Trespassers

[bdbrown66]

I watched these two videos showing a problem with trespassers in NE PA. Reading the comments, it seems like PA has a big problem with trespassing, although it's a problem everywhere. It made me thankful for my current situation, which gives me free use of 800+ acres of hardwoods, all for helping to look after the place for the landowner. I truly feel for anyone who has to deal with trespassers the way this guy did. Nothing ruins a day in the woods like an invasion of idiots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5NaZvLRFKo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii7xkLq7RGg

 

[DrMike]

That is incredible. However, I know it to be too accurate. I still recall the day when after some great mule deer hunting, a pickup with four "hunters" riding in it (all wasted and drinking more to get more wasted still) came driving across a cultivated field to ask if I and my hunting partner had seen anything. We knew we were the only ones to have permission to hunt there as we had checked in with the owner of the property at noon. They left ruts in the field and a damaged gate. To no one's surprise, that land is now posted and unavailable to anyone--even me. Slob "hunters." :twisted:

 

[Wis65x55]

I understand all too well. A couple of years ago a person said that they talked to xyz yesterday to hunt on that land. The person that had given permission was my uncle and he passed away 15 years ago... And we wonder why hunters get a bad name?
Keith

 

[c. schutte]

There is no difference between someone trespassing on property and breaking into your home.

 

[Polaris]

I caught a guy scouting before season on my small parcel last fall. Said "guy in that farmhouse gave me permission" pointing generally to the North. I said "guy in that cabin owns this 40, and a widow lives in that farmhouse" pointing generally South. He said, "well must have been him then". It was at that point that I suggested he'd best leave and not come back, as that swampland can be dangerous. He'd walked directly past a no trespassing sign on the trail he was on. I got a picture of his license plate and a picture of him from my game camera, both were documented with the local game Warden. In MN it is a 2 offense crime before any action can be taken. He received a written warning from the warden, a second offense would result in a gross misdemeanor. Haven't seen him since.

 

[tim629]

i grew up hunting PA and go back for bear & the first day of rifle season.

must say that trespassing does happen but the guy shooting the video just blows it a bit out of proportion.

I know of a few leases where the owner says "hey the guys are never there after the first week, you can go in an hunt it then" run across one of the guys leasing it at first they were aggravated then it became a "mind if I join you guys"

in my opinion since most of the signs state "written permission" I would say lessee as well as "trespassers" should carry a note from the owner thus clarifying everything since the guy shooting the video never identified himself as "hey i'm Tim _________, I got permission from mike to hunt here can I have your name/number just to make sure Mike knows who is here besides myself"

My dad posted his ground, all he wanted to know was who was going to be in there, what seasons, and if during rifle ask them to steer clear of the last saturday or wait and join the camp when they drive off his pieces of land

 

[Elkman]

In the Northwest laws very greatly. Wyoming requires hunters to know their location at all times. Other states require signing of access points. While others require them to be at intervals around the property. In some ares it's almost impossible to tell what is what, state, or private or federal as they can be lands can be intermixed. I don't remember which, but if it's crop lands it's assumed to be private, other wise the owner is required to sign. While on my PT hikes I have advised several hunters they are off state lands on private lands where no hunting is allowed. And lastly some private land owners just don't care.

 

[mcseal2]

I have the Onx maps app on my phone that shows private and public. It is very accurate from what I've used it so far. Some property sold nearby and it took approximately 6 months for it to show the new owner, so it is updated fairly regularly. With the technology today there isn't much excuse to be on the wrong property. There will always be those who trespass or don't care, I've run into them on our place, but if a person WANTS to be sure they are on the right property it can be easily done. Accidents happen, but BS excuses happen more often.

I remember my first elk hunt in college I was hunting a public/private boundary. The guys I was with had hunted the area a decade before said the private was fenced and it couldn't be accidentally crossed onto. That was before GPS and Onx maps. I headed in for the day, got on some elk but never got a shot in the oakbrush. On my way out I came across a fence. I followed it for a ways and it would be up for a couple hundred yards and down for a couple hundred yards. I had crossed onto private without knowing it and spent most of the day there. The decade since they had been out there had been hard on that fence and it hadn't been repaired. I hated that I had been the trespasser and have tried to prevent that since with good maps and an updated GPS for the area I hunt.

