Correct - it's not surprising they take them out. It's surprising they keep them in.

Govt intervention over suspected endangered species is a real thing.

How much of the tract still has natural old growth hardwoods?

So.........with the loss of Scotch, wolf creek, and Boykin in such a small amount of time I expect the WMA permit fee to be going down.........you state boys relay that to the omniscient fellas in charge. Or maybe that's silly and losing three WMAs is the DCNR's plan of attrition to have more boots on the ground without hiring anyone.

Which ones next..............

Nobody has time to worry about Public Land, State Parks and such.
Heck, there are new Regulations to write, budgets to manipulate and Hogs to study!

Looks like there will be 19,000 acres available for lease in the near future.

Dr. B

End of an era. First ones to go were Covington and Escambia Creek. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the scotch property went up for sale and forever wild got it. Seems like most WMAs down here are owned by FW or the state now.

Not very likely. It's family land. Surrounded by other family land in the area / county. The land is managed just like their other lands. It was just a nice gesture to make it public for so long.

Sounds like something is rotten in Denmark. If anyone knows the real reason, pm me, I'd like to hear that story more so than the one being told in this article.

Before they cut every damn tree, Covington had some fine hunting. Never had much luck with Escambia Creek.

It sucks to lose public hunting lands. Truly does. But these still are privately owned lands. The owners are not just going to roll over and say "Well, it's being used for public hunting so we can't cut timber, manage or do anything."

Given the financial straights many state wildlife agencies are in throughout the country, private (or corporate) owners allowing lands to be used for public hunting and other uses probably will continue to decline. Liability, the constant complaints about nitpicky things, possibly being hamstrung by some agreements, getting whacked by the feds on some issues (like this snake thing) ... it's no surprise that a big private landowner or corporate owner would end a public-use agreement and keep it in house.

I would guess that the aggravation out weighs the tax break.

I wanna say there would be no more tax break, I may be wrong on that?

No tin hat on this one.

The ESA is a powerful tool that the antis use to bludgeon everyone they can. I'm not sure what's at play here but the language of the statement suggests such rotten characters are involved.

I don't wear tinfoil hats, but I tend to agree with Ticka. The ESA has so much mumbo-jumbo, red tape and such that it appears it could be rife for possible abuse and few in the public could fight it.

Who the hell knows how many Special Snowflake Snakes or Totally Rad Turtles lived in a place 150+ years ago and how many are there now? So 19,000+ acres is impacted because of 20 snakes found over three decades? Or the "Gulf Beach Mouse" that looks like a friggin' hamster and only has been seen by a few people will prohibit, limit or restrict development, even by a guy who owns land and wants to put up a little beach shack?

It just sucks sometimes, or makes you wonder if antis are pulling strings, when a spider or mouse or green-eyed horsefly has more power thanks to the Feds and the ESA.

If you own land, in southwest alabama, especially land where timber production is a priority, you may want to be brushing up on black pine snake current events. I don't care if you own 40 acres or 4000. No tinfoil hat needed. This is quickly becoming a reality.....

A client of mine challenged the beach mouse crap years ago. He had a guy trap a few of them, did DNA on them and found that they are just a dang barn mouse, no difference.

In 98 that damn beach mouse shut down a multimillion dollar condo construction site in Fort Morgan I was working on.

I'm 50 years old. I don't know for how many of those years � decades � I've heard about this elusive "beach mouse" that has supposedly lived and needs protection along the GS/OB coastline (short as it is). I've been up at all hours of the day and night at the beach, been out at night with lights, been in supposed "beach mouse" territory. Never have seen one. They damn sure must be "threatened."

Of course, I've had a hunting license for 34 years and never have received a post-season hunting survey, either. Those things must be protected, too. LOL