I would like to share with you, particularly those that are unfortunate enough not to live in the country. Here, where I live, the wild life is not too varied --- doves, pheasant, various other birds, rabbits, skunks, etc., and later in the year many many geese. But down at Clarendon, much more.

Last night Roberta & I were sitting on the steps to the back porch. The turkeys that stay close to the house (a gobbler & 4 hens) were wanting to go to roost. We stopped talking and sat quietly. They finally went around to the front of the house & (one-by-one) flew over the house into the trees (just behind the house). When they landed into the trees (not 25 ft from us), they flopped and fluttered until they got on the limb that they wanted.

Today, a hen & her 8 little ones came up to the house to the corn feeder (and water). Deer tracks are in the yard (and across the shooting range) every night. The deer feast on Roberta's flowers and new trees. She gets aggravated, but she still likes the deer around.

We have 5 feeders out on that place & we keep them filled all year. We do not hunt there. We drive 500 miles or more to hunt. Those animals are our pets.

Is that stupid or not?

sounds like a nice place.I am stuck in town can't even shoot a varmint.

Not stupid -- sounds pretty perfect to me.......

Any time you want to trade places just give me a call...

One of these days I will be able to convince my wife that country living is the life for us.

My wife and I LOVE, LOVE living in the country. We live on a farm in Franklin County, NC. We see deer almost every evening in the pastures and when the hay has been cut groundhogs, foxes, rabbits, coons, possums, coyotes, and turkeys. I have always lived in the SOUTH and in the country and wouldn't have it any other way!

Country living is the best!!!

Regarding the well fed game around your casa, I belong to an organization that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of man hours building and maintaining water projects for Desert Bighorn sheep. When one of the founders the club was asked why we went to all this expence and work to grow the sheep population just to thin them out by hunting, he replied: It's just like growing prize herloome tomatos; sometimes you have to walk out to the garden with a saltshaker and pick a big juicy one off the vine.

Wtroper,

I see that you are somewhere near Hereford, TX. I really had no idea that the Texas panhandle had that much game. How much acreage do you and your wife live on?

az shooter,

The little place down at Clarendon is only 200 acres. However, it is surrounded on 3 sides by a large (for that area) ranch (about 25,000 acres). On the south side are just farms. Nearest neighbor is about a mile away, then another mile to the next one. It is literally at the "end of the road." It is 12 miles from the house to Clarendon.

Here in Hereford, my place is only about 1/2 mile out of town and I only have 4 acres (almost all of it in an arena).

Clarendon is 90 miles east of here & is more rolling terrain. Here the land is flat as a table and almost all farmland. Lot more native pasture down there and more wildlife.

However, around here the mule deer have moved into areas of CRP, an occasional mountain lion comes through, and the hogs have begun to encrouch. Here, hogs are vermin. Everyone shoots them on sight & usually either just leaves them where they fall or hauls them off to a pit somewhere. They are definitely not viewed as "game animals."

Only 200 acres! Everything is bigger in Texas. Just for comparison, I live on .08 acres. In fact, some of you guys may have a larger house than my lot (3581 square feet).

I live on a small, about 1 acre lot, in North Central Pa. surrounded by 10's of thousands of State Forest lands all open to public hunting. I have Deer, Bear, Elk, Turkey, and numerous small game hunting all within walking distance of my back yard, most of the time it's actually in my yard I would not trade it for the world. My Wife made me move here 6 years ago. Did I mention I love my wife.

Randy, The Birddog.

country living is awesome, I am remodeling a farmhouse that has been in the family for almost 100yrs. Sits on a lake that no other houses on are on, fishing is great, ducks and geese right out the door. We too have been hobby farming the local deer heard with food plots and salt blocks, they come everynight with twins. My girlfriend is from L.A. and is getting used to the darkness and the wildlife, she is amazed how we can just shoot out in the yard and do what ever we want.

I love it!!!!

Thats a great response!

I live on 40 acres in the Missouri Ozarks. Out my back door is forest crop land belonging to a flooring company. You can make an all day circle on a horse behind my house, and never see anyone. We have miles and miles of trails we can ride the 4-wheeler on anytime we like. Lots of deer and turkey. We have a 10 mile drive to the closest town (600 Population). A 15 mile drive to the closest town with a Wal-Mart, shoe store, etc. (2500 population) It is a 2 Hour drive to Springfield. No need to say how far to St Louis and Kansas City, If I was never in either again EVER it would be too soon.

Where I live almost everyone you meet on the road waves at you.

I was a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for 16 years. I had the computer quit on my patrol car leaving me stranded on the side of the road waiting on a wrecker one day. Would you believe 2 out of 3 cars stopped and asked me if I needed help. That would never happen most places.

We have deer using the wifes salt block for her horses, about 40 feet from the side of the house. The most deer we have seen in the yard at one time was 13.

I have my own 100 yard firing range, and my concrete shooting bench is in my back yard. I can shoot all day and no one will say a word, let alone complain about it.

I have a second shooting bench in my reloading room that shoots out a window over my concrete bench, so I can shoot from indoors in the winter if I want to.

The down side was, I had a 60 mile one way drive to work for most of the 35 years I worked as a civil servant. The price you have to pay to live where you want, and have a job that pays decent wages, has a retirement plan, and insurance.

My dog likes country life also. He was the sons dog in Kansas City before he moved to California. When he moved, I inherited his dog. No dog pen and no dog chain at my house. He sleeps beside the bed or on the couch on his blanket. He gets to ride with pop in the truck. Life is good.

