RANT - Want to carry when working back fields

Have been working up the field furthest from the house. Have had to do several operations over the past three weeks. Several times, I found human foot prints, and other evidence of people probably hunting turkeys in the field. Were coming across property line from neighbor's place. Only one hunter has permission to hunt there, and it wasn't his time, as he signed up for this two weeks. Last nite, he showed up in my driveway with his son. Telling me that there was a hunter in a tent back in the field. Said they walked practically up to him, and decided they'd better notify me. Went back with my son and the two hunters, and yup, there he was. We kind of suprised him when we drove up on him rather fast, but quietly - sure clambered out of that little tent fast! Had entered my place from backside - from road, through almost 1/4 mile of thick woods/swamp. Sent him packing....

I'm now wondering if it's even safe to be back on my place unarmed... Think I'm gonna be packing, at least the duration of the turkey season. Would think folks would at least have the common decency to ask permission before setting up hunting on a guy's place.

PS: Was back in the field today, walked up on two nice toms, and a hen. Could have taken one with a hand gun. DIDN'T... Son went back there with car later, and they were right back there again!

I can relate,last fall I had deer hunters walking within 20 yards of my house(I have 40 ac. and the house is in the center). I don t think they will be back!

Trespassers give all hunters a bad name.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how anyone can be so bold to trespass.

one of my friends has people trespassing on his land and steeling the deer he's hunting. caught them one day on his property stealing his tree stand and a deer, dragging both up a really steep hill. He confronted them and said they drag the deer and the tree stand back down the hill or he will be dragging them back down the hill with the deer and tree stand. Never seen them again

Put signs up and then you can call the cops. With the signs up you have a legal leg to stand on but with out no. Plus you can take pictures and hand them over to the cops. I have had problems like you and have less now that I have the signs up and have had a few get there pictures taken and the cops have a talk with them. Or at least that is what the deputy said he did.

The DNR will have a nice talk with them and I dont think they will come back. I tend to take side arm with me during hunting season on my property.

There are some real jerks out there, and some real nice people. The jerks ruin it for everyone.

Ray, armed or unarmed is up to you. One thing is for sure, if you go armed and run into someone, being armed has a tendency to escalate things quicker, so be ready for that. I carry on the property but for varments, not typically the two legged kind though. Nonetheless though, if you ride up on someone and you are holstered or have a longarm sheathed on your tractor, on horseback, or in the rack in your rear window, that can gain you some respect, and it can escalate things quicker. Is up to you, but whatever decision that you make, be prepared to live with it. If someone is setup on your property in a tent and armed, you aint got much to lose because anyone that would do that has no respect for you, and I mean that in the most serious of situations, so be cautious. If I knew that someone were setup on my property like that, I'd first call the sheriff and give them first crack at it. I certainly wouldn't go back there unarmed to face an armed poacher, but that's me.

Can I make a recomendation since you thought about it and mentioned it? When is the last time you practiced firing? If not rcently, do it. I take my sisters and mothers out quarterly on my property so that they don't get rusty, uncomfortable, or unfamiliar with their choices of side and longarms. Quarterly.

Good luck in your decision.

Mark

If your place is properly posted, I would call the DNR guy or the local sheriff. The guys who hunt my property post it and run off tresspassers themselves.

I have run into similar problems periodically over the years. Solution is simple:

1 - Make sure your land is properly posted

2 - Carry a cell phone and involve the sheriff and DEC police the instant trespassers are spotted.

These guys (and girls...) live for this stuff. And they are VERY good at it. Simply back off and let them do their job.

Spook, getting law enforcement here in anything under an hour is not likely, tresspassers be long gone.

David, am long time trained, licensed for concealed carry. Also rifle/shotgun/bb gun/muzzle loader trained leader in 4-H. Training equivalent to NRA, if not better. Long time shooter, hunter, reloader. I really don't like the idea of dealing with armed intruders who don't have the common decency to ask, unarmed. Then there's those dreaded killer woodchucks! (ground hogs)

I would definitely carry a digital camera and take photos of everything and everybody. And pass that onto DNR or Sheriff. Don't know if I'd carry a firearm on my person, but I'd have it in the vehicle, you are still on your property. I'd also have a talk with the neighbor that owns the land they came from and make sure he's aware of the situation, hopefully they're not part of the problem. I assume you already have signs up.

What to carry... cell phone, toilet paper, water bottle, pocket knife, lighter, and handgun. Pretty much what I carry any time Im out of sight of the house.

