I was told by my friend that owns land in Portland that forever wild is in the process of buying the remaining land that Portland landing still owns. supposedly it will be the land from the old hit and miss lodge all the way to the river. Bad news for us but good news for other hunters in Alabama. word is that it will be an s.o.a hunting area.
Hopefully it will give us hunters that put in for the soa hunts a better chance at being drawn. one more thing, I've been hunting that area for 9 or 10 years and I've never seen a black painter so no need to be scared.

I've seen a lot of black painters, especially in the Selma area. They don't come out till night though. Sometimes you can see a few of em in the spray paint aisle at Walmart.

Good for LA. I hope they don't buy another square foot in Jackson Co.

The Coosa co commission has told them to quit buying land in Coosa co. They've only bought a little over 10,000 acres that is part of the WMA, but the commission is complaining about the lost tax revenue. What I don't understand is that is some of the worst land in the state and was taxed at the lowest rate. It didn't bring in enough money to even pay one commissioner salary.

I heard that FW was gonna buy another 10,000 acres but backed out. So now that land is out of the WMA and leased to a club. Yet the county tries to promote itself as a great place for outdoor recreation. It can't be that if there is no access. I used to float Weogufka creek often, but now all the gates are locked.

My Daddy's in Law Enforcement and he told me this is true. Actually, it is a friend that is knowledgeable of the situation. It will expand the Cedar Creek SOA.

I remember hunting up there when Portland was still a hunting lodge. I think we hunted it the last year they were running it. Some fine hunting there

Wish I had voted against forever wild now that this soa crap is starting up

Why? I think it’s great. One of the best things the DCNR has done in a long time IMO.

Here we go again.

If you're a timber land owner in those counties, you'll figure out quick where the tax shortfall from FW is coming from.

Beadle's right. It really sucks that all this land can't be cut for timber, mined, quarried or otherwise developed in some way. If only the government would just get out of the land ownership business and let private investors have everything, including all the refuges, national parks, national monuments and beaches.

I think FW timber gets cut on Skyline.

Yea I agree. It keeps the pressure down for the ones lucky enough to get drawn and gives them the opportunity to harvest a really nice deer possibly. If it was a regular wma it would be crap in less than 3-4 years with 3-500 people hunting it every hunt.

I imagine, but don't know, that timber is cut on all their land as long as it falls in line with sound wildlife management practices.

As far as tax shortfalls, certainly that is going to happen, but I can't see them being that huge in a multi million dollar budget the gov't has.

Doesn't FW pay the taxes on this land? At one point I heard they did. Anyways, more quality public hunting land can't be a bad thing in itself unless you are an elitist that believes hunting is a sport reserved for royalty. If you are, medieval England harkens for thou's presence.

That timber was under an existing contract when the land sold. I know the contract holder had a few years left to get the remaining timber out. Not sure if FW has had any new timber sales on that property. CD.

I do own timber land in Coosa Co and the FW purchase had no effect on my taxes at all. If FW had bought the entire Coosa WMA we would not have lost enough tax money to pay the salary for one commissioner. I would rather the WMA still exist and cut back one commissioner, but of course that wasn't an option. Or I would rather pay one more mill of property tax and that would have been more than enough to cover the loss and we would still have the WMA.

On the other hand, taxes on my land in Perry county has gone up over 50% in the past 10 years due to reappraisal and the county also voted in a new tax for the schools. I really don't mind paying that if they will use it well, but I am in the minority of landowners who feel that way.

I just really feel bad about the loss of our WMA, and it really bothers me that there was a way to save it and it was stopped in order to save a very small amount of money. It might even be a net loss to the county - people who would have come here and spent money to hunt, fish, hike, etc, will now go spend their money somewhere else. We likely lose more in sales tax than we saved on the property tax.

I guess you know not to count it being used well here in the Blackbelt and that has nothing to do with FW. Just local politics.

I got to hunt the old hit and miss land back in the 70's. Nothing like it. Opening day used to be on Fridays and I can remember we killed 30 rack bucks on opening day and some of them were giants.

Per Jeff Arnold, Jackson County Revenue Commish, FW/State of Alabama DOES NOT pay property tax. Jackson Co. has the largest amount of FW land in the state, when it's taken off the tax rolls it's gone forever, no pun intended.

Don't know why folks South of here haven't been screaming for years for FW to purchase land in their counties and stop trying to buy all of Jackson.

When it hit's Coosa Co. they are losing tax $ and FW is paying 2-3 times the worth of land, the tax collector will come calling.

All I'm saying is if the state owns it then it should be open to anyone and not just the people that get drawn. It'll turn into that gator hunt b.s. before long. Same people drawn every year

2Dogs too late cause they or the state bought more that connects to us this year

This makes the 2nd good hog killing property I have lost to FW. And I am still for the program.

