RE: Too crowded on family farm!
You have your grandfathers support thats an important factor right there seeing he is the owner. I had a similar problem with my younger brother bringing his friends and girlfriends dad and brothers out to our farm, which we worked very hard to manage. That year his girlfriends brothers stuck 2 does in which they never found and during rifle season they came back and killed to 10pts that both scored over 140''. At the same time my brother hunted very hard only to come up empty handed and I stayed away and hunted my grandfathers farm 20 miles away and filled all my tags. He then saw the effects of letting others hunt that don't necessarily have your same hunting ethics or management values. Needless to say we have had a talk and decided that next year its going back to normal. I explained that the farm was good hunting because of all the hard work and management we had put into it over the last 6 years but could all be destroyed from a year or two of poor management and half-hearted hunters. Maybe try to approach your distant realitives with your management ideas and see if they agree or are willing to comply with them. And ask them to cut out all the friends to enhance the hunt for not only you but them as well. If they are just primarily gun hunters and you a bowhunter then you could probably fit just them in and wouldn't have to worry about running them off completely. Provided they would practice the management practices you lay out. Sticky situation when family is involved but you do have your grandpas support (very important) GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!