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Old 10-10-2017, 10:51 AM
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the neighbor
Spike
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 3
Default non (but not anti) hunter needs education please

Would you help me figure a couple things out? We have a new situation with new hunters, and I want to understand it before talking with them. I don't want to be *that* neighbor that the hunters roll their eyes at, and I'm not trying to curtail hunting on adjacent properties – except to the extent it's being done illegally or unsafely.

Mine is a horse farm with a pasture/hay field that borders on woods. There's a high-traffic game trail that meanders across and in some places straddles the property line (which is delineated with fence posts, but no actual fencing).

I was trudging through the woods along our borders over the weekend to check our signs, and at a point where the trail straddles the property line I found a trail cam mounted on my parcel and a tree stand opposite it on theirs – the tree stand is oriented perpendicularly to the trail and pointed directly at my land.

It didn't take me long on here to figure out that there's debate as to the ethics of hunting a property line, but it's not prohibited and so I don't see any point in arguing about it – as long as it's being done safely and legally. (I know I can make them move the camera, but IF they are otherwise being respectful of my property I think the neighborly thing is to let it stay where it is.) So here's my first question: is there any way that a tree stand oriented in such a way can be used to hunt only their property? To stay off my property the shot would have to be straight down onto the trail. I don't know enough about hunting to know whether it's possible to use this setup without trespassing. (I want to think the best of them, but this is not a right-to-track state and they're new hunters who haven't asked permission to access our land to retrieve game.)

And here's my second (multi-part!) question: is there any way for me to know that the property line is being hunted safely, or anything I can do to make it more likely? I'm feeling unsettled at the thought of horses at the edge of that pasture, or taking a ride or walk around my fields during hunting season. I'm not going to engage in harassment, but also I don't want to have to avoid use of my own property from September through February. I suppose I could put tarps in the trees so there's no clear shot onto my field, even by accidental discharge, but that would be ugly and scare the horses. How do those of you who do hunt property lines balance the interests of hunters and adjacent owners? Is there anything I should expect as a matter of courtesy or safety from the folks hunting my border? What do hunters expect as a matter of courtesy from the neighbors?

Any advice is appreciated.
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