 

[bdbrown66]

i grew up hunting PA and go back for bear & the first day of rifle season.

must say that trespassing does happen but the guy shooting the video just blows it a bit out of proportion.

I know of a few leases where the owner says "hey the guys are never there after the first week, you can go in an hunt it then" run across one of the guys leasing it at first they were aggravated then it became a "mind if I join you guys"

in my opinion since most of the signs state "written permission" I would say lessee as well as "trespassers" should carry a note from the owner thus clarifying everything since the guy shooting the video never identified himself as "hey i'm Tim _________, I got permission from mike to hunt here can I have your name/number just to make sure Mike knows who is here besides myself"

My dad posted his ground, all he wanted to know was who was going to be in there, what seasons, and if during rifle ask them to steer clear of the last saturday or wait and join the camp when they drive off his pieces of land

Tim, I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that the guy in the video blows things out of proportion.

If you listen to what he says, and read the comments with the video, he has dealt with some of these guys multiple times before. Frankly, once should be enough.

Second, if he does have a lease on the property, the owner has no legal right to give anyone permission to go there. That's the whole point of a lease. It would be the same if you were renting a house, and the landlord telling his buddy that it's OK for him to go to the house and watch TV. Uh, no...it's not.

As for the moron who said that so-and-so gave him permission to hunt there years ago, and he thought it was OK to still hunt there. Come on...really??? I'm an Ohio native, and now live in Kentucky. About every other year, I go back up to Ohio to hunt with my dad. We hunt on the farm of a family that we have known for decades, since my dad was a young man. I grew up with this man's kids, and even dated one of his daughters a few times. But guess what? I don't just show up on opening day and set up my stand on his back 40. Every single time that I'm planning to go up that way, I call him up a few weeks in advance to make sure it's OK to do so. First of all, it's the right thing to do for the landowner. Second, I have no idea if anyone else is going to be out there, and where they're going to be. The last thing I want to do is to take a shot at a deer and have it hit someone downrange from me, or worse yet...them taking a shot and hitting me.

There's no excusing idiots like are shown in these videos. If I were spending my money to buy or lease the land to hunt on, you'd better believe that I'd be PO'd if I had to put up with this nonsense.

It's a little different scenario if you have land that butts up against public land and there aren't well-defined boundaries or posting signs. Anyone can make a mistake and wander onto another piece of property. In that case, a polite but firm instruction that they are out of place should be all that's needed. These cases, tho, seemed to be more about repeat offenders, hunter harassment, and the willfully ignorant. They get no leniency from me.

As a last thought, Ohio requires anyone to have written permission from the landowner in order to hunt on their property, and the game warden can and will ask to see it. Kentucky only requires verbal permission, which I've always thought to be problematic. However, I keep in close communication with the landowner of the property I hunt here in Kentucky, and he always knows when I'm going to be out there. In addition, I've got him on speed dial if needed.

 

[TackDriver284]

