If it is a windy day and a walk in hunter starts a fire with a cigarette or catalytic converter that gets in to the nieghbors whatever am I still immune? I know that there is a very slight chance of that happening but I am not going to risk it. It is often the wierd thing that you never think of that gets you.
Should CRP, CREP and other program $$ require public access?
- Thread starter tmrichardson
- Start date
FCSpringer
Moderator
we tend to wory too much.
I am sure you are right about that. But I do know of a case that happened about 15 miles from me. A guy parked his pickup in some CRP and went hunting. His converter started a fire, his pickup burned and the fire spread to the nieghbors. I know the chances of that happening are quite slim, but it did.
wesslpointer
New member
Emergency
If the crp grown had been grazed down under the "emergency CRP grazing rule" that was just EXTENDED in my state there would not have been enough cover to start a fire! Is this "EMERGENCY" going on in your state? You have to wonder what this program is really about!
Well if he parked "in" the CRP grass it wasn't a foot traffic only walkin area. More likely a numbnut with private access or a paying client. Hunting horror stories abound, usually told by a friend of your third cousin twice removed over a bottle of "old stump blower" or at the least the local coffee house. One of my favorite old rhubbarbs is about the guys who deliberately set fire to a corn field to drive out the game! Gets retold in every midwestern state with embelishments. We have walk-in all over Kansas and Nebraska, sometimes a mowed gate entrance to park in but mostly it's a park on the roadside sort of deal. Some people need an IQ test before being allowed to hunt. I have hunted the sandhills of Nebraska for years, was warned about 1978 of the hazzards of catalytic converters, that was before my old truck even had one! We can all come up with reasons to do or not do almost anything. Looks like SD has done a good job of endemnification for landowners allowing public access, as has Kansas and Nebraska. Looks to me like in all cases a defense would be by the state attorney general's office. Probably safer than asuming the risk yourself. Still lot's of reasons to not allow public acess, including but not limited to, you just don't want to! No need to justify here.
M. R. Byrd
Well-known member
Emission control devices on trucks continue to go through changes and will I am sure until there are only electric trucks in the fields. As thoughtful and ethical hunters we should be continually aware of fire hazards we may take to the field and take actions necessary to prevent unintended fires.
FCSpringer
Moderator
Thats what I want to see stopped. I don't want cover paid for by us that is grazed, or baled. they can mow a parking lot area. there should be payment for hunting and permenent cover in the public option programs. let em bale or mow the crp they don't want public.
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It depends on the program. I have some I think it is CP 23 that I can cut every third year or a third of it every year except the areas that they call wetlands. That can not be done until after August 1st. I have what I think is CP 38 that I have to cut once in the ten year contract. I have to bale that and remove the bales and burn them in the presence of the proper authorities. I can plant food plots in the CP 23 but not the CP 38. As a cattleman one of the incentives that originally attracted me to CRP was that it would be a hay reserve in a drought. I never get to cut it all and I do not think it hurts the wildlife to take some of it after August 1st. There was a time when haying CRP was too easy. However I think that allowing partial haying in a drought is not out of line and is an incentive to get acres enrolled.
wesslpointer
New member
But in a "DROUGHT" is it not the time we "the taxpayers" need the CRP the most for soil erosion and wild life?
When I do cut it because of drought, where I cut, it is tall enough so I won't cut the old grass that grew last year so the soil is well protected. If I have 160 acres and I cut half of it there is still 80 acres for wildlife. We have alot of wildlife here but it is not so abundant that what was on 160 acres can't fit into 80 acres. I am sure if we asked the wildlife they would prefer it if the 160 was left. But remember in my case the possible hay reserve for a drought year was one of the inducements to get me to sign up. Springer made a good point when he talked about paying to leave some alone. Every time they come out with a new sign up it is different. You should like CP38.
wesslpointer
New member
How do you feel on GRAZING CRP in A drought? Ive seen a portable electric fence go up and they graze the hell out of it! The hooves brake up the top soil causing it to blow away. It's seems to defeat everything the crp program did and "taxpayers paid for" in the first place.?
I can only speak to my experience on that. With the soil we have around here and the types of grass planted it, would take a lot of hoof action and prolonged exposure to cattle to do any significant damage. Hoof action will actully stimulate regrowth when moisture conditions improve. I believe there are limits to the number of animal units and length of time that it can be used.
If the soil was light and sandy and bunch grasses rather than sod forming grasses were prevalent, then the soil would be more at risk. I do not remember that I have ever grazed CRP. It can be a lifesaver in a drought situation. Please remember that I pay taxes too and some of my taxes may go to pay for your road repair or something else that the government helps finance. To me the R in CRP is for reserve. Something that I can use part of when things get serious. It is not something that I should be able to use for feed on a regular basis. There was a time when that was the case.