Loooong story.

I have been hunting a 250 acre tract 15 miles north of downtown Kansas City for the past 6 years or so. I have been the only hunter on this property since then. It makes up mainly of open bean/corn fields and several draws. It has two "patches" of timber about 15 acres a piece. Seemingly excellent deer country. I have been consistent on taking 2-4 does a year off of this piece (QDM), until last year. Deer movement DRAMATICALLY decreased. In the past I have enjoyed passing up nice (100 class) 8 pointers and have seen huge rubs and an occasional glimpse of the "Big Boy." I have logged bout 5 evening hunts out of two of my regular stands this year and have seen a total of three does all on the same hunt. I have also moved onto a rental house on this piece shared only by one other person.

Here's where the story gets to me.

He, my lovely neighbor, moved in exactly two years ago into a "shed" about a half mile down the road. He happens to be a butcher for an "off the road" kind of deer processing plant that is conveniently a mile or two up the road. Is it making any sense yet? I do use the processing plant for my larger deer and after taking a nice 8 this year, I strolled on up to see my neighbor. Immediately he asked if I had shot the deer off of "our" place. I didn't, and told him so. He seemed relaxed after that. He went on to tell us if we had been seeing any deer on our place. I told Him that I haven't been hunting it much and he seemed once again -- relaxed.

This is the good part.

Let me back up. About three days before this, my roommate had to kill 2 "wild dogs" that had a 4 pointer pinned down in the yard. The deer had a broken leg from impact with a car, but that was the only injury sustained from the car. The deer shortly died from the injuries given to him by the dogs. (We know because we gutted, skinned, and butchered the deer ourselves. All internal organs were intact) 1 dog did get away. None of the dogs had any tags or collars.

FFW to the butcher shop again. My nice neighbor went on to ask me if I had seen any of his dogs. "Ooops," I thought. He was wondering because he was missing 2 of his 9 dogs. I played really dumb. He went on to tell me about how he never feeds the dogs anything than scraps. He told me that they catch enough deer to stay alive.

I walked the entire 250 acres this evening. I spooked 2 does on the far edge of the property. They ran directly away from where the butcher lives. Here's the kicker. I found 6 scrapes on the far fencerow around the does beds, and 1 rub on a tree the size of my pinky. The entire 250 held no deer sign whatsoever other than a few deer tracks followed by dog tracks.

I am fortunate enough to have a few other places to hunt, but I want to hunt here too. This just doesn't seem quite right. I don't like to shoot dogs if they are someones pets and I really can't prove much in the way of poaching.

Any similar confrontations?

I used to see deer, he moved in, I see none?

Bob