Deer Hunter Etiquette

Point is that hunting over bait is generally illegal in just about all states. Can't state that for certain but I know for a fact that it is in MO. A call to your local conservation guy or gal might prove beneficial to you.

Also, good fences make good neighbors. Electric fences make it even sweeter. We have a parameter fence around our 28 acres. We know who is supposed to be on our property, namely us, and who isn't, namely everybody else who isn't invited. We have the property posted and posts sprayed purple (a no trespassing boundary marker in MO) We also have our no trespassing signs marked "Game Camera Enforced" so if anybody gets itchy and does trespass, they should expect to have the info turned over to the authorities.

Your best bet is to give NOBODY access to your property unless it is to retrieve a shot or wounded deer during hunting season and then you would like to be called and notified that they will be on your property. That is just plain polite. Yes, there are polite hunters out there We are two of them. We talk to our neighbors before hunting season.

Hope you get this settled. NOBODY needs this kinda stress in their lives.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

Deer baiting and bear baiting is big business in Michigan. Now we have wolf baiting.

All I can say is I'm so glad I have good neighbors..

There's 4 of us in our holler... one doesn't hunt, and she allows no one to hunt her property..

The other hunts his with his boys but they live out of state, and come in once every month or two.. then the one on the other side of me no longer hunts and is only there a couple times a year, but has told me and the neighbor we can hunt their land no problems..

Me and the one that do hunt have come to the agreement we don't walk each others land, but if we see something get-able over a fence line, that's fine, and we can chase down a shot deer on each others property..

Neither of us allow others to hunt our properties either, so we know who shouldn't be there on either of our lands. We look out for each other.... Since we're at a dead end in a holler, we know that ANYONE there other than us hunting is trespassing since between the 4 of us, we own all the land in the holler and we're the only ones the other neighbor has given permission to hunt their land.

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Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

Well - let me say this - yes I wouldn't want people driving their ATVs all over my land and making ruts - but then if some hunter walkes through my property I won't get all bent out of shape - neightbors need to get along and sometimes that requires us to accept things that are not quite what we would like - I would ask the OP what harm was done by his neighbor looking over his property and putting a corn feeder there - nothing really - and then to some of the others - maybe that hunter walking over your land risked his life in the service so you can have your freedoms - we all have to give and take a little in this life - not always looking out for me - only - next time you see a hunter - thank him for keeping the deer population under control - we would be up to our ears with deer if he didn't -

Wow, really? How does govt service buy one the right to trespass on a neighbor's land?

And if it's okay for the trespasser to set up a corn stand, hey! Why not just set up a little cabin and live there, too? And surely, to be neighborly, we must allow him to help himself to our garden and livestock.

Where do you draw the line?

I can tell you where I draw the line: The same place the law does.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

Come on - a cabin and a corn feeder is a big difference - and yes there are people who gave a lot so you can enjoy the life that you have - why can't you let some hunter walk through you land - what is he hurting - now if you happen to be hunting there it might be different - even then - he probably won't effect your hunt that much - people today are too selfish - me - mine - that's why I think if things ever get tough in this country - it will be dog eat dog - no having served doesn't give a guy the right to trespass but it would be nice to be neighborly to allow the guy to walk through - as long as he doesn't distroy anything - if I ever see you stranded in a ditch on a snowy highway - I'll wave as I pass by - why should I stop and help you - no law saids I have to -

Joe-I'm not sure we are all on the same page here. In my opinion it's not the fact of someone coming onto your land but rather the fact that they would and are nude enough to not even try to find out who owns the land and ask them out and ask permission. I can't speak for where you live but here if you have this happen to you every year for 15-20 years you are no longer interested in being a nice guy 'cause all the times before when you were a nice got got you absolutely nothing. Still not one person has the respect to come to your door and ask if it's o.k.


Wade

Ask permission for crying out loud! Better yet, buy your own habitat. If hunting is so important to you that you think it is normal to wander onto private property without asking permission, put your money where your mouth is...

Another option, especially here, is rather than eliminate all the good habitat on your own land for the sake of grain growing, leave some so you don't have to sneak onto someone elses land, who DOES maintain habitat.

That is what a lot of us are up against. We feed the deer, moose, elk, bear year round; we leave habitat intact. And then the yahoos come and have the gall to drive all over our land shooting game. Often, these are people who have their own land. It is just that they have stripped it of any meaningful habitat, for the dollar.

Ugh. That is not greed.

You let one guy "walk through" then he'll tell his friend, then he'll tell his two friends, then they will tell their four friends.. FREE HUNTING!!!! Before you know it, it's going to look like public land on opening day.

You'd have to be a fool to let people just walk through your land.. .If they get hurt, then you could be liable.. I've seen too many idiot hunters who will shoot towards your house...

It's your land to do with what you want, but my land is mine.. I worked for it, I earned it, and I pay the taxes on it... Now if you want to reimburse me for using it, then maybe we might talk, but it's still highly doubtful.

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Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

A self-entitled jerk that served in the military is still a self-entitled jerk. All the same rules apply.

