NY Bowhunter

Ok here's the deal. We (buddy and I) have permission to hunt a500 acre chunk of land. We are the only ones that bowhunt it, but there is one other guy that gun hunts there.

For the last few years we agreed that we would stay away from his corner of the property that he gun hunts. We setup for bow as far away from his spot as we can.

We have only been hunting there for the last 5 years. He has been there a lot longer. Before we got permision to hunt there, he used to have posted signs around the property with his name on them. Anyone who called or asked him if they could hunt there, he would tell them no (including me). He would tell everyone he owned the land. I finally found out he didn't own squat. I asked the real landowner if I could hunt there and he said yes.

Anyway........ back to the topic. As you can probably tell we arent' exactly best of friends. He didn't really want us on "his" land since day one. We tried tobe as civil and cooperative with him as possible seeing as how we were the "new " guys.

To this day we don't even go close to his area (the only spot) he hunts. Most of our stands are hundreds of acres away. Come to find out through talking to him and others. He is slaughtering every buck that walks by his stand during gun season. I heard right from his mouth he took 6 bucks last year!! I am so infuriated by that it makes me want to puke. Pisses me off that we work our butts off, do everythingby the book, respect the outdoors etc...... and this poaching scum waddles down to his tree stand opening day of gun and starts slaying deer after deer illegally. Most of which are bucks I watch walk 10 yards in front of me during bowseason.

What would you do? Would you still respect him and his little "poacher spot" on the property? I have half a mind to go hang a stand in his area and hunt the S&%# out of it before gun season. I've talked to the DEC about it several times. Seems like that fell on deaf ears. I'm not sure what to do. Lease the land from the real owner? Kick the poacher in the head? Stay status quo and let him have his spot? Find someplace else to hunt? Opinions please!

p.s. For those of you that think we were wrong in invading his hunting land in the first place.... It's tough to paint a picture of what this dude is like over a message board. He's a liar, poacher, thief, etc... and I have zero tolerance for it. If it were a different scenario, I probably wouldn't have tried to get permission to hunt that land that another hunting party has had for years. Just a different situation with a different kind of person. I'm not the only one in the area that feels that way either.

ct hunter

personally ny i would go and talk to the land owner first and then if that didnt work i would take every measure i could to get the dec down there if that didnt work i would destroy his hunting spot by walking through it daily during bow season amongst other thingsgood luck that situation sucks

early in

It seems that talking with the land owner is the way to go and see what hesays. Then you know exactly where you stand and what to do next.

rookiebowhuntr_PA

talk to the landowner and if that does not work try to get him slaying deer on camera and anonamously turn that intoyour game commissioner. This guy is giving hunters abad name good luck

NY Bowhunter

I have considered mentioning it to the landowner. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't really care either way. He's an older guy (not a hunter) and I'm almost certain he could care less who is shooting what. If anything I would feel like I'm burdening him with a problem that has nothing to do with him and he could care less about.

NJ/PAbwhunter

Wow, NY that is crappy situation. I know exactly what you mean by this guy giving hunters a bad name. My only advise is to keep going to your game commision (DEC)? and if you get no individual there to hear you loud and clear and do his job, then go up the ladder, ask for his supervisor and persist. You may make 1 or 2 guys annoyed at you, but screw them if they do not want to earn their pay... keep going up the ladder until you get a guy who is like minded and who cares not only about doing his job, that you pay the wages for, but who also cares for the rules and the game.
Good luck to you.
DW

partsjay

I agree...try and get the game warden involved...if that doesnt work.....after your done bowhunting....go out on opening day of shotgun season.....with a radio, and set up a stand on the tree besides him....wait for him to get there...let him set up, and then just say.." Hey, how are you?" turn on the radio...light up the grill....cook some breakfast....have a few friends with ya.....get a keg....I hate poachers...they suck.

tsoc

The down side of this whole deal is that you will be devoting time effort and energy to the negativity created by this bozo,for me I wouldn't want it to take away time from my hunting or other things I would rather be doing.
If the dec wont arrest his a-- and you feel a need to ruin this guy's poaching activities,there are a number of ways to ruin his area,without being obvious about it.walking through the area repeatedly,cheap aftershave thrown about the area,you are only limited by your creativity.Unfortunately it is time taken away from productive things you could be doing.It sucks that he is killing that many bucks out of an area that could likely be excellent,(probably killing young bucks to boot).At the very least I would likely walk the perimeter of the guys area and try to cut off his area to get a crack at the best animal or animals the area holds before this guy gets in there.Not really my nature,I would prefer to be some other place where this kind of thing is not an issue.
As an aside,I was at Yankee Stadium last night with my wife and daughter and daughters freind.The Yankees had lots of hitting going on,Jeter,Abreu,and Rodriquez all had three hits a piece.I hate NYC,I hate driving in NYC.We had great seats behind the visitors dugout 8 rows off the field,our daughter and her freind loved it,so I will endure the stuff I don't like for that!

NY Bowhunter

That's sweet man. A-Rod finally broke out of his funk the last couple of games. Looks like they are playoff bound.

As for the bozo (fitting term - I like that). I could ruin his little heaven of a spot he has on that land. Like someone said, that is just going to take time away from what I'm trying to do. Plus, I dont' want to stoop to his level.

The game warden I talked to merely took down his name and address. It was more because he felt obligated to do at least that. Then he laid the sob story of how thin spread they are and catching people like that is next to impossible. That was a reassuring conversation. I offered to do whatever I could to help, but he still didnt' sound too interested in any of it.

I have half a mind to say to heck with him and go hang a stand where I know I'll have a crack at a monster during bowseason, which happens to be right around where he is. Why should I respect this guy or his spot on that land?

takeakidhuntin

I also hunt in NY.I would look in your hunting regulations that they give you when you buy your license.They have a list of Environmental Conservation Officersfor every deer management unit,DMU.
Call theEnvironmental Conservation Officerthat's closest to your hunting area.They have to check out every complaint.
They also have a number to call 1-800-TIPP-DEC,to turn in poachers or any violater.You can report violations 24 hours per day.Give them as much information that you can on the poacher.His license plate number,where he hunts,when is the best time to catch him poaching,ect: