[debbie at bouontiful]

I have 300 acres in Southeast OK and a few times have found hunters sneeking on. They claim to be lost but had to jump a fence to be lost! I have no hunting signs on the road frontage but they can go up any hill and get on. My property is rather hilly and people are always asking or even wanting to pay to hunt but I do not allow hunting. I always bring the cattle up front during the deer season and lock the horses up. You hear shooting all the time but there is a lot of other properties around here that probably do allow hunting on. I've never lost an animal to a hunter so far. I do not take long walks on our property during opening week.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by _redbird_

Hey! Leave GP out of it! Just kidding, Goodpasture.

And to the OP, welcome to Oklahoma.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by debbie at bouontiful

I have 300 acres in Southeast OK and a few times have found hunters sneeking on. They claim to be lost but had to jump a fence to be lost! I have no hunting signs on the road frontage but they can go up any hill and get on. My property is rather hilly and people are always asking or even wanting to pay to hunt but I do not allow hunting. I always bring the cattle up front during the deer season and lock the horses up. You hear shooting all the time but there is a lot of other properties around here that probably do allow hunting on. I've never lost an animal to a hunter so far. I do not take long walks on our property during opening week.

Yeah, see, this is the kind of stuff I have heard and this is what worries me. I feel like I should buy more than a 100 acres just so that pasture for horses and house can be in the middle and I have some insulation

[Johnhw2]

OP I grew up in Durant in SE Oklahoma but worked in Houston most of my career. When I retired we considering retiring to Comfort Tx just west of San Antonio or a large land development near Bergheim. We liked the area but worried about a disease impacting oaks in that area which is what makes it the prettiest part of the Hill Country. We ended up moving to DFW to be near family both here and in Durant and Norman.

My family has a place in the NM Mountains up around 8600 feet up which is a rustic cabin but not on much land. We built nearly 50 years ago. The DFW reatives just bought a place at 9700 feet up in Angel Fire. This is about 13 miles from where our cabin is located. Summers and early fall and a winter trip or two are nice breaks in the weather here but I couldn't live there. Its too remote for our taste and kind of high elevation for going to as we age.

Despite growing up in SE Ok I haven't seen the area you located to much but plan to soon. Despite being sort of close to DFW I dont know many who go up that way for vacation or get away times. I was very surprised at the high rainfall rates in that area. Durant is not near s wet as around Hugo and up where you are.

Keep us posted on how things go as you locate and settle there. Welcome to Oklahoma

[ognend]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

OP I grew up in Durant in SE Oklahoma but worked in Houston most of my career. When I retired we considering retiring to Comfort Tx just west of San Antonio or a large land development near Bergheim. We liked the area but worried about a disease impacting oaks in that area which is what makes it the prettiest part of the Hill Country. We ended up moving to DFW to be near family both here and in Durant and Norman.

My family has a place in the NM Mountains up around 8600 feet up which is a rustic cabin but not on much land. We built nearly 50 years ago. The DFW reatives just bought a place at 9700 feet up in Angel Fire. This is about 13 miles from where our cabin is located. Summers and early fall and a winter trip or two are nice breaks in the weather here but I couldn't live there. Its too remote for our taste and kind of high elevation for going to as we age.

Despite growing up in SE Ok I haven't seen the area you located to much but plan to soon. Despite being sort of close to DFW I dont know many who go up that way for vacation or get away times. I was very surprised at the high rainfall rates in that area. Durant is not near s wet as around Hugo and up where you are.

Keep us posted on how things go as you locate and settle there. Welcome to Oklahoma

Thanks. I too was surprised to see that the amount of rainfall there is almost the same as some portions of Florida. I think a lot of people from DFW own hunting land in SE Oklahoma - at least that's what our realtor (who we consider to be a friend) told us. There is a new coffee shop in Talihina, the owners are from Texas - very nice folks!

[Johnhw2]

Irving has a deal for water with city of high and the Choctaw tribe for surplus water. The state of oklahoma opposes water going out of state. So the deal is in the courts. The rainfall in this area is equivalent to Houston and the system has surplus water sufficient to take care of NYC needs by a wide margin. It's much wetter than most would ever guess.

