PRIVATE PROPERTY/ BUCKLEY ELK!

[woodrat]

There is no way on god's green earth that I am going to open my property to any and all who want to hunt on it, especially not after seeing the kinds of problems that I've listed. If someone wishes to hunt my land, they can come and ask me, just like I ask any other land owner whose land I'm interested in hunting on. And even then, it would be really, really probationary.

I know people who have given permission to people that they thought they knew and trusted, only to have them violate game laws on their land. Apparently, something about hunting just makes some people lose all perspective and common decency.

As far as the no hunting/no trespassing signs, I didn't put them up until AFTER I had a bunch of problems, including garbage dumping, shooting at night near my house, etc etc. And at that time, I had livestock, too, and kids living and playing here. You don't like seeing no trespassing signs? Tough luck. I bought this property, I pay taxes on it, I live here and my kids will inherit it.  I have every right in the world to keep the general public off of it, and the general public has no right to expect or assume otherwise, let alone tear down my signs.

The vast, vast majority of the acreage in this county is either DNR or corporate land, and is available to hunt on. There is no shortage of land open to hunting. You don't need mine, too.

The next step for me to solve this problem is to simply gate off the forestry road that crosses my land. I have the right, stated in my deed, to do that. I've not done that yet, in deference to letting people pass through on their way to corporate land, but if the abuses continue much longer, that is exactly what I'll do. Then people can b!tch and moan about yet another gated road.

 

Those arent hunters those are *censored*es

Well, they're *censored*es with rifles, hunting licenses (presumably) and orange vests, and they're shooting at elk, so to the general public and local landowners, they all look like hunters just the same.

[mkcj]

I think that the person should be given a ticket for tresspassing and it should be up to the land owner what happens to the animal in ? Let the hunter keep it, Landowner can take it and butcher it for himself or donate it to a food bank.

[woodrat]

In the spirit of this thread, I went over and talked to a neighbor today to get permission to hunt his land which borders part of mine. He needed to talk to me for a long time, but he finally decided I was someone he could say yes to. I get to hunt only elk back there; he doesn't want any deer or bear killed on his land. I'm stoked now, because I'll have a backup spot for when the rest of the public and corporate land fills up with truck hunters for the last weekend.

While I was there, I got to hear multiple stories about people trespassing on his land, most recently just last weekend, someone drove a quad right up one of his driveways and around his locked gate. He went out in his truck and waited for them to come back out, even though he's on oxygen and in poor health, but they apparently went out a different way, because he waited until dark and never saw them. He was P!SSED.

Obviously the trespassing thing is a huge problem for landowners living around here. I would bet that nearly every landowner in these three valleys has had to deal with it at some point. One neighbor apparently sits at the end of his road by the highway with a shotgun on opening weekend to turn people away. Doesn't sound like he is interested in opening his land to everyone and making "new friends"... 

[runamuk]

I feel no trespassing and poaching is different and should remain that way. I'm glad that some and believe it's a case by case bases that those that shot in private land got to keep the deer elk etc. With so many no hunting signs up etc.. no wonder this happens a lot. Maybe instead put up a feel free to hunt sign, or something might make new friends.
I've hunted feel free lands many times and still have a lot of bad feed back from the neighbore who has no trespassing. I realise a few bad apples spoil it for all, but hate that and should be different. For those that rip signs down they probably do it out of anger because yet again theres a no hunting sign so while I dont condone it I understand it. So agian to you private land owner maybe do feel free signs or have some kind of regulated hunt and maybe some of these issues may dissapear.

obviously you are not or never have been a land owner  have you ever been shot at on your own property all in the name of hunting?  Have you had your animals shot at cuz they thought it was an elk?  Have you had people jump out of their truck shoot a couple of ducks flying over your house then realize they just shot over completely fenced land with dogs....yeah I kept the ducks the dumb *censored*s broke several laws that day.....

I love feel free to hunt land and commend any landowner who offers this however I also totally respect the ones who have given up and post their property no hunting.....too many yahoo's with guns and hunting licenses..

however I dont think this needs to be considered poaching unless the animal is actually poached that is a separate offense...trespassing needs to be taken more seriously in general...hunting or otherwise blantant disregard for anothers property is just plain rude for starters.....and really i dont know if a trespasser is harmless or not nowdays with so many freaks and tweaks ....

[TheHunt]

Hmmmm.   What about people who post public property?  Should they loose their hunting privledges and pay a huge fine?    I of two places like this.

[runamuk]

Hmmmm.   What about people who post public property?  Should they loose their hunting privledges and pay a huge fine?    I of two places like this.

