While I’m not yet the owner of desirable hunting property, I plan to be some day and in the mean time I hunt, with permission, on private land as well as public. I always respect property rights. I don’t shoot grouse heading over the fence line and I don’t shoot deer in the next field. But I do think that some of the ideas here may need some reconsideration.
We all hate the trespassers. I had a wonderful stalk in Colorado ruined one year by a trespasser. I was stalking elk bedded in thick pinon pines when they were spooked by a neighbor sneaking onto the property I had permission to hunt on. Those elk ran 14 miles up the valley before they stopped on some one elses private property. I spent time working for a land owner in Idaho in exchange for hunting rights on his property. There, trespassers tore down his fences and drove trucks onto his property running the deer off and back onto public land. We didn’t have a hunt after that!
However, I think some one may want to rethink some of these ideas for intimidating trespassers. If you put up a sign saying trespassers will be shot or some thing similar and some one is injured while trespassing on your property that sign may be used against you in a court of law. If you booby trap your property and some one is injured, i.e. steps on the nails, the same thing will certainly apply. While I certainly would be angry enough to want to do those things, cops and courts can get really bad when the lying SOB shows his injured foot.
Worse still, say you kick jerk1 and jerk2 off your property for trespassing and you had your gun because they had theirs. Then they call the cops on you for brandishing a weapon or threatening to kill them just like the sign says. Now you have a big problem. That Idaho property owner got attacked by two poachers when he tried to detain them. When the sheriff did arrive the poachers claimed self defense, that the land owner had attacked them. Result, he got sliced by a hunting knife and there was no arrest. His word against theirs.
The best way may be to use the legal system against your trespassers. Post your property, patrol it, identify trespassers, call the police or sheriffs and, one of the best, file complaints with the police on every incident. Complaints on file acts almost like prior convictions if an arrest is made or the case goes to court. Keep your lawyer up to date on what is going one. If law enforcement isn’t responsive, have your lawyer send a letter to the mayor.
Best one yet, create a property owners association and let the politicians and law enforcement know ahead of time that you intend to enforce trespass laws and let the politicians know that more than one vote may be involved. Locals in small towns here have done so and now have the sheriffs patrolling their property during hunting season! It worked for TBL.
This all sounds less satisfying than threatening someone but if you’re a property owner it’s awful hard to run away and easy to get sued. That can ruin a lot of hunting seasons.
We all hate the trespassers. I had a wonderful stalk in Colorado ruined one year by a trespasser. I was stalking elk bedded in thick pinon pines when they were spooked by a neighbor sneaking onto the property I had permission to hunt on. Those elk ran 14 miles up the valley before they stopped on some one elses private property. I spent time working for a land owner in Idaho in exchange for hunting rights on his property. There, trespassers tore down his fences and drove trucks onto his property running the deer off and back onto public land. We didn’t have a hunt after that!
However, I think some one may want to rethink some of these ideas for intimidating trespassers. If you put up a sign saying trespassers will be shot or some thing similar and some one is injured while trespassing on your property that sign may be used against you in a court of law. If you booby trap your property and some one is injured, i.e. steps on the nails, the same thing will certainly apply. While I certainly would be angry enough to want to do those things, cops and courts can get really bad when the lying SOB shows his injured foot.
Worse still, say you kick jerk1 and jerk2 off your property for trespassing and you had your gun because they had theirs. Then they call the cops on you for brandishing a weapon or threatening to kill them just like the sign says. Now you have a big problem. That Idaho property owner got attacked by two poachers when he tried to detain them. When the sheriff did arrive the poachers claimed self defense, that the land owner had attacked them. Result, he got sliced by a hunting knife and there was no arrest. His word against theirs.
The best way may be to use the legal system against your trespassers. Post your property, patrol it, identify trespassers, call the police or sheriffs and, one of the best, file complaints with the police on every incident. Complaints on file acts almost like prior convictions if an arrest is made or the case goes to court. Keep your lawyer up to date on what is going one. If law enforcement isn’t responsive, have your lawyer send a letter to the mayor.
Best one yet, create a property owners association and let the politicians and law enforcement know ahead of time that you intend to enforce trespass laws and let the politicians know that more than one vote may be involved. Locals in small towns here have done so and now have the sheriffs patrolling their property during hunting season! It worked for TBL.
This all sounds less satisfying than threatening someone but if you’re a property owner it’s awful hard to run away and easy to get sued. That can ruin a lot of hunting seasons.