Ole Nick and I killed 19 one night on Hit and Miss.

I whole heartedly agree with limiting the access. That is what made that property special, to do otherwise would reduce it back to average for this area.

To allow as many to enjoy it as possible, I would also like to see them look at some of the western state's hunting draws. A bonus point system to increase the odds for the next draw for those not drawn this go around. Or, if you are drawn and score, you are not eligible for the draw for two or three years. If you draw and don't kill one you have to sit out a year. Or, a combination of the two.

Bottom line...I would like to see the hunting limited and yet the opportunities available for as many different people as possible with the strong emphasis on different.

Yep the Jackson county land lot of good hunting with no access unless you live beside it or above it or have poaching ways

Yep the Jackson county land lot of good hunting with no access unless you live beside it or above it or have poaching ways

same in Colbert county


Bunch of land not being hunted that used to be leased and enjoyed

No access? To where?

They cannot pay more than appraised value. They may be paying 2-3 time more than what Bubba or Johnny are willing to pay but an appraisal is done and they cannot pay more per acre than that.

Me too! I can’t believe the people that think these SOAs are a good thing.

My wife as sho nuff pregnant and ask me to come home that evening. sure hate I missed that night !

^^^^
That’s what I’ve been saying.

And who does the apprrasels ? FW has been driving the prices up here for 25 years.

I don't know personally but any appraiser in Alabama has to be licensed. Just like when you buy a house or any property that is financed the bank requires it to be appraised. The reason for the appraisal here is to prevent them from overpaying. They might be driving prices up to some degree but there has to be comps in the surrounding area. It use to be easy to fudge the numbers back before 2007. Now it's not so easy.

I thought everyone wanted higher property values? I know I do. I love it when someone comes in my area and causes property values to go up. That means mine is worth more--right? If I paid $1000 an acre and 10 years later the surrounding property is selling at $2000 an acre I've made money. Right? Or at least that what the accountants tell me.

And there are usually 2 values. The dirt and the timber.

I've never heard anyone complain. "You're making my property worth too much!"

There's plenty of folks that don't give a hoot if their property value goes up. Im one, if you know you will not sell in your lifetime why would you want your taxes to go up? I don't.

As far as comps, FW is the comps. FW pays premium prices for land that has been clear cut.
The county rev commish knows it.
The latest large timber land sale is a big $ pyramid to Jack up prices to get Guv favors. Might be a big news story soon.

Again there are 2 prices, dirt and timber. The dirt is valued at X the timber is valued at Y. That is the way 99% of all large tracts are bought.

I'm glad you don't want your property to go up. I and almost every person I know wants their property to increase. Ever notice when a developer comes in that the first thing the community folk scream is "It's going to make our property value go down." That's a strange theory you have.

Might-- that's funny.

The story I posted about "might" be a news story is not FW. It's private company buying land and turning it into a endanger species refuge and getting federal $. Call the Jackson Co. Revenue commish, he can tell ya bout it. Sounds like something the Clintons might be into. What this has to do with FW is using it for comps.

Plenty of folks don't want their taxes to go up, that usually means value increased. Once again , if you have no intention of selling in your lifetime . FW doesn't develop anyway, not a lot of development going on way up in these mountains. Not gonna be any development on my place long as I'm alive either.

Sounds like you are talking about a conservation easement. If that's what it is, you don't get cash, you get tax incentives moving forward for the amount that you could have made if developed. If you can pull it off, it's a great program. There are limits in what the land can be used for though. We have looked into it. It takes the right property. It really caught on after the house collapse.

The one the revenue commish told me about, company A bought some rough timber land for 1k per acre, they sold it to company B for 5k per acre, but company x owns both a & b. Somehow feds use it for a endangered species refuge and company x reaps some huge benefit. Sounds like a Clinton deal. The commish refuses to use it to value property because it's totally unreasonable. The appraiser for FW might like it, they have a history of paying the highest price for their dirt in Jackson Co.

Word is there is something brewing over the tax loss,some state reps have been getting facts and figures from the revenue office.

That's like a conservation easement. It's a great way to avoid paying taxes to the government.

Sounds really good if you flip it through straw companies and increase the value of the property 5 to 10 times the true value.

It's not quite that easy.

Not supposed to be, that's the reason this one is raising eyebrows.

Hollytree
Guess creek

I would have though Baldwin would have the largest amount of FW land. Upper Delta/Holland/Mobile-Tensaw alone is about 48K acres, mostly in Baldwin County, then there's Perdido River (7000+ acres), and several smaller ones.

Revenue commish said Jackson was #1, IDK, just going off what he said. He may be adding land swaps with Alabama Power and Nature Conservancy lands. I do know it has been in the recent past.