Best way to handle this situation?

Rc187

Six Pointer
I have just recieved permission from my father inlaws father to hunt about 90 acres he has owned for 20 plus years.
I went by to scout the property for the first time and as i figured it has purple paint and no tresspasing signs on almost every tree around the property. He has never given anyone permission to hunt the land but also never goes to check on it either, its obvious someone thinks they have rights. So what is the best way to handle to situation i thought about taking a few friends pulling any stands blinds feeders and cameras and setting them all near the entrance with a not explaining the situation. Or do i call the game warden or sheriff and have them come out with me? Trying to avoid any unnecessary outcome and make this go as smoothly as possible.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

koszman

Ten Pointer
Contributor
I went in and took down the stands and feeders and left them a note to contact me to claim their items found on private property. No one has ever called to claim their stands.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
If there is an entrance post a note stating that there will be someone hunting there this season and no other trespassing will be allowed. Put your number as a contact number if they wish to access the property to retrieve their hunting equipment.
Expect trouble for the first couple of years and have the sheriff office and game dept on speed dial, it's gonna happen...that's part of taking over a new spot. I would say go ahead and have the first couple of trespassers arrested and word will spread like wildfire that you are serious. Watch for booby-traps and put up cameras and signs stating you have put up cameras.
 

ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Some folks think, since they have gotten away with trespassing for so long, that you owe them a courtesy. You owe them nothing and even worse they paid no respect to the signs and paint. Call the game warden and let them take the stands and feeders. If they come looking for the gear..... you should have the game wardens info posted on the trees in the area. If they feel they were in the right being there then they can provide proof to the warden and the landowner. My 2 cents worth.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
written permission only good for 12 months.......right??

Depends on the law

I do believe some local laws have a 12 month requirement and so does the Landowner Protect Act if you comply with it


The Landowner Protection Act does not change general trespass laws nor have any effect on lands which are not posted. It does not repeal any local acts currently in effect that require written permission to hunt, fish or trap.
 

UncleFester

Old Mossy Horns
When I bought the old farm place I now live on I had stands all over it. I took them down putting a note in a ziplock bag tied to the tree the stands were on letting them know to call me to collect their stands. I did have one call and collect his property. He did want to dispute that it was on my property until I walked him to the lines and showed him exactly where the boundaries were. After that he was nice and cordial with no further problems.
 

45/70 hunter

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
written permission only good for 12 months.......right??

I just looked at the regs because I was thinking it was only certain counties that required dating. It states that if the land is posted you need a permit dated every 12 months. If not posted it doesn't say that so you should be good to go "legally" at least. I always get a new permit every season anyways...
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
very possible that some joker "sold" the hunting rights to some innocent fellow,,,,,the posting leads me to that hypothesis,,,,if someone were sneaking I would doubt that they would post it
 

ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Depends on the law

I do believe some local laws have a 12 month requirement and so does the Landowner Protect Act if you comply with it

If there are no local laws then the state law rules as long as properly posted......written permission dated within the last 12 months.....at least that's what I was thinking
 

Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
I would post new signs posting it with contact info and also attaching a sign to the stands or feeders.
include at the locations of the stands and feeders contact info for them to call and talk not just remove the property.
You really wan to know why they thought they could be there. May be a different family member, may be friends or someone that charged rent claiming to own it.
 

Rc187

Six Pointer
After reading this i believe i will contact the caswell county game warden and have him accompany me walk the land post new signs and have them remove any property found and leave their contact info i would like to think every adult would act as such when they are in the wrong but i didnt think about someone claiming to own the land and leasing it to an unknowing person. Just trying to avoid any potential violent confrontations.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
If there are no local laws then the state law rules as long as properly posted......written permission dated within the last 12 months.....at least that's what I was thinking

That is what the law says

But some counties control written permission by local law or ordinance
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
So the land is owned by your wife's grandfather. How many other grandkids in the family? Or how many siblings does your father-in-law have? I could easily see another family member posting the property without ever asking dad/grandpa if that is okay. Some people just assume family land is available to anyone in the family.
 

RJ1

Ten Pointer
I think you will find that the GW will tell you exactly what Mr.Gadget said to do,there could be a alot of reasons someone could be hunting the land and think he is legal in doing so be nice until its not time to be nice.I had an incident like this happen a few years ago on a tract I bought to put my hunting camp on downeast to make along story short a man who had been in control of the land at one time gave him permission to hunt there and collected a few dollars in the process.Turned out he was really a good guy and it worked out good for both of us I got someone to keep an eye on my camp he continued to deer hunt the land as I have no interest in killing a deer.
 
Last edited:

snakeskinner

Twelve Pointer
So the land is owned by your wife's grandfather. How many other grandkids in the family? Or how many siblings does your father-in-law have? I could easily see another family member posting the property without ever asking dad/grandpa if that is okay. Some people just assume family land is available to anyone in the family.

