So I went to the same area of the woods today that I visited on friday to see if there were any new postings or anything. Walked out on a frozen bog also.
Anyway, I pulled down one road that I knew was gated at a certain point as it ran into Moores property. I stopped a little short of the gate and was hiking on a nearby rise when a truck pulled up behind me. I went back to my truck to move when the person got out and began asking if I was looking for an area to set up a stand.
I told him I wasn't a hunter and was just looking over the rise. I noticed he had a state forestfire service shirt on and I mentioned it. He said "you know it's all private property back in there" and I said "yeah, that's Sam Moores property". At this he looked surprised and said, "that's me, I'm Sam Moore."
It was Sam Moore the III. We ended up in a very interesting conversation, standing there in the woods, for nearly an hour till it was too dark to see each other. He is a real nice guy. He was patrolling the property boarders for hunters who might be moving onto his land.
I learned alot and he is a tremendously friendly guy, once he knows you aren't tresspassing or considering tresspassing. To answer the question that this post was originally about...They (the Moores) did in fact just purchase an additional 80 acres from a tax lien that now connects two parcels they previously owned. This brings their holdings to nearly 800 acres. The family hunts A LOT on their property and are particularly concerned with outside hunters moving in. he bagged a coyote this season which he is having mounted.
he is also a forest fire warden. he is 7th generation Moore on the land and it has been in the family since 1840!!! He is very proud of the fact and rightfully so. They once had holdings of 2000 acres but it was divided among family members and the bloodline has been lost on some of those properties.
We talked about many things related to the woods and the area. We also spoke about the closing of Moores Meadow road: They were having a tremendous amount of trouble with quad riders coming through in large groups (up to 32 riders) at all hours of the night and riding off the road into the bogs. They tried to mediate the problem in several ways unsuccessfully. Eventually irrigation sprinkilers were being stolen and gas (from the farm pumps I presume). At the urging of Haines and with the blessing of the twp, they closed the road with great reluctance. He said they originally just posted it, but that only kept law abiding people out, so they eventually gated it. He explainded that they didn't want to but had no other way of correcting the situation. He aplogized for the inconvience of it and said he felt bad that people like myself couldn't utilize it. I told him I understood.
He extended the offer that I could call him whenever I wanted if I had questions about property lines...his or anybody elses as he said he was very familar with all the holdings in the area. He also had some ideas for some PBX hikes. Good ones too. It is good to know that some of these people who own large parcels of the pinebarrens really appreciate what they have.
Jeff