There are a lot of desk-clerks and other POGs that served a couple years and will ride that legend until it wears out. On the opposite side of the coin, I had a good friend and employee that worked for me for two years before I ever found out that he crawled through tunnels in South Vietnam with nothing but a 1911 and a knife, so that my mom was was free to smoke dope and party, and eventually get knocked up with yours truely.

Military service is valiant, but it does not erase all sins. Those that would have you believe that it does are guaranteed to be the least deserving of that extra leeway.

If my neighbor sells a hunting leas to his property, he doesn't sell the right of the lease to trespass on my property. That is very unneighborly. When I pointed this out to him we aren't on greatest terms. BTW he posted no trespassing signs on his place.

Wow - sounds like I hit a nerve - ok - post your land - yes it's your right - me - if someone walks through my place I'm not going to get bent out of shape - heck - I'll probably ask if they saw anything - wish them good luck - if too many guys start coming around then I'll probably say something - but one guy - ain't gonna worry about it - especially a neighbor - meanwhile back at the ranch -

JoePA - Private property is still private property. As an owner of property there are certain rights that I have gained by purchasing that property. One of those is the expectation that no one will unlawfully take something off that land without my permission and/or someone will not damage or destroy what I have developed/propagated on my property. As another poster stated one person walking across your ground will turn into two and so on. I speak from experience with both hunters and ATV's.

The hunter I ran off on Monday afternoon had the illusion that he was allowed to hunt there because we had in the past (last one was 7 years ago) allowed the neighboring gun club to run 3-D archery shoots in the back hollow of the farm. The gun club is very territorial about who hunts on their grounds; you have to be a member for 5 years minimum to even get in the drawing to get a slot. The archery shoots subsequently turned into us finding climbing stands, ladder stands and ground blinds on our property during hunting season. The climbing stands would be removed immediately; the ladder stands would be made unusable at first (take the bottom ladder section and support brace) and than removed and everything was taken to the state police barracks. A note was left at the stand location and the police would be told that the stand was placed without permission on private property. We have never heard any push back from those people who's stands were removed and word from the troopers is that the owners are very "sheepish" when they show up at the barracks to ask if there was a tree stand dropped off.

We continually have problems with ATV rider who think that the gas and powerline right-of-ways that cross our property amount to public trails with open access. They damage our crop/pasture fields, cause damage at steam crossing and disrupt our family being able to enjoy our property. Snowmobiles two winters ago beat a path in across one pasture field so bad you could still see it the next summer with the stunted growth. When I finally was able to catch that group; there were 20 riders coming through. They messed up their machines but good trying to get off our property using nothing but bare public roads.

The bottom line - private property means PRIVATE property; you don't come on it without getting permission first.

Me if I knw them I would let them hunt on my place as long as they don't leave there shotgun shells. And if they do get something they bag the guts and take that with them.

No need to get rude! I know it chaps everyones hide when a neighbor or stranger does something on your property without your consense. If this is something thats just happened recently all you need to do is pick up the feeder and gently lay it over his side of the fence. He should get the message then.

If he puts it back up, call him and ask about it. Let him know if its not removed in the next few days it will become your property.

Always go about it the nice way first. Then get riled up if niceness doesn't work.

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r.h. in oklahoma

Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.

i start out more firm than anything else. "This is not your land, it's mine. Don't come here without express permission, and you'll need a very good reason to get that"

If it happens again, it's "I'm telling you for the last time that you are trespassing, and I'm going to the house right now and call in a report to the sherriff's office that you have been notified to stay away. If you show up- here again, I'll have you arrested"

That was the formula the sherriff gave me years ago, and it has always worked. If stray dogs and such show up but are not damaging anything, I send them on their way with a bit of a burning butt, and tell the owners the next visit will be the last.

All of this with no shouting or histronics, just the simple facts. if they can't respect my property rights, we are not going to be friends anyway.

Yeah, I know, I might need them for something someday, but those are not the type I'd ever ask for help anyway, but they ARE the type who'd ask ME for the loan of a tractor, my tools, a truck, a couple of hundred bucks, anything they figure they could get out of me for free, so I'd just as soon they thought I was a poisonous old crank that hated everybody in the world. My friends and I know who we are........everybody else is welcome to believe I'm crazy......Joe

badlander, used to be that in Ohio you just couldn't bait deer with a salt lick. Feed was okay for drawing in deer. The rules this year don't say anything about baiting deer.

Normally if I find a tree stand or other stuff on my property it becomes mine. BUT I have a certain policy towards my neighbors, I try very hard to maintain a decent relationship and avoid those types of feuds because nobody wins them.

I would call him up and ask him to take the feeder down, probably give him some junk about trying to cultivate a decent deer population around the property . I might finish the conversation by inviting him to ask next year, but be sure to speak to me first because I will be hunting too.

Personally I never let anyone hunt who hasnt asked ( if I catch them ), but I always say yes when they do.

In Missouri you cannot put out feed for deer ten days prior to any hunting season. Right now we have a complete ban on feeding due to a localized outbreak of cwd. You technically can use salt licks and feed plots although you are not even supposed to be putting out salt for deer right now due to cwd. But hunting over bait equals a quick visit from the conservation Po Po if you get caught.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

So far no cases of cwd have been found in Ohio.
Deer corn and food bait is sold all over the state. Even Meijer, Wal-mart, and TSC carry the stuff.