Talbot County 2024-2025

[Last Minute]

Why would another wma be bad?

Well Talbot County is a seemingly poor area over all and I'd imagine the local economy depends on the dollars all those clubs bring in. Between all the clubs supplemental feeding protein feed and year round food plots and corn multiplied by all those clubs and your talking a pretty penny. Then figure in all the other expenses...lunches at big chick, gas for generators and ice for the coolers and groceries...trips to the hardware store for odds and ends around camp...it all adds up and now most of that will be gone...

 

[HavocLover]

Just echoing what last minute said. There’s tons of money pouring into the local economy from clubs. Money into the local economy also means state gets a small portion of that revenue as well. All of that stops completely without hunting clubs and everything that comes with them. Feed stores are going to catch all of the slack. Convenient stores and such will feel it too. Not nearly as bad as feed stores, but they’ll notice a difference. Our club for instance, there’s not a member in our club that doesn’t spend $100 per feed store visit. Work days and long weekends at the club, easily $100 at the gas station. Fuel for 4wheelers, side by sides, tractors, etc, snacks, drinks, beer, ice. You name it. Take the clubs away by turning them into a massive WMA, you take the feed stores completely out of the equation. The convenient stores will slow down tremendously. Revenue from fuel sales won’t be nearly as high… no need for diesel for tractors, can’t have ATVs. The snacks and drinks and whatever else you’d get in a store, it won’t be nearly as frequent. Cause now with clubs, it’s every weekend or a minimum every other weekend. With a WMA that has select dates, it’ll just be here and there. Even if it’s open year around, it’ll still be just piddly money spent elsewhere in the local economy.

And what good is another WMA when you can leave out of Talbotton in any direction and be to one of about a dozen different pieces of public land within an hours drive.

Also, it’s not like this was some big family estate no one else has ever had the chance to hunt and the state acquired it and here we are. If this is all true, they literally took it from hunters that were paying good money. So now you have hundreds of folks that are just out of a place to hunt, all for the sake of creating public hunting opportunities… but again, the public hunting opportunities are already there and honestly very close in proximity.

 

[Crakajak]

Does the state pay the county when they cut the timber?
Who will make up the difference on the property tax to the county?
Do timber companies pay school tax?
The landowners will have to make up the difference in the county tax base unless other businesses move into the county to offset.
The wildlife lease price will increase as well as property values or millage rates.The other option is to evaluate the county budget an see if there are cuts to the budget that can be made.
Talbot county has one of the lowest millage rates in Ga at 17.43%

 

[SlipperyHill Mo]

Yours points about the economy of clubs vs WMA for Talbot county are correct. Again who are they buying 30,000 acres from? There are many private landowners in that area of the county who won’t sell to anyone. I hear Alexander Lumber is selling all of their land holdings. It will not be a contiguous 30,000 acre WMA. I got a $100 that says it will not happen. It defies reason, logic and common sense.! May be some partial truth, your lease may have been sold, but the sky is not falling!

 

[Last Minute]

Yours points about the economy of clubs vs WMA for Talbot county are correct. Again who are they buying 30,000 acres from? There are many private landowners in that area of the county who won’t sell to anyone. I hear Alexander Lumber is selling all of their land holdings. It will not be a contiguous 30,000 acre WMA. I got a $100 that says it will not happen. It defies reason, logic and common sense.! May be some partial truth, your lease may have been sold, but the sky is not falling!

It's happening.... All the clubs that just got the letter I got would disagree with you. We didn't want to believe it either but have no choice now. Whether or not they open all the acreage to hunting remains to be seen. Apparently there's some sort of rare endangered plant species out there that was found while clear cutting the Broken Arrow club a few years ago that started all of this. One things for sure...there's a lot of folks that aren't gonna have a place to hunt. The younger guys will be OK but what about the older guys who have been hunting these areas forever? It's not an easy task finding a place to hunt these days and something like this may cause the older hunters to just throw in the towel. It's pretty sad... Just be glad your lease isn't affected. I've got $100 that says there's a lot of fellas looking for a place to hunt.

 

[kmckinnie]

It's happening.... All the clubs that just got the letter I got would disagree with you. We didn't want to believe it either but have no choice now. Whether or not they open all the acreage to hunting remains to be seen. Apparently there's some sort of rare endangered plant species out there that was found while clear cutting the Broken Arrow club a few years ago that started all of this. One things for sure...there's a lot of folks that aren't gonna have a place to hunt. The younger guys will be OK but what about the older guys who have been hunting these areas forever? It's not an easy task finding a place to hunt these days and something like this may cause the older hunters to just throw in the towel. It's pretty sad... Just be glad your lease isn't affected. I've got $100 that says there's a lot of fellas looking for a place to hunt.

I think u maybe right.

 

[kmckinnie]

Think of all the camps and stands going to get moved. Then all the stuff that is left. Things built in place.

 

[HavocLover]

Does the state pay the county when they cut the timber?
Who will make up the difference on the property tax to the county?
Do timber companies pay school tax?
The landowners will have to make up the difference in the county tax base unless other businesses move into the county to offset.
The wildlife lease price will increase as well as property values or millage rates.The other option is to evaluate the county budget an see if there are cuts to the budget that can be made.
Talbot county has one of the lowest millage rates in Ga at 17.43%

Exactly. The snowball effect and also, “ **** flows down hill.” The county and state kinda shot themselves in the foot with this one as far as capital goes, but they’ll make up for it. (Or we’ll make up for it.) Spent tons to acquire said lands, lost tons (will loose) in revenue due to all your points and also the blow to the local economy from other lost capital…. So who makes up the difference, remaining landowners and residents.

 

[SlipperyHill Mo]

Last Minute,

Who do you lease from?

Did the letter specifically say a new 30,000 acre WMA?

Thanks

 

[Last Minute]

Last Minute,

Who do you lease from?

Did the letter specifically say a new 30,000 acre WMA?

Thanks

I lease from potlatch. No the letter did not specify. One of the surveyors got stuck on the broken arrow club and the president went to help him out. Well the surveyor told the club president that it was 33,000 acres getting sold to the state to become a wma. Apparently theres a few timber companies involved as well as some privately owned land in the mix.
Then my cousin was out there the other day and told the same thing. I've talked to several neighboring clubs who have been told the same. All the clubs near me are done...we all got the letters and have until January 25th to vacate.Potlach owns thousands of acres out there and it's all sold....

 

[SlipperyHill Mo]

Tjanks

 

[Meriwether Mike]

Lets hope that it is a WMA. There is a new 500 KVW powerline being run from Dresden to Talbot and they will only say its for power reliability.