Is rural Kansas dying?

fsentkilr said:
We as farmers and landowners don't owe you a place to hunt, nor do we need to adopt our farming practices to suit a species you want to hunt.
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Hear! Hear! I have the massive good fortune to have hunting privileges on thousands of acres. I would not dream of even hinting that my farmer friend should do one damn thing to enhance my hunting. The financial risks he takes and the enormous amount of work he does should be for his and his family's benefit, not for the benefit of some day (or two) tripper like me.
 
fsentkilr said:
I have pretty much quit giving anyone I don''t know permission, and the main reason is some of the landowner/farmer bashing I have seen on this site.
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Goodness. That’s the silliest thing I’ve read in a while.
 
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KsHusker said:
Yes it's been dying for years. Several reasons - No jobs, Lack of any opportunity, School closures (Thanks Brownback) Hospital Closures (Thanks Brownback - though Medicaid expansion if passed can help the health care system some) lack of upland hunting opportunities (farmers not seeing the big picture that there is an economic incentive to farm with birds in mind and to have "tourism" to their towns and years and years of brainwashing by Big ag such as Monsanto - I've yet to have a business discussion with an ag producer who can show on paper why the farming practices of today make any sense vs some minor tweaks - I'm still hopeful I can get that sit down talk to understand the business side)

But back on topic - it is pretty sad. With the virtual and gig economy I'd love to see companies (or sole proprietors) receive tax incentives to live/work remotely in rural economies - now a days all you need is a strong internet connection to perform any host of tasks - however many large corporations have their blinders on or 0 incentive to let folks live/work wherever they want. Would be nice to see some "development" zones or towns to take their own initiatives. A few do - many dont - they just have been dying a slow agonizing death.
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I can add another one that someone probably mentioned. Farms that have been in the family for years are being sold out to larger operations. The small herd family-run dairy doesn’t exist anymore. No way to support a family on a small operation anymore.
 
MetroGSP said:
I can add another one that someone probably mentioned. Farms that have been in the family for years are being sold out to larger operations. The small herd family-run dairy doesn’t exist anymore. No way to support a family on a small operation anymore.
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Sadly my projection as we become even more of an autonomous society and adapt to robotics is that folks on the coasts where most of the wealth is located or even overseas investors will own most large farming operations. The day completely autonomous Tractors are legalized for use (Case has already developed one and been testing it...doesnt even have a cab) it will then be a matter of years before it happens - large corps or investors will just employ folks that live here to oversee things or perform menial tasks such as repairs, maintenance etc - will be akin to playing the farming game on Facebook or any other host of Simulator games with folks sitting in some god for saken computerized control room clicking buttons to make things happen. Good chance it happens in my lifetime but certainly my sons.

How quickly this happens is how quickly tractors are allowed to be driven autonomously down our public roads - lots of red tape in the way but it will happen someday - believe once Ag has legal autonomous vehicles Big Rigs/public transport will be next followed by private vehicles. The railroad union has been fighting this for years maybe the RR industry will be the first to have the regs changed and head to robotic/RC controlled units.

Time will tell.
 
The coal mining towns here in the mountain south are seeing the same decline. We can't mine locally as cheap as the coal can be mined and shipped here from Wyoming. That coupled with unrealistic environmental regulations that make it nearly impossible for a smaller company to get a mining permit. The mega companies have a handful of mines here now. This effects everything down the line. Support jobs such as reclaiming , trucking , logging , excavating , etc have gone away with the mining jobs. Just like farmers with grain , mines are paid by one thing , tons of coal produced. That price fluctuates and so do profits. There are towns here that used to have car dealerships and coke bottling plants. They now consist of a dollar general and a pain clinic. We go through it here too.
 
I'm sitting up here in MN looking at the oodles of public land in Kansas and seems that there is still a lot of knocking on doors. Is the public land hunting that bad? Are they overwhelmed with hunters?
 
