How to deter hunters from asking me to hunt on my land

[Flbt]

I did prosecute a couple and the incidents have gone down by 90% at least.
Lately I’ve had trouble with people stealing crab traps attached to our sea wall. I have to catch them in the act and a camera is useless do to the perpetual motion of the bay. This is a felony in Alabama and I can’t wait to catch one but they just float up in their boat, cut the line and they’re gone.

I don’t think this would help you.
I do know a old man that kept having his mud bug traps stolen out of a ga swamp.
He Cought a bunch of cotton mouths and put one in every trap.
After that they were never messed with again.

 

[Flbt]

I like that fl has made trespass with a firearm a felony.
Thats makes trespass hunting a big issue now

 

[HankBuck]

Somehow missed this thread. Makes me long for a simpler time. Reminiscing back to 1981, sitting in our high school classroom, not paying attention, thoughts of pheasant hunting after school occupying my thoughts and cute girls in class, my trusty 12 gauge Remington 870 secured in the trunk of my 69 Old’s Cutlass parked in the school parking lot, anticipation of hunting a freshly cut corn field not too far away with one of my high school buddies.

All the local farmers with freshly cut corn fields, always giving us permission to hunt after a polite knock on the door and respectful request. I always left them a cleaned pheasant after we harvested a few. A bygone era, times change…I’ll shut up now.

@BJH65 - I’m guessing you are over 70 years old and NOT from NJ — or both??

 

[Brent in Az]

 

[BJH65]

@BJH65 - I’m guessing you are over 70 years old and NOT from NJ — or both??

Not from NJ. Attending high school 1981 in Northern California, in a then agricultural town so no not 70 unless I flunked 10 times. Not so many wild pheasants there now.

 

[yamoon]

Public hunting where I live gets very little use, it’s like hunting on private land. I would never go on private property posted or not without the owners permission.

 

[Troubleshooter]

If I was to post a sign at the end of my driveway do you guys think a general "No Hunting" sign would stop people from driving down my driveway and knocking on the door or what would you put on the sign?

The "No Hunting" sign will not stop people from driving down the driveway and knocking on the door. CLOSING THE FRONT GATE will stop them from driving down your driveway.

If you have a driveway with a gate I’d keep it shut if it’s that big of a problem

Years ago, an old farmer told me that keeping the front gate closed keeps out a lot of the riff-raff. It has been my experience that his advice was spot-on!

A couple of other points to consider: Not sure what the laws are where you live, but here it is illegal trespassing just to enter a closed gate (locked or not), and that written permission is required for hunting (regardless of whether the property is posted with that wording).

Also, you can tell people that you aren't allowing hunting due to potential liability issues. A good friend of mine was changing insurance companies and the new agent asked whether he allowed people to hunt on his land. The agent informed him that if he did so, the company would not provide liability coverage for any accidents or incidents which might occur. (My friend now allows hunting only by his now-adult children).

 

[cash_tx]

Just stumbled across this video, and it reminded me of this thread:

 

[Ridge Runner]

All those sign, some being rather humorous, are good but this sign is a bit informative and a warning to trespassers:

DANGER
SMALL ARMS IMPACT AREA
ENTER AT OWN RISK

Of course one would need to do some target practicing from time to time just to prove indiscriminate random bullets may impact trespassers.

3 strands of electric, or looks electric, fencing with warning signs also makes a good deterrent.

 

[lwaters]

We had a couple hundred acres on a lake , and the number of times I had guys running
Hogs & dogs coming in by boat , and heard we have been hunting here for years
Just ask Mr what’s his name
We had yellow no hunting no trespassing signs and purple paint on almost every tree and fence posts
Old people , 20-35 years old people, teenagers, only way to stop them is have a speed dial with the game warden

If you have trouble with coon hunters . Let the neighbors kids have a trapline

 

[DLSJR]

@Hunt anything - Have You prosecuted any of the Trespassers you’ve caught? Especially the ones that claimed “So & So gave me permission”? If Not, you might as well Bake-them-a-Cake because they have No reason to leave….and all their buddies know You Don’t Prosecute.
Now, I realize that confrontations with Trespassers is stressful, some trespassers get aggressive, and Police or Game Wardens are Not always helpful. But, Nothing else works as well as Prosecuting and “the word gets around”.

This is SPOT ON! Many Years ago, on a hunting lease I’ve had since the early 1980’s, I caught a teenager trespassing on one of the ranches. I told him to lay his gun down, which he did (he was scared as I’m really aggressive when dealing with trespassers) and I marched him to my truck, loaded him in back, inside the camper shell and drove out of the ranch on a really rough road, bouncing him around in back with a loose spare tire. I got to a country store across the road from the front gate. I went to the pay phone and called out county sheriff’s number and asked to have the Game Warden come out as I’d made a citizen’s arrest on a trespasser and was holding him for law enforcement.

