What would you have done? (long)

[Limb Chicken]

Guys,
I need to know what you would have done in a situation I had when my buddie and I were taking down tree stands this year.

We have been bowhunting a property for around six or seven years now with exclusive permission. There are two landowners and they want no one else on their land. Well, when we were taking down our tree stands we ran across one that wasn't ours. Called both land owners as well as a landowner to the north and none of them knew whose it was. The land owner to the north said the only one that had permission to hunt was his son-in-law and he said he knew he wasn't suppose to go on the grounds that we have permission to hunt.

Well we took the stand down after cutting the lock. I am not the kind of person who takes things and I don't want any bad feelings or any of our stands disappearing. If I could figure out whose stand it was I would return it and chalk it up to bad judgement on the trespassers part. We also have never had this problem, the land owners in area all know the situation and if ever we have a deer that dies on their land we always call them before we cross the fence.

What would you guys have done different or suggest we do now. We thought about turning it into the local DNR officer but we didn't want it to take it to that level we also thought about a letter to the tree it was on but who ever it was knew they weren't suppose to be in there hell, they were a good two-hundred yards into the property.

I guess I just wanted to hear your opinions on how it was handled. I am thinking about calling the surrounding land owners again and asking if it is theres or any one they might know and let them know that we respect their property and we expect the same.

The landowner did want the stand taken down but told us to keep the stand.

Thanks in advance for the responses.

Go Early, Stay Late... Limb Chicken

 

[Daver]

Judging by your account of the situation, I think you reacted in a very reasonable fashion. IMHO, it was very wise of you to contact the landowners prior to removing the stand.

Speaking from personal experience, you just never know when a long lost cousin or nephew or family friend or whatever will show up to hunt and if you jerked their stand out of the woods and it turned out to be a valid misunderstanding, well you may be the one not hunting there next year, etc.

I agree with the advice given to put a note on the tree to let the apparent offender know what happened. If you are not contacted within a couple of months, I say you have a new stand. Even though this person certainly appears to be in the wrong, they still may have been ignorant to the actual circumstances. Who knows, maybe their buddy told them something along the lines of, "I have permission over there, why don't you go ahead, I know the landowner, he won't care...". By leaving the note, if there is a legimate explanation then the person can still recover their stand and learn where not to be next year.

The key though is to keep the landowner(s)involved and to make sure they are comfortable with your approach. Maybe the apparent trespasser is the kid down the road that helps the farmer do chores and made a few assumptions, maybe the landowner doesn't want trouble with the "neighbors" even if they are in the wrong, etc.

PS. Can I have my stand back?

PSS. Just kidding on getting the stand back, haha.

 

[Limb Chicken]

Thanks for the responses guys. I also want to state again that both of the landowners that have given me permission wanted the stand taken down and they assured me that there was to be no one but myself and my buddy hunting their land. If either would have hesitated I would have never touched it. These are also longtime friends that are owners and we interact on a fairly regular basis so if my hunting privilages were in any way in jeopardy I would know about it, that is a non-issue.

Kelcher,
The only people that are suppose to gun hunt are the landowners group which once in a great while when I am not duck hunting I join and he called and asked them and no one put one up . That was my first thought too about the but I have known them all for a lot of years and none of them knew anything about the stand.

The land owner also stayed out all day first season gun to see if anyone came looking for the stand and he was going to charge them with tresspassing but no one ever showed.

I am not looking for a confrontation. I just want to know what the circumstances are. We have caught the "son-in-law" in there before and he said right away he knew he didn't have permission to be in there and he was just looking for sign. We let it go at that. I just don't want any hard feelings between the adjoining land owners, that is the long and short of it.

Again, thanks for the responses and am looking forward to more.

Go Early, Stay Late... Limb Chicken

[This message has been edited by Limb Chicken (edited 12-20-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Limb Chicken (edited 12-20-2001).]

 

[luvtohunt]

you handled that situation very well, i had a similiar situation, only the land owner told me to take the stand and dismantle it. i didn't but he did, only to find out that his own son-in-law had put the stand up. obviously that put me in a tough situation. wish i would have handled it better.

 

[RTN]

Had the same thing happen on a lease of ours. We left a note saying "you are trespassing on private land if you want your stand back call me at......" Note stayed there for the longest time but no one ever called. I guess he figured he'd just cut his losses and not risk any more trouble.

 

[AJ]

I probably would have left a note on the tree telling him what happened to his stand and give him a chance to get it back from you. This way he would know that it was his own actions that brought about the removal of his stand, not theft.

However, he would have to have a good reason why he put it there (confused about property lines, permission given to him by someone who didn't have the power, etc.)and this guy would definitely have to pass the "attitude test" or you I would probably try to charge him with tresspassing.

AJ

 

[kelcher]

That is an interesting situation. I am just glad that you called the land owners and tried to find out if someone had good reason to have that stand in there. I bowhunt a property that anoher group shotgun hunts on during 1st season. I hunted on that land up until a week before 1st season and then hunted it during 2nd season shotgun. When I went to sit in my stand, it was gone. I called the landowner as well as the neighboring landowners to see if someone accidentally took it or if they saw anything suspicious. Neither landowner knew anything about it. I asked for the names and phone numbers of the group that hunted the property 1st season and called them. Apparently one of the guys in their group didn't think my stand belonged there so he took it home with him. I ended up getting my stand back with many apologies from the uncle of the guy that took it, but I was still pissed. I guess I would suggest keeping an eye on the stand if possible to let the person who put it there know that they are not welcome or maybe leaving a note on the stand letting them know that they will be charged with trespassing if the stand isn't removed. If someone would've left a note on my stand I am sure that I could have straightened everything out with a lot less confusion and bad feelings. If you are the landowner, then I think that you should have the right to pull any stand down that you think doesn't belong and the person who put it there can call you if they want it back and they have the balls to approach you. Sorry for the length of this one, you just hit on a fresh sore spot.

 

[IaCraig]

I ditto AJ's response. I had a similar situation once where the land owner said no-one else had permission. So I stuck a piece of Duct tape to his seat. On the duct tape I wrote "either take down the stand or call me at xxx-xxxx" .

He took it down, and neither the farmer or I ever figured out who it was.

IaCraig

 

[muddy]

I like the idea of putting the note on the tree but then you have to deal with the elements taking away the note. I think you're handling the situation pretty well since the "mystery" hunter hasn't come back. You'd think that if the stand was the one landowners son in law he'd know something about it being there. It's a tough judgement call since the retaliation could mean getting your stands stolen or even tossed from the property in an extreme situation. Keep it professional if a confrontation arises, you never know what a person will do these days.

MW