^This. I think you have more homework to do before you go pulling stands.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
I with some of the others. I would post the property with new signs and leave notes with contact info on stands, blinds, feeders or what ever they have in there. I would probably put a camera high in a tree to get pictures of who it was, just in case they don't contact me. I would like to know who it is.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I have just recieved permission from my father inlaws father to hunt about 90 acres he has owned for 20 plus years.
I went by to scout the property for the first time and as i figured it has purple paint and no tresspasing signs on almost every tree around the property. He has never given anyone permission to hunt the land but also never goes to check on it either, its obvious someone thinks they have rights. So what is the best way to handle to situation i thought about taking a few friends pulling any stands blinds feeders and cameras and setting them all near the entrance with a not explaining the situation. Or do i call the game warden or sheriff and have them come out with me? Trying to avoid any unnecessary outcome and make this go as smoothly as possible.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


the landowner needs to handle the situation. imo and ime.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Where in Caswell is the property located? Without annoying grandpa I would let him know what you found and see what he would like you to do about it.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
No one else in the family hunts or has friends that hunt... that was the first question i asked everyone in the family

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Very weird that someone would use the purple paint etc... if they didn't have permission. Makes me wonder if someone really has leased it to another person.
 

Rc187

Six Pointer
Very weird that someone would use the purple paint etc... if they didn't have permission. Makes me wonder if someone really has leased it to another person.
After it was mentioned im curious as well

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
I've seen more than one person get ripped off "leasing" a property from a guy or group that had no rights to the property.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SamCo89

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I've seen more than one person get ripped off "leasing" a property from a guy or group that had no rights to the property.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep. Seen a few cases of that.

Found a stand stashed over by the main road that cuts through the property I hunt 2-3 yrs ago. Took the stand & left a note in a ziplock bag tied to a tree. Never heard a word from anyone.

I would pickup a cheap trail cam & conceal it by any road or potential parking area just to see who's coming though. Property like this,Never know who is coming around. Last January after the season I was walking the property dove hunting & found a 30-30 casing in the road. Wasn't a brand of ammo that I use, so figure it bounced out of someone's truck.

Also had just moved pieces of a stand that we hadn't used yet, week after I found the casing the legs & ladder sections were gone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

Soilman

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
About the purple paint. My family owns just shy of 200 acres on the Columbus-Bladen County line. It's been in our family for 4 or 5 generations, but nobody in the family has hunted it for as long as anybody can remember because we have other property closer to family farms, plus we had no direct access until recently due to a big ditch between the land and a narrow dirt road.
My great aunt had given some of the locals permission to hunt it many, many years ago. (she died in 1985). To this day, the locals still hunt it. Since my great aunts death and my grandmothers death, the land now belongs to my mom and her two brothers. I'm about the only one in the family who uses the land now. My uncles refuse to post the land, being from the "old school", thinking that folks might burn it down in retaliation. Just a few years ago, I cruised through and noted posted signs put up all around the property...obviously by the locals.

Likely, yours is a similar situation. It's land that rarely got visited by the owner or his family, so squatters moved in, and now they think of it as "their hunting land".
 

nhn2a

Ten Pointer
A couple years ago I was looking to buy 80 acres in TN. Like your family, the family that was selling it hadnt hunted it but also hadnt given anyone else permission. The property was about an hour away from the owners so they never visited it. Well when they took me out their to show it there were no trespassing and hunt club signs everywhere. Also we found 55 gallon drums of corn poured on the ground next to tree stands (keep in mind baiting is illegal in TN). The property was at the end of a long gravel road with some houses and trailers up and down the road to the highway. When we walked out, it seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was there and wanted to check on the property and the strangers visiting. They told the landowner they were just keeping an eye on it for him. All the neighbors were related and apparently had decided to take over the property in the landowners absence.

Having dealt with similar situation in rural TN before with trying to stop local trespassers who had used the property their entire lives and the fact that they clearly had no problem breaking the law, I opted to look at other properties and left it to the landowner to deal with. Hopefully your situation is just a matter of misunderstanding and they people will leave it alone once confronted.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
A couple years ago I was looking to buy 80 acres in TN. Like your family, the family that was selling it hadnt hunted it but also hadnt given anyone else permission. The property was about an hour away from the owners so they never visited it. Well when they took me out their to show it there were no trespassing and hunt club signs everywhere. Also we found 55 gallon drums of corn poured on the ground next to tree stands (keep in mind baiting is illegal in TN). The property was at the end of a long gravel road with some houses and trailers up and down the road to the highway. When we walked out, it seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was there and wanted to check on the property and the strangers visiting. They told the landowner they were just keeping an eye on it for him. All the neighbors were related and apparently had decided to take over the property in the landowners absence.

Having dealt with similar situation in rural TN before with trying to stop local trespassers who had used the property their entire lives and the fact that they clearly had no problem breaking the law, I opted to look at other properties and left it to the landowner to deal with. Hopefully your situation is just a matter of misunderstanding and they people will leave it alone once confronted.

you are a smart man.
 
Top