# Advice on trespassers/thieves



## icefisherman4life (Aug 5, 2007)

My cousin and myself got permission from a place to hunt its about 200 acres. the only ones with permission to hunt it is us. Well my cousin got into a argument with the neighbor guy the other week saying he was trespassing on his property that he was on his property. My cousin showed him a map with outlined property lines given to us by the landowner and we also looked it up on the internet. So after time arguing the guy left and then in the next couple days he posted signs on the property that wasnt his. The guy owns about 34 acres. Well yesterday my cousin calls me and tells me that his ladder stand and trail cam was stolen. I wonder who took it? well he called the sheriff. made a report and wasnt much more said. he was gonna talk to the game warden today. My cousin is pretty upset about it he had a couple hundred bucks wrapped up in his stuff. So my question is what would you guys do? Would you pull a tooth for a tooth a eye for a eye and retaliate? Or would you just let it die down and take a chance of gettin future hunts ruined? and more things stolen?


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## nicklesman (Jun 29, 2006)

Lay low. Especially since you don't own the property. You don't want to cause problems between neighbors as it may lose you the property. I wouldn't recommend retaliation. you are then breaking laws and stooping to their level. Further more you cant be positive it was them all you can do is assume. I would chalk it as lessened learned and move on. Sorry about losses it sucks I know.

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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

As much as I hate a thief, I have to agree with Nicklesman. Dont stoop to thier level. There has to be another solution. Unfortunately, I dont know what it is.

I guess my first step would be to talk to the landowner and see if he would be interested in pressing charges for tresspassing.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

Talk with the landowner that gave you permission (written I assume) and see what he thinks, I'm willing to bet he's not going to be happy with his neighbor putting signs up on his property. Don't do anything to retaliate, you might be the one to end up in jail.


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## Sharp Charge (Jun 24, 2009)

Talk to the land owner that gave you the permission and maybe go to city hall and check the official plot map and verify that what you have is correct. It should have at least corner lat/longs on it. Then follow up with the Sheriff and ask if they spoke to the neighbor about the missing gear.


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## leupy (Feb 12, 2007)

The first thing I would do is to go and talk to the other land owner tell him that your equiptment has been stolen, (do not accuse him) see his reaction. Get plot maps from the county and make sure you were on the right land. If you are now sure you were on the correct land show the nieghbor a copy of the plot map and thank him for posting your hunting area. Depending on his reactions when you talk to him you may want to explain that you filed a report on the theft and advise him that you would not prosecute if your equiptment was returned. The land owner that you are hunting on needs informed of what you do. If after all of this you are sure you were on the right land and the other land owner stole your equiptment I will not tell you what I would do. I pay all my debts, sometimes sevenfold.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

Did you check with a GPS to be sure you were on the right property? 
I certainly wouldn't leave my stand and camera unguarded or you're asking to get it stolen again.

I wonder with 200 acres how you cousin even got close to anyone else's property line. With a neighbor like that good luck in recovering a deer that ran into his property to die.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

I would have to agree with Nicklesman & BassBlaster. Lay low!

By letting you hunt the land owner is not looking for any confrontations with his neighbors. I would however talk to the land owner and mention to him/her the reaction of the neighbor and the signs he put up and ask him to verify the boundries. Let him know you want to make sure that you were hunting on his property. If you were on the right place, the landowner may not like his neighbor posting his land and running his guest off, he may take care of the problem for you. In any event, I wouldn't try to retaliate its not worth it. Remember he lives there and can cause more problems for you.

Something similar happend to one of the guys I work with and it turned out he was in the wrong so he just moved on.


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## Taco (Jan 4, 2009)

I get so tired of this "repay the debt", "eye for an eye" crap. If you catch them in the act then call the sherriff, if you don't catch them then you don't really know who did it. You can assume all you want, but did it occure that maybe the reason this other land owner was so aggressive is that he's had some of his own stuff stolen? Maybe every year around this time he sees people "hunting" the land next to his and finds they are moving onto his land. Who knows what his motivation is...but to just assume that he stole your stand and then retaliate is beyond ignorant its illegal and overboard. YOU ARE A GUEST on the land you hunt and your gonna bring the fight to your landowner's neighbor...get real. Sorry you got your stuff stolen, but unless you can prove who stole it you either need to accept it and move on or find a new place to hunt. I can promise you one thing...don't expect the guy who owns the land you hunt to take your side, he's got nothing to gain by it. If he's going to get into it with this other guy its gonna be about something other than what happened to your tree stand. 

Going forward I'd suggest not putting up anymore stands this year...continue to hunt the land (you've got permission) and take a package of meat at the end of the season. Its a goodwill gesture that shows there's no hard feelings and hopefully you can trust each other. The meat costs next to nothing and it sure beats looking over your shoulder everytime you step on the property. If you plan to hunt this property in the future I think this is the only way to go or you will be fighting this guy everyday for the rest of forever. The tree stand is gone...you're gonna have to just accept that. Finally, I think it's important that you continue to hunt the property this year, even if its from the ground. Don't let the guy bully you off it, if anything get him used to seeing you. Short term pain for long term gain.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Taco said:


> Finally, I think it's important that you continue to hunt the property this year, even if its from the ground. Don't let the guy bully you off it, if anything get him used to seeing you. Short term pain for long term gain.


