i think after the deer get used to the noise it will be easier to hunt cause they cant hear as well is what i heard

Windmills were constructed two years ago on the ranch that borders our lease. We had the best deer hunting ever, in terms of quality bucks. Last year, construction was completed and our deer hunting returned to normal.

Our land owner refused to lease his land for windmills. One reason, the contract banned all hunting.

He is getting on in age. His son can't wait to inherit the place and contract out the windmill rights. We keep inquiring about selling the ranch to us, but so far he is not interested. We have had the place for 24 years. We've got so much stuff stored there, it would take us two years to remove it all!

There is NO reason you can't keep hunting rights. All you have to do is get your attorney to put it into the contract. Bring that up with them b/c they are getting taken.

T Boone Pickens, being the big hunter he is, specifically leaves all hunting rights with the landowner the whole time and never limits it in his. I have read his Mesa contract.

Screw T Boone...he's a crook. Most initial contracts try to forbid rifle hunting. I've got a buddy that works for them and says you can tell immediately if a wing has a bullet hole in it. Says they are muy expensive to fix...

I hightly doubt that if a wing has bullet in it, it is from hunting on the land! I don't shoot my rifle in the air at a 45 degree angle and you can't keep any neighbor from hunting.

What did T Boone steal from you?

no doubt...it's from guys drinking beer and saying "bet you can't..."

I know about that. I just thought he stole his lunch money or something.

My statement was based on exactly what jgiles said...he's a scheister...

T. Boone = Crook of the worst kind.

none at all they will get used to them just like they did blinds feeder and watnot

+1 The ranch that borders the west and south side or our lease installed windmills three years ago. The year they were being constructed, we had the best deer season ever. 6 hunters, 6 wall mounts. The next year, it went back to being a average lease.

We have a pressure tank inside our barn very close to a feeder. When the tank fills from the pump well the valve puts off a very loud noise for several minutes. Never fazed the deer at the feeder. They identify and learn very quickly if a noise is threatening or not. Deer are very adaptable.

I have a small compression station within a few hundred yards of one of our blinds. when the wind is right you can smoke and talk on the cell phone and the deer pay no attention at all. Pump jacks all over the place to and they do not care. They can get used to just about anything.

I missed this thread when it originally made the rounds, but since it got brought back up, I guess I'll add my $.02 worth.

I have first hand experience with the turbines - There were 27 of them erected in 2008 on the ranch I hunt. First, there were no additional restrictions placed on hunting around the turbines. The deer obviously were pushed around some during the construction phase, but no more than would be expected. After completion, it didn't take more than a month or so before I started seeing deer grazing around the sites. In fact, the turbine company came in right after the construction was completed and sowed all of the sites and all of the powerline cuts with millet. Yes, the towers do make quite a bit of noise, but as far as I can tell, the deer pay absolutely no attention to it. Plus if you're hunting fairly close to a tower, it provides some excellent cover noise. The biggest downside I see is that there are now a half dozen or so unlocked gates on the ranch. So far, at least as far as I know, we haven't had any problems with trespassers or poachers, but the potential is certainly there. But on the positive side, we got some really good all weather roads put in.

And there is one additional safety related aspect. During freezing rain or fog, the blades will accumulate some ice and it tends to fall off in large chunks. And believe me, a 10 pound chunk of ice falling from 300 feet will kill you!

We've coyote hunted on places with turbines...depending on how close you are to the turbines while they're running affects calling em in. We did manage to kill a couple though and saw several in the area.

read something a while back in TP&W magazine about the prairie chicken not wanting to walk within 450 feet of them. so if there was enough of them on your place it might drive them out........quail might do the same

http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2009/oct/ed_1/index.phtml

I know it's hard to tee off with one of those suckers woooshing in the background every 5-10 seconds or soo... I mean you know they are not going to hit you but it gets in your mind...

(Turtle Hills at Muenster)

I think noise is the smallest of the factors. What about additional traffic for maintenance and repairs? I also hope someone has started a survey on the effects of the weather up and down wind of the wind farms. I think it will have an impact with the larger ones.

T Boone is for oil, wind and gas. Just depends on which is bringing he most money at the time and what he has the most acces to.