In the two areas I hunt, no one cares if you go on their property to recover a deer. I do not care if people come onto my property to recover a deer. We have never even formally discussed it, we have just all done it for years and no one cares. Seems to me it is much easier in the long run to be a good neighbor.
Please don't take this out of the context with which it is posted,
For many years this was the situation around both my own property as well as my friends which is WAY more than I have. But as the years go by, and folks pass it down to others or sell it, or lease it, and you have new folks come in with their own ideas of how things should be.
We have both had feeders set up literally on the fences with blinds set so that anything that is shot at the bullets will pass over onto our properties. We have had stands set up with the ladder on their side and the stand on our side, had fences cut so they could drive their 4 wheelers through with trailers to haul their dogs and hogs with, in one afternoon I caught over a dozen people with 5 vehicles and trailers on his place in the act of hunting over a mile from the fence line and they simply said they were looking for one of their dogs which had a tracking collar. My reply was not only were they trespassing, but poaching, and they had until I got to my truck before I called the sheriff and game warden.
In Texas here is what the rules state, (from the
TP&W 2014-15 Wildlife Outdoor Annual)
Retrieval of Game: No person may pursue a wounded wildlife resource across a property line without the consent of landowner of the property where the wildlife resource has fled. Under the trespass provisions of the Penal Code, a person on a property without the permission of the landowner is subject to arrest.
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o Under the Texas Penal Code (§30.05) it is an offense for any person to enter property that is fenced, posted with a sign(s) or marked (purple paint) without the express permission of the owner. Posts or trees bearing purple paint marking of not less than eight inches in length and not less than one inch in width at not less than three or more than five feet from the ground constitute notice that the property is posted.
o A person who hunts without landowner consent and kills a desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, white-tailed deer or mule deer commits an offense that is a Parks and Wildlife Code state jail felony. Upon conviction, your hunting and fishing license is automatically revoked.
Penalties
If you violate fish and wildlife laws, you may:
* be fined (Class C - $25-$500; Class B - $200-$2,000; Class A - $500-$4,000; State Jail Felony, $1,500-$10,000);
* be jailed (Class B and higher offenses);
* face automatic suspension or revocation of licenses for up to five years;
* forfeit hunting gear, including firearms, used to commit a violation.
They also have passed a law about your bullet passing across the fence line onto others property, that can land your rear in a sling as well. It can be found here,
PARKS AND WILDLIFE CODE about a third of the way down in Sec. 62.0121. DISCHARGE OF FIREARM ACROSS PROPERTY LINE.
It's not so much trouble to ask permission, it is also simply common sense and courtesy, and more so safety, to make sure and certain that your set up away from a fence so that neither your bullet nor one from somewhere(one) else will be a danger to you or others. But when you try and explain it to new owners or lease holders, folks simply get all flustered and foolish about it, even when you bring it up in a civil manner. Next thing you know it escalates into "well I'll show him" match and everyone looses out. So you try to be as honest and up front as possible, discuss it with the new neighbors and when things head south, well you adjust your tactics to meet theirs only using the law and LEO's to enforce it.
We have both been upfront and straight about what we expect, as well as what we will do, and expect to be done. We have given and taken phone numbers so that we CAN have good communication, and still have issues with some. Even with the laws on the books and with the local wardens coming out and trying to help explain things to folks they still feel the need to prove something. I don't know why, and I still try to be a good neighbor to most, but when you keep getting your stickers in your foot, you learn there are other routes you can take.
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