We had that trespassing problem two years ago when some archery hunters that was added to our lease hunted off my feeders for hogs and deer. I went by early morning to fill my feeders after those guys left the prior evening and I saw some footprints around my feeders and behind some shrubs where they bedded down to hunt. I remembered one of those hunters texting me a few weeks prior asking me a crap load of questions such as " Have you seen anything off your cameras yet? If so, what did you see? Which feeder do you see most of the action at? Blah Blah" I responded that I do see some hogs and deer and that was it. He kept pestering where at, but never replied. So after searching and taking pictures of the footprints around my feeder legs which is a 2 and a half inch square heavy tubing and the only feeders that has that is mine compared to other feeders in the area, so pictures tell a thousand words. Also saw lots of footprints up and down the trails like if he was searching for a arrowed animal and saw some drag marks as well. I texted the guy back and I asked him if they had been around my feeders and they said they have never been around them and asked me why, responded that I saw footprints and signs that hunters were in the area. They said " Damn, I hope you get the SOB" I said I think I know who they are. So after taking good pictures and videos, I showed them to my leasemaster when he came to the deer lease on Friday after work. He was upset and he called the guys later that day and asked them to help him move a table. It was a trick. :lol: As soon as those guys helped him move a table and placed them down at a location where there was soft dirt. :idea: The leasemaster asked them if they had been following the rules on trespassing on other's private areas and they mentioned that they have. Leasemaster told the 3 hunters, who were best friends and brother, each, to make a step in the dirt in front of him to reveal a boot print and then he pulled out his phone and showed them a few boot prints off my feeders which was two hunters hunting there and low and behold, there was two matches, the brother's boots matched. The leasemaster says, since you signed up and brought those two other hunters with you and you all signed up on the rules and protocols of the agreement and you all are responsible to follow rules, since you broke the rules and you all are off the lease. Then they said they only walked by, lol. Get all your things, blinds, feeders, your belongings, camper, trailer and your butt out out and off this lease by tomorrow night and you just forfeited the deposit. Serves them right, they were also killing little deer which does not pertain to the 8 point buck rules which is even with the ears or outside the ears. They killed a 3 pointer that weekend and tried to hide the carcass in the back of the lease but vultures flying high up brought it to our attention. We don't need people like that who break rules. So far there are only 5 of us hunting off 600 acres and we respect each other's boundaries and get along very well. Good folks there at my place. Plan to keep it that way.

 

[tddeangelo]

I live and hunt in southeastern PA. This video is pretty accurate. Hunting land access here is super difficult to get...far moreso than the northeast. Most farms are 60-100 acres. Bigger than that is unusual.

We have a "lease" on private land. Essentially, we care for it for the owner, and he has documented that we are legal caretakers of the land. We are "owners" for purposes of game laws and trespassing laws. It is the law in PA that a hunter must identify him/herself to the landowner or designee. We are designees, with written documentation to support that.

We had issues exactly like these. I was not as belligerent as the guy in the videos, but I understand his frustration to the proverbial "T". It's maddening. I had to call 911 once because one trespasser was so argumentative and aggressive that I wasn't going to leave the woods to get to my vehicle because I was parked at a dead end and so was the trespasser. I wasn't about go near the guy again after he was screaming in my face so close I was hit by flying droplets of spit from him while he was yelling...all because I asked if he knew he was on private property.

Twice I've been in a court room after having a trespasser cited. Once I won, once I lost. The reason I lost the 2nd one was because my caretaker status was not properly documented. That has been rectified.

Since we took a few people to court and had some pretty direct conversations with others who have been found where they know they don't belong, things have improved. Willingness to go to court, take time off work, and press the issue fully is key. While I hate being that much of a hard-nose about it, it's what these people understand. The guy who lost in court was on the hook to the tune of around $300 until fines and court costs were totaled. He has not been back since, as near as we can tell. The guy who didn't get found guilty was awfully lucky because he could have lost hunting privileges (two charges...trespassing and failure to identify to the landowner's designee) potentially.

Essentially, we've had to take time out of our hunting and personal lives to make trespassing on the property not worth the hassle we'll make it if they're caught. That improved things.

Trespassing is considered a time-honored tradition among many in this state, however, and not just for hunting. Snow mobile tracks, when we get 2 or more inches of snow, are found across most farm fields, church lawns, even cemeteries. I once saw a nativity set at a church that was trashed by snow mobiles passing through it. One idiot near where I used to live was almost a hood ornament on my Toyota Tacoma twice because he felt he didn't need to look before coming out of brush and across a road on his sled. Both times I had to stand on the brakes and pray to God it wasn't the guy's day to check out. That's about all that saved him, I think.

This is high on my list of reasons I want to move west when I retire.

