Poachers trespassing on our land!!!

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mike7465

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My family owns a tree farm with about 1.4k acres. Pretty large, but not nearly the scale of some farms. We have more deer than you can shake a stick at, and at times we cull them. We have to because otherwise they will hit your car on the drive up the driveway. Word of this got out, and now we have a problem.

Problem: We are now finding deer stands all around. We now have people hunting w/o permission on our land. We have the standard signs, but that isn't working. We take the stands down, but they just come back. Having people shooting/hunting on our land w/o permission is a real problem.

Short of shooting people as trespassers on our land am I missing some easy way to solve the problem?
Thanks!

Art's edit: I changed the thread title in the interest of accuracy.
 
States have different rules I'm sure. In NC you can register your farm and if you post it properly the sheriff's dept and wildlife resource officers will take the responsibility of enforcing the tresspass laws. You just have to call them when you see any parked vehicle, etc.
 
A buddy of mine would take down the deer stands set up on his property and sell them. :D

I don't know how legal that is, but he considered them to be abandoned refuse left for his disposal.
 
Right, most states have pretty severe laws against hunting on posted land. Forfeiture of hunting equipment is just the start. Here's to hoping they are using an ATV to get on your land when you call the game warden/sheriff. ;)
 
Trespassing while in possession of a firearm is a felony in all 50 states. Up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine will definitely discourage their return. That is; if you can get the cops out there without the trespassor's knowledge.

There is no easy way to stop criminals.

If you know where they are parking, you could have a towing company 'boot' their vehicles.

If you REALLY want to screw them, and have the time... wait until you hear them shooting, during the season. Then call the local Game Warden and report the poachers. Poaching and felony trespassing; the wardens don't take those things lightly.
 
Trespassing while in possession of a firearm is a felony in all 50 states. Up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine will definitely discourage their return. That is; if you can get the cops out there without the trespassor's knowledge
Click to expand...

You might want to do a little more research before you make blanket statements.:rolleyes:
 
Chain their stands to the tree after laying it down... good hard chain and lock. Leave a note to contact you... At this point it a personal call on your part of involving the law or not. If you let them go with a warning that it is their ONLY free pass they likely won't be back and word will get out. If you go the law route word will also get out but you will be "the snitchin' prick". I wouldn't list and post with the sheriffs dept. I would prefer to handle it myself.
Brent
 
use a trail cam or deer cam set out where they are driving up and parking if you can locate that. get license numbers and call the sheriff for EVERY time you get a new stand on your property. Most states, I believe, require you to have your personal information on stands you leave on public land, so if they are leaving them, they might be leaving their personal information behind as well.

If you do happen to confront them, just wave, snap a pic with your camera as you walk away, DO not confront them there, after all, they are armed and trapped up in the tree.

If they are parking on your land, have the cars towed. MOre than likely its a small group or number of people who are doing it.

Do not sabotage the stands, do not attempt to disable the cars, just take pics and leave and call. its not worth getting shot over at this point.

Go into town and talk to the Sheriff, head constable, police or what ever you have for LE. tell them and let them deal with it, you just supply the pics and phone tips.

IF they are poaching, a lot of states have TIP or turn in poacher lines where you might be eligible for a LARGE cash award for turning them in, in which case I would call the DNR, FWD, Fish and game or what ever you have and ask for their help, they may have more manpower to devote to this than the cops, and they have often the right of seizure for everything used in poaching,meaning the slob hunters loose their cars the drove in on, 4 wheelers, guns, etc.
 
Misdemeaner in NC

Any person who willfully goes on the land, waters, ponds, or a legally
established waterfowl blind of another upon which notices, signs or posters prohibiting
hunting, fishing or trapping have been placed in accordance with the provisions of G.S.
14-159.7, or upon which "posted" notices have been placed in accordance with the
provisions of G.S. 14-159.7, to hunt, fish or trap without the written consent of the owner
or his agent shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. Provided, further, that no arrests
under authority of this subsection shall be made without the consent of the owner or
owners of said land, or their duly authorized agents
Click to expand...


Notice the last sentence.
 
I agree with JW62. Call the sheriff. A lot of guys think that since it is hunting or fishing related issue that they need a conservation officer or game warden. Not so. The police will do quite nicely. It is a crime to trespass. After a few tickets and maybe even an arrest or two the trespassing will slow to down to nothing.

JP
 
I used to build golfcourses and had this problem all the time here in GA. The good thing is that the game wardens of this area like to play golf for free so they watched them very well.

One time there was a guy whoo crossed several peoples land on the power line right of way. The owner said that his dog was shot at buy the man. The owner aproached him and the man said that it was the power line's right of way and he could be on it if he wanted. I think he got the point after the game warden stripped him of all his property, including guns and truck.
 
Talked to both Game warden and sheriff!

Talked to both Game warden and sheriff's offices.
Both were great to talk to and asked the basic questions I expected. Was it posted no hunting, did anyone have permission from us to hunt, ect.

Sheriff said that the best route is two fold.
Have anyone caught arrested, and punished. He said his officers would do it. Anyone on our trespassing with a gun on our land is going to loose a lot of time and money. Game wardens office said the same thing.

Both said that there is a law about following dogs or wounded game, but in order to prove that, the guy has to show where he made the shot, and lots of other stuff that almost never works for the shooter if he was on the wrong land.
Thanks for all the great advice.
 
Three of the guys I hunt with are law enforcement officers. You would be surprised at how fast THAT news gets around. I would suggest, since you have the land and deer to spare, inviting your local sheriffs department to hunt with you a couple of years. That will end your trespassing problems. Guaranteed.
 
I'd be willing to bet that it is a few individuals doing all of the trespassing. Once you figure out who they are, you are halfway to solving your problem.

Let me offer you another suggestion that nobody has mentioned. You mentioned that you need to cull deer because of the damage they are doing. That tells me that you could use another hunter or two that you can trust. I think that if you found a couple of good, reliable hunters that you allowed to use your land with your permission, their presence would be a big deterrent against people trespassing. Additionally, they would be an extra set of eyes for you.

Down here, hunting land is hard to come by. My hunting buddies and I go out of our way to assist the landowner when they give us permission to hunt. We help fix fences, mow right-of-ways, keep feeders full, etc to show our thanks. If we find trespassers, we immediately call the landowner.
 
JP, I only suggested the Conservation officers or DNR as perhaps having more efficient ways of stopping the problem. To a sheriff, a tresspasser is a ticket, but to a CO, or game warden, a poaching claim might be a felony, or have the added clout of seizing "the tools of the crime". meaning the gun, the truck, the 4 wheeler, and what ever else the guy had.
 
gf:

I agree with you completely. The problem is locating a CO or Game Warden. In Michigan you have about as good a chance of finding one as you do winning the lottery. The Sheriff's office is a lot easier to contact, their are more of them, and they are more likely to show up when called.

Although I rarely call the DNR for anything, the one time I did call last year it took her 3 1/2 hours to come and take my complaint. Useless of course because by then the violator was long gone. But since I called I had to wait.

Sheriff's of course can also arrest and in the best situation if you really got a guy seriously violating the Deputy can detain the individual(s) until the CO does get there. Then let the confiscations begin.

JP
 
Have had a lot of problems with trespassers on two of our properties. Trespassing on one place stopped when a brand new diesel pickup owned by trespassers burned up on a neighbors place.

Gave a deputy sheriff a key to the gate and permission to hunt on the other property. He also uses the shooting range there: End of problem.
 
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