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  1. #1
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    We are losing Peabody.

    Is any one besides me upset that Peabody is selling all 6000 acres to out of state lease operations? Why could the Department not find a way to buy this land for use for future generations of Kentucky Hunters?
    Less public land means more lease hunting and a reduction in hunter numbers. What the HELL is going on?
    Jim Dicken

  2. #2
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    I'm sad to see it go. I was going to buy a small boat so that I could fish some of the strip pits there but I'm having second thoughts now.

  3. #3
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    yes iam upset too}( }(

  4. #4
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    Jim,

    As I explained earlier, the sale was supposed to go to a group that was going to develop one of those hunting ranches. The sale was completed in the Ohio Co. area, and most of it is now closed off with gates.

    As I have said before, our land is buttriced (spelling) by what used to be the WMA - Refuge. We had so many poachers over there illegally, plus when we had cows, they kept cutting our fences, and we currently have trouble with trespassers.

    I agree, it is a shame that all the public land is being sold, but I am afraid there are a few of the hunters who give you all a bad name.

    I used to hunt some, but all my meat was consumed by my ex-wife's mother and family. My biggest problem with hunting is those few that break the rules, and the ones who did something when my wife and I first moved out here to the country.

    Someone shot a nice buck, cut its head off, and left the body in front of our house. DISGUSTING!!!

    Hunt to eat, I'm totally fine with, and who knows, I may even have to do it to feed myself sometime. We have a ton of turkey's in our yard everyday, and I can't help but to wonder what a wild turkey would taste like on Thanksgiving day??

    BTW, the Muhlenberg County sale fell through to the group that was interested, but supposedly, there are more looking into it.

    I only ask you guys who fish down here, please don't cross the signs that say "Private Property."

    Already this year we have had shooters in our field less than 150 yards from our house, just behind a small wood. I have decided, I will shoot back!!!

    We don't allow hunting for a few reasons:

    A couple of hunters shot and killed my father-in-law's dog a few years back.

    The damage of trespassers back when we had livestock.... we are the one's that were liable for any damage a cow did to a car on the highway after someone cut our fence.

    Also, our deer are not scared. When we had cattle, they, the deer, became used to having us in the field, and they shared our protein and salt blocks, not to mention the hay. We still but these out for the deer.

    Lastly, my wife's Great Grandmother, who all this land came from, was what is now referred to as a naturalist. My wife loved her Great Mamaw, and still honors her wishes.

    Trust me, I had to turn down some very important customers on their requests to hunt on our land. LOL

    I tell you what Jim, the land that bumps up to us was listed for $2,000 per acre, and that was part of the 6,000 acres for sale. Tell you what, you come to us with $5,000 per acre, and I'll see if I can convince the rest of the family to sell the 250 acres and lakes we own. This would greatly hasten my full retirement and fishing excursions!! LOL

    Tight lines and God Bless

    Danny

  5. #5
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    Unfortunately Jimbo it's all about the money. x(

  6. #6
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    Yes and the State Has the money to buy that land. Shame we can not get them to come off of some of it.
    Jim

  7. #7
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    Muhlenberg County Sale went through

    I'm not exactly sure to whom, or when, but we were told the other day by a friend of the family that works for Peabody that the sale is complete. I know that the old "Wildlife Refuge" (this is the part that was not supposed to have any access anyway) was sold. This is south of HWY 62, and surrounds our farm.

    I have not heard if any of the Peabody WMA's north of 62 were sold or not, but have heard that a group was looking into buying them too.

    BTW, saw a beautiful buck in our old garden this evening while walking the dog. These deer on our farm are so tame it didn't scare and I was less than 30 yards from it.

    Just thought I would pass along the update.

    Tight lines and God Bless

    Danny

  8. #8
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    Im upset and I'm sure there are plenty others as well. I would say that the initial cost is probably what kept the state from buying the land. At 2k an acre you're looking at $12 million. Since KDFWR does not receive any funds from state govt, I would say the price was too high, whatever it was. But, they could have continued to charge the user fee and maybe charged ramp fees for the lakes and recovered the cost that way. Maybe even sectioned some of it off and gone in partners with a guide service for that area. Im sure if KDFWR had made it known about the sale, most hunters would have lobbied for the state to help with the purchase. Just my opinion. Anyone know who bought it and what the price was?

