Ever had someone falsely accused of tresspass

[Peetmoss]

Ever had someone falsely accussed of tresspass

Has anyone else been accused of tresspassing on land that you had permission to be on?

We have this local jerk who does this every year. Last year he did it to me and my father on my uncles land, and on my brother in laws farm. It also happend to a guy I work with duck hunting in a swamp in witch he had written permission to be there.

So has this happend to anyone else here? And how did you deal with it.

 

[Atticus]

I'm cornfused. Were you accused of tresspassing...or is someone else tresspassing on land that you have permission to hunt?

 

[Peetmoss]

I was accused of tresspass on land witch I had explicit permission to be on, and the person accussing me did not own or have permission to be there.

 

[saddlebum]

i had a group of about 5 guys set up camp on land i own and tried to run me off when i showed up to hunt. they even call the game warden to have me arrested when i wouldn't leave, should've seen thier faces when he showed up and asked me if i wanted him to write them tickets or haul them in. saddlebum

 

[Smoke Rizen]

Trespass

I Came down a fire service road once about 25 years ago and was accused of it. I came through the gate that had a lock on it,but it was'nt locked. When I got to the bottom ( about 12 miles) there was a large camp of out of state hunters,and a locked gate! They told Me I would have to wait for the Ranch owner to come. He showed up shortly and there was some name calling and such. Well He finally let me out and I turned Him in to the Forest Service Who told Me they would straighten it out. I went there a couple years later and it was open access. S.R.

 

[Greybeard]

Yep, back in 1978.

It seems that such is sometimes a favored form of hunter harassment. The landowner who filed on us owned an easement, which we had permission and a right to use to access a large piece of property in real rough country near Matador, Texas.

The week before deer season, Landowner #1 changed the lock to gate on easement to which Landowner #2 had given us a key. But, Landowner #1 failed to scratch the number of the lock. While going early to scout, this little problem was discovered and hardware store made us a key that fit.

Landowner #1 learned we were inside on opening day (while Landowner #2 was out of the country for a looooong period of time). He called out Game Warden (of, shall we say, questionable integrity) who wrote us up for "Criminal Trespass with a Firearm".

They evidently thought we could be intimidated into pleading guilty by paying $78 (which was a good chunk of change in 1978) fine apiece. But they were WRONG. We let 'em set court date and showed up (without a lawyer, BTW) before judge and 6-man jury at court house in Floydada, Texas. It did not take the jury long at all to come back with "not guilty" over the fact that Landowner #1 had absolutely no right to change lock on easement.

But, the best part of the whole day was just after verdict. The old lady judge looked sternly at the Game Warden who had testified against us (saying that we had no permission to be inside) and used her long old index finger to indicate something to the effect of "Come hither, boy. Now!". We could not hear what she said to him, but from the expressions on both of their faces, I'm certain that she was not inviting him over for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Yes, but never while hunting.

Always while land surveying.

My Father is a civil engineer and land surveyor in Pennsylvania, and more than once we had the police sicced on us because one party of a property dispute didn't like the fact that the other party had called a surveyor.

About 99 times out of 100, the person calling the police was calling them to run us off of property that they claimed, but did not own.

When the police got they they normally wouldn't even touch the situation.

At various times we were threatened with violence, including once with a firearm, we surveyed under police protection a number of times, and I killed a dog that was set on us. That one got very nasty, and I really thought I was going to have to shoot the homeowner.

The police were called on that one, too, and the dog owner was cited. It turned out that he had a lot to lose, which is why he tried to hard to run us off.

He was onto his neighbor's property (the guy who called for the survey) by over 100 yards in places. He had even built a permanent structure.

 

[Atticus]

Sorta. A co-worker gave me permission to hunt his family's farm. His brother (whom he hasn't spoken to since the 60's) gives permission to his friends to hunt the farm. One day, his brother and friends saw my truck, and thinking I was a tresspasser, started hunting me. I sat in the middle of a downed tree, in full camo, and watched them hunt me (from about ten feet away at times). I couldn't decide whether it was safer to let them know where I was, or to sit tight and let them pass. Eventually, I did speak to them. I quit hunting there after having to explain myself a half dozen times. Some of the other guys who hunt there, have done so for twenty years, and they don't have a clue who my co-worker is. "Who?...Bubba has a brother?" Two many hunters.. so few deer. Ain't worth it.

 

[Turk]

I have a friend that was stopped by the Game Warden. The GW said he'd received a call and was told there was trespassers on a farm behind his house the farm in question wasn't his property. My friend had written premission to hunt.

Finds out this guy the called the GW had for years been the only person hunting this farm and got ticked off when the owner gave permission to my friend. So to ruin my friends hunt this guy calls the GW.

But I guess it worked out ok as the farmer told the the guy that called the GW not to hunt his land any longer.

Turk

 

[TNT]

Try walking to your deerstand in the morning only to find someone sitting in it. He then has the balls to ask if I have permission from the owner because he has permission to hunt there. I said "Well that's funny because I don't know you and I am the owner." He quickly left.

 

[Joe Demko]

The property adjoining my family place along one heavily forested edge is owned by a widow. Her son in law acts as caretaker and is a world class jerk-off. He has tried at various times to run me off my own property, run others off of their own property, ruined hunts, and basically has no idea of where the property lines are whatever. He also goes out armed to "patrol" his mother in law's place during buck season. Since he isn't on her property about half the time, this has led to some angry and tense confrontations. During one incident, when he was raving at my dad, I really thought I would have to shoot him.

TNT
I, too, have had that occur.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Many years ago I was hunting with friends on their property, about 55 acres in Central Pennsylvania, when we found several deer stands that didn't belong there.

So, we came back later in the afternoon with tools and proceeded to dismantle the stands.

A couple of people descended on us, very ticked off. They didn't much like it when they were told they were on private property (boundary wasn't hard to see, it was a collapsed stack-stone fence) and to get off and stay off.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I've been told to leave public lands several times. Usually the scenario goes something like this. It's usually a guide or an outfitter that thinks he's back in the woods far enough that no one will venture there. He usually tries to pulls the ole "I have exclusive rights to hunt this area" bit and he is usually under the gun because he told his high dollar out of state hunters that they were hunting on an exclusive piece of land and that they'll be the only hunters there.

I always take great pains to show them clients and guides all together exactly where they are on the map and that it is by no means private or restricted and then inform their clients that they could have just bought a license and hunted here without the aid of Mr. Dork Face the outfitter and saved themselves a bunch of money. That's usually the end of it. However...........

Alaska is infamous for this and they have a greater number of crooked Game Wardens than any place I've ever been. Usually taking kick backs from the outfitters.

A couple of buddies of mine got mixed up in one of these little problems and the outfitter called his little stoge warden buddy who made the hunters walk 8 miles back uphill to retrive 8lbs of blood shot sheep meat the warden claimed was "wanton waste of wildlife."

 

[bernie]

TNT, I have had the same thing happen! It is kind of hard to keep your cool in that situation isn't it?