Road "hunters"

[farmerDale]

I have hundreds of acres of awesome habitat. I preserve this habitat for the game and wildlife. And yet idiots every year, enter my land which is posted NO HUNTING, and chase, harass, and kill wildlife.

Yesterday, I chased out some idiots who were chasing while on a utv, a large bull moose. If only there was some snow, I could have tracked them better. Drove right past the No hunting sign at the entrance of the land. I have put signs on steel posts, and they drive over them.

Sick of preserving habitat, only to have idiots take advantage of it. We need a hunting on foot only law.

Sick and tired... Any suggestions? Legal ones preferably.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

not sure about where you live but , you could stop off at a local auction , hand tools go cheap at least here , pick up every metal rake you can then accidentally leave them laying tines up where they are likely to get run over by tress passers , they make a mess out of tires but are not , intentional since it was an accident that it got left out , don't you hate it you set your rake down for a minute and you can't find it again so you get another one from the truck just to loose it next time you get a cell phone call.

[Allen W]

Nothing worse then hunters in the rut.

[Wolfy-hound]

When you actually see them, can you take pics and go to the police for trespassing?

You could also drop a few small trees over the paths they want to use. Since they aren't supposed to be there, they can't exactly complain about downed trees.

[1shotwade]

Right after dad died we had a neighbor across the creek that allowed his guests to ride atv on our place. After talking to him about it 3-4 times it was time for action. Wouldn't you know that a bunch of beer bottles came down the creek and happened to break right there at the two places they crossed the creek! Oh well,things happen!Try pushing an atv 3/4 mile up hill with flat tires! Problem solved!


Wade-

[fishhead]

I've been told that ATV tires pick up loose wire laying on the ground. Then they stop turning.

[RonM]

Many ways to skin a cat.....

[farmerDale]

Worst thing is, I have a great relationship with our game wardens, and they patrol the area a fair enough amount. I would hate to stab their tires. I think I will simply patrol now and then and scare folks away. I dunno.

[MichaelZ]

Get some well hidden game cameras up, accumulate evidence, and then sock it to them. Best to allow law enforcement take care of these guys, and getting evidence will allow that process to work.

[alleyyooper]

Farmer dale The right and legal way you have started with signage with no trespassing and no hunting. That's the easy part. Next you need to see them and get the LEO's to do the actual catching. Of course you can have pictures to show proof and help the LEO's to id them.

I no longer give a warning to those who trespass on my place. Usually just get veiled threats in return for my trouble. A friend was having trouble so he parked his big chisel plow in the drive way of the field so they couldn't leave, They were cops.

Here in Michigan you can not hunt from a motorized any thing unless you have a handicap permit.


Al

[fishhead]

What happened to the trespassing cops?

[bowdonkey]

Originally Posted by fishhead

I've been told that ATV tires pick up loose wire laying on the ground. Then they stop turning.

Snowmobiles too!

[Living Skies]

I wish I had your hundreds of acres but even on my small little 15 acres I know how you feel. I've come home to fresh tracks through snow and/or mud right through my yard, across my pasture. I've caught people well after legal light tearing through neighbors fields right behind my house. Myself and my dogs have almost been hit on a couple of occasions as the access to these fields runs right along one side of my property and they come up over the hill going way too fast.

We have a good population of Moose and deer, I'm all for hunting, it's how I grew up and would never want to take away anyones right to do so however...I believe in following the law and giving fair chase. Chasing Moose in pitch black less than 100 yards from my house and on marked "no hunting" land is not fair chase. For me I now have game cams set up in spots where I can catch vehicles coming and going, I've shown these to my neighbor who is not pleased to say the least. He lives close by but well out of sight and didn't know just how bad it was.

I highly recommend game cams, in small communities it isn't hard to recognize vehicles and faces and when word gets around of certain individuals breaking the law it's very hard for them to hide.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I live in south central Sask. We are lucky to have the abundance of wildlife we have here and I hate people who abuse it.

[Chaty]

I live here in Kansas and when the river is low people think they can cross and hunt on our property. We have caught them and told them there is No Hunting here! Theey will stand and argue with you saying they have permission. I have been told by the Game warden to do what I need to do till he gets there. Sheriff said the same thing as it takes at least 30 to 45 minutes to get here. they cross fences and we have our trees painted purple that says means No hunting but people just don't care! We also have what we call Trophy Hunters here also that will drive the backroads and shoot a deer just for the head and leave the rest. I hate those people as it really screws up things for people that hunt legally.
I have caught poacher on my property and even told them I can confiscate their property for hunting here illegally. I have gotten a few nice hunting blinds that way and left a note saying if you want it back come to the house. No one has come to get their stuff. I do check the property a lot but sometimes you just cant catch all of them
Some people just don't care!

