Management

[mhouck06]

Anyone have any ideas of a way to approach neighboring farms who shoot any deer they see and dont want to give you the time of day to listen about trying to come up with some good deer management practices? we hunt on 250 acres and there is a farm that neighbors our land and all they do is shoot as many deer as they can. we try to practice good managment, but we have not seen many results. we have fields of corn and oats, small plots of chickory, good water sources, and sanctuaries. these neighbors go even as far as coming onto our property to hang stands and hunt. we purchased the property a few years back and before then anyone and everyone could hunt it. we posted it, but if people ask, we let them hunt... these guys dont ask. when we ask the neighbors about there stands, they just say they have hunted there all there life and are not about to move and they dont want to hear a word about deer management. on top of that, the one guy shot at three does in the same day, only killing one, and injuring at least one of the others. there was a blood trail and everything, but he didnt take the time to follow it. 2 days after that, we found a doe on our property with a single shot to the stomach. what can we do?

[shadow]

I gave this some thought and this is what I would do..
 
Post the property. with that being already done you are covering your tracks legally against trespassing individuals.
 
For those you gladly give permission to, know where their stand is, and be sure they follow your rules when it comes to hunting.
 
Remove your neighbors stands and confiscate them. When they come to you and ask why they were taken down reply they they are trespassing and no-matter what they had done in the past does not give them the right to continue to do this, especially since they already know you do not want them there.
 
At the same time, call your local police agency, have them come out, have a report filed, and make sure the police approach these neighbors so they know they were in fact trespassing and not wanted on your property.
 
Have them arrested if they continue to go onto your property.
 
I am not in law enforcement, nor do I always do the politically correct thing, but keeping their stands,(hey, the stands are on your land, and they should not have been there to begin with) may be a start, you will probably not be given the time of day by these people ever again by taking them and getting the police involved, nor will they help you out if needed, but they should get the message you mean bussiness.
You also will not be able to change their hunting habits, but if you practice good QDM, you may be able to keep some of these deer on your property where they will grow to what you want.
 
How do others feel about my response? This is what I would do if there where people illegally hunting my piece of land.

[Robert Rowland]

One of my neighbors caught some guys that drove across one of his fields that had been planted one spring. These guys were not hunters, but drove their truck down onto a river sandbar and got stuck. My neighbor did not let the tow truck into the field, so they left it until they could work something out. Meanwhile we had heavy rain and the truck was under water for a couple weeks.
The truck was destroyed. The guy learned his lesson about trespassing.

[dtrain56]

Call your local law enforcement first, do not take the stands...have police come out look at stands and they will escort your wonderful nieghbors to them and instruct them to take them down..do not take matters in your own hands!!!
 
once they have been instructed to stay off by law enforement you will get a better response from law enforcement if they harass you further.

[mhouck06]

thanks alot guys!

[chris]

[/align]make sure you have the land surveyed,not that you run into trouble with old grandfathered laws about uncontested fencelines or properytlines,sounds like the neighbor is a trickster,if you truly know that the stands are on your property they are now yours.QDM is not a easy issue with all hunters.I have a neighbor like yours,he will kick hunters off if he sees them pass on any deer, brown must go down.Just stick with your plan,with all there trampling around and shooting,the deer get smart and stay away from that property ,thats why you have your little sanc. in time they will feel safe by you.

[danesdad]

I agree that the law should be brought in first, to establish that these people are a problem.  That way if anything happens down the line, the law will see you as the reasonable party and them as the criminals.  In a perfect world, you could allow them to hunt your land but under your rules of QDM, but I doubt you could enforce this.

[msbadger]

Wow! sure you don't live near me?...Our guys have gone as far as shooting at me and then my daughter her first time out ...they killed a member of they'er own hunting party and 2yrs ago when they nearly shot me out of my 16ft tree stand the DEC and state troopers did nothing! I had no proof who did the actual shooting and they said I needed to be wounded or dead. Get a good camera and carry it at all times...put up "dummy cameras" where you think they enter and put an ad in the local news paper that you own the land that was formerly "so n so's" land and you have posted it with no hunting or tresspassing....put your cell phone # on sign and that way if you catch them and they say they are trailing a deer you can say too bad no one called to ask permission ...take tag info and call police ...always arrest...only way to stop it. Let all know that # is on sign and if they have to trail.... your a call away and willing to help as long as trail starts off your land.....You are now covered with the signs and public notice ...police and local courts have to help...never admit to taking stands it's still stealing...photo and have police see them... 

[fasteddie]

I would post the property and do what was mentioned above about placing a notice in the paper . I have seen an ad in our local "Penny-Saver" that a person has posted a property and installed surveilance cameras on the property . Someone had shot and killed their Great Dane several years ago . I would also state in the notice that any illegal stands could be picked up at the local Police Office .

[scotman]

Im in the exact same boat. Im gonna try and talk the farmer into leasing the hunting rights of the land off him to get rid of tresspassing hunters/poachers that have been hunting the farmers land for years without permission.. Money talks.