This deer season has been somewhat vexing.

[Hangingrock]

This deer season has been somewhat vexing.

I no longer hunt but we allow hunters on the property which has basically been the same individuals for an extended period of time. We’ve had a few incidents this year with non permission individual’s hunting the property. The property is posted and marked boundaries with signs hunting by permission only with contact information.

I really don’t want incidents that may lead to confrontations but I may have to take legal action with some individuals.

What’s perplexing is the lease system which has the effect of limiting land as opposed to opening land. It’s a money game if you have the money then you have the opportunity to hunt while other individuals not as financially secure are limited in their opportunities.

Believe me I understand the landowners position it’s their property and leasing it out for different venues helps with related ownership expenses.

There is apparently no good solution but I see this is becoming more and more of an issue for places to hunt.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Most of the property out this way is marked "no hunting" which does not preclude a landowner from giving written permission. Also, if you are not the landowner, you must have written permission on your person when hunting, and while the DNR cannot legally enter private property without a complaint from the landowner, they can stop a hunter when they enter onto public roads and ask for the written permission slip. Most landowners that I know, don't force the "free" hunters off the land when they decide to lease. If they know the hunters already on the land, and those hunters have been good helpers in maintaining the property, they tell the fellow with the cash he'll have to accept the previous hunters and work with them, or he can take his money elsewhere. True some landowners are strapped for cash and take the deal without talking to the original hunters, in part that's the fault of the first guys (imho) for not maintaining a good relationship with the landowner..., who should've at least let the original guys have a chance to make an offer, even if they probably couldn't match it. Oh well, what can you do?

I think that folks who trespass haven't done much to secure any relationship with a landowner, or they were such poor caretakers of the land that the landowner is glad to have an excuse to see them go and make money too. Some of these Yahoos think they have a right to hunt land "their daddy always did".

If a landowner blind sides you by leasing the land you normally hunt, does it out-of-the-blue, what does that say about you as a hunter? What does that tell you about the landowner? How tough is it to take a bag of garbage off the property and let the landowner see you doing it? Did you volunteer to help paint the barn, or the fencing, or call the farmer when the big snow came to see how he and his family were doing? Did you send a "Thank You" card, or maybe some fruit at Christmas?

LD

 

[joshk-k]

I hunt elk on 200 acres of privately owned property, surrounded on all sides by public land. In 2009, with a herd of two dozen elk about 400 yards upwind of me, I was forced to blow my cover to confront a pair of trespassers who had come down from the adjacent public land. Elk ran off. I was calm and collected in my interaction with the two, but pretty pissed. My friend who's land it is was really hot when I told him that afternoon what had happened.

I put in my time every summer doing brush cutting along his logging roads and in the winter helping transplant trees. Access to land like that is a privilege, not an entitlement.

Josh

 

[Gunnerboy]

^ same sort of situation i was hunting a permit only entry area and 4 guys came crashing thru the brush to get to an herd of elk so after they scared them off i stopped and asked them if i could see thier permits with puzzeled looks on thier faces they tried arguing that they were on DNR land after a long chat i pointed them to a hill 4 miles across a valley and explained thiers your DNR land start walking or i get fish&game over here, coulda cared less that they didnt know where they were but when people openly know about trespassing and then argue with you about it thats what pisses me off.