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Originally Posted by farmerDale

Worst thing is, I have a great relationship with our game wardens, and they patrol the area a fair enough amount. I would hate to stab their tires. I think I will simply patrol now and then and scare folks away. I dunno.

See that's why i said not sure how it is where your at , cause here a warden on private property without probable cause or permission is still trespassing.

I have never seen a warden in the woods , I have had my license checked a few times when we were on the road , or in the front yard but never in the woods


I was talking with our warden back in august , the futility of his job is interesting as it pertains to trespassing , he can not write a ticket or make an arrest for trespassing , that is the jurisdiction of the sheriff

even the sheriff needs probably cause to do anything much more than come to your door , they can't even bring the K-9 to the door any more to get a sniff of whatever the occupant of the house might be smoking that is illegal . Anonymous tips can them probable cause in some cases.

like others have said the Game cams give evidence that we just couldn't get easily in the past so most of the time the only option left was
chain or cable with something that can be seen on it like reflective tape or those little reflectors that you mark a driveway with to keep them from driving in , and give the warden a combination to get in if you want him patrolling your land.

a friend of mine used to have problems with people coming on his land fairly often he had it well marked and let plenty of us hunt it , actually he was a licensed game farm and had a group of guys out of Illinois come up every Sunday and release pheasant then go out and try and get them , we could go out after they had all left and try and get what they had left. any way he would go out and talk with people trespassing explain this was a game farm and that the state land ended over there at the posts marked with the game farm and no trespassing signs, they would give him all sorts of no this is states land you can't tell us to leave , he would argue with them a bit then go back and pull out his AK47 and a few magazines and hop on the 3 wheeler and ride around them firing shots in the air till they were high tailing it out of there. well at least till we found where we think one of those bullets came down in his roof it went thru the shingle and the plywood but never came thru the insulation and drywall.

another time he woke to a guy 4x4ing it thru his lawn , now he is a half mile down a driveway with a locked gate out by the road but if you drive thru the ditch then thru 80 acre of hay you could get back to his yard, well he grabed his shot gun and jumped in his truck , and after chasing them down the road a ways unable to get close enough to see a plate that was covered in mud he realized he was the nut driving 80mph in his underwear with a shotgun , and turned around and headed home before he had to try and explain that to a deputy.

he built a fence with 4 strands of barb wire around the entire place with no trespassing signs about every 10 post and at every corner , and had much fewer problems after that

[farmerDale]

This has become an interesting thread, thanks for all the input. I should mention, I have a game camera, but it is strategically placed mainly for my own hunting usage. If I were to cover the trails and access points to my land, I would need 25 or so is the main issue... There are just to many sneaky spots to enter my land.

The seclusion of our land, the terrain, the woods, and the number of access points is a big issue...

[littlejoe]

I've had problems with slobs, not hunters. But there are slobs in every crowd, eh?

A hunter has taken the time to know the differance between public ground and private. If they don't, they ask. I've never turned away goat(antelope) or bird hunters that ask, unless I figure there are enough already. DOW is not welcome to be here anytime unless invited to be here!!! I think they're govt run amock! Bioligists will say one thing, DOW goes in a different direction. politics!

[alleyyooper]

Several years ago I got a great laugh at a tale a friend told me. He lives on 40 acres divided by a road near Rapid River in Michigan's UPPER. He is retired so walks daily for his health and in the winter he and his wife cross country ski.
A Friday they had a late snow storm and got about 30 inches of snow. Saturday he cleaned his drive way and then he and his wife went out on their skis to open up some of their trails again. Some people from down state seen the ski trails on Sunday and parked in his driveway (House is 438 feet off the road.) and took off on their skis on their trails. He and his wife wanted to go out Sunday there was a van blocking the drive. My friend decided to fit their wagon so fired up his 7000 Ford with the 7 foot George White snow blower and cut a new path around that van totally covering it in about 3 feet of snow. When the couple came to his door and asked about help getting their van out my friend said as far as he was considered it was there till spring. Told them they sure would not block any one else's driveway that way. They walked down the road 2 miles to the village and called a tow truck. He loaned them a shovel to dig it out enough to hook to it and tow it out. The sheriff deputy arrived while they were digging and gave them a ticket for trespassing.

Al

[Snowfan]

farmerDale, thanks for providing habitat and being a caretaker of our wildlife. The people on your property are not hunters. They are criminals. You cannot, unfortunately, legislate common sense and courtesy. That is something learned by example. Good luck.

[fordy]

..................What happens IF you shoot their tires out as long as they are trespassing on your land ? , fordy