The Game Warden showed up, we briefly talked and he asked where this trespasser was that I had arrested. I said “he’s locked in the back of my pickup”. The warden’s eyes got wide and he told me “You can’t do that, it’s false imprisonment”. I replied that the trespasser didn’t know that and we went to the back of the camper shell, which I opened. Inside, we found a thoroughly disheveled young man who looked very much worse for the wear. The Game Warden, whom I’d never met until this incident, said “Hello, Skyler”. I asked the warden how he knew Skyler and his reply was that Skyler was his neighbor’s kid!

We walked to the front of my truck to talk privately and I said that I figured he’d let the kid off with an ass chewing and a warning. His reply was one I remember clearly even 40ish years later. He said, “I’ll let him go with a warning if you want, but if I do, don’t ever call me again. If you want to put a stop to your trespassing problems, I need to cite him and you need to follow through by having him prosecuted. Then, I won’t have to keep coming out on trespass calls. If you don’t prosecute him, your problem will get worse and you can have the Sheriff’s office deal with it, because I won’t come back. Your choice.” He ended up citing the kid and I did have him prosecuted. The problem went mostly away for about five years, until a particularly bad serial poacher showed up, but that’s a story (a damn good story) for another post. The game warden and I became friends and hunted ducks together for years, until he died. His son became a warden too, and we’ve been friends and hunting buddies for decades.

 

[30winmag]

Have a sign made up

“Leased hunting land”

Or Leased hunt club.

Or (Pick a name) hunt club

Or A-10 Warthog practice range

Yep guys who buy hunting > than a guy whowants to get a deer. I'll share the meat. Nah I'll get 10 grand. It's the same as Europe. You buy the game. Which.btw according to law the people own.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

This is SPOT ON! Many Years ago, on a hunting lease I’ve had since the early 1980’s, I caught a teenager trespassing on one of the ranches. I told him to lay his gun down, which he did (he was scared as I’m really aggressive when dealing with trespassers) and I marched him to my truck, loaded him in back, inside the camper shell and drove out of the ranch on a really rough road, bouncing him around in back with a loose spare tire. I got to a country store across the road from the front gate. I went to the pay phone and called out county sheriff’s number and asked to have the Game Warden come out as I’d made a citizen’s arrest on a trespasser and was holding him for law enforcement.

The Game Warden showed up, we briefly talked and he asked where this trespasser was that I had arrested. I said “he’s locked in the back of my pickup”. The warden’s eyes got wide and he told me “You can’t do that, it’s false imprisonment”. I replied that the trespasser didn’t know that and we went to the back of the camper shell, which I opened. Inside, we found a thoroughly disheveled young man who looked very much worse for the wear. The Game Warden, whom I’d never met until this incident, said “Hello, Skyler”. I asked the warden how he knew Skyler and his reply was that Skyler was his neighbor’s kid!

We walked to the front of my truck to talk privately and I said that I figured he’d let the kid off with an ass chewing and a warning. His reply was one I remember clearly even 40ish years later. He said, “I’ll let him go with a warning if you want, but if I do, don’t ever call me again. If you want to put a stop to your trespassing problems, I need to cite him and you need to follow through by having him prosecuted. Then, I won’t have to keep coming out on trespass calls. If you don’t prosecute him, your problem will get worse and you can have the Sheriff’s office deal with it, because I won’t come back. Your choice.” He ended up citing the kid and I did have him prosecuted. The problem went mostly away for about five years, until a particularly bad serial poacher showed up, but that’s a story (a damn good story) for another post. The game warden and I became friends and hunted ducks together for years, until he died. His son became a warden too, and we’ve been friends and hunting buddies for decades.

Good plan... If you don't mind going to jail yourself. Unlawful imprisonment of a minor can get you serious hard time. Might have something to do with the state in question, but I wouldn't risk it.

I did catch a couple of trespassing deer hunters a few years ago. I told them why they could not be there and told them to show me their hunting licenses. When they declined, I snapped at them that they were under arrest, unless I decided to let them go. "Now show me your Goddamn license! Now!" All of a sudden it was "Yes sir, and the licenses came out. I then had their names and addresses. Later I called the " Poaching Hotline" and gave that information to the warden. The poachers didn't come back.

Glad your incident worked out for you though.

 

[DLSJR]

Good plan... If you don't mind going to jail yourself. Unlawful imprisonment of a minor can get you serious hard time. Might have something to do with the state in question, but I wouldn't risk it.

I did catch a couple of trespassing deer hunters a few years ago. I told them why they could not be there and told them to show me their hunting licenses. When they declined, I snapped at them that they were under arrest, unless I decided to let them go. "Now show me your Goddamn license! Now!" All of a sudden it was "Yes sir, and the licenses came out. I then had their names and addresses. Later I called the " Poaching Hotline" and gave that information to the warden. The poachers didn't come back.

Glad your incident worked out for you though.

Yeah, locking that kid in the camper of my pickup was a one time thing. The warden gave me a lecture about not doing that again. I’ve caught a number of other poachers on various ranches over the years, but after that I just took their ID details and turned them in the law enforcement.