OK, I do not know where to post this thread but I was turkey hunting so... I went up north for the first time this year to a property my family owns. I was the first and only one to go up. I set up my turkey blind and hunt Saturday morning. After a morning of not seeing any birds but calling with them I went for a walk to call from different locations. I then saw another turkey blind on the property line with a guy in it. I began to walk over to him because it appeared he was on my property. He got up and ran (literally ran) back to his camp. When I investigated I found his blind, a turkey decoy, corn, and liter all over my property. (Illegal to bait at all, not even mineral where I hunt.) I took pictures and walked around. Did not take his stuff, even though I would have the right to do so. Then noticed an atv trail that was ripped up and beaten down leading strait to his camp into my property. I immediately bought a no trespassing sign, hung it up, and went to go talk to him. He closed his door and did not answer when I knocked. I was not in the mood to get him in trouble or yell at him. I just want to let him know that I do not want him to hunt, bait and trespass on my property unless he needs to track an animal. This is not the first time this has happened and probably wont be the last. I have a ton of physical evidence to press charges on him but obviously don't want a bad relationship with my neighbor. When would you guys go to the DNR? The corn is the thing that scares me the most. attached are some pics.
This is infuriating, hopefully he's too scared to show up again but I have a feeling he'll keep doing it unless he gets in trouble. I hate trespassers, it's probably the biggest problem most hunters have. Good luck, I hope you scared him away.
If he's not man enough to talk face to face. Then I would write him a letter in detail explaining what you just said. You don't want to get him in trouble, but trespassing is not allowed nor is illegal baiting on your property. If it continues Charges will be pressed. That also you can meet him at the property line at a set time, ( you decided, and fairly quick to leaving the note) to retrieve his belongings. If he doesn't show then you will remove those items. I would definitely contact DNR and make them aware of the situation, so that there is a paper trail started and once you need to take action it's already in play. Make sure you document everything, and have a witness present, even recording the actions so he can't file on you. You might even have the DNR present if you meet him to retrieve his stuff. Keep a level head and good luck. Sorry that real men are far and few between these days.
By doing nothing, you can plan on him being back. I would at a minimum, take all of his stuff and leave it with the Sheriff's office and leave him a note as to where he can pick it up......along with a trespassing violation. Tell him you will give him a free pass on the baiting this time.
I wouldn't hesitate to call DNR when it comes to something like this. The guy had a plan to trespass and illegally bait your property so he will likely do it again.
Left a note on his gate before I left saying I would appreciate it if he kept his atv's, hunting, baiting, and hiking on his own property. Now he knows I have something on him so hopefully he will act like a responsible adult. Hes in his 50's and I'm 23. My generation is not all screwed up. Some of us grew up fast and some never will.
It sounds like you're taking good steps already - not making a rash decision and seeking wise council. He made a conscious decision. Even if you don't press charges, the authorities need to be aware of what is going on. Call the DNR. I'm a teacher. Most of my students are great kids. I do not let the few bad apples give me a negative view of your generation. Also, if they are crab apples, they probably came from a crab apple tree.
It sounds like you're taking good steps already - not making a rash decision and seeking wise council. He made a conscious decision. Even if you don't press charges, the authorities need to be aware of what is going on. Call the DNR.
I probably would have packed up his blind and gear, and had it with me when I went to talk with him, along with a few cans of cold beer. Hopefully bringing his stuff back would show good will and you would be able to discuss over a couple cold ones. If he wouldn't come out, I would leave his equipment, and head home with my beer. I would post it and probably hinge cut a couple trees across the ATV path at the property line. If he isn't cooperative, any future incidents I would definitely get the DNR involved, and if you find his gear on your land, have the DNR come out and they can take it back to him themselves.
I hate trespassers and last year during deer season I had a similar situation with a guy who crossed the boundary and shot a broken up spike buck on the property I had permission to hunt and he did not. I walked up to the guy and said do you know where you are? and he said the name of the property owner who he had just came from. I told him no you are not on that property but he knew that and was playing dumb. He said he just got to town and was leaving that night to go back home and just wanted some meat. I asked if he had a license(I am betting he didn't) because in NY you need to have a back tag present and visible you also need to wear orange. He had none of these things and shot his gun in my direction even though I was wearing orange. So I used it as teaching moment. I told him where the boundary was and that he was not welcome on this property. I also told him that there was 20 does running around all of which were bigger body sized than the 115 lb. yearling buck. I also explained that he needs to wear orange and have his license present on his back. Then I informed him he was lucky he bumped into me instead of the owner. The owner would have been not as nice as I was. Why do people have to be stupid and ruin hunting outings for other people. When the moment was done i told him to get his deer and get the property and do not come back without permission. If it was my property I would have turned him in but I just informed the landowner so he could talk to his neighbor and straighten the situation out. It pisses me off because I watched the buck for 30 minutes that morning and also watched him get shot by this outlaw. I think in this situation I would have picked up his stuff and threw on the property he had permission to be on before I went to his cabin and told to use his things on his property. But I think you might have handled it better than me kudos to you. He knows you know now so hopefully he wises up. You may want the DNR to make their presence known in that area and that might scare him straight as well. Good luck with this frustrating situation.
