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HOW RURAL IS RURAL?

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I was living in the middle of the forest a few years back. I could go outside my house and walk 100 yards in any direction and be in prime/legal hunting.

Here we are 40 minutes north of Spokane on 5.5 acres of countryside. There are 3 safe, legal and somewhat acceptable shooting lanes I have found on my land. Haven't hunted them yet. We have quail, deer and the rare grouse. If I was a quail eating type I could fill my bag daily. But I just don't like quail. Deer, this year it is any buck. I don't hunt bucks. Just too few to spend my time hunting an animal I am not likely to see. And I much prefer doe and fawn to buck.
Now when it goes to any deer here... eventually I will get out and hunt again. Won't take long to fill a tag. They bed down in my yard and there is always a bunch of them around. Makes me wonder what is wrong with fish and game. They aren't counting the deer like I do. Their herd count is way off and low. But they have weird math that don't make sense. And part of it is road kill counts. But that fails to take into consideration that on mild winters the deer are less likely to go on the roads. And they tend to only count from state and county roads. If they would drive out to some of these small roads and look at our fields in the evenings they would count hundred of doe per field. But they only count certain days and not much at night.

....get me rambling and bitching on that topic lol
 
We live on 5 acres here in Northeast Pa in Pike County.
I can hunt right out our backdoor and wander over to our clubs 145 acres which is next to 83,000 acres of State Forest land.
I can also drive 2 miles and hunt 1000 acres that I help a friend take care of.
Also can drive 8 miles and hunt the 70,000 acres Deleware WaterGap National Recreation Area.
Right on the other side of the river in NJ there are lots of public lands to hunt .
 
We inherited the place we now live a few years ago. We are blessed. We moved from the suburbs to our rural home. My taxidermy shop is on the property and now my commute to work is 100 yd walk instead of a 15 mile drive.

I can walk out the door and go hunting. Lots of wildlife to watch. We love it here. Pennsylvania
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Our place here in SWARK has been in the family since 1899, when a customer paid his bill at the mercantile store, 200 miles away in Dardanelle, with land deeds instead of cash. The original place was a couple thousand acres, but over the years it has been divvied up and sold to the point where the current farm is roughly 900 acres with no more to be sold. Fun fact: We found the original deed (1840's) for an 80ac cut that is part of this place. It was deeded from the United States govt to a soldier as payment for his service in the Florida Wars. This was noted in the deed.

We are about 20 miles from the nearest city (65K). Most of the place is clear pasture, although we have about 30 acres of hardwoods that the cattle keep perfectly clean.

Lots of big deer around, although I hardly ever see them on this place 😂. Dove, ducks, plenty of squirrels. Not as many rabbits as we used to have, and zero quail, due to the fire ants. All the fish you could ever eat can be caught from the Red when she's on the rise.

Nearest neighbors are a mile away. We are far enough out, and in a good enough spot, that its safe to use the ROF selector. It gets dark enough to clearly see the Milky Way cloud at night, and is quiet enough to hear the ringing in your ears.

As with anyone, on the flip side of this great location, sometimes you are required to become your own firefighter, lawman, or medic, as there is a lot of travel time from the city/county/satellite station. Enough time that anything can and will happen unless you are prepared to take matters into your own hands. Full magazines, full water wagons, and spare TQ's are musts.

All that being said, I wouldn't trade, sell out, or have it any other way. It's what/where I've come from.
 
I live in rural W. KY., and can be in the Tennessee, Cumberland or Ohio rivers in less than ten minutes if the boat is hooked up. Lake Barkley, Kentucky Lake and Smithland Pool will take 20 minutes at the most. I'm about four miles from a small town and twenty from a small city with good hospitals. I live on eight acres and can hunt most of the surrounding properties, so I can walk out my door and start hunting. There is an eight hundred acre farm that I've been hunting for about fifty years along with some of my family, it's about a thirty minute drive. We have a cabin there but for the last several years I've been the only one who has stayed there for the deer season opener. There is also Land Between the Lakes, about 171,000 acres of public land about fifteen minutes from me. My family has been on this spot for about 90 years.

