Hunt deer or hunt trespasser?

[hickslawns]

Okay fellas. Got an issue here. Deer hunting has been amazing up until the last couple of weeks. Coincidentely, in the last two weeks we have had a discussion with someone hunting the property line. He was busted trespassing last year. He is WELL aware of the rules at this point and i do not feel he is foolish enough to try it again. In questioning his "line hunting" he told us he has seen a couple guys with climbers sliding in the backdoor on us. Top it off with 3/4 of the bucks we had been getting on trailcam are MIA. We have had a trail camera nylon strap removed and the camera was turned when they could not get the python cable off. We have about 1/2 second worth of video of someone with a climber walking in. Most of this has been in the last 3 days.

Questions:\
Do we forget about the deer and wind for several days and hunt the trespassers? Rut activity has not quite kicked in just yet in our area.

Do we play the wind, hunt the deer, and starting re-deploying all our camera resources (and we have MANY) to capturing the trespassers?


Bottom line is this: My buddy dropped the coin on a property with the only focus of the property being a place to get away, hunt deer, and relax. It's sole purpose is to give him a place to hunt. He doesn't do anything else with the property. We both work anywhere from 60-100hrs a week. We have both spent money on tree stands, cameras, and put in tons of time on our tractors and skid loaders to develop this property in the last year. I feel fortunate to have him as a friend, a business associate, and even moreso as a hunting partner. We have both worked our tails off on the property. Because of this, we are both extremely pissed at what is going on right now. My name isn't on the deed, but I have done as much long distance scouting and leg work to prep this property for THIS time of the year as he has done. I feel I have as much at stake in this as he does.

With the rut fast approaching, I am not sure what direction to go here. I do know for a fact, he is in position right now on the ground. He left his compound at home and grabbed the crossbow to hunt deer on the ground, but his main reason for being there today is to locate these douche nozzles. Tonight, I had intentions of leaving the place to rest and hunting another property. However, if he and I stay off the property to let it rest and then other jokers are in there anyway, then it completely defeats our intentions of letting it rest.

 

[Schu72]

get the douche bags now before they ruin the entire season.

 

[Jackalope]

Ghillie suit and a 12 ga.

 

[tuffshot]

Go to the beauty salon and get a bunch of hair and sprinkle it around their stands.
They won't see any deer.

 

[epe]

For me it would eat at me until I caught them. I say hunt them- deer. They probably know where you normally hunt, so the ground- climbers. Try to get down there mid week if the locals know you don't live close. That's how I caught one during turkey.

 

[hickslawns]

Go to the beauty salon and get a bunch of hair and sprinkle it around their stands.
They won't see any deer.

Not an option. They are OUR stands. these jokers are either hunting our stands or bringing in climbers. They have NO permission on the property so this would only hurt ourselves.

Try to get down there mid week if the locals know you don't live close. That's how I caught one during turkey.

I am by the property daily at a minimum. Usually multiple times a day. My buddy calls me "The Sheriff" because I am on it like stink on ca-ca! It is within a mile of my house. If we are not hunting it, generally one or both of us is parked glassing from a distance. We are pretty aware of what is going on otherwise we would not have known they were in there.

 

[epe]

When you said long distance scouting I thought you.meant drive time. Where do you think they are coming in from?

 

[jagermeister]

I say bust 'em now, Phil. Let it go too long and you're only looking at more problems, IMO.

 

[Bowhunter57]

This is an easy one...do both. Shoot which ever one walks by your stand, but make sure you haul the carcass out before you field dress them...don't want to mess up the area. :smiley_coolpeace: You might have to exercise the SSS rule. :smiley_blink:

Good hunting, Bowhunter57

 

[Darron]

welcome to land ownership! No matter how hard you try you will always have that one person who will try and sneak past you. I live 90 min away and work full time so the locals (who don't work) know exactly when I come and go. If I had to guess it is probably someone local or even a neighbor. Do you have any neighbors that own small parcels of land around you? If so, I bet it is them or someone they know. I've been having problems with a neighbor who owns 3 acres next to mine. Captured a pic of either her grandson or her grandson's friend in there fall turkey hunting. Made a "concerned call to the owner" and I have yet to get any more pics.

The line hunting thing, although is BS, there's nothing you can do about it legally unless they are shooting deer on your side of the line. If they are right on the line and facing the other way they are within their legal right. My neighbor's grandson has a ground blind up 40 yards from my property line and I know good well if he shoots a deer with a bow it will 100% run off the property, but there's not much I can do. Fortunately, the blind is set uo literally in her back yard so I doubt the deer will use it during daylight hours.

