Yes you have to be careful when your landowner is involved. But then again yes if poaching has taken place you are doing the right thing by getting law enforcement involved. As for the trespassing not much you can do if the landowner won't sign a complaint.

yeah landowners on my side and pissed- but hes an old country boy too and i dont think hes the fondest of joe law either if ya know what i mean. it is what it is - at this point its outa my hands

I got a 30 day ban for a avatar like that one once[:@]

What more about gun season in Ohio, N.W. Ohio don't you umderstand?

How do I handle it? Out hunt them. You don't own the land and are just a guest. Out hunt them or move on. It is what I do and have done. Just put over 500 miles on my truck to never put a foot on the ground. Probably saved myself from getting shot. Life in Ohio during gun season. Did it during the first week of gun season too. Took a nice deer some where else.

Being a guest is still better than being the land owner and having to deal with this stuff. Those guys aren't hunting and will do little harm. Get your bow ready! Watch them here at home do the same every year and they've not taken one yet. They didn't show this year as far as I know. Bumpkins inslaved in the orange army.

Out hunt them or buy your owm land and squat on it. I can't really blame them too much. We just don't have the kind of deer density we should have and aren't likely too either. They think N.W. ohio is just fine and the south has too many. I think that's a bunch of politics (feel free to substitute any sewage word for politics).

be very careful as it can get ugly fast and very nice avatar , WOW

dave37, I know exactly what you mean and how you feel. I see you are from NW Ohio. Me too. I live in Convoy, in Van Wert County. Obviously you are close to me. I had big long post written up, but just deleted it. If you check my posts you will see one I wrote about this a month ago and all the crap that goes on in this area during the gun laws. Pathetic. People who haven't seen it just can't seem to understand it, but those of us who do know exactly how it is. I am not saying that all the gun hunters are like this. I know several guys who actually get out and hunt fair chase. But for every one of them, there are probably 5 of the idiots we are talking about Problem boils down to:
1 game warden per county + countless number of orange vested idiots + landowners who are afraid to prosecute because of the fear of retaliation= OHIO GUN SEASON!!
I know many many many other true sportsmen who cringe every year when the gun law seasons roll around because it is always the same thing by the same groups year after year. Side note: Don't ya just love the wonderful weekend Youth Hunt the weekend before the actual gun season, where only kids are allowed to carry guns. Yea right. I can't begin to tell you the landowners who have told me that they watched adults with guns hunting that week, teaching a whole new generation of hunters how to hunt illegally and unethically.
I hope you do get them nailed.2 seasons ago we had one of the leaders of the worst outlaw groups in our area on video( and trust me I , and many others like me, hate this guy more than anyone on earth) dead to rights shooting off the road, right beside his truck, and his son and nephew shooting out of the truck bed, and my buddy stuck a dead battery on his his video camera by accident and he missed the whole thing. The game warden had told us that giving him video evidence was as good as gold!!

Good luck, and I hope you get them busted. We have the same kind of guys right where we are. Unfortunately, we always will. I have always said that some of these guys better hope that if I find out I have a terminal disease and have a week to live, it isn't during gun law. Because it just might not be the deer being hunted that season!Uh.... just kidding around...

That sounds like a typical weekend during gun season in PA to me.[:'(] Seriously do what you can to get the GCOs involved and let them handle it. I understand you have an agreement to keep trespassers out with the landowner, but when it gets physical your obligation is over its bounds. Helping that landowner out won't help you if you get hurt or worse.

It sounds like you've got a bunch of bad eggs to contend with. Good luck sorting it out with the law enforcement and be careful.

Its already too late.

Sad to say isnt it?

I had a similar situation and i spent well over 5 hours showing the WCO places names dates times ect. SOLID information, he told me he couldnt do anythign without catching him in the act. SO! even though you did all that, Its not worth pud. They'll watch them, but as far as anything else goes, forget it.

Sorry, to say it to you but you have to have a WCO on the scene while the acts are happenign.

Ryan.

Not really much you can do unless you sign an official lease with the owner.Then you have the legal right to deal with them as opposed to hoping that the landowner will side with you if it happens again..