Legal?? Ethical??

[bowman]

My landowner asked me to take a look at some cameras that someone set up pointing on to his property. The hunter has permission along the one corner of the section that my landowner doesn't own which consists of a field with a brushy creek line on one of the boundries.

I went out to take a look and found three cameras within a 30 yard stretch where the creek line meets my hunting property. All of the cameras are on fence posts on the property line and aim somewhat towards my landowners property but this is what I found on the corner post.

The photo is facing slightly northwest with due north being the double trees to the right of the post. The cornerpost is on his (the camera owner's) SW corner of the property he hunts. So the camera is aiming totally onto property that he cannot hunt or be on. Technically he probably reached over the post and set the camera so he might not have tresspassed to get it there, but it cannot take a photo on the property that he has to hunt.

Legal? Maybe. Ethical? I sure wouldn't do it.

The other interesting part is that it is one of the cams with the wandering eye. You can see in this photo that it rotated to take my photo as I took a photo of my own. It was kind of creepy feeling, like I was being watched by a robot.

 

[turkeyriver]

Falls in the same category as glassing from the road. Not illegal to glass property you can't hunt, but if it's your property it makes you nervous.

 

[in2harrisonCO]

I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[LYON]

Make a big plywood no hunting sign and go set it right in front of the camera. About 2 feet away!

I doubt there's anything illegal about setting the camera like that but like you said its pretty borderline on ethics. BUT, all he's trying to do is take an inventory on deer just like we all like to do. As long as he's not hunting over the fence is it really hurting anything? No. Annoying? Yes.

 

[Central Iowa]

Wayne, I guess if you want to get down to the details are they on his legal fence? From center to right facing the fence is legally your land owners (unless legally recorded differently). I think I would ask the guy to move them off the fence if that's the case. Other than that's it's the same as all the other cameras in our world these days. You could set something in front of them to block the view as mentioned before if you feel strongly against them but would guess that could easily be countered by moving the cameras and it would become a game.

 

[MN Hunter]

Walk by it daily or put a round bale in front of it. Or get a pic and stic and have a camera facing theirs. They will get the message.

 

[ReinertsonTaxidermy]

That is a fancy camera and he has her locked up pretty good. Does he know you or that you hunt there? Im guessing there must be a doozy in the area for that kind of recon.

 

[mplane72]

Looks to me like the guy just picked what he thought would be a high traffic location to get some pics. No way to know his true intentions until you talk to him. I agree it is bad form to be pointing solely onto ground he can't hunt.

 

[wapsi-bottom-BP]

I think that putting a huge sign or bale in front of it or walking by it everyday is much more "unethical" (borderline hunter harrasment) than a guy having a trail cam facing into n open ag field! No evidence of him hunting or shooting anything that direction. Not knowing the area, but I would think that the deer would use the brushy creek line to move, which would put them in his legal hunting area. . Id say he is just taking inventory out in the field where they r feeding.

 

[Bowtech84]

Maybe he's having trouble with trespassing and put the cameras up to help keep tabs on people not deer?

 

[MNbuckhunter]

Looks to me like the guy just picked what he thought would be a high traffic location to get some pics. No way to know his true intentions until you talk to him.

I agree with talking to him. That would really bother me BUT, your best bet would be to go talk to the guy and get to know him a bit. Making friends would be a much better outcome than making enemies. You will know right away what kind of guy you're dealing with...

 

[kellyprymek]

I see no problem with this as long as it's not pointed at a house or something like that it is not illegal and I my opinion it is ethical. The hunter has done nothing wrong unless that fence is not on a property line which you said it was. Fences are most of the time split by land owners and shared ownership goes along with that. Maybe he just wants pictures of the front of the deer before it jumps the fence rather then the ass end of the deer going away from the fence. As long as he is not shooting over the property line whys the problem.

sent from super hunters I phone

 

[Liv4Rut]

The worst thing a guy could do in my opinion is do something rash that will PEE the guy off. I would find the guy and talk to him about it. Make a sign with your contact info and let the cam take a pic. Have him call you. Let him know your concerns. There is nothing worse than a bad neighbor.

I have seen guys going squirrel hunting during the rut just to screw with a certain bowhunter. Then when the squirrel hunter was late muzz hunting, the bow hunter started rabbit hunting everyday. Just to mess eachother up. Not good.

 

[AZHunter]

As evidenced by the various replies here, Wayne, ethics is a personal opinion. What one person sees as unethical, the next guy in line sees no problem with. That's far from uncommon. I will say that my opinion leans towards the unethical side of things. I certainly wouldn't place a camera looking at a property I can't hunt. Seems like there are plenty of places to put it along the funnel to inventory what's moving where you can hunt. While I know how calm and level-headed you are, you certainly don't want to start a war. Like others have suggested, find a way to talk to the guy, or have your landowner do it (he'd intimidate me; at least he used to when I worked for him).

 

[Mike311]

Why would you even think about this? Not a big deal.

 

[hoosierhunter]

Yeah it really all depends on the person. Talking to the guy is the right answer. It's also important to not have a poor attitude to start. The worst thing is to approach with a closed mind, but also the toughest thing not to do. The guy might turn up ok or he might not.

My thought is that the guy caught a good buck moving there to put out 3 cameras in 30 yards. That's overkill unless you are planing on hunting a ground blind right on that fence line...

Regardless of the outcome I would deter deer movement from that area completely for the time being.....

 

[JNRBRONC]

Wonder if he pulls the cam after looking at the picture of you taking a picture?

 

[KnuckleDragr]

The worst thing a guy could do in my opinion is do something rash that will PEE the guy off. I would find the guy and talk to him about it. Make a sign with your contact info and let the cam take a pic. Have him call you. Let him know your concerns. There is nothing worse than a bad neighbor.

I have seen guys going squirrel hunting during the rut just to screw with a certain bowhunter. Then when the squirrel hunter was late muzz hunting, the bow hunter started rabbit hunting everyday. Just to mess eachother up. Not good.

,.....Right on

 

[Daver]

I think that putting a huge sign or bale in front of it or walking by it everyday is much more "unethical" (borderline hunter harrasment) than a guy having a trail cam facing into n open ag field! No evidence of him hunting or shooting anything that direction. Not knowing the area, but I would think that the deer would use the brushy creek line to move, which would put them in his legal hunting area. . Id say he is just taking inventory out in the field where they r feeding.

I'd lean this way too, unless it is apparent that he is violating a law I would let it ride. I might make sure I knew the identity of this person though, just in case, and let him know who you are too in a gentlemanly fashion. IF this person was so inclined, it would be harder for him to trespass, disturb your stands or cameras, etc, if he knows who you are and that you know who he is. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

Although I am a strong believer in private property rights, I hope we do not get to the point where we cannot LOOK onto someone else's property. Because right there, I would have to start watching the road more when I am driving down the interstate!!

 

[bowmaker]

I gotta agree with Daver! How far do we need to go to protect and safeguard "OUR" free roaming deer as they move around and across property lines? While I would not have done this, I don't use cameras at all, so it really is not an issue until the fence is crossed on purpose for the sake of shooting a deer.