This is a photo of a chalcedon checkerspot butterfy. The photo was taken by Rob Fletcher on May 28, 2008 in the hills south of Livermore.
May is the time when the butterflies are out at the ranch. A different (from the one in the photo) species of checkerspot, the bay checkerspot, is closely associated with serpentine soils. Some soils [...]
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Posted in Farm Management, Land Ownership, Partnerships, co-ownership, ending co-ownership, purchasing real estate, real estate, selling land, tagged ending co-ownership, partitian, undivided interest on May 4, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The situation
Ten parcels of ranch property owned by one partnership with about 25 members, one LLC with three members, a family trust with 20 heirs and four individuals including one who was deceased and still on title.
That was the status of our ranch in year 2003. We owned an undivided interest equivalent to 949 [...]
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Posted in Ecology, Endangered species, Hunting, Land Ownership, Wildlife habitat, blacktail deer, deer, outdoors, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on April 19, 2008 | No Comments »
Our Alameda County ranch, like most ranches, has a variety of habitat types - oak woodland, oak grassland, riparian and chaparral. One thing that’s clear to me is that the effects one can have upon habitat in the hills are more subtile than the results one sees on valley farm ground. Our delta property responds quickly and [...]
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Is this the time to buy a ranch? Duck club? Maybe not, but it is definitely the time to make serious progress towards buying hunting property. Here are some ideas to get you started.
If you want a hunting ranch, you must have the means to buy it and you probably won’t get enough money to buy [...]
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When initiating our partition action, we knew that one of the owners had died unexpectedly, but we didn’t know the rest of the story - that he died intestate (without a will), that he was married and that his estate had not been probated even though he’d be deceased for over ten years.
We could not probate [...]
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In my perfect world, everybody would be a hunter.
It is interesting to imagine how our lives would be changed if everybody hunted. There are many effects that such a change would have on our collective psyche, and also the habitat around us.
At a time when space is at a premium, it is interesting to theorize [...]
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The first few trips to the ranch after the close of duck season are an awakening. I make very few trips to the hills during duck season, mainly because I’m focused on ducks and once the hills on our ranch become saturated by winter rains, travel becomes difficult.
(Note: Click on photos to enlarge them.)
Once duck [...]
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Posted in Big game hunting, Deer hunting, Endangered species, Land Ownership, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, blacktail deer, deer, family, hunting heritage, outdoors, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on February 25, 2008 | No Comments »
This morning, as I read the story in the Tri-Valley Herald (www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald) about the Koopman Ranch and how the county’s ranching heritage is threatened, I couldn’t help but think that something very important was missing.
Yes, agriculture is dwindling in Alameda County and ranches are disappearing along with wildlife habitat, but often forgotten is the [...]
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During 2003, thinking it was a good time to buy a property to suit my own investment needs, I scoured the multiple listing service for an attractive buying opportunity. On one occasion, I found a property that seemed to be listed below market value.
The property listed was advertised to be a 32-acre site with [...]
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(Caption: My retired retriever Valentine at Mayberry on a good day.)
It’s the last Saturday of the 2007/2008 duck season and my truck is loaded, my dogs are ready to go and all I’ve got left to do is pick up some groceries on the way to our club.
I normally get out sooner on the last [...]
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