HuntingNet.com Forums - View Single Post - My 100yd range this afternoon.....

01-27-2015 | 12:13 PM

#41

hubby11

Nontypical Buck

Joined: Apr 2009

Posts: 1,130

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From: VA

Quote:

Originally Posted by rafsob

Are you paying attention to the conversation??? We are talking about knowing what is private property!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know about trespass laws in Va. I was a cop for 15 years here!!!!!

I don't have time to go into all the volumes of levels of the trespass laws on the books here now. Please lets get back to the subject of knowing or not knowing what is private LAND!!!!! JEEEEEZZZZ

This has gotten interesting, and despite the fact that rafsob may need to switch to decaff

, I’m going to continue this partial hijack of the thread since I think it’s pretty important.

The issue is whether the hunter has the responsibility to know if he or she is hunting on private property, even if it is not posted. And for Virginia, I am pretty sure the answer is yes. Hunting on private land without permission, is trespass.

In most cases, to be guilty of trespass, there is a requirement of notice, meaning you cannot be found guilty unless you were first told to get off or not get on the land in question. Posting the boundaries takes care of this. But hunting may be somewhat unique in that even without notice, you can still be guilty of trespass.

Two laws in VA talk about the difference between hunting on non-posted and posted private land.

§ 18.2-132. Trespass by hunters and fishers.

Any person who goes on the lands, waters, ponds, boats or blinds of another to hunt, fish or trap without the consent of the landowner or his agent shall be deemed guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

§ 18.2-134. Trespass on posted property.

Any person who goes on the lands, waters, ponds, boats or blinds of another, which have been posted in accordance with the provisions of § 18.2-134.1, to hunt, fish or trap except with the written consent of or in the presence of the owner or his agent shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

With the first law, notice is not required. Nor does the person have to know that the land is private property. With the second law, the penalty is worse because the hunter was put on notice to stay off.

I have hunted on both WMAs and National forests. In both cases, the public land boundaries are often fairly well marked. Some remote areas are not but that’s my problem, not the private landowner.

Sorry for somewhat hijacking your thread, BarnesAddict, but as I said, this could be important stuff. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

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