I think if you falsely post public land you should be fined etc.....

[bigtex]

Hmmmm.   What about people who post public property?  Should they loose their hunting privledges and pay a huge fine?    I of two places like this.

I think if you falsely post public land you should be fined etc.....

It's a $271 fine to post land preventing hunting or fishing unless you have the permission of the landowner.

[woodrat]

saw on opening weekend this year where some yahoos thought they would block a logging road by falling a tree across it, and create their own multi thousand acre private hunting reserve... 

Must have been a non-local, or they would have know that nearly every pickup truck in this county has a chainsaw in the back at all times. Looks like someone just bucked the offending section into cordwood and drove right through. And yeah, I think if they had been caught at that, they should have been fined at the very least. Preferably run out of the county for the rest of the year, but I don't think there are provisions in the law for that.... 

[bigtex]

saw on opening weekend this year where some yahoos thought they would block a logging road by falling a tree across it, and create their own multi thousand acre private hunting reserve... 

Must have been a non-local, or they would have know that nearly every pickup truck in this county has a chainsaw in the back at all times. Looks like someone just bucked the offending section into cordwood and drove right through. And yeah, I think if they had been caught at that, they should have been fined at the very least. Preferably run out of the county for the rest of the year, but I don't think there are provisions in the law for that.... 

Well in that situation both people who cut the tree could be in trouble. In most areas you can't cut both live and fallen trees. It's different if your stuck behind a tree, such as your in a wind storm and a tree fell on the road. But if somebody cut a tree down to block the road then you try and remove it you could be in the same amount of trouble as them.

[csaaphill]

Well ya to the one who posted not letting people hunt less they ask at least you would let someone ask some don't even do that and yell at you for even asking. I hope tho you at least put a phone number down so someone could ask some property owners don't even live on the land so hard to know if the farm house u see driving by is the one to ask or not. I have had some good luck in asking in the past so I know it's not hard to ask but some people are jsut asses and don't even let you ask or jsut flat out say No! but I agree shoudl not trespass less u have permision and obey his rules. I jsut merely state I understand the frustration on boths sides.

[woodrat]

I think you're missing the point. It's not like you automatically should get rewarded with a "yes" just to show what a good guy you are for asking. I'm under no obligation to even make myself available to be asked, let alone to give anyone who asks a "yes" just to make them feel like it was worth the trouble. And no, I'm definitely not posting my phone number on my property line, either. If someone is so serious about it that they scout in advance, figure out where they want to be and why, and look up the landowner and contact them ahead of time, then I'm way more likely to think that person might be responsible enough to let on my place. If someone shows up on opening weekend, wandering around and decide that they want to cross my fence line but don't know how to get a hold of me, well, tough luck. Besides, by then, I'm probably already out hunting, and you won't reach me by phone anyway.

It depends entirely on who's doing the asking, but I think unless I knew someone, the answer would probably be no unless I was really impressed. There's just no way to know until it's too late what kind of a jerk someone is capable of being. There's a lot of strange people out there, and I don't really want them wandering around on my land with high powered rifles. Besides, I like my privacy. That's part of why I live out in the middle of nowhere, and put up with flooded roads, frequent power outages, lack of services and no amenities like nice libraries, good restaurants, movie theaters, etc. When I went to my neighbor's place, who I've lived a quarter mile away from for 10 years, and who crosses my land to get to his water line and spring, he still didn't say yes right away, and the yes that I eventually got was conditional. No deer or bear hunting, only elk.

Basically, you're asking to come into my home, or at least into my yard. Don't be surprised when people don't want to let strangers with rifles into their homes and yards. And if you're jealous of how big my yard is, or how many deer and elk you think might be on it, well, go buy yourself a big yard, too.

[csaaphill]

Again not to stretch it out to other issues I think poaching and tresspasing is different and should be so.

[7mag.]

If you knowingly trespass, to shoot an animal, it is exactly the same as poaching. It's just like shooting an animal in a closed unit. Too many "hunters" ignore private property, and they should be punished harshly.

[csaaphill]

Heres one of my pet peeves and still kind of on the subject. Hunters that shoot someones cow and mistook ot for a Deer, Elk, etc.. This one always gets me because it is one of the main reasons land owners post land.
I think they are stupid or somethings wrong with em if they can't tell a Deer, Elk and a cow!

[ellensburgpo]

At that point the animal would proceeds from a criminal offense. And a cop would be more then justified in seizing it. And ignorance about an area not being posted isn't a defense to arrest or prosecution.

Just my two cents