[Mattie Jo]

Originally Posted by ognend

Hello,

We are finally in a position to find our farm acreage. We have a few horses and after years of searching around the country we have zeroed in on SE Oklahoma. In our humble opinions, nowhere is the combination of water availability, climate, greenery and wilderness more conducive to living the outdoors life year-round. Many places in the States have one or the other (New Mexico has wilderness but water is an issue, Wyoming is pretty but frozen most of the year, Florida is warm and has the water but is over-run with people. so on and so on).

We found some land between 20 and 60 acres in Pushmataha county (SE OK, near Ouachita Natl Forest) as this, in our opinion, is one of the prettiest parts of Oklahoma, if not the Unites States.

However, a lot of these tracts are sold as hunting tracts. Being that Ouachita seems to be the only place everyone goes to hunt (from Oklahoma at least) - what are the risks to our livestock on our own property?

We have heard stories of people from the city coming out to hunt and shooting someone's horse or a cow. We have heard of people shooting over your fence line onto your property. Even heard stories of someone's fence being cut to get to the deer that was shot over the fence. Stories of drunk hunters abound (alcohol and guns - yikes!). Are our horses going to have to wear orange vests in their own pastures during hunting season?

Thanks!

P.S. Yes, we visited the area and looked at the land and spent time in places like Talihina - we like what we saw

I have heard similar stories from friends who lived in the country here and now live in town.

1. Never get into an argument with your neighbor. They can take revenge.
2. People like to dump garbage on other people's lands here. Don't try to find out who did it unless you want revenge. Remove it yourself. See if you can block the area near the road with a better fence.
3. Big foot is the least of your problems as they are shy.
4. Check out your neighbors before you buy. If they meet you at the gate with a rifle, run. If they have pit pulls, run. If their land looks like a dumping ground, don't buy next door to them. A neighbor with a big, long white or green fence should be a good indication of a good neighbor; maybe.
5. sometimes people who move to the country want to be left alone or want to have meth labs or grow pot. Pot growers are probably okay; meth, no okay.
6. What about electric fencing? I know nothing about it or what it can do to animals or people, but it could keep out hunters, who like to hunt on your land or cut down your trees for firewood.
7. don't buy any land with too many red cedars. you will want them out because they take up too much of our water, kill other trees, and explode during a fire. Boom, boom, no more farm.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by Mattie Jo

I have heard similar stories from friends who lived in the country here and now live in town.

1. Never get into an argument with your neighbor. They can take revenge.
2. People like to dump garbage on other people's lands here. Don't try to find out who did it unless you want revenge. Remove it yourself. See if you can block the area near the road with a better fence.
3. Big foot is the least of your problems as they are shy.
4. Check out your neighbors before you buy. If they meet you at the gate with a rifle, run. If they have pit pulls, run. If their land looks like a dumping ground, don't buy next door to them. A neighbor with a big, long white or green fence should be a good indication of a good neighbor; maybe.
5. sometimes people who move to the country want to be left alone or want to have meth labs or grow pot. Pot growers are probably okay; meth, no okay.
6. What about electric fencing? I know nothing about it or what it can do to animals or people, but it could keep out hunters, who like to hunt on your land or cut down your trees for firewood.
7. don't buy any land with too many red cedars. you will want them out because they take up too much of our water, kill other trees, and explode during a fire. Boom, boom, no more farm.

Is this a serious post or are you putting me on?

Thanks!

[bagster]

Looks like sound advice to me. However, I would disagree with #3. That area's bigfoot has been known to carry off farm animals. A good way to protect your more valuable animals is to buy a herd of these: fainting goats - Bing video

[ognend]

Originally Posted by bagster

Looks like sound advice to me. However, I would disagree with #3. That area's bigfoot has been known to carry off farm animals. A good way to protect your more valuable animals is to buy a herd of these: fainting goats - Bing video

I agree most of it is sound advice but I was not sure if the poster was kidding about the dumping of trash etc..