen. We all just have to wait. We have had such great pheasant hunting it the past years, that we think that its always going to get better. But like everything in nature there are ups and downs. I would like to see more CRP, but when the corn, wheat, soybean prices are so high, I dont care who you are your going to take the CRP out for awhile untill the prices drop.


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## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

What gets my back up about CRP going back to crop production is the total lack commentary from the other parties (other than us hunters) about the potential problem. Recalling the recent past, how often did we hear testimony after testimony from small town businesses, economic development authorities, legislators, and tourism bureaus at Bismarck about how any restrictions on hunters would decimate business and cause small business to go under. All we heard was that hunting was vitally important to all of them. Where are/were they now when the farm bill was and is being discussed? Where is the media and why aren't they looking back at what they wrote just a few short years ago? I would like to hear from just one of those that whined so loud just a few years ago tell me what they are going to do when the hunters, both resident and non resident, don't show up when the game populations drop. I smell the color of ethanol money and greed coming from many pockets and will watch them chase another false dream across the prairies. On the other hand, having lived and hunted at the end of the soil bank days, as described by another poster on this topic, it will not be pretty.


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## coyote_buster (Mar 11, 2007)

I don't understande how my county is suppossed to lose 300-4300 more acres of crp than it even has.


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## kgpcr (Sep 2, 2006)

You cant blame the land owners we would all do the same thing. Farms are a business and if some one is going to pay me more to plant it than CRP then i will plant it. We would all do the same thing so we CANNOT blame the farmers!


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## Springerguy (Sep 10, 2003)

On the plus side, once things get back to "normal" there won't be near the hunting pressure. Through most of the 70's and 80's - and a good portion of the 90's, we never had an expectation of shooting a limit of roosters in SE ND. With the amount of CRP the area can handle the hunting pressure but that won't be the case when the CRP is gone - but you won't find near the hunters in the field.

I don't blame the farmers for taking advantage of the $$ prices. However, I do blame the gov't for wasting money on subsidies. Total subsidies for ethanol were $7 billion in 2006 - that's $1.45 per gallon. If you're interested in the facts here they are: http://zfacts.com/p/63.html. The real reason land prices are increasing isn't so much non-residents buying hunting land...it's the subsidation of an industry in this manner. If you disagree, just think what would happen if the gov't didn't pump this kind of money into ethanol. I'm no expert on ethanol but I wouldn't be putting my money into this industry - sooner or later I think it's going to be a bust.


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## kgpcr (Sep 2, 2006)

i agree!!! Ethanol subsidies need to stop now!!


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