rita205

Yeah, well, the days of having friends and a couple of cases of beer to move are long gone. So are the days of having my dad move me in an open cattle trailer (did that a couple of times, 30 years ago.) So I have to pay big bucks to have it done.

So, I could maybe save a few bucks and downgrade to their next lowest speed option, which is 15 & 5. I suppose they'd love for me to upgrade if I found that wouldn't meet my needs. And no, there really won't be any load on the connection, just myself in front of Netflix with my iPad.

Are you in touch with the group in Stonewall that is working together, with Kassi Fitzgerald heading up the group? If not, you need to be in touch with them. They were negotiating as a group, and have discovered this situation. No easy answers for y'all, but there are others working on the issues.

I'll jump in as to the law degree - I'm an attorney who worked as a landman in the early '80s. I loved it! But I will say that as "just" a landman, you won't weather the downturns of the industry as well, or at least I didn't. The company landmen and the legal staff of the companies will fare better in the lean years.

When I got into the game during that last boom, it was after much of the leasing activity had occurred, and the drilling had begun. I was working as a curative title person, which I really did like more than the cutthroat leasing business. The field work was fun - I did like doing the investigative end of it, walking old property lines to do an affadavit of ownership, researching heirs for unleased interests, etc. I like running chains of title, which some people think is insane of me. I believe strongly that every attorney needs to learn how to run a chain of title, at least in a rudimentary sense, and I've taught more attorneys how to do so than I can count.

I shake my head at how much easier it all must be these days. Word processing to prepare a lease - no more tearing up 4 pages of carbon paper lease forms! GPS and Google maps to find addresses. The internet to search for names. Satellite maps to see property lines.

Go for it. I must say, I might not have loved the work as much if I had had to travel a lot. I was able to stick close to home - north Louisiana territory was all I ever covered.

I've spent the last 25 years doing legal work as far removed from that as possible; I'm a public interest lawyer. That said, if anyone could use a notary in the field (I'm in DeSoto Parish) or someone to do some follow-up work on a part time basis, email me at rita205 at yahoo.com.

Oh, and what I referred to as the parish road maps are also called Ward maps by some offices.

By the way, sorry for the double posts, y'all. I figured out that I was hitting the back button, that's what caused the duplicate posts.

quote:

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For HS lease bonus money, git it while the gittin's good

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I figured that would be the answer. As much as there is any "answer", I realize that it all depends on lots of considerations.

As to your comment quoted, well, the gist of all of this is, how do we know when we've got what's as good as we're gonna git? Where's my crystal ball?

Rita

Thanks, insomniacnla, of course I know I don't have to wait, but as we all know, the game is one of strategy, and to a large degree a roll of the dice. Do I contact them or wait and see? If I contact them, do I take the highest bid from the big players? Will the bonuses continue to increase, or will it reach a point where things level out? Do we know how much of the play is leased, or how much of the hottest area is leased? (the answer to that last question is most certainly No; there's no way us landowners know what the companies' plans are or what their respective positions are. That's just the way it is).

Thanks for the info as to the bonus offers. That helps a lot in my decision making process.

I was really just curious as to why I have had no contact, and all I can surmise is that it is because of the existing Winchester leases in my section. I wonder if your area is similarly covered with other leases.

Here's a specific question to anyone who can share insight. Let's say I don't lease anytime soon, and Winchester decides to drill a Hosston or Cotton Valley well in my section. Would my 2 acres still be worth the bonuses being paid based on Haynesville Shale leasing? In other words, would one of the companies involved in the Haynesville Shale wells be interested in leasing me in a situation like that? And, at what point would the operating company want to get my lease during the process? Would they make a good offer (i.e., comparable to the bonuses being paid for Haynesville Shale play) to get me under lease before the well was drilled?

It's not that I want to hold out for a no lease basis, just that I wonder what would happen if the timing wasn't right.

Anyone?

Rita

Anyone? TigerDog?,

I'm in a somewhat similar situation as animalover who posted yesterday. I have only 2 acres in DeSoto, in T15N, R13W. I'm adjacent to the Winchester well that blew out in December. That section is unitized as to the Cotton Valley and Hosston Sands, as is the section to the south of it. My section to the north has not been drilled, and I can find nothing indicating that it's been permitted or that any plans to drill are imminent.

I am not leased. I was offered a lease back in November, but just never got around to signing, and the landman never got back in touch with me.

So now I'm a little curious/concerned as to why I haven't been contacted. The only thing I can figure is that I am one of the very few owners in this section that is unleased, and they just haven't done the title searching yet to locate the small landowners. Neighbors I've spoken with were leased back in the early spring of 2006, but I've only spoken with a couple of the neighbors.

Would it be advisable to start shopping my land around for a lease? I guess my fear is that Winchester might still have plans to drill here, and I'll end up unitized as to the Hosston Sands.

Any educated guesses, thoughts from you knowledgeable folks out there? Advice? I don't want to be unleased if drilling is planned, and, of course, would like to take advantage of the bonuses being paid for the Haynesville Shale play if possible.

Rita205