All Things Habitat - Lets talk.....

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Any Interesting Hunting Land Improvements Coming Up?

What have you had to do to get a pond started? Permits, regulations, etc.
For digging a pond you usually need to start with your soil and water district for the permit.
 
That is an awesome deckside view. Nicely done-

The wife loves the view. Directly behind the pond is roughly a acre of turnips that I plant every year for the wife and kids to watch the deer. Since it's a family affair when I plant the plots, I let them have that one for viewing. It helps feed the deer all winter unless we get to much snow. The pond will be nice once I get it stocked this year. In a year or so I'll be able to send the kids out to catch some fresh gills for dinner. There was a existing pond already when I bought the property. I just had a local that does ponds come in and expand it a little lol! ;)
 
M
Wow...Beautiful! IMHO- You might want to exchange the hybrids for pure bluegills. Those Large mouth bass are going to need a lot to eat and hybrid offspring will be minimal.

My only worry about that is if I get to many gills they will stunt. That's why I'm thinking hybrids. If I have to restock gills every couple years no big deal. We plan on eating lots of them. I'll also dump whatever they recommend me dump in fathead minnows in for the fish to eat. Minnows spawn once a month as long as water temps are 50-55 and above. They each lay 200-500 eggs, so I hope that helps keep food in the pond. I still have to work out the details. I will talk to the fish biologists where I buy them from.
 
181.JPG 167.JPG 11815 Hinge 1.jpg We have land on both sides of the county road up at our 80 acres with roughly 15 acres on one side and 64 on the other. We mainly hunt the 64 acre side so we are going to build our house on the 15 acre side starting in March. Big project...

Have been hinge cutting the past 3 weekends. Made a lot of open woods into some pretty dense cover.

Had the state Forrester out last week writing a prescribed burn plan.

Dozer will be out next month creating the opening and driveway for our new home, clearing the electric easement we just obtained from the neighbor, expanding our existing plot, creating another 1 acre plot on the back 40 in the woods.

500 trees to plant from the State Nursery that will arrive next month.

Lots to do...
 
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my brothers and I burned 7 wsg fields about 20 acres this last weekend .loggers are expose to start next month on 200 plus acres on the east side of the farm .
So new kill plots will be going in on the different decks they makeimage.jpgimage.jpg image.jpg image.jpg here's a video my brother posted ( video did not load
 
What kind of tax break do you receive?
Once enrolled in the SFIA program you receive a yearly payment of $7 per acre of eligible land. My taxes are about $10 per acre now. The initial program runs for 8 years and and continues to run until you take it out. To unenroll you must give 4 years notice. The SFIA designation stays in place through ownership transfers as well. It is a much bigger commitment but the returns are greater as well. You may not develop the land or homestead it, but can exclude acres for personal buildings for temporary housing and equipment storage.
 
Your right Stu. I thought long and hard on this. I do have one advantage in that my 160 acres is actually 4 - 40 acre parcels. The plan now is to leave the land for my two boys, but if that changes and I want build on it as I get closer to retirement, I think I can just unenroll one of the 40s. I may be able to put 120 in SFIA and put one in the 2C classification. Need to chat with my forestry consultant more about these options.
 
You have to be in for 8 years, you need to give 4 years notice; so at 4 years, you can give notice and be out at the completion of your 8th year. It does prevent land from being sectioned off and developed at will - that's why they're paying you. :rolleyes:

3 acres is the minimum exclusion - on that 3 acres, you can have all the homesteads your heart desires (the excluded acreage doesn't need to be defined in the plan). The rest of the property can't have more homesteads added (once you've filled your 3 acres worth). Your plan can exclude as many acres as you wish, but you need to have 20 enrolled to get in the program. You only get paid for the land in the program (not rocket science). You're also allowed to modify your plan as the land owner. Clear cutting is a forest management practice, as are wildlife clearings, ponds, food plots, and fruit trees. It's a very forgiving program, unless you want to develop your property for subdivision.

http://www.myminnesotawoods.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/SFIAFAQ.pdf
 
That's why you buy insurance. ;)
 
IIRC, you only need to be out one year to negate the penalties going back any further. So you could run 8 on 1 off and the most you'd ever be out for breaking your covenant would be the previous years consecutively enrolled - or roughly $4K for an 80.
 
But you can - you just have to pay the benefits from the program back = which takes money which you got from your insurance. :)

That's the point I was making. SFIA doesn't indenture your children or lock your land out of re-sale, it just might cut into some inheritance if they choose to unload the property before allowing the window to open to get out "clean." It's possible to transfer ownership and remain enrolled too. Would that limit your market? Maybe, or it might just lower the after-sale proceeds. Even after 24 years enrollment, we're still only talking about the value of a used car in back-taxes (but I'm pretty sure they only go back 8). It's not something I'd lose sleep over.
 
I am in 2c since it seemed a better fit. I also held some acres out for a cabin, or place for my fish house/camper, or even sale for some $$.
 
Thanks for posting that. I think that may have been what my forester told me that made me say "no f...ing way". I learned 4 years ago (almost to the day 1/21/11) how life can change in a blink of the eye.

Hang in there, Stu. I was thinking of you the other day and realized this is that time of year for memories coming back. But remember that some of those memories are good ones and focus on them.
 
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