doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT - Escape From New York !

Yeti:
Congratulations on your new "Escape"......I have always loved those stone walls. If I were to "Improve" one thing it would be looking into rebuilding that wall. Good long term project, but probably not as easy as it seems. From what little I know of the east they are a vanishing lot.

For what it is worth don't shoot the grouse on your property, they are great for working you're dog, and as you discovered a joy to flush.

Chicago Mike

Sorta reminds me of the countryside where I grew up in NY State. I imagine that is a bit east of where you're located as the farm we lived on was right on the CT/MA line in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains about 10 minutes from Sandanona.

Chi, If there are walls on the existing property borders, I might consider holding a mint julep while a platoon of Spitzer's Specials rebuild the things.

Picking up and carrying heavy stones is....Hey!... is what my kids will do as teenagers for punishment I may have the entire place redone.

But the old walls running though the woods are artifacts to me. The forests of the east coast are all second growth, and I've come across farm remmnants in the Appalacians from VT to TN. The deeper in the woods they are, the more affecting they become. A set of weathered walls, a squarish pile indicating the foundation, and an aged fruit tree or two is a special find.

I can't see shooting more than a grouse or two per year on the place.

Steve Lawson,
That's the area that we looked in for about 6 months, but the prices were too too much. I'm 20-30 years too late for that part of the state.

Yeti, My father was offered a 140 +/- Acre working dairy farm with barns, sheds, Milk house, 23 room house (divided into three apartments and a secound three bedroom house in 1957 or 1958 for $38,000......... From the mountains in the east crossing a dirt road (At that time) to the river in the valley to the west......... Gorgeous. At that time he couldn't come up with the 20% cash down needed to purchase. He often lamented that............... as do I.

Congrats Yeti, what a fantastic place. I love that first picture. Enjoy it!

Great! You are going to love it. I purchased 30 acres west of you about 5 years ago, hay field & meadows with a great pond and a creek in the back. I have a nice range way out back and put up a house right in the middle of the hay field which overlooks the meadow. It on Rt 23 in a little town called Davenport Center. Beautiful views wide open and I do have a little bit of wooded aera. Lot of Birds, Deer, Trout & bass.

Yeti. Couldn't happen to a nicer Guy! Please post O/T like this anytime. Someday maybe I will. I'd like to have a good chunk in the NorthEast part of my state.

Congradulations Yeti: As one who was born and raised in the Berkshires I can still appreciate the land and scenery back there. It's TOO bad about the politics though. BTW: Is that a deer standing in the middle of the 3rd picture?
Jim

Yeti,
Owning your own piece of ground away from urbania is good for the soul! Hope it turns into the paradise you dream it to be.

Yeti -
Best of good fortune to you on your land. I moved from northwest NJ 27 years ago to upstate NY (about 30 min. drive from Jeff G.'s and only 20 min. from Sarge) because I wanted land and privacy and quiet to pursue my sawmill business and raise and work the Percheron draft horses I was breeding. It was pretty close to homesteading. Anyway, we have lived pretty close to the bone for most of these years, but what I have (207 acres on the old hill dairy farm we purchased with a friend) is more, much more, in every respect, than most ever get to know. If there is a downside, it's that there are too many deer and not enough grouse and woodcock, though so far this season (interrupted as always by the damn deer season) I've recorded 161 grouse flushes for approximately 60 hours of hunting time. Life is good. Again, all the best in your pursuit.
Will