I will and do hunt property edges every year. That is how I kill most of the bucks I do. I have one property where I do everything I can to improve the deer habitat and food, the neighbors don't do anything. I hunt the property edges, they hunt the property edges and we both kill deer every year. More often than not I think it is the peoples attitudes that cause the problems rather than the actual action of "fence sitting". You can't do a damn thing about what your neighbor is doing on their property, so just embrace it and hunt better.
I have in the past not shot a deer that came off my neighbors property or even shot at a deer facing my neighbors property. That was until his crazy wife started walking her dog on the fence line every evening I hunt. I am not that close to the property line. I chuckle at her when she is trying to see if I am in the decoy stand I set up for her.
I’m on the side of hunting your property in a legal way wherever you see fit. We have multiple stands right on fence lines due to the fact that there are no trees anywhere else but on the fence line. We face our stands out into our own property and don’t shoot over the line. People specifically make habitat improvements to draw deer away from other peoples properties and onto their own. Once that deer is on your own property, that’s fair game and you should be proud of that deer. Another opinion I have about this is that for people who hunt tracts 100 acres or less (the vast majority of people) you take the risk of a wounded deer going onto another property no matter where you hunt or how far away from the line you are. I don’t think that reason should be a deterrent from hunting where the deer are at unless you are certain the neighbor will let the deer die on his property and be wasted.
I don't feel like poll will give an accurate representation of the membership because of the wording of the two choices.
We have several farms that do have everything a deer should need or ever want and they still wander off on neighbors so that doesn't really matter either. We have one farm over 500 acres of the sweetest brush, coal dumps, water, crops, oaks you've maybe ever seen and a neighbor that has 300+ acres of crop across the road. This year I had 150 acres of standing beans on that property and still had deer every evening going over to the neighbors cut bean field right next to gravel road...
No, I definitely am not. I wanted to see if I was in the minority on this one. It seems to be a pretty decent and adult conversation. For most.
So you are saying to be an ethical hunter I have to wait till the dogs run the deer to my side of the fence?
I am open to edit the poll questions and I have allowed the ability to change answers. So, please explain. To me its fairly clear. You either respect a neighboring landowners wishes, or you don't. If my neighbor works nights and hates for me to crank up my lawn mower first thing in the morning, I am either going to respect his wishes or I am going to mow my lawn whenever I damn well please. If a landowner would get upset with me putting a stand up right on the fence, I can either back off a little or not give a crap about his wishes. But, again, I am open to considering an edit. I really don't care how the poll turns out. Nothing is going to change how I hunt and its not likely to change how anyone else hunts. I just found the topic to be interesting and maybe a bit of a litmus test for the future of our passion.
Well, you are old enough that you can pretty much do whatever you want and we will just chalk it up to senility. I mean, you are a Packers fan living in Minnesota, so I don't think anyone is going to hold you accountable anyway.
True, hell I can't wait to get the handicapped parking sign to hang on the rearview. I also need a cane to complete the crazy old man Sota look.
And I replied with my “adult” comment, all good man. Just saying you can only repeat yourself so many times on hunting fences. Everyone does things differently and has different “ethics” as you say. If it’s legal then let it ride. I wouldn’t go out of my way to hunt the prop boundary just to piss my neighbor off, but that isn’t most peoples intentions. That’s what your asking in the poll. However I do hunt boundary lines and if my neighbor is pissed about it too bad it’s my prop I’m gonna Hunt it the legal way I choose.
It is all good, because I did not imply anything about you. Not sure what you mean here? I was not directing anything at you.
Well you quoted what I said about beating a dead horse then said It’s all good man, it got petty. Good convo non the less, I hunt fences and I kill bucks bc if it. Hope I can use that tatic to kill one late season.
It depends, I do my best to work with my neighbors within reason. If I was asked to not hunt right on his fence I wouldn't, but at the same time I am not going to let someone boss me around on my own property. I would do my best to reach a fair compromise for both parties. I'm not a confrontational guy, and if I knew there was a good chance that he would be a jerk and not let me recover a deer on his side I would most likely hunt a fair distance away from his line. Thankfully, my neighbor has no problem with me going and retrieving a deer from his side.
Not sure what you mean disrespects me, but they posted their side. They had a corn field to hunt with about a 40 yard strip of woods where the fence started. Don’t know how they came to start hunting it whether through leasing, buying, or knocking on the door but they found the best spot their property had to offer. I just backed off to give them space to hunt some deer. “Bullied” no, act of “sportsmanship” yes. If in turn though they push their luck, well then I guess things would just even out if you know what I mean.
I have 40 acres, and hunt some edges. I've actually only had to track 2 of the 10 deer I've killed off that property. One I was hunting the edge, the other I was hunting in the center of the property. Shot deflected off a branch and I hit him in front of the shoulder. That guy went nearly a mile in total, but circled back to within 100 yards of my property line. I have solid working relationships with the property owners in the area. Some I will call first, others I know that they are fine with me tracking a deer.
So here's a scenario for you. Neighbor is walking in to his stand from the road, deer jumps out off my property onto the neighbors property, deer is running down the fence row. Neighbor shoots the deer which then runs across the road and piles up on a different landowners property? How do you react? Are you upset that he shot into your property even though the deer was on his? Deer was within 10 feet of the fence.
As long he has a clear shot and is sure that there is nothing behind that deer that he is shooting at then there shouldn’t be an issue. Its not much different then if he waited for it to jump the fence to his side before shooting it. As long as everything’s legal it wouldn’t bother me none. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