I carry a firearm on me every day. No only as a police officer, but when working ground as well. Being licensed, trained, able, are all great. But you need to understand that you may be required to use what you carry if confronted. I don't know of any state that would not back you inside your own home, but outdoors is a different story. You do not have the expectation of privacy like you do in the home. I'm just saying use caution. A camera is worth 1000 words and criminal charges, a discharged gun is worth 20,000 words and a warm cell for someone.

Dave Diehl is right but.......A good friend of mine has the concealed carry licence in Michigan and he has told me numerous times that if anyone is a deadly threat on your land you can shoot them. (now any crook or loser has enough common sense to run from a loaded gun) so you may not have to shoot this clown. But I would carry a gun if I was you.
There has been a few times on my own land, (heavily wooded) when I carry a pump 12gauge with me while walking in the back, just to be safe. There have been numerous time while being outside, 50 feet from the house and burning up sticks and crap that I have a shotgun up against a tree in case I am approached by a guy or guys looking to rob me.
Bottom line: Be sure the guy is packing at least a knife if you drop him with a bullet.

I have noticed that some people are ignorant when it comes to property lines, posted lands etc., and they are the same kind that can be a nuisance. It appears to me that element will always exist, so a landowner does need to be proactive about dealing with it, as left unchecked, the problem may get worse, as I have seen here. Maintaining signage, and showing an active presence is important, as is knowing the laws in your location, as well as knowing what law enforcement will do or what you can do to support their efforts if they are needed. I don't like to sour the law people with constant complaints, "the sky is falling, the sky is falling' .... etc., but I have collaborated with them, asking and knowing what I can do to help. Things like photos and or positive identification are along the lines of what they are looking for.

I too find trespassers annoying, more so during any kind of hunting season, on foot or ATV, latter being worse. I always confront the people, first asking their name and address, and I'm usually quick on that to see what info I can get by reaction without them thinking. Most of the ATV'rs have been kids, easy to deal with and in recent times not many on foot, I prefer to keep things civil, just ask em to politely leave, because the owner prefers the place to be left alone and quiet, 90% of the time that is the end of it, most of these people are new to the are or something, though you do get a few ignorant ones, signs mean nothing to em etc.

Most who have encountered my, have done so while I'm armed, sometimes a rifle on a sling, other times something smaller and concealed, the latter being better I think, but I do want people to know the place is posted and patrolled or portray that image. I do not however, brandish any weapon or carry on exhibiting similar behavior, and I believe the law kind of starts to apply here in that regard, brandishing, threatening etc. when it comes to weapons. That is where a person must use care and diligence to not put themselves at odds with the law while in the midst of matters like these.

It is wise to know the laws, know what you can do and cannot do. Depending on the situation, or threshold of potential harm to yourself, adjust your stance, subsequent actions accordingly, use law enforcement for assistance if the situation requires, why put yourself in harms way or be the cause of unneccessary escalation into something dangerous. It is far better to be prepared on all fronts, use care in confrontations, keeping your safety a priority and knowing when not to do something that will jeopardize same.

I firmly believe that when you are alone and in the woods or desolate locations, being armed is a neccessity, so is a persons poise, decision making ability, discipline, and diplomacy when encountering strangers, being outnumbered etc., sometimes its better to report, document, photograph, than to confront, and or avoid same if you feel it may turn on you.

Most times these things are resolved quietly, its just the potential for encountering that one person or persons that will do you harm, that makes you want to be prepared, if those people did not exist, there would be a lot less concern about putting oneself in danger while dealing with things like this.

My farm is behind other farms on all sides, only access is an easement that is one mile long. No road frontage at all. It is a couple of hundred acres with a pretty decent creek running through it and approx. 100 acres of hilly woods running through the middle. All in all I have 11 different neighbors (all farms) bordering me.

What I am getting at is there is TONS of access to my property and a running creek.

My main worry is some meth head(s) setting up a lab and cooking drugs and me finding them one day over a mile from the nearest paved road with help.

I live in the city and drive to my farm everyday, my cousin lives there but works in a different city and leaves very early everyday. So I also worry that one day I'm gonna drive up into the "village" where my cabin and workshop are and find somebody robbing me or just some crazy deciding that he's gonna take up residence in my cabin.

SO, I ALWAYS keep a firearm with me as I drive up and as I am out and about on my property.

The laws in KY are that I am allowed to do so, check your local laws and by gosh be careful but be prepared.

