Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Poachers on My Ranch

apple sauce hurts when it comes out you nose. Damn that was funny.

for those who haven't heard about the new SOP for handling preacher problems:

air hose

recruit a law enforcement person in the area to hunt there by permission with the stipulation that he arrests anyone found on the property, he'll have you sign a deposition and then he can arrest away. I hunt many properties here with that understanding and have provided good scouting info to the property owners and most times have not shot any game, it's just nice to have a different place to go sometimes. If you stop off at the Sheriff's Dept or Game Warden you might find they will monitor who is on the property better than you could if you lived there..

If you are for the most part an absentee land owner, the best option is to contact the game warden. I would even put the feeder back up and let the game warden go sit on it. Be careful with confrontation as it is likely that your tresspasser is a local with plenty of time to start a brushfire or open your place up as a new trash dump. Another option would be to remove the feeder and/or blind from the property. That typicall sends a strong message of your dissaproval.

Put the feeder back up and place a sign on it reading, "This feeder is on private property. Please remove it."

Yes, say "Please." That guy is a local and you're not. Diplomacy is best.

I don't like out of state hunters in WV!! Most are rude, can't read posted signs and due what they want. I don't go to other states to hunt only fish, and don't keep anything. I hope we raise the out of state hunting license so high no one would pay for a tag!!! As far as trepassers go, I have many friends who along with me a relatives who just LOVE to chase and bust there A@# with the Deputy sheriff at our side. I have no problem with turning in poor excuse so called hunters!!!

Kind of harsh to judge everybody by the actions of a few!!!!I have found most out of state hunters to be more curtious than a lot of locals who figure that they have the right to go anywhere they want,because they are locals.There are slob hunters everywhere.

With family roots all over SE WVa, I have an uncle that had a 700 acre farm.. my cousin inherited it, along with the two farms his wife inherited, they have a total of about 2200 acres down there now...

Cousin Jim has had to post his land nowadays..

however back when people first started making complaints about trespassers, my Uncle Richard ( who is 80 now) use to still not worry about folks hunting on his land, by accidentally wondering on it..

however after he started raising black angus cattle and more and more out of state hunters were coming into WVa to hunt, it seemed like almost every year, he'd have some guy come knocking on his door, who would have his pants on fire with excitement...

then he would offer my uncle money to go up with his tractor to help him bring out the 'biggest darn buck" you ever saw that he had shot....

sure enough, Richard would get up there and there is one of his black angus laying on its side, either dead or breathing its last... and gut shot half the time as he had put it, with half a dozen bullet holes in it...

He reluctantly started to have to post his land also, he finally did it when he lost 3 cows in one season...this was back in the early to mid 80s....

the sad thing is that deer are so thick down there, if it almost like shooting fish in a barrel...

all of my relatives who have property down there.. get up in the morning or right about sundown, you can take your pick of bucks grazing that are easily within 100 to 150 yds of the porch...

the slobs have destroyed it for a lot of other hunters..

then they are the usual buttheads who retire and move out to where they always trespassed on everybody's else's land and then they are throwing up the NO Trespass signs, and bitching about the people who can't read them.. just like they use to do...

Every S. TX ranch I hunted had a poacher involved. Until the last one where the rancher lives on the ranch and knows all the neighbors.
What county/area are you in? I have spent lots of time in Alice/San Diego/Freer area and poaching was rampant there.
As far as advice, I would be more concerned with revenge of the poacher than others here. I have seen what the lower class "have nots" can do to personal property of the ones who have worked to purchase and improve.

stumpy

We caught 1 guy, who went away for a year and there's been no problems out there sense!!!

If you are out 359 East of Laredo my guess is that you are having trespassers from the colonia across 359. I know the hunters to your East and they no way no how will be guilty of trespass. If it is from the colonia they will continue no matter the consequence. When one is only five or six miles from Loop 20 you are really practically in the city limits in any event.

Good luck to you.

The only thing I have against posting signs on your property, is that it often is more of an invitation to poachers, as it obviously shows you have something to protect. I like the idea of setting up a trail cam and disguising it well (so they don't steal it), then take the pictures either to authorities or whatever. I also like the idea of maybe leaving a note there saying you took the feeder, etc. Try to solve it as civilly as possible, before you take drastic measures. Also, in Texas, are you not allowed to shoot any trespassers on private property?

All I know is an "Accidents Happen To Trespassers" sign is a must.

In my mind, You don't own it, you forfeit any rights when on it illegally.

Make sure your land is posted or at least clearly marked.

Keep the feeder, sell it for whatever you can get outta it. Notes are the dumbest thing ever. If you don't claim responsibility, the moron who left it there has no legal recourse against you since he can't prove that you removed it. And if he is dumb enough to confront you, call the cops on his arse and report him for trespassing. And in front of the cop say that there's probably someone else out there as well since the first moron had his illegally placed feeder stolen.

Your hands are washed, and you move on.

WVHunter: Here in Oregon, most of our hunting issues are with the locals who know the back roads, scout alot, hunt from the house, know almost everyone's and the game's habits, and even cooperate with coded radio communications on the where abouts of game and LEO's. That seemed to be the case too back in the 70's when I lived in Hardy County, WV, and many locals were quite proud of their exploits.

With the potential of having all assoicated equipment seized, it's a bad deal for an out of stater to sacrifice guns, trucks, optics, camping gear, motor homes, and 4-wheelers.

Due to public pressure, out of staters are not especially welcome in Oregon, as they are only allowed 5% of the tags for limited entry hunts. I have at times been out with our wardens and heard folks complain about the huge numbers of non-residents. Scans of the tag lists usually reveal that about 3% are non-residents, and that half of those are relatives that return to hunt with family.

I suspect that a good portion of the non-resident visibility, is that they are camped in the woods for most of the season, while the majority of locals hunt from the house on weekends and evenings.

In the issue here, I'd be willing to bet we have a neighbor at work. I don't know if many landowners are actually following through, but many with larger holdings here, claim they are trail camming their access routes. Sounds like a good idea as long as a flash unit does not give away its presence.

M. Saenz: A ploy I once heard about for an unauthorized tree stand was to discretely wait until is was occupied. The landowner then passed quite nearby loudly muttering rants about how the Germanic tribes had been screwed in the middle ages and simultaneously firing an extremely loud long gun in random directions. He'd pause from time to time, walk backwards, do ocassional small circles, and duck behind trees as though expecting an attack. Don't make eye contact with your victim, and he will likely pass the word around that folks should avoid that crazy guy's property. I'm serious.

After that Hmong (or whatever he was) in Wisconsin (or whereever it was), if I saw you doing something like that I'm afraid I'd have to shoot first, before you did look up.

Yep, I'd probably shoot the crazy bastid also.

Having lived in South Texas I would say taking the feeder down and leaving a note would usually get rid of your problem.

They're either gonna be die hard poachers or your run-of-the-mill "he's never here anyway" type of neighbors. I would bet they are just neighbors that thought you'd never notice. And since they used a gravity feeder, they probably didn't have a whole lot invested in the idea anyway.

I'd advise the local game warden, but he gets about 10,000 of these calls a week in South Texas.

I would definitely not resort to anything crazy. It happens all over down there. The more you are away, the more people will take advantage. That's what happens when there's no public land.IMHO


Travis

Yeah. A Grand Jury, made up of locals, would surely be comfortable with that. After all, that's how it is in your mind.

yes, you keep that feeded or give it to someone you like.
Contact the local Fish and Game.
Post the property.
I like the sniper position idea but that might scare your deer and make your hunting harder this year.