Is it possible to escape hunters, ATVs and noise in a rural area? (Boston: move to, food)

[Tupaloop]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

The short answer is that the OP will not find what they’re looking for anywhere in the world, at least not yet. Veganism a product of 20th century urban culture and does not prevailing anywhere in the world. Even vegetarianism is only dominant in small parts of Asia.

Nowhere in North America is taking animal life forbidden or anywhere close to being banned. Hunting is both popular and legal in all 50 states and one of the major recreational activities in wilderness areas. Conversely, agricultural areas generally have both hunting and animal husbandry.

If the OP really want to get away from any animals being killed, their only near-term solution would be to look for areas so arid as to not support wildlife.

Thanks for your input. I am well aware of the state of the world and how it does not conform to my lifestyle in any way. After swimming upstream for the better part of my adult life, this is a fact I cannot escape. But I don't think it's too much to ask to be able to find a piece of property somewhere nice, where my family and I can enjoy nature, without being subjected to the sights and sounds of killing animals and other noisy pastimes. I really don't think I'm being unreasonable.

Edit: I'm sorry if that post came across as rude. I am frustrated with the replies I've been getting in the NH forum. Didn't mean to bring the frustration into this thread.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Tupaloop

Thanks for your input. I am well aware of the state of the world and how it does not conform to my lifestyle in any way. After swimming upstream for the better part of my adult life, this is a fact I cannot escape. But I don't think it's too much to ask to be able to find a piece of property somewhere nice, where my family and I can enjoy nature, without being subjected to the sights and sounds of killing animals and other noisy pastimes. I really don't think I'm being unreasonable.

Edit: I'm sorry if that post came across as rude. I am frustrated with the replies I've been getting in the NH forum. Didn't mean to bring the frustration into this thread.

You want what you want, and it can be found, it will just have a price. A very high price. If you have the means, you can buy an entire ranch and have it patrolled. Or maybe a small island off shore far enough that sea duck hunters would rarely come by. Opting out of society is possible, its just generally something only the well off can afford. And your mixing in the need for high speed internet throws a giant speed bump in this already challenging task.

[demtion35]

Originally Posted by timberline742

You want what you want, and it can be found, it will just have a price. A very high price. If you have the means, you can buy an entire ranch and have it patrolled. Or maybe a small island off shore far enough that sea duck hunters would rarely come by. Opting out of society is possible, its just generally something only the well off can afford. And your mixing in the need for high speed internet throws a giant speed bump in this already challenging task.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

[Tupaloop]

Originally Posted by timberline742

You want what you want, and it can be found, it will just have a price. A very high price. If you have the means, you can buy an entire ranch and have it patrolled. Or maybe a small island off shore far enough that sea duck hunters would rarely come by. Opting out of society is possible, its just generally something only the well off can afford. And your mixing in the need for high speed internet throws a giant speed bump in this already challenging task.

It's definitely a tall order. But I'm not giving up hope yet. There have been a lot of great suggestions here that need to be researched and I am up for the task.

Once we are able to get things narrowed down a little more, I will probably start new threads asking for your local expertise. Until then, THANKS EVERYONE who contributed to this thread. I will continue to follow it to see if anyone has anything to add, but probably won't post here anymore so as not to take away from time researching the suggestions.

You guys have been great!

[NewfieMama]

I'm late to the party, but grew up on a farm in a very rural area. As a kid, we did need to hunt and fish to eat. There is a deep appreciation for the land and animals when your life and livelihood depend on it.

My uncle still farms a few hundred acres and has turned another hundred or so acres of the family farm into a pheasant sanctuary. I'm not quite sure how he got started, but over the past decade or so, he's converted more fields into areas for the wildlife. It's obviously private property and he doesn't allow hunters on the property. This is a truly rural area, so there are no hikers or public trails. The two neighbors we have both have 500+ acres each and completely respect the no trespassing/no hunting rule we have at the farm.

I only mention this because I think if you have enough land in a truly rural area, then you don't have to worry about neighbors, hiking trails, etc., but rural life is not easy.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by Tupaloop

It's funny you mention this. My husband and I hiked 7 miles in the Pine Barrens today, in a park located within a township that prohibits hunting, and we heard gunshots all day long.