I agree with this from my own expierences while hunting. If you give it up, you'll lose it forever.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

the best thing i think you can do is just let the land owner that gave you permission to hunt know whats going on. then just move off the disputed land. you really dont need to be that close to the other guys land. then i would tell the guy i was sorry and that i had moved. tell him you had no intensions of trespassing, that it was an honest mistake. then i would ask in advance if i could retrieve a deer if it went on his property.

a few years ago i was hunting on piegion river wildlife area in northern indiana. they give out maps of there property lines. i placed my stand close to the line, because the deer were traveling through the swamp next to his land. i put my stand between his land and the deer trail, so hopefully they would run the other way. i got home one day, and my wife told me some guy had called and said my stand was on his land. he said he wanted it moved. but i could wait until i was back up there. so i checked with the station at the wildlife area. they told me the map was wrong and i was on his property. so i called him up and told him how sorry i was for being on his land. and i would move the stand as soon as i could. when we went to check in to hunt on opening day, this strange guy walks up to me at the check station, he asks if im sherman. i said yes, he went on to tell me who he was and he seen my license plates was from delaware county so he thought it might be me. he said after i called him he got to thinking i seemed like a nice guy, and he wanted to meet me. we talked for awhile and got to know each other alittle better. then he said i could go ahead and hunt his land. he asked me to come to his house for coffee. i went and he turned out to be a great guy. he told me i could build any type stand i wanted on his land. then a few years later he died, and i asked his wife if i could still hunt, and she said no way. so i never hunt that spot anymore.
sherman


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

i would ask the landowner if you could put up permanent stands? i can not for the life of me understand why people take stands out and leave them to be stolen? anything worth money has to be guarded with at least a chain and lock. if you go to the landowner with any type of complaint ,he may say it is not worth the trouble to let you hunt there anymore.


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## markfish (Nov 22, 2007)

well its every year this happens well i wouild say just let the land owner know whats going on and then go abought getting your deer,and come gun season you will know if that guy lets guys hunt,on his place, then and only then is when i wouild strike,after all i have hade mine taken one night i look on the other land and found MY STAND AND TOOK IT BACK,im not telling you todo what i did but whats mine is mine,and damed if ill let it slide,did i trespass hell ya just as the low life that stoled my stuff,but im sure of the land that i hunt and alwise know were im at to not hunt close to lines, and a nother thing hes got your stand and its around you have to put up with it till he forgets abought it then do what you got todo,but just remember this is me not you,so im not telling you what todo i just know what i do,but for now just bite yout lip and do your thing and get your deers down good luck,markfish


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

I hunt less desirable property to avoid situations like this.....I have access to a few hundred acres of woods in 3 locations I don't hunt at all. I used to hunt it, but the aggravation outweighed the enjoyment.

I always did as the guys suggest and moved areas, tried not to start problems, etc. I eventually found I hunt much more for the enjoyment and less for the deer anyway. I now hunt property that has fewer deer, but I enjoy it much more as I don't have to deal with these issues.

With 200 acres I'd say you should stop arguing with the guy and move off to another area on the property. If your both hunting that area you'll pressure it to death anyway...your better off to scout out another area and hunt it. 
Mention to the landowner his neighbor posted signed on his/her property and chased you off. I'd just tell them i moved to another area, but believe the neighbor to be wrong and just leave it at that.


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## icefisherman4life (Aug 5, 2007)

thanks for all the replys. My cousins ladder stand he had up according to the plat maps and all the "official" maps was around 250 yards atleast from the property line probably more. he talked to the landowner of the land where we have written permission to hunt. He said to let him know what the game warden says. So were waiting to see what the game warden says. The guy who owns the other property thinks that the whole 200 acres is his. He just owns that property theres no buildings or anything hes from PA. in which according to all maps and whatnot he only owns 34 acres that butt up to this 200 acres. Im going down tomorrow to hunt my spot is on the complete opposite side of this property so im anxious to see if hes gonna come over and yell at me. And at that time i will call the landowner and the sheriff. I use a climber just for the simple fact that id be pissed if someone stole my stand. Thanks for the comments guys.


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## Pastor Angler (May 19, 2010)

Call me friend. I will come down and lay hands on him, again and again and again and again and again.......













You get the picture. What are friends for?


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## Fishstix (Aug 16, 2005)

Similar story to Markfish...4 years ago, I had a trail camera stolen off my property. I was livid. I had an idea who took it, but I wan't going to accuse him of it because I never saw him do it. Fast forward 7 months, a buddy and I ask my neighbor if we could look for sheds on his property right next to mine. We walk around all day looking for sheds and low and behold there is my trail camera hanging on a tree on HIS property. I was able to identify it because I burned my name into the side of the camera. Needless to say, I took it from the tree and nothing was said about it since. I don't want any bad blood with him because he has let me retrieve deer from his property and I'd like for that to continue to happen in the future, but I have been very short with him over the last 4 years.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

If you really want to catch the guy that's doing this, set up another trail camera in the same location. Then set up a 2nd trail cam that's well hidden and aimed towards the first trail cam! The pictures don't lie!


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## icefisherman4life (Aug 5, 2007)

no doubt pastor hahahahaaaa...well we talked to the game warden. he told us that if that guy is on the property and he has a gun or a bow we are to call him immediately. and he will fine him. and if he is on the property without a weapon we are to call the sheriff and the sheriff will fine him. The property owner who we hunt on is pretty ticked off so oh well. We was told by the sheriff that they are going to be sending a detective out to this guys house with in a couple weeks. my cousin had a second camera about 20 yards away from the other one. If the guy woulda walked in the other direction it woulda go him on film. hands down. The warden said if we can get a picture of him on the property or a recording of his voice or anything it will be a open and shut done deal. I just hate haviing to play detective while trying to hunt hahaaa.


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