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Retrieving game law

M

MarkF

Well-Known Member
I’m might ruffle some feathers with this but I absolutely hate this law, I understand why it was created but I feel it gets abused and causes a bunch of issues that wouldn’t be if it wasn’t law. At my farm I have 6 neighboring properties, 3 of them ranging in size from 5 to 150 acres have stands directly on the fence line facing my farm, 2 of them really dont hold deer. On those 2 farms there’s a 99 percent chance if a deer is shot it’s going on to my place, the neighbors know this but also know they can retrieve the deer if there’s evidence of where it went. People sitting on the fence has seem to have gotten way worse in recent years and I believe it’s partially because they know they can retrieve down game no matter where it goes. I would love to see this get challenged in court, I don’t see how it could win. How can government force you to allow strangers on your land, certainly wouldn’t be acceptable if it was you house. Before anyone gets to upset I would never stop a neighbor from retrieving a deer that’s sitting on their side of the fence and it happens to run onto mine and expire but I am getting tired of the fence sitters. If this law was overturned it would take some time but it would stop a lot of this(and other problems like guys pushing out farms while pretending to look for a wounded deer). Does anyone know if any other states have a similar law on the books or are we the only ones?
 
100% agreement. That said, there needs to be verbiage in any re-write of the law that allows for game retrieval. I know you said you’d never say no to a neighbor asking, but that’s not the case with everyone. Game wardens can’t make a full-time job out of being personal escorts onto neighbor’s ground for game retrieval. I’ve got fence sitters on mine too. Like literally ON the fence. It’s infuriating.
 
I don't like the law as it's written either. At the least, it should be a requirement to notify the land owner. That would give the land owner the opportunity to go investigate and make sure things are on the up and up before they go in.
 
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What’s the definition of fence sitting? I get right on the fence but some will say 40, 100 feet off the fence is too close. I don’t like it but if someone is one their side, shoots the animal on their side, not much you can do. However, I do believe property owners should be notified if wounded game is being tracked on their property.
 
Windlooker said:
What’s the definition of fence sitting? I get right on the fence but some will say 40, 100 feet off the fence is too close. I don’t like it but if someone is one their side, shoots the animal on their side, not much you can do. However, I do believe property owners should be notified if wounded game is being tracked on their property.
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I suppose there are different definitions depending who you ask. I’ve got some pretty good neighbors who feel that a 50 yard-ish buffer is fair play. I’m in agreement with that, generally. I can show you two stands on one side of my property that are in the fence line. If they fell out of the stand, they’d land on my fence. All the timber and cover is on me. Field on their side. I think by anyone’s definition, that’s fence sitting. I need to go over to that side later. If I remember, I’ll snap a pic & post it here.
 
On my northern border my lines run east/west and north/south with great cover my side running each way. Neighbor has an alfalfa field over both fence lines. Had a guy sitting 30 yards over my fence shooting deer coming from cover into the alfalfa and returning to cover once shot. Pissed me off but….
 
I believe this happens everywhere. Check this one out. Ladder stand legs on the neighbor's side of the fence but attached to my tree. How would you guys handle this? I may go cut some firewood soon.


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tmule888 said:
I believe this happens everywhere. Check this one out. Ladder stand legs on the neighbor's side of the fence but attached to my tree. How would you guys handle this? I may go cut some firewood soon.


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That's a bold move on the neighbors part. Not sure what I would do but I think first tell them to take it down and show them the pic, clearly on your side of the fence. If they refuse, I guess it's going to escalate from there pretty quickly.
 
Makes it even harder to avoid when parcels keep getting divided up into smaller sections. Doesn't take much for a deer to run off someone's 20 acres even if it is good shot. Unfortunately not every deer tips over in sight. Frustrating for sure. I think everyone of us who owns land has the same frustration and every situation is a little different but I look at it a little different knowing a deer I shoot could just as easily go unto my neighbors. Fortunately we have some great neighbors.
 
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Had the same thing happen about 4 years ago. I took it down and laid it in my neighbors field. Wasn’t my neighbor btw. It was a guy my neighbor gave permission to. If he would asked I probably would have said ok as the only option was shooting in my neighbors field. The stand was taken, I assume by the hunter, havnt had a similar issue.
 
The problem with fence sitting is usually the fence isn't on "the line" Why I usually give a little room for judgement calls.

Those that keep their fence line cleaned give little options for those sitters

Also a pole saw cutting a strap looks like a critter chewed through it if want to "get rid" of the sitter.
 
a dude sitting 100 yards on his land shoots a deer runs on to me or WHATEVER in anything remotely close to that…. All good. No problem!!!!!
Then- if u been around this for any amount of time….
Examples like:
hey- the dude is ON THE FENCE. Not 20 yards off it- on it!!! And!!!…. He’s facing your land!!!! Or heck, I’ve seen em cut lanes to the other side.
Or- stuff that’s never been hunted in “50 years” but guys figure out u managed for good deer “I bet I can get a stand in that one lone tree on the fence”. Or there’s no trees & a ground blind appears on the fence - on ground that’s never been hunted before! ;) Or planting a plot on the border faced into your land. I’ve seen it all. Or…. For this discussion- guys setting up on your fence- knowing they coming from there - knowing 99% of the time the deer is gonna be shot and run back into that land. This ON THE FENCE ON PURPOSE stuff is what I’m talking about. Or planting a plot on the fence with a blind faced at your land. There’s a threshold of “come on dude!!!! Have a bit of courtesy or Integrity!!”

I get the other side of it…. U don’t own the deer. Some dudes can’t tolerate that the neighbor hunts. “That guy thinks he owns the deer”. I get it. & I also understand there’s some natural crossings or pinches around corners or by fences. I get it.