Hmmm. There must be a range in the area. You can only legally shoot at groundhogs in the summer. I can't image that going on for hours.

Tupaloop note to self: map shooting ranges. I wouldn't want to be out in the woods for the day and hear people shooting the whole time. That would spoil it for me.

[OutdoorLover]

The ironic thing of course is, if you want to find people who are opposed to hunting, they are more likely to live in cities and denser suburbs - which you don't want to live in. Rural folks are more likely to be pro-hunting, backyard shooting, four-wheeling, snowmobiling, etc, and more likely to be vexed if you say "I want to move out to the country, how do I get away from hunting, ATVs and snowmobiles?".

It cuts down on the possibilities for land purchase, but I still think your best bet is to find land adjacent to a park that doesn't allow the things you want to avoid.

[in_newengland]

Too bad you can't move to another country, like England. They make it extremely hard to own guns and I know they've banned that sport hunting with dogs that the rich used to do--killing just for the fun of killing. People I've met there swoon over "birdsong" when they're outside and walking and hiking are big. There are amblers clubs for older people with trails that even have rest spots with food. A lot more people seem to like the outdoors and the peace and quiet.

Farmers cannot keep people from walking across their land as long as the people close the gate so the farm animals can't get out. It's pretty well set up for hiking and walking. I knew someone who walked across the entire neighboring country of Wales. I've never heard gun fire when in England.
(But England enforces their strict immigration laws so looks like you're stuck here.)

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by timberline742

No, that's a disingenuous argument. You're creating self serving definitions and changing the goal posts. Since hunters don't harvest many animals, if you're going to critique and compare hunting to the livestock industry, to compare apples to apples, you have to look at the entire population of both. It's about populations, not individuals.

Even 1 to 1, it's far more humane to be shot and killed not knowing it will happen than suffocated to death, or put in a chute and killed with a bolt gun, or a swine with an electrical probe. If you were going to be killed, which would be worse (less humane), knowing it was going to happen and being dragged or pushed to it? Or never knowing it would ever happen and it just happening? If you say the first thing, that is beyond disingenuous.

If you want to eliminate hunting, fine. Then you have to eliminate all meat eating in all forms. And you'd have to find hundreds of millions of dollars for land management and non game conservation from other sources.

If you cared about conservation you would know hunting and fishing fees and excise taxes are the number one source of money for wildlife conservation in this nation. Something that has been true for a hundred years.

You are pretty much saying wild life is better than farmed life. Completely taking hunting out of the picture.
Hunting has nothing to do with wild life. Wild life doesn't need hunting, it has happened perfectly fine without hunters for hundreds of millions of years.

I never said I want to eliminate hunting. I said hunters like to shoot living things, that's why they hunt. Not because they love the environment, because they like the process of hunting.
You could easily fund conservation by other means if you wanted to, the fees are ridiculously low anyway. It costs to park at a state park than to hunt.
Considering that there are US native animals that have been hunted to extinction (or almost to extinction) it really doesn't sound right to claim the environment would collapse without hunters. Again, nature find it's own balance without humans perfectly fine. That's why we exist.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by timberline742

I would hope they (copper point soft rounds) aren't being used, since you can't use a rifle to hunt in Massachusetts, at all. Steel shot shotgun shells are available all over. Non availability isn't an excuse.

Right. I did say that. A MA resident can certainly leave this state and hunt in a neighboring state with a modern rifle. You can also hunt with a primitive (blackpowder) rifle in MA. The only ammunition available for those rifles is lead. I'm not presenting an anti-hunting stance, but pointing out that lead poisoning concerns are real.


But i don't see how non-availability is not an excuse? What about education? What about income? If you a family living in a rural area that hunts to sustain their family and are on a limited budget, do you really think they are going to go out of their way to seek out a harder-to-find, more expensive ammunition when they probably don't even realize the dangers they are exposing their family to using widely available, cheap soft-core lead hunting rounds?

Or does education and income only become an excuse when it pertains to inner city issues?