NCOutdoors

I hope you don't mind a newcomer jumping in but your situation is similar to mine here in NC.

A couple buddies and I have a couple hundred acres leased from my wife's uncle. When we arrived, the property was infested with poachers (hunters and ATVs). The problem is/was that here in NC, to charge someone with tresspassing, you first have to have the land POSTED. That may be the same way in PA.

It has been a constant battle and the sheriff's office has been called out a few times. A couple times last year while hunting we heard shots on our property. That'll absolutely drive you insane!

If those others that the tennant was talking about have been hunting there for a while, I think you'll have a considerable amount of difficulty uprooting them. If the land can accomodate a small number of hunters, perhaps you should consider trying to meet up with a couple of these guys and try figuring them out. The worst case senerio you could make a informal group with a couple of them so that you would have more control.

I sympathize with you though . . .

6ptsika

I would defintiely keep trying to find out who else hunts there. No way I would hang a stand with that many people having access, and the property not being posted. Just to much aggravation with getting it stolen to take the chance.

Matt / PA

Still in the process of tracking down the other hunters.......I know vehicle styles and at least one first name and that guy apparently according to the tenant either works or worked for the owner at one time.
The other guy I have permission with on these farms is a long time neighbor of the actual farm owner. He is going to stop by tonight to see what he can find out.

The property is not posted at all, which leads me to believe the farmer doesn't particularly care for deer.
Either that or he just assumes that everyone in the area knows who's land they are on.

If I decide to hang a stand or 2 this weekend I am going to lock them up (which doesn't always help) but I was also planning to do as Dave suggested.......I already have copies of the signed permission letter ready to go and plan to tape one to any of the climbing sticks I use in a zip lock bag. The guy I'm hunting with is going to mention that to the landowner tonight as well.

My biggest worry about losing stands would be from an unknowing relative/friend who might think I am a trespasser. Hence the reason why I had planned to leave a permission slip at any location I set.
(I'll also have my DL# etched into anything I leave.....just in case.

Hopefully if I am sharing the woods with a few guys, that at the very least we can develop a sort of agreement or way to co-exist......who knows I may get a new hunting buddy out of it, but knowing how protective guys can be over "their" spots, I'm not counting on it.

I just hope it doesn't end up like "Combat" hunting. I ended up in a pretty ugly situation once before over a real jacka$$ that was purposely sabotaging hunts. Ugly for him.

Too many guys around here treat hunting like fishing for stocked trout.........elbow to butthole and "I'm gettin' mine".[:@]

onestab

Matt...I live just north of Dover close to Pinchot. I hunt several farms in and around the Dover area but from the way you are describing it, I don't think we are talking about the same areas.

davidmil

For right now I would look and not put up stands just yet. If you feel you really have to and want to get the JUMP on the others... well, just hang and lock the stand. Take the sticks out. Don't leave them or your stands will be used by everyone unless you really hide them away. Camo them up as best you can. Sometimes just pulling a small tree over and tie it down so it covers your stand or breaks the straight lines at least. The food and patterns will change between now and hunting time.

Matt / PA

OneStab,
I don't think we're competetion. Besides any board member is welcome to hunt with me.
The farms I am talking about are actually all in the York New Salem area.......I need to talk to "JimPic" and see where he's at. We might be hunting neighbors this season.

I have permission on a very nice farm North of Dover off of Conewago Rd. that I killed a nice 6pt and doe off of 2 seasons ago but it's getting just a bit too frustrating there as A LOT of guys hunt it.[&o]

Unless you actually OWN the property it is 99% impossible to have a spot to yourself in York Co.

Dave.....on the one farm at least i believe it IS a matter of maybe getting the jump. The farm is sandwiched between 2 state game lands and consists of 1 major thruway/bottleneck between a large crop field and a smaller grass field below with a creek in the bottom.
Any deer that wants to pass thru within the cover have 2 options........the 75 yard wide strip of cover bewteen the 2 fields, or the very small strip at the actual creek.
The main trail across the larger strip of cover between the 2 larger tracts of land and eventually the state game lands looks like a cattle trail beat down to bare mud 2 feet wide. There are a bunch of intersecting trails that head to the upper crop field but I think they will be of little consequence considering that the entire upper field this year is wheat.
The only corn in the area is at either end actually off of the property in the game lands areas.........if a deer wants to travel to and from these areas unless they travel in the open fields, must come right by me. anticipating the high pressure that the game lands get on either end, and that I am in the best cover about halfway in bewteen which I can slip into from the field above?.....it seems like a no brainer.

TXhighrack

Matt, how big are each one of these farms? And from your post, the landowners seem to give permission to anybody that wants to hunt, but is there any way that you could ask one of the farmers to "save you a spot" that way you dont/wont have to worry about other hunters?

Mantis Mayer

Might I suggest you stick with a climber for the first year on the farms? Go ahead and prep some of the eye appealing locations and then trim up some escape route arias, edges of the beading aria, longest walk and so on. Like you mentioned earlier, there going to “get theirs” and you don’t want to be the one that’s being patterned, cutoff or sitting in your stand with the undeniable smell of Tide laundry detergent in the air. [:'(]

The one thing that would put a bad taste in the other hunters “with permission” mouth would be to see “the new guys” stand in there honey hole. It wouldn’t be a good first impression. Like others have said it’s important to track down the handful that have the written permission and go from there. They will tell you they pretty much have the land covered and your SOL and that “everyone hunts the farms anyway” and your hopes will be up. Take it for what it’s worth. Asking the farmer if he would like his land posted is not a bad idea. He might appreciate it. Most farmers don’t have time to mess around with posting their property. Sings aren’t that much $ and it’s worth it to you to buy them if he approves of your efforts.

Also be careful about the copies you leave of your permission slip. You don’t want a bunch of pumpkins walking around with edited copies of written permission in their greasy pants![:@]

Oldguy

Matt

Don't know about leaving your Drivers License Number, there is so much of that Identy Theft. I would be a little uncomfortable with that, your call.