But- this intentional - sit ON THE FRIGIN FENCE & by definition vs being 30 yards off - u are giving up HALF your shooting area!!! Why? We all know why. & when you set up so close that you know the deer will be running back to the neighbor in almost every case…. Come on.
I think for any guy reading this it’s kinda like “you know it when u see it” where it’s unethical and “wrong”. & I’ll be honest- it does seem like more guys now “don’t care” if they are being unethical or being that guy “who cares? I’m here for ME & here to take”. & that bothers me that culture in general is just looking to be more of TAKERS than givers or even being decent. It’s not everyone & it’s actually a minority of hunters. But it’s a real problem. The same as setting up next to someone already there on public. Or sneaking into the spot they were at the day before so you can beat him to a spot he found where u know he’ll be back the next day. We all know it when we see it. All of it is in that same category of “come on man, that’s just bad choices & u need some ethics & manners”. Many of em do it, know they doing it but don’t care. :(

Now- when it comes to the legal discussion of “right to track” …. This isn’t my opinion…. This is my “pretend lawyer” position…. I think it’s got some real holes for holding up in court if private land owners wanted to push it legally. I can see it losing as it’s pushing some real private land rights. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong - I’m just saying- I dunno if it holds up in court if law is challenged.
The only opinion on the fence sitters & current law- the one merit of eliminating it is to discourage this growing practice of targeting sitting ON THE FENCE. it’s a problem. On the other side of it- dudes that have shots where a deer naturally travels “too far” - of course I want them to do all available to recover their deer. Im torn here. Magically- like the law to stay & have the fence sitters hunt like normal human beings in the cases they truly are being dbags. I want dudes to retrieve all hit animals and I want hunters to have some more common sense & integrity!!!! If more dudes continue the tactic & practice of intentionally sitting on the fence- this very well might come to a head and get challenged.
 
tmule888 said:
I believe this happens everywhere. Check this one out. Ladder stand legs on the neighbor's side of the fence but attached to my tree. How would you guys handle this? I may go cut some firewood soon.


View attachment 130555
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I had a neighbor do the exact same thing. I didn't call them on it figuring to keep things neighborly. The ground sold this past year and I don't know the new owners. Need to walk the fences again.
 
I like the law in general. I understand why some don’t. I’ve seen the other side where neighbors don’t have to give you permission to retrieve a deer you killed and that is absolutely rediculous.. I once shot a doe on my inlaws property in Wisconsin well over 100 yards from the fence. Was a perfect shot but the thing still made it on to the neighbors. My father in law and I tracked it up to the fence and all of a sudden he’s said well I guess we won’t be able to get her. Why?? I asked.. He said they’ll never let us go in there. I said who gives a crap and went 50 more yards and drug it back. Could the law be tweaked and require notification?? Probably could.. but what we have now is definitely better than some alternatives.. As far as fence sitters go why don’t both parties just accept the fact that your hunt could get ruined by setting up close to a neighboring property? Obviously a stand in a tree that literally has the fence running through it is questionable and probably not right but how do you ever decide a set back?? So my neighbors can sit just inside the the timber and target deer coming to and from my field but I can’t sit on trees on my property and shoot deer eating in my field?? How does that make sense? Where the deer will run after they are shot is a little irrelevant. I could stick a ground blind 100 yards out into one of my fields and shoot a deer and it’s 50/50 whether it will run to the neighbors and die or die in the field. I understand the frustration but regulating it is nearly impossible. Owning land did not gaurantee us 100% worry free hunting. As my old boss used to say whenever we’d complain about something “Oh, the joys of ownership!” He’d also say well if you don’t like the neighbors buy them out or stop complaining.. If you can’t do one you better just do the other.
 
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Not exactly the same issue as I hunt mostly Nebraska BUT I have blinds on my property that are very near the fence and others that are way off the fenceline. Both have a purpose IMO.

When I bow hunt I am typically 200+ yards from any boundary. but when I rifle/muzzleloader hunt I am closer to the boundaries ALWAYS orientated inward where the imapct on the deer is typically 100-200 yards inside my property. The reason for this is that I want all of my shots directed down and inward to my property instead of outward. I realized this only after nearly being smoked by a neighbor shooting off his property and into mine.
 
booneriverbucks said:
I like the law in general. I understand why some don’t. I’ve seen the other side where neighbors don’t have to give you permission to retrieve a deer you killed and that is absolutely rediculous.. I once shot a doe on my inlaws property in Wisconsin well over 100 yards from the fence. Was a perfect shot but the thing still made it on to the neighbors. My father in law and I tracked it up to the fence and all of a sudden he’s said well I guess we won’t be able to get her. Why?? I asked.. He said they’ll never let us go in there. I said who gives a crap and went 50 more yards and drug it back. Could the law be tweaked and require notification?? Probably could.. but what we have now is definitely better than some alternatives.. As far as fence sitters go why don’t both parties just accept the fact that your hunt could get ruined by setting up close to a neighboring property? Obviously a stand in a tree that literally has the fence running through it is questionable and probably not right but how do you ever decide a set back?? So my neighbors can sit just inside the the timber and target deer coming to and from my field but I can’t sit on trees on my property and shoot deer eating in my field?? How does that make sense? Where the deer will run after they are shot is a little irrelevant. I could stick a ground blind 100 yards out into one of my fields and shoot a deer and it’s 50/50 whether it will run to the neighbors and die or die in the field. I understand the frustration but regulating it is nearly impossible. Owning land did not gaurantee us 100% worry free hunting. As my old boss used to say whenever we’d complain about something “Oh, the joys of ownership!” He’d also say well if you don’t like the neighbors buy them out or stop complaining.. If you can’t do one you better just do the other.
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I think you should be able to retrieve a legally shot animal. I also think the land owner should be notified before you can go on their land. in my opinion that would eliminate most issues.
 
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