  9. #9
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    The state keeps an ENTIRE years budget in reserve each year. Not sure of the total but well in excess of the $12million needed to by 4000 acres. Like you said the user fees could have been used to replenish the budget and having less than a years budget for a few years while we replenished would not have been a problem. Matter of fact I BELIEVE that hunters and fishermen would have gladly opened their pockets in order to donate money to get more land to fish and hunt.
    Jim Dicken

  10. #10
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    Evansville Area of Southern IN, USA.
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    Jim:
    Peabody is about to do the same thing over here in Southern IN Warrick County. We have a surface mine that is being reclaimed by Peabody right now. It's an area that's full of deer and other wild animals such as fox, raccoon, coyotes, rabbits, crows etc. In the past Peabody allowed some hunting around these mined lands but it was by special permit. That's my understanding of the situation. These days there are rumors flying around the county that Peabody is going to sell this land to a private interest and that the land may be use to lease out to rich people for private hunting rights. Oh well I don't hunt much anymore because it's too hard to find a place to get permission to hunt. Thank god they don't sell the lakes and then lease out sections of a lake to fishermen on a monthly or weekly basis. Now that would really get my dander up! LOL

    Actually down here they did just that. AMAX coal company reclaimed portions of its Ashire Mine near where I live. Then they sold about 10,000 acres to a private individual. Lucky for us the State IDNR purchased 2500 acres of this land for a state Fish and Wildlife Area for public use. The other 7,000 is in private hands now. The owner has sold the hunting leasing rights to another guy, Gary Gatewood. Gary is trying to sell leases for a days hunt at a considerable cost. Gary also will act as a guide to those that want to hire him and lease some hunting or FISHING right. Yes that's right. He will sell you a day lease to fish on some of the private strip pits that are in this 7000 acres of land they purchased from AMEX.

    The thing that gets me is that AMAX saved lots of money by not having to refill in the pits they dug the coal out of. Some loop hole in the Surface Mining and Reclamation act allowed them to get by with leaving huge holes in the ground. These are not filled with water and are the public lakes that are being fished. If you drop a lead weight to the bottom of these pits in some places you will retrieve the weight and it will be covered with black coal goop. So that tells me that they didn't reclaim the soil in these area. They are suppose to push the spoil dirt back into the holes and then cover this with the top soil that was suppose to be set aside when they mined the area. This evidently didn't occur. I would really like to know why? The water in these pits has a extremely high Conductivity. That tells me as an environmental Scientist that the water is full of chemicals. Ions of different inorganic elements are present in high concentrations in these water. The water is so full of these ions that the State DNR fishery biologists have to modify their shock boat electrodes before they can sample the fish in these pits. They are full of iron, calcium, sulfates, Chlorides and other minerals. These waters are full of submergent vegetation so they are pretty productive. So it's not really a bad thing that they were not reclaimed and that they are being used for pubic fishing and hunting these days. But it's the principle that they were not reclaimed that bothers me a bit. In the long run if the water does not have any harmful chemicals in it then it's a good thing. But I have noticed two old rusty 55 gallon drums that are sitting along the bank of one of the pits that that kind of worries me. Those old drums should have been reclaimed. I see them when I am fishing and wonder what the heck was in them or what's still in them. I have not gotten out of the boat and walked up to them to see what's in them if anything. They look like they have a few holes rusted in them so whatever was in them may be long gone now. Or it may have drained out and run into the soil along the bank of the pit. Hopefully they were empty when they were left there as AMAX moved the mining operations out.
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  11. #11
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    Evansville Area of Southern IN, USA.
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    RE: Muhlenberg County Sale went through

    The county court house should have records of the current property owers. I think that any land sales have to be documented by the County Recorder here in IN. It's probably the same way in KY.

    So can't someone just go down to local courthouse and look at the property records? That will let you know for sure what's been sold and what still belongs to the Coal Company.

    I think that's what I am going to do in order to figure how who owns what land


    Whats the UTM map coordinates of the area you guys are talking about. We could use terraserver or google to get a satellite view of this area.


    Regards,

    Moose1am

  12. #12
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    RE: We are losing Peabody.

    totally agree. wish we had the money to buy it for a GOOD club use.

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