Byrdoglvr said:
I'm sitting up here in MN looking at the oodles of public land in Kansas and seems that there is still a lot of knocking on doors. Is the public land hunting that bad? Are they overwhelmed with hunters?
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opening week is tough, lots of hunters......weather will be the biggest problem this year, too much rain.
 
Byrdoglvr said:
I'm sitting up here in MN looking at the oodles of public land in Kansas and seems that there is still a lot of knocking on doors. Is the public land hunting that bad? Are they overwhelmed with hunters?
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Kansas has very little public land. 95% private land which is why there is a lot of door knocking. I might see 5 or 6 different groups of hunters hunt the same 160 acre WIHA plot in the same day. Rained most of the night again last night. I have 4 different nests with chicks in them in my trees around the house but I don't know how any ground nesting birds will hatch anything. Any renesting will happen in the middle of harvest.
 
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KsHusker said:
Sadly my projection as we become even more of an autonomous society and adapt to robotics is that folks on the coasts where most of the wealth is located or even overseas investors will own most large farming operations. The day completely autonomous Tractors are legalized for use (Case has already developed one and been testing it...doesnt even have a cab) it will then be a matter of years before it happens - large corps or investors will just employ folks that live here to oversee things or perform menial tasks such as repairs, maintenance etc - will be akin to playing the farming game on Facebook or any other host of Simulator games with folks sitting in some god for saken computerized control room clicking buttons to make things happen. Good chance it happens in my lifetime but certainly my sons.

How quickly this happens is how quickly tractors are allowed to be driven autonomously down our public roads - lots of red tape in the way but it will happen someday - believe once Ag has legal autonomous vehicles Big Rigs/public transport will be next followed by private vehicles. The railroad union has been fighting this for years maybe the RR industry will be the first to have the regs changed and head to robotic/RC controlled units.

Time will tell.
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All very true.

However, I’d like to see an autonomous tractor work the fields I’ve worked this year. With all the rain I use the decades of knowing where I can go and when to get a field done.

I wonder if sensors could distinguish between the various shades of gray to black to black and shiny I use to tell me if if it will support the equipment. Let alone making sure I have an escape route if things go from bad to really bad.

If I saw an autonomous tractor stuck I think I’d drive on by.

It’d be funny to watch though.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Kansas has very little public land. 95% private land which is why there is a lot of door knocking. I might see 5 or 6 different groups of hunters hunt the same 160 acre WIHA plot in the same day. Rained most of the night again last night. I have 4 different nests with chicks in them in my trees around the house but I don't know how any ground nesting birds will hatch anything. Any renesting will happen in the middle of harvest.
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Swartz told me the the walnuts 30 ft. deep there behind his house.
 
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BrownDogsCan2 said:
Swartz told me the the walnuts 30 ft. deep there behind his house.
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Yep it is over the road on the Otis road at the bridge. Road is closed. Got to be 30 feet deep. Highway has been closed south of Hoisington for week. Ain't going to be much corn this year. Some of the wheat is invisible. Should be lots of milo though.
 
While the WIHA isn’t technically public land, it is open to public hunting, and there is a lot of it. Most of them get hunted pretty hard, but there is certainly some excellent hunting to be had on WIHA’s. I had one of my best hunts this year on a WIHA less than a mile from I-70 that was loaded with birds. You never know where you might find a honey hole.
 
westksbowhunter said:
I don't know if western Kansas is dying but it sure is floating away. Another 1/2 inch tonite and more on the way around midnight.
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It hasn’t rained like this in SEK since the flood of ‘86. Storming as I type with more on the way. I should’ve built an ark!
 
Yeah, I have had 15.74 inches of rain this month. I expect that we've lost some of the early nests and possibly the brooding adult. I hope that the moisture equates to better habitat the rest of the year and that they are determined nesters that get it done in the shortened season.
 
Yesterday the roosters were swollen up ears standing up. Crowing like crazy early afternoon literally standing in water. Only saw one with a hen. Don't know what that means.
 
As bad here in NEOk as it was in 86. River near my house crested 3rd of all time behind 43 and 86.
 
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