Called the Sheriff on some Road Hunters last night.

[Savage30L]

If I had folks trespassing on my property, especially if they were warned or were well known jerks, sounds like a good day to target practice. Not to be interpreted as a violent or armed confrontation, but from a good ways away with a safe backstop, I don't see why that wouldn't be a perfect time to check function of any 60rd drums or 30rd magazines you might have. It would take alot of stones to confront the guy who owns the property and who just spoiled your hunt especially if you are trespassing and you've already been told........

Back at the start of our 2023 gun deer season one day, I heard, at distances of a half-mile to a mile, people rapidly emptying magazines from ARs (not to be confused with the story I told of the neighbors doing that for an hour back during muzzle-loader season). I heard this happen at least 6 times over the course of a couple of hours. I brought it up with the property owner, wondering what was happening, and he explained that it was just the scenario you described above.

 

[buck460XVR]

there is a reason that some of the 4th and 5th generations don't feel especially warm toward their rich neighbors who buy up half the hill but act like they own the whole thing. When somebody own 300 acres but makes it a point to shoot right on the line of your 9 acre spread is also a pretty clear cut message. Blowing up 25lbs of tannerite in the same place is someone who is trying to flex on you. That's not just my experience, there is alot of that around here. These people, some at least, know nothing about being friendly and respectful neighbors, all flexing.

While I agree that being rude and inconsiderate of your neighbors is in poor taste, I see it from all walks of life. Respect goes both ways and in reality, you need to give it to others in order for you to get it yourself. Land owner next door to our property went bankrupt a few years back and the land was sold off. For years it was open to the neighbors to hunt, no questions asked. New owners posted the land(altho not needed here) and now everyone who used to hunt it for free is grumbling. Saying all the things you have, this without even meeting the new owners. Everyone in the area has a chip on their shoulder because they lost access. Thing is, the new owner does not hunt. So the land has become a sanctuary during the gun season and has resulted in some really nice bucks being taken that never had the chance to get big before.

If I had folks trespassing on my property, especially if they were warned or were well known jerks, sounds like a good day to target practice. Not to be interpreted as a violent or armed confrontation, but from a good ways away with a safe backstop, I don't see why that wouldn't be a perfect time to check function of any 60rd drums or 30rd magazines you might have. It would take alot of stones to confront the guy who owns the property and who just spoiled your hunt especially if you are trespassing and you've already been told........

.....again, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and to use their property anyway they feel fit, as long as it is legal. I feel for folks who live in states/areas where the local LEOs do not enforce trespass laws, or don't have the authority or regulations to protect landowner rights. Seems to me, this would be where the change needs to be made. Hunting in most states has become a constitutional right and the harassment of hunters is a crime. Hard to see why illegal trespassing is not seen as a form of harassment.

 

[Caplock]

Had a uncle in Northern California. Neighbor friend invited him to hunt on private land he had permission to hunt.
My uncle says they see a car he knew something was up when Neighbor runs and dives into the bushes.
Long fight. Uncle mad cause the guy lied and got them into trouble.
Neighbor blamed my uncle for not hiding in the bushes.
Watch who you hunt with!

 

[lightman]

We have problems with Hog hunters trespassing on our lease. They think that since wild Pigs are not covered by Game & Fish and if they run dogs that they can go anywhere. We have to educate a few every year. Knowing the local Game Warden helps!

 

[DustyGmt]

Had a uncle in Northern California. Neighbor friend invited him to hunt on private land he had permission to hunt.
My uncle says they see a car he knew something was up when Neighbor runs and dives into the bushes.
Long fight. Uncle mad cause the guy lied and got them into trouble.
Neighbor blamed my uncle for not hiding in the bushes.
Watch who you hunt with!

Yep, that's a pickle. I was in a situation like that once and was told to hide, under the pretense that we were somewhere we were allowed to be. I said no, and casually walked away from that situation, and that person. I'd be surprised if your uncle associates with that joker anymore.

 

[Show Me]

None of the above. Maybe next time I see them in here.

Must not be very rural if you think they will still be around when the deputy finaly shows up.

 

[Show Me]

We have problems with Hog hunters trespassing on our lease. They think that since wild Pigs are not covered by Game & Fish and if they run dogs that they can go anywhere. We have to educate a few every year. Knowing the local Game Warden helps!

How many conservation officers are in that county

 

[lightman]

I think there are 3. We met a new one this year. Seemed like a really nice guy.

 

[WisBorn]

The vast majority of Conservation Officers I have met, are really good guys and gals. They love the outdoors as much as we do. Maybe more, as they have made a career of protecting it.

 

[BigSteve57]

My wife and I have been "thrown off" her family's land numerous times by "hunters" who said they had exclusive permission to hunt from the landowner; that landowner being her father and my father-in-law.

In response to being asked to leave by said trespassers with permission we've said "OH!!! Well then wait here while I call my father/father-in-law to see about that".
We've had some comical and some not so comical encounters.