When I was probably about 14 some friends and I decided to go camping. We got permission from a landowner and went out and set up camp in the corner of a back pasture away from the road and houses. In the morning we heard cow bells and then a somewhat angry voice asking what were we doing there? We bailed out of our tent and found out that we had unknowingly crossed the property line. The landowner, who we all knew because we were all in the same neighborhood, was then friendly and asked if we were going to have a fire. We responded that we weren't because the landowner whose property we thought we were on had denied permission for one. Well this fellow told us to take some rocks from the stone wall and make a ring and go ahead and have a fire. I think that he even went back to his house and got us some eggs and bacon. Not many of his kind around anymore. On another note I was in a back field way off the road one day mowing, and got almost all the way around to the front and in the corner was a blanket laid out nice and smooth. It was apparent that it had not been there long and was perfectly good and didn't appear discarded. I wondered What I would have found had I started out going counter clockwise instead of clockwise around the field.

I like having a good quantity of hunters on my property I know that way they police the place and I don't have to make enemies.Much rather have hunters than looney hikers and mountian bikers.All the shooting usally deters the Greenie types.

If you intend to shoot something ,make sure you yell "It's coming right at us !' as per Jimbo on south park ! lol

once had a neighbor cut a fence (mine) so he could ride his four wheeler on my land to bait deer and hunt them, WITH NO PERMISSION. then when I sent him packin and made him fix the fence, he told neighbors that I was too picky about my fences!!!

My fault Ray. I've been telling everybody I see to kill as many as they can,anywhere they see them. Just didn't know they'd go all the way to your place to do it.

When i am in the field 99% of the time i have at least my Ruger super signal six with the mag cylinder on the steering post of the 706 or 806 . It does what is needed from ground hog to yots. and vermin . Back when i was farming one place that was way out with no close neighbors and local law was about a half hour away if you were lucky the mini 14 was in the gun rack on the left fender . The land owner told me NEVER go down to the farm WITHOUT . Between the local biker gang and Maryjane growers you never knew just who or what you would run in to and this was before the cell phone . So unless you had someone with you you were on your own with the closest phone more then a mile away and the local sheriff was atleast 20 min. away if you were lucky.

Strange how things have changed in the last 40 to 60 years. When I was a boy (7 t0 10 years old) I always went with my dad and his friends to hunt. We lived in Carrollton, Tex and hunted all over the state and a lot of Okla. Back then we were running dogs for fox and had around 30 t0 50 dogs with us. We ALWAYS asked all of the land owners if we could camp on there property and asked all the land owners in the area if it was OK. Most if not all would come out at night to hear the dogs and some would offer us a place to stay in, some had old home places that were empty and old but dry. I can"t ever remember anyone getting upset about us on their property or shooting. Just shows how times have changed (and my age). Man, I sure miss the old days and Mostly hunting with dad, he has been gone for 34 years and I don"t hunt anymore but people were just a better class of people back then, Respect for others and their property has long gone. Sorry for the long RANT but those were (THE GOOD OLD DAYS!!)
Fred

I would approach any hunter the same way I would approach an armed intruder. Trying to be nice about it could get you killed or almost killed.

This guy by Salina KS tried to be a nice guy when he found poachers on his property. He appraoched them and was talking to two of them when a third came up behind him and stabbed him in the face:


http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/1968952.html

Nothing like listening to a good pack of Fox Hounds at night.Guess those days are gone for good,we've lost a whole lot in this country in the last 50 years glad I was raised up in those days.

There ain't much country left anymore that's for sure.

If I were to carry a weapon I'd conceal it. I agree about making sure you can use it and I'd approach any situation when dealing with a trespasser with extreme caution. If you're like me, just approaching a trespasser is going to get you riled up, just make sure you access the situation and keep your wits about you. Don't show or pull your iron until your forced to save yourself.

Had lots of those typs of problems for years. Bought the farm in 1960. Gave the area DNR officer the only permission for him and his kids to hunt. Problem solved. I don't even have to watch. He knows that I will not give permission to anyone else and most of the local outlaws know it and stay away. When the non outlaws ask I tell them no that the DNR officer is the only one with permission. They only ask once. I no longer find fence or hollow trees cut.

Hope you packed a weapon when you confronted the dude in the tent.

Caught a neighbor conducting guided night hunts on our deer lease in TX. We stopped him at night at gunpoint with three hunters in an ATV with a dog. Better be the last time.

Since our farm sold in 1968 I don't go waundering around the countryside anymore. Don't know the names of neighbor farmers cause they mostly pasted by now. Young folk living there now wouldn't know me from Adam even if I rattled of the names of every farmer in the township and many more in other sections.

I live in the city and only get out to the country to visit family in cemetery. Back when we were farming we didn't have much trouble cause about everybody who happened onto our land was people we knew and there was an understanding that we all shared the bounty of the land even if we stepped across the border now and then.

Times is sure different now. If I still had acreage I'd be acting much different than back then.