Another good thing. NO COUNTY ZONING, or anything like it. If I decide to paint the house, I get the paint, and paint the house. If I decide to build a new barn, I get my material and build a barn. No permits, no inspections, and no one you have to pay off to get it approved either.

Our local Sportsmans Club is about 10 miles from the house. I have been on the Board of Directors or a Club Officer since 1981, and Club President most of that time. We have Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, Archery, 22 Benchrest, 600 yard HiPower Benchrest, Defensive Pistol, Multi Range F Class (100 thru 800 yards), Sniper Matches (100 thru 800 yards), a 2-Gun Combat Course, and Rimfire Sniper Matches. We have a Shoot House at the range. We have 2 short ranges with 25, 50 and 100 yard targets up with 8 shooting benches under a pivilion. We have a Hi Power Range with a concrete bench and targets at 200, 300, 400, and 500 yards. Shooting from the Firing Point Berms you can shoot from 100 thru 800 yards in 100 yard increments. Club Membership is $50 a year, and we have 3 Club Dinners a year ( a Hog Roast, Hamburger Fry, and a Chilli Supper).

I have a permit to ride my 4-wheeler on the county roads, and in the town with a 600 population.

I have a nice stream about a mile from the house with a few good swimming holes, and some small fish you can catch.

The wife trail rides with her horse buddies on average 3 days a week year round. She rode Tuesday and today this week, and is headed to an organized trail ride operation tomorrow with the granddaughter, and will be back Monday. She has around 10 retired gals she rides with. We have a total of 5 horses.

I really hate to say it, but it does not get any better than this.

B0b R tell em about the seed ticks,chiggers & copperheads before they all want to move to Texas Co.

Ellis Prarie
I will tell the rest of the story, before they start moving here.

Ticks. I set my steel clanger handgun target up today in the woods to practice my skills with my 44 and 480 Ruger for deer season, and so far I have picked off probably 6 ticks. I did not get 100 feet from the yard. I have sprayed the yard twice this summer. No bugs in the yard. I am taking the 4-wheeler to a neighbors probably tomorrow to spray their yard.

Copperheads: None so far this year. I normally kill 2 to 6 in the yard each year.

Cotton Mouth Water Mocassins: We have them in that nice creek I was talking about. I always take a gun with me to the creek. If you take a gun, you will not see a snake.

TimberRattlers & PigmyRattlers: We have them both, but normally you do not run across them unless you are a logger, and in the woods all the time.

We have Hornets and Yellow Jackets, plus several other bees living here.

Now the big one WAGES: Here in Paradise most jobs pay between Minimum Wage and around $12 an hour. That is why I drove 120 Miles a day back and forth to work forever.
Most folks cannot afford to live in paradise.

That is the rest of the story.

In the Texas Panhandle, no creeks (except maybe dry ones), an occasional rattlesnake, no chiggers, no ticks, no copperheads, no water ocassins, etc.

But before you start packing to head this way, you may need a visa to enter (of course unless you enter from the south) -- LOL.

My friend in Ohio says "you d### Texans think you need a passport to cross the state line." My response is "If you are in Texas, why would you want to cross the state line?"

How is the job situation in the Texas Panhandle?

az shooter,

Depends upon "what kind of job." Most of the Panhandle is dominated by large scale commercial agriculture (particularly cattle feedlots). Employment related directly to them and to the various businesses that service them is available.

Amarillo is the "big city" in the Panhandle (about 180,000). As the trade and population center for the area, many types of businesses are there & employment opportunities exist. However, we have no "heavy industries" here. The building trades have generally slowed down some over the past couple of years, but "niche" builders are still behind.

Because we are so dominated by agriculture, we are somewhat insulated from the "normal" vagarities of the economy. However, we are subject to fluctuations affecting agriculture.

I suppose that in certain fields, professions, or trades employment opportunities exist here. Wages (salaries) are not as high as they are in the "big cities" (Dallas, Houston, etc) but the cost of living is also not as high.

Id love to get up to that area for some goose hunting. I need to be about 100 miles further North to get into some. I live about 50 miles South of Abilene Tx.

Muddydog,

Plenty of geese around here in the late fall & winter. Often they are in the field immediately north of my house. They fly over my house everyday.

I've had the following in my backyard at one time or another:
deer, black bear, fox, coyote, jackrabbit, cottontail, grey squirrel, chickaree, skunk....what else? Birds, Too many to mention. I feed them and occasionally I'm treated to a hawk taking out a dove. They're all pets except the coyotes and skunks. The band tailed pigeons are tempting however.
The oddest yet was someone's escaped emu cruising around the yard.
Once I had five, very large trophy-size bucks come within a few feet of the back door. One took a peak and they disappeared as approaching was an even bigger, better scoring buck that must have been the bad boy in the area. Six wall hangers in 5 minutes. Yup! Living in the country is fun.

I am fortunate to live on a 1/4 section (160 acres) which is surrounded by 100's of acres owned by my family. I can simply walk out my back door and shoot into a 250 or 500 yard range right off the back deck.

Since we have had some BIG rains, I now live on river front property. The past few nights I have been shooting my 309 JDJ out to 500 yards.

Deer and quail run through the yard on a daily basis (including some BIG bucks) THERE IS NO WAY YOU COULD PAY ME ENOUGH TO LIVE IN TOWN!!!! The town I work in is 15 miles away. Has a population of 1200 and is too big for me. That is why I live in the country!!