I shoot out to 100 yards on my place and depending on the season or what is planted in the small bottoms behind me, I can shoot from 2-500 yards.
 
Hunting is pretty much all commercialized here in Texas. I live in a suburban area and I have to drive a ways to get into the rural or country. But all of the farmers and ranchers nowadays charge you a fee (hunting lease) to hunt on their land. But occasionally some will let you hunt for free if it is for pigs or varmints though.
 
nice area a occasional deer in the yard, lots of rabbits and squirrels also, only a short drive to a hunters paradise from home, same with trout streams and river fishing. Sadly those places that once was are no longer for a lot of folks.

Actually there is no place nice above the Mason Dixon line. Especially the garbage state AKA as N.J. - pa. used to be decent but alas no more. If not for the wife I would pull up and go to Ontario where I hunt bear nearest neighbor about 40 miles away, nearest town of any size at least 75 miles away. Nothing there except bears,moose,wolves, and the fishing is great also.
I have to disagree from the standpoint that I had lived in the northwest sector. I was five minutes from a neighbors 5 acres and I did bow on there for years. Always Deer, Red fox, and the occasional troupe of black Bear. Then there was Wittingham WMA Plenty of space to hunt Deer. It was the only saving grace that kept my sanity in a State that is so over regulated. Its a shame of what it has become. Bailed for NC and do Archery on my own Property. hemmed in by Massive acreage so the Deer are always active.
 
I was given good advice when I was young. “Buy land. They are not making any more of it”. So in addition to my 401K I also bought land. At my house I have 25 acres and I cannot see another house from mine when the leaves are on and can just barely see one when the leaves are off. Rural would be my description. I have 150 acres down the road and that is my investment.
I worked 55-60 hours a week and have been very blessed by the Lord to have what I have. Land is a good investment and I would encourage folks to invest in it.
 
It "feels" remote for us. 46 acres in a TN holler, down a .7 mile long gravel driveway, populated with some welcoming signs (we have had a couple of FedEx guys backup to the highway). Nearest neighbor (good people) is over 1/2 mile away and the nearest "town" is a 15 minute drive. When we step outside all we hear is wind and birds (no "civilization" noise), and we love it.

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I live on 1 1/2 acres about 1 mile from the city limits (small city) and 1 1/2 miles to all the shopping you would ever want here in upstate NY. My piece of land is sandwiched between the Susquehanna River and the state highway. Neighbors on one side and across the street. The several of the parcels across the street are 60 plus acres in size

As a testimony to the resiliency of wildlife I have lots of squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits. Deer are victims of the road several times per year in front of the house. Wife got upset one morning as she went to her car, started it and as she pulled forward clearing the garage a deer was scared from the side of the garage and ran out into traffic and was killed. Occasionally see a turkey and grey fox (once had juvenile batting . at the moths draw to the family room lights in the basement). Regularly have bald eagles flying overhead. New security camera caught a black bear walking by my wife's car next to the house in June. Wife saw a coyote or maybe wolf walking up the road a decade ago. While I don't have enough land to hunt on, I do enjoy watching the wildlife.
 
About 5 minutes from the closest trailhead into the Nat. Forest. 45 minutes to the trailhead into the Anaconda-Pintlar Wilderness Area (my favorite place on the planet). She probably won't do it but I asked my wife to scatter my ashes there.
 
We have 72 acres in West Central Georgia, about 40 miles East of Columbus, just South of the “Old Federal Road” aka “the Trail of Tears”. Definitely have to call this rural! Deer, turkey, quail, in abundance, raccoon, possum, bobcats, red/grey fox, and some coyotes. Occasionally you hear of a Panther sighting. My wife make noises about Florida on occasion, then a hurricane hits and she goes quiet again. Love it here. They’ll plant me in Andersonville National Cemetery, when I’m done!
 
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