saltflyz

Been a lot of posts on many of the forums about trespassing. No respect for "no trespassing" signs, stands and cameras being stolen etc. In many cases, the land owner lives a few hours away and doesn't make it to the property very often. The locals don't like an out of towner coming in and being vigilant about posting and keeping trespassers off, which could lead to more blatant trespassing and vandalism. This is the most ironic part since the "out of towner" in this case owns the land. How domany of you handle these situations? It seems to me you would be better off trying to find 1 or 2 trustworthy "locals" and giving them permission to walk your property often and selectively hunt it (taking does etc) Has anyone tried this method with any luck?? Bottom line is I think it is getting more difficult to find land to hunt, so "locals" are becoming more brazen in their quest to hunt no matter who owns the land. Any thoughts??

BowKnutt

What I hear most is "I hunted this land for years and you ain't gonna stop me now"--The way I handle it is I give them two chances--The first I ask them to leave,, The second I tell them to leave and the third time I get there tag number and hit speeddial--And give the FGC the number and let them handle it!!!

Vulture6

I hear that too -- it's especially funny since the land's been in my family since 1914!

bigtim6656

i am in the same place you talk about i was just offerd 40 acres to hunt i live about 20 miles a way and the land owner lets me take does how ever many i wont and a deformed buck if i see one

i put up my stand and didnot sleep untill i went back no lock but the guy lives 50 or 75 yards from my stand and he has never had one takin
i watch the land for him and report anything out of the way i even told him about the two nice bucks i seen today and told him he could use my stand when i was not hunting .

But i had land in ky and had tresspassers twice down there and both time try played the i know the land owner and i said i lease the place so that makes me the land owner so get lost when ou say that holding a ar15 they get the message

AF Hunter

People will give all sorts of excuses for trespassing. A friend of mine bought 120 acres and got the "outsider" treatment. He went hardcore right off the bat and posted it every other fence post. He'd go down to the property on weekends and find the signs shotup, tree stands missing, trail cams gone and his cabin broken into or shotup. He then took a leave of absence from work and "guarded" his property night and day. Each time he caught someone on the land, he'd call law enforcement and have the person advised of criminal trespass. At his wits end, I suggested that he went to the fall fair in the town and buy a few beers for the more popular town folks and do some socializing. He found that he actually liked quite a few people, and the towns' people decided they liked him too. He let some people mushroom hunt and gave a few of them permission to hunt slickheads during the weekdays (Mon - Thu). Now when you go down there and bring up his name, you'd think he was the most popular person to have ever lived.
When I moved in here, I went out the 2nd day and introduced myself to all the surrounding land owners. Several of them have come over to see if they can help out with the work I have to get done and others have brought over food to help out while we are settling in. Find out what is going to work for you and then make friends and allies.

saltflyz

Good story and great advice AF