 

[hso]

Warden told me if two wheels are off the narrow one lane through my and my neighbor's property to "boot" the vehicle and call a tow truck and then him, in that order. He'd call the Sheriff and ask them to respond and seize any game and the vehicle, firearms, and the poacher if he were not nearby.

 

[crestoncowboy]

Warden told me if two wheels are off the narrow one lane through my and my neighbor's property to "boot" the vehicle and call a tow truck and then him, in that order. He'd call the Sheriff and ask them to respond and seize any game and the vehicle, firearms, and the poacher if he were not nearby.

Id almost bet if you got took too court because they drive off with your "boot" and destroyed they brake caliper/ wheel/ axle.... you would be buying them a new one.

And again I've talked multiple times to the Sheriff (my buddy) and one of the bigger law firms around. I also live in a VERY conservative area in a conservative state. The Sheriff teaches ccw classes and has for years. Thinks everyone should carry. But there is still laws on what you can do, even to trespassers.

Just yesterday me and my daughter were hunting my land and walked over some a-hole on my land (no orange) I waved and went around him. A-HOLE didn't even wave back. Lol. 15 yards away..... They have permission from the neighbor but know damn well they crossed my (rather poor) fence. I don't post it and really don't care but to not even throw your hand up when your trespassing on me..... lol. A-HOLES.

 

[WestKentucky]

It’s been a few years since I hunted a really cool place. Farmland with patches of woods and a huge cave that Native American folks wintered in. Really really neat place, but the owner was pretty peculiar about who hunted and where they hunted, and nobody was allowed to get near the cave entrance unless they were retrieving a deer. Literally every time we (my dad and I ) hunted there the neighbor would come over and fuss at us and try to run us off even though we called the landowner and talked to him on the phone a few times with the neighbor listening to the conversation. All that said just to say that sometimes it’s just as frustrating on the flip side of the coin with permission and a neighbor trying to run off hunters. He always packed a Ruger single action in a quick-draw rig and made a point of it being seen when he ran the deer off just to come bother us.

 

[drobs]

Must not be very rural if you think they will still be around when the deputy finaly shows up.

My neighbor is a deputy. I backed him up (from a distance) when he stopped the pickup and then chatted with him.

 

[drobs]

So, were the road hunting liars arrested, cited, formally trespassed, fined, ticketed, charged?

Lemme guess: none of the above.

Go back and read my post again, hint it's a timeline of events. Where do see them being cited and arrested in that timeline?

 

[Show Me]

My neighbor is a deputy. I backed him up (from a distance) when he stopped the pickup and then chatted with him.

We have one of those. Bought his grandparents place. Known him since before he was born. He's the man with the county dog you don't pet. But he works a second job and we are 15 min from the closest town. 36 min from the county seat. He goes to the trouble spots. Some known trouble spots. Not over here on the west side. And we have one conservation officer for the county. The east side gets the action. The interstate is popular. They can't get here it's gone on by. That yard sign ,protected by Smith and Wesson is fitting if it's truly rural. Thanks for the good reading

 

[drobs]

Side note I had to contact another neighbor to get Charles' phone number. I had previously met Charles in person and gotten his approval to hunt the lot behind mine. I now have his verbal permission to hunt his land to the north and south of my land.

Charles does lease out land for hunting but it's about 3 miles down the main 2 lane highway. I get the feeling this kid looked at a plat map and decided since he leased some hunting land from Charles he could hunt all of Charles' land all over the county.

 

[Show Me]

Side note I had to contact another neighbor to get Charles' phone number. I had previously met Charles in person and gotten his approval to hunt the lot behind mine. I now have his verbal permission to hunt his land to the north and south of my land.

Charles does lease out land for hunting but it's about 3 miles down the main 2 lane highway. I get the feeling this kid looked a plat map and decided since he leased some hunting land from Charles he could hunt all of Charles' land all over the county.

That's why it's lucky to be able to hunt un your own place. Neighbor needed hay. Let him start hayin a patch he could get to that I couldn't. Him and his wife traded that for hunting the 1/4x1/8 patch of timber behind my place. His out of town big feeling boys that live in Texas weren't told by mom and dad and were rude about it. I put new wire across the opening and that was that.

 

[crstrode]

Go back and read my post again, hint it's a timeline of events. Where do see them being cited and arrested in that timeline?

Go back and read your first answer to my question . . . geez!

 

[drobs]

Go back and read your first answer to my question . . . geez!

Thanks for your contribution to this thread.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Lots of things I find amusing about all this.

I find it amusing when people grumble about a change in land ownership and the loss of the ability to hunt a particular plot of land. I find it amusing when common courtesies aren't rendered. I find it amusing when people try to BS their way through a trespassing event, especially with actual friends/relatives of the land owners (or even with the land owners themselves).

So much amusing BS going on which in many cases could likely have been avoided entirely by one simple thing:

FINDING THE OWNER(S) AND ASKING PERMISSION.

Just because an area is posted "No Trespassing" doesn't mean a person can't hunt there. It means other people can't hunt there without permission.

That's where common courtesy comes in. Maybe the owners don't want anybody at all on their property, hunters or not. But you don't know until you actually ask.

Growing up, this was the kind of common courtesy I was raised with. I can remember wanting to hunt some place once and Mom told me "Introduce yourself as J.W.'s boy and ask permission." Conversations revolved around permission, what we were hunting for, where any livestock were (directions to be careful shooting in), that we'd stop by and let them know we were leaving, etc.

And what if the people don't give permission? Well, obviously you can't hunt on their property. But you can certainly ask about OTHER places to hunt and who to talk to. Maybe they'll toss out a few names and places. And politely ask if you can check back with them at a future time, as well.

 

[DustyGmt]

Lots of things I find amusing about all this.

I find it amusing when people grumble about a change in land ownership and the loss of the ability to hunt a particular plot of land. I find it amusing when common courtesies aren't rendered. I find it amusing when people try to BS their way through a trespassing event, especially with actual friends/relatives of the land owners (or even with the land owners themselves).

So much amusing BS going on which in many cases could likely have been avoided entirely by one simple thing:

FINDING THE OWNER(S) AND ASKING PERMISSION.

Just because an area is posted "No Trespassing" doesn't mean a person can't hunt there. It means other people can't hunt there without permission.

That's where common courtesy comes in. Maybe the owners don't want anybody at all on their property, hunters or not. But you don't know until you actually ask.

Growing up, this was the kind of common courtesy I was raised with. I can remember wanting to hunt some place once and Mom told me "Introduce yourself as J.W.'s boy and ask permission." Conversations revolved around permission, what we were hunting for, where any livestock were (directions to be careful shooting in), that we'd stop by and let them know we were leaving, etc.

And what if the people don't give permission? Well, obviously you can't hunt on their property. But you can certainly ask about OTHER places to hunt and who to talk to. Maybe they'll toss out a few names and places. And politely ask if you can check back with them at a future time, as well.

I know of land owners who are tickled to meet a neighbor down the way and find out who you are in relation to who they know, etc, they will even tell you where there's lots of sign or pics from their game cams. Respect goes a long way.

 

[Highland Lofts]

We gained access to a 137 acre ex dairy farm in South Plymouth New York. The owner of the property lives in the Big Apple, Queens New York.
It took a year and some work on the buildings and future work for him to get hunting access.
This property hasn't been legally hunted for close to thirty years. Some of the neighbors trespass on to his property, he has occasionally has found gut piles when he would drive Upstate and walk his property.
If I can fly back to Upstate New York this June or July we will start brush hogging the old over grown pasture and hay fields.
And install a few tree stands.
Having nice property to hunt on takes time and negotiating.

We use to hunt a very large set of private properties, five different farms all owned by one farmer, close to 2,000 acres.

He's son got into hunting and trapping g and will not let any one on the property for any reason.
I was told this past hunting season his kids friend shot eight or nine 8 point bucks .

No proof just hear say.
I believe it, my son has 18 acres adjoining one of the farms and has cell cams on his property and use to get pictures of guite a few different bucks from early fall to after deer season.
This year he only got four bucks on his trail cams.

The farm we gained access to we limit our time hunting there. My brother and myself has hunting rights on this property and we negotiated two hunting guest.
They need to sign a liability waiver and produce a copy of their driver's license and a copy of the current year hunting license.

In exchange we process the deer we harvest and donate venison to the land owners friends. It all works out for everyone.

 

[H&Hhunter]

My in-laws used to own a good sized chunk of private land in Northern NM. The land was about a mile off the county road we had an easement through the mile of private to get to our place and had a locked gate up at the entrance. There were multiple private property, no trespassing, no hunting signs all long the private road to our place. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled up to the gate only to have truck or car parked right in front of the gate, blocking the road with nobody in it.

Invariably the hikers or hunters when found on our property “didn’t know it was private!”.

I always wanted to take the tractor down there and push the offending vehicle into the arroyo, but I never did. I’d leave a friendly note on their car asking them to please not block the gate or trespass in the future.

I busted A pair of kids on one of our irrigated alfalfa fields one morning all snuggled in with a ground blind built up. They were angry when I walked over to them because “I was going to scare away all the elk”. They informed me that they were on public land and that their dad had dropped them off early that morning. I told the kids that they could stay and hunt until their dad showed up to pick them up. When the dad showed up at about 10:00 he had a fairy tale about coming in from the opposite ridge and had misread his map. I mentioned to him that you don’t usually find irrigated hay fields on public land.

The crazy thing is if he’d have asked we would have allowed the kids to hunt.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

The crazy thing is if he’d have asked we would have allowed the kids to hunt.

That's the part the gets me.

And even if permission ISN'T given by the property owner, I can't help but think they appreciated the respect given by asking in the first place. That can open future doors.