Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Poachers again. Is pond really worth it?

I have managed deer leases, ponds, and owned some ranches (one of which Bob featured in the PB magazine years back when he visited our place)

For me it has always been about the journey of trying to improve the wildlife and property. I enjoy the process and the challenge -

I have a good friend who restores old trucks in his garage - he will work on one for 4-5 years and he always tells me he hates it when the job is complete - he loves the process as much as the end results

I bought my place a long time ago. Maybe 40+ years. I’m now 80 and pretty dependent on my son in law, grandson and his buddy for heavy physical stuff. Arthritis has hit me in the back so I have to be careful. But, I still write the checks and still mow my lawn. And, I still am the only one who knows enough about the land to make decisions and manage it. I don’t live there. All the family is in Fort Worth.

It’s worth many times what I paid for it and, it’s been paid off for a long time. Actually an insane amount due to huge migrations to Texas. Demand for rural property is out of sight. My phone never stops ringing But, I don’t need the money as much as I need a place to get away from EVERYTHING. I expect a lot of you guys understand this stuff. Right now, with temps running up to 110, I’m stuck in town and going nuts.

You know, Dave, every time I get a setback on the pond I think a bit about selling. But I doubt would get anything close to what was spent on the dam, roads, bridge, electric, waterlines, boats, dock, feeders, feed, artificial habitat, stocking, electro surveys, small home, etc as it's just been 8 years. And that doesn't count the blood, sweat & tears.

Latest deal with foot surgery makes me question again. While I have a few friends who like to fish, my family rarely uses it. Very disappointing, as that was what I hoped would happen, introducing my grandkids to fishing & the outdoors.

We have spent 3 decades decreasing the monetary value of our farmland by converting it to wildlife habitat:) No regrets.

I know what you mean about family. None of them go there. Grandsons best friend and his wife are there a lot. Price of the land has sky rocketed; about 20 times what I paid for it and I also think about selling. But, being fiscally conservative and debt free I can’t think of anything I really want to do with the money. It’s my get away from town place. But, with temps of 105 to 110, not much sense going there right now.

When it cools off, I need to replace the water heater and gas cook stove.

Oh nooo anthropic. I am dealing with a foot issue as well. Not fun. I had surgery scheduled for this past week and decided to postpone and see if I can do some treatments to avoid surgery. Good luck with your foot situation.

Good to avoid surgery if you can get by without it, Zep. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. I had stents put in my left leg, which definitely improved bad circulation. However, the process dislodged some arterial plaque, which ended up blocking blood to my big toe. But it could have been far worse if the clot had gone to my brain! As economists like to say, there are no solutions, only trade-offs.

Dave, I get offers every month, but they are farcical. One-third of what I paid for the raw land in 2015, no pond, no roads, no nothing! I guess they are hoping to get someone senile or desperate to take advantage of.

Actually, I’ve gotten a lot of cash offers. But, most have been insulting.
A couple of local realtors have made sure that I have their cards.

We were in a local cafe yesterday and a realtor inquired about my health in a joking manner.

Dave, I get offers every month, but they are farcical. One-third of what I paid for the raw land in 2015, no pond, no roads, no nothing! I guess they are hoping to get someone senile or desperate to take advantage of.[/quote]

I know the feeling, I get deadbeats trying to buy my land for about 1/8 of what I could sell it for, the weird part is, my 80 is sitting on a corner section and is partially in four different sections resulting in 4 different deeds, so they seldom put all four together, they offer me cash price for a 1/4 of it and they would even go as far as paying for all the closing costs. I told one I would buy all the land he can come up with for that price.

I just bought mine in 17 and I could way more then double my money on it today, even with the additional money Ive spent on it doing a lot of clearing and roads and a 14 acre lake. quadruple my investment if I was to parcel it out in chunks.

I hope you gave him a solid right hook to the jaw ... so that he would be able to personally ascertain your health!

When you can combine fun and profit and some tasty fish fillets, then that is a pretty good deal!

I know the feeling, I get deadbeats trying to buy my land for about 1/8 of what I could sell it for, the weird part is, my 80 is sitting on a corner section and is partially in four different sections resulting in 4 different deeds, so they seldom put all four together, they offer me cash price for a 1/4 of it and they would even go as far as paying for all the closing costs. I told one I would buy all the land he can come up with for that price.

I just bought mine in 17 and I could way more then double my money on it today, even with the additional money Ive spent on it doing a lot of clearing and roads and a 14 acre lake. quadruple my investment if I was to parcel it out in chunks.[/quote]

Best I can figure, their offer is about 1/8 of what I could get on the open market. Maybe we're dealing with the same deadbeats.

The bad news: Apparently the poachers weren't content with trespassing & stealing fish. One of my pontoon boats went missing from the dock, ending up in a far corner of the pond. I assumed it had come loose during a storm -- it's happened before -- but found out differently. It was anchored, and the battery was missing.

The good news: Friendly neighbors discovered boat, managed to take it back & secure it to the dock. Apparently the whole neighborhood is watching now, they really don't want me to sell to developers.

Rod, that realtor is a good guy. At one time I had an adjoining 60 acres. I was 4 wheelering on it after selling all of my cows and asked myself why I owned it. I called that realtor and asked what it was worth. He told me that it was like my other place; damn near useless; mostly oaks and rocks. But, there was a long list of people that didn’t think about cows and pastures. He called in a couple of days with a good, all cash, offer. More than I expected.

I later found that he had ignored some of the potential buyers. When I asked why, he said because they were assholes that he wouldn’t want to live next to. I agreed with him when I found out who they were. He also lowered his fee from 6 to 3 percent because it was so easy that he would have been embarrassed to charge the whole amount.

Texas real estate is going nuts.

Dave, we're getting crazy offers on 45 acres that have no access, but I've got a good neighbor that I promised first shot at the property. I know for sure I'd have a buffer if he bought it.

In todays world, with everybody on computers able to work remotely, from a long ways off, rural ground is skyrocketing, they no longer have to be in driving distance from their job, they can work as well from a house in the middle of nowhere as they can in town at the office, and then the covid enhanced a lot of working remotely, so they are taking full advantage of that.

FishinRod really whiffed on that one.

I interpreted your comment about his "health inquiry in a joking manner" in exactly the wrong way.

Well, I am sure it won't be the last thing I am wrong about!