 

[sask boy]

There is a block of land approximately 2 full sections that is posted and we know the farmer very well and have had permission to hunt this land for over 25 years. A couple of seasons back they opened a draw Moose season in the area and one day after it had been constantly raining for a week a so called hunter came to his house asking for help as he was stuck and needed a tractor. Ross went out to find that the guy's truck was in a swathed flax field buried up to his axles and had a 50" bull Moose attached to the hitch he was attempting to pull it through the swathed field. He was almost in the middle so had done severe damage going in and was taking a different path out :evil:.
Needless to say up until last year no one was allowed to hunting that prime area, last fall Ross again allowed us back on but only with written permission.
It is too bad that the actions of a few effect so many good people .
PS. The slob hunter did not get his Moose and was charged with 3 or 4 different offenses .

Blessings,
Dan

 

[RaySendero]

Well...Around here,
Trespassing is dealt with by the local sheriff's department while
Poaching is dealt with by the state wildlife officials.
Even though you may know the trespassing is for poaching purposes.

 

[hunter24605]

Our cabin is on a private road with POSTED signs, but "road hunters" are a constant battle to keep out...Around here just saying John Doe gave permission isn't enough, we are supposed to carry (on our person) a written affidavit from the landowner.

 

[Dwh7271]

Ohio requires anyone to have written permission from the landowner in order to hunt on their property, and the game warden can and will ask to see it.

Yes they do. Unfortunately, there aren't enough of them during the season.
This is a pet peeve for me. Where I live it is flat. Real flat. :grin: 20 or so years back the surrounding area went on a " take out the fencerows, level the wood lots" craze and an awful lot of terrific cover was permanently destroyed. I took a lot of guff from folks all around as I did the opposite. I converted 13 acres under a power line to switchgrass, set up clover and other browse plots around it (it's bordered on one side by a woods I didn't touch for 25 years). I created 5 of these areas with that being the largest, all across my farm. 15 years later we still held a few birds and quite a few deer.
Unfortunately once again, it became a trespasser magnet during the deer gun season. I spent the majority of my season (only a week here)running off rubes. I was threatened," shot in the vicinity of"(can't accurately say shot at) called every name you can probably imagine while all on property I own.
I gave up significant revenue, time and peace to steward a property for game use and obviously, my use.
Never once, in 30 plus years of people either seeking permission legitimately or rubes just sneaking in, did one single person offer to help with any chores or otherwise. Had they, the result may have been different.
I now am realizing the side benefit of getting older. I was told by a friend that he overheard some notorious deer hunting trespassers talking in a restaurant and my farm came up. One of them said, " that crazy old bas**** will shoot you!" Ha!

 

[et_miller_87]

Ohio requires anyone to have written permission from the landowner in order to hunt on their property, and the game warden can and will ask to see it.

Yes they do. Unfortunately, there aren't enough of them during the season.
This is a pet peeve for me. Where I live it is flat. Real flat. :grin: 20 or so years back the surrounding area went on a " take out the fencerows, level the wood lots" craze and an awful lot of terrific cover was permanently destroyed. I took a lot of guff from folks all around as I did the opposite. I converted 13 acres under a power line to switchgrass, set up clover and other browse plots around it (it's bordered on one side by a woods I didn't touch for 25 years). I created 5 of these areas with that being the largest, all across my farm. 15 years later we still held a few birds and quite a few deer.
Unfortunately once again, it became a trespasser magnet during the deer gun season. I spent the majority of my season (only a week here)running off rubes. I was threatened," shot in the vicinity of"(can't accurately say shot at) called every name you can probably imagine while all on property I own.
I gave up significant revenue, time and peace to steward a property for game use and obviously, my use.
Never once, in 30 plus years of people either seeking permission legitimately or rubes just sneaking in, did one single person offer to help with any chores or otherwise. Had they, the result may have been different.
I now am realizing the side benefit of getting older. I was told by a friend that he overheard some notorious deer hunting trespassers talking in a restaurant and my farm came up. One of them said, " that crazy old bas**** will shoot you!" Ha!

Funny you mention having to spend your seaons chasing off poachers. Had same instance on our land back home in Florida.

On a side note, tried to pm you some info, but for some reason the messages are not being delivered.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

 

[Dwh7271]

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