Good luck with the trespassers. It's a never ending battle.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'd give up the hunting now and get this dealt with ASAP. It is early in your development of the property, so now is the time to establish your "don't fuck with us" in the neighborhood. I'm about to do the same for the third time since we go the farm. There are two people out there right now that I honestly don't think I ever have to worry about again. You gotta make 'em fear you, which for you, might be a tall task! :smiley_crocodile:

Lord, I apologize...

 

[CJD3]

Go after the men and make an example of them.
Word will get out w/ the locals.

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

yea, start acting crazy.

The primary piece of woods that I hunted last Saturday can be dicey. If you can recall, I bumblefucked my way into the woods because I thought someone was set up in it or in my stand (to my knowledge, they weren't). That was a pretty easy decision for me - the hunt the tresspassers - given that I had shot a deer that morning. If I hadn't, I would have been very bummed and pissed off!

I don't know if this works in your situation, but the guy that lives in the farm house (rents) keeps a great eye out on the property because he's right there. The landowner is very hands off, so this dude pretty much controls that block. He hunts back there occasionally, he's had a blind back there for 2 years but never a stand. More or less pushes it out during gun season if he feels like it. I was friends with his daughter and son in high school, so he loves me and thinks it's the greatest thing that I hunt it and have the sole permission to do so. Dude drives his truck around the country block and plows out a parking spot for me during the winter, although I've never asked. Anyways, someone snuck in and stole a few truckloads of firewood that he had cut and stacked back there. He went absolutely irate, put down a lot of spikes and barbed wire at quad level, and posted the absolute shit out of the woods, I mean probably every 20 yards on the road side. To me, that's a big thank you to someone who is always there locally and keeps an eye on it, and though the trade off for that is him back there occasionally, shooting deer, and cutting woods, I don't really care.

That's a long winded way of saying that the more people protecting the property, and close, the better...

 

[uglykat26]

hunt the hunters and get them out before the rut goes into full affect

 

[Mike]

Man this sucks.

 

[hickslawns]

You gotta make 'em fear you, which for you, might be a tall task!

Not a problem Jesse. They don't need to fear me, I am just the Sheriff. It is the town Mayor with his name on the deed they should worry about. lol. Then again, I have a backhoe at our retail location a mile down the road and if that is broken, my buddy has 5 hoes within driving distance at his business. hahahahaha

The line hunting thing, although is BS, there's nothing you can do about it legally unless they are shooting deer on your side of the line.

Not necessarily true Darron. Our local GW will write a ticket for it. His thoughts are "I know I don't always hang a stand so I get a shot head on. I like shooting around the tree behind me to block my outline. How do I know you are only hunting your side of the property?" I have heard him say this and know of people he has ticketed for this before. I am honestly not worried about the guy hunting the line. He was hunting the line on the property north of us. Fortunately, this 85acre property has one guy that hunts it and his goals are very similar to ours. Property to the west is 65acres and is not hunted. The property two doors to the west is probably 3/4miles to the next road and is hundreds of acres. To the south is our road frontage. To the east is a railroad. It provides a good buffer for us. In short, these guys are trespassing across hundreds of acres to get to the property. All trail camera pictures are on the west end so they are either walking a long way to get in or they are riding a quad in there or something.

I will continue to hunt them. Tonight was the first time I was skunked on this property this year. One month ago it was nothing to see 15+ deer per sit. Might not be in bow range, but you could at least see them within gun range. I didn't really expect to see much tonight as it was windy and I only saw 6 there last night. With the increased activity of other hunters it is getting worse and worse in sightings.

Tentative game plan: Supposed to rain tomorrow or Tues. I am pulling all non-essential trail cameras and re-deploying them onto this property. I truly do not care if we are not using them for deer at this point. We know which deer are in the area already.

 

[CJD3]

Good Hunting Hicks.
Bring your camera and some handcuffs (or just a couple of zip ties)

 

[ohio mossy oak]

: You might have to exercise the SSS rule. :smiley_blink:

That is what i was thinking

 

[Milo]

what kinda climber they got hicks?:smiley_chinrub::smiley_blink:

 

[hickslawns]

not sure. Might commandeer it if it is an open shot.:smiley_crocodile: