Yesterday I took a little time off and went to.do a little scouting around the property. While I was out I found what looks like a shooting lane and a small food plot together with a lawn mower and a trail camera on my patch. I am thinking of taking down the camera, putting it together with a note onto the mower telling the person to remove his stuff from my property ASAP and give him a week to do it
If the stuff is not gone by then, I’ll remove it
Would that be the right way to deal with the issue or is there a better way

I'd take it all to your place leave him a note to call u and explain it to him face to face . Then you get to see him for and meet him

Assuming SC prohibits baited hunting, call the DNR and ask them to investigate. Taking the law into your own hands isn't the way to go.

its your property do as think you best. it may be a neighbor. you might want to meet and shake hands. not good to get on the bad side of a neighbor. always a chance he was unaware you were taking possession. think I would keep a eye out and introduce myself when I found him. have a little conversation. polite conversation. always best imo to tread lightly till you get all the details

Is this property you recently purchased? Could be the owner of the mower and trail camera had permission from the previous owner and is unaware of the sale? It's easy to jump to conclusions, but difficult to change first impressions. If he's a neighbor, it's a good idea to be amicable. Think of how you would want to be received if you shot a deer and it ran on their property.

If you leave him a note, you may never know who he is. Leave the mower with a note with your number and take the camera. Then at least you can see what mind of deer are on the property!

I agree with Danny. Give the situation the potential of the best outcome. Could be an honest mistake made by a good neighbor.

I would start by checking with the previous owner and if he had granted permission for him to hunt that place. If not I would be more inclined to handle like Danny said.

I’ve hunted without permission, accidentally and otherwise. I’ve run into landowners and permitted hunters in both situations. I’ve been on the landowner side too. Now sometimes a person is a ne’re do well and should be dealt with accordingly. But mostly a grin and a conversation from both parties resolved all. Most old timers are secretly tickled to see a young man prowling for game. I am

I got stuck with a fine for Deer hunting/trespassing on a place that changed hands and I didn't know it. Judge didn't seem to care one bit. Could have been worse, as I cut a bunch of down/dead tree's for firewood for the cabin.

I like your idea Scuba1. The only suggestion I have is if after a week if they don't remove items leave another note with your phone # to contact you in person to retrieve items and talk about the situation. Don't leave your address though!

Chris

i'm sure it's well marked as you just bought it but make positive its on yours too.

i'd send the warden with don't fine orders but anymore doubt i'd approach a stranger in the woods.pay enough in fees and taxes let them handle it.

Or..... Scuba could put a wig and dress on. Then get in front of the trailcam holding a sign that says, Pa says, if you wanta keep a huntin R properti, you have to marry me!

That might fix everything.

I was planning on leaving my number with that note
Either way I will not let anyone hunt in that spot as there is no backstop between it and the boat / camper /barn etc
Don’t need anymore holes in my place then what it was meant to have

Catch ....... what color dress ??? And how short should it be ??

careful,that can end up bein a pain in the rear also.

literally.

Don't where white, it's after labor day. Purple, and show some leg.


On a serious note, it might be a good ole boy that didn't know you bought it. I'm sure if ya talk to him y'all can work it out.

I wouldn't tell him to leave in a note, just tell him you are the new owner of the property and need to talk to him. I wouldn't move his camera either, maybe hang a note on it and the mower. Face to face is how it should be handled. IMO. You may make a new friend.

Difinatly "bucket blue"
Its the rave these days.

I'd bring it all in to your place and leave a Note where the camera was and your Phone number.

Agree with tiguy and Danny. Guy may have had permission for 20 years and is unaware of the sale. Person trespassing isn't probably going to have a camera, mow, etc. I would put the note on the camera as the mower may not move until next year. Do you know where it is being accessed from?

If the person accesses that spot by car or truck he has to use my road / track past the boat
If by ATV he can get there by another track on the property
The previous owner did not give permission to anyone to be on the place for any reason by the way

Funny thread.

You just want to see me in a skirt
Beware what you wish for is all I can say and blindness could be a blessing

guy might be a rascal and need dealt with harshly but it wont hurt a thing to find out. rural area like that you make an enemy of somebody over something easily sorted out, you may have a whole bunch of folks not friendly toward you.

Turn them in!

To easy on them and they will just do it again.
Take it all to your place? And now they know who you are and where you live!

A conservation officer is almost a sure bet they will leave and stay gone.
One phone call

Sounds like the shooting lane and food plot are practically line of sight with the trailer and not too far from the road in. Wouldn't take a genius to figure out who called it in if the stuff was gone but not at the trailer.

if you get a grass fire from burning trash brian, your neighbors going to help you put it out?

I think I’ll take the advice of taking the camera down and leaving my phone number with a note in its place. Then take it from there. Arrange a meeting at a local diner to hand it back and sort the issue out
He will not hunt that spot though no matter what. I gave my neighbor permission to hunt in the lower part of he lets me know before he goes so we don’t get in each other’s way . Me cutting wood or testing loads while he tries to hunt sort of thing is not helpful to either of us but I am not planning on other folks being there other than him

I would talk to him here in this part of Iowa its easy to tell the property line with the fences but down there in the hills somebody may have made an honest mistake and got on the wrong property.

Good ideas. Take the camera leave a note handle in friendly manner. If he's not friendly about it, a call to the warden.

Yup

Just take all the stuff.Its on your property,let him figure it out.
When he tracks you down(if he ever does)just tell him you thought it was left by the previous owner,then ask him why the h--- he is trespassing on other peoples property,since you already know the previous owner did not give him permission.

I still wouldn't remove his camera. What will that gain you?

A phone call from the guy who put it up and an explanation.

You'd get that with a friendly note. It could be an honest mistake.

Maybe. Maybe not. If he's like me every time he checks the camera there's a pretty good picture of his face trying to get the housing open. So he may be more inclined to call and try to make peace if he knows he's been busted. Leave a friendly note and a scoundrel will ride off into the sunset on his mower with his camera and any proof he was ever there.

I'd pack it all up as well and bring it to my place and leave a weather proof note telling him your the new owner and had no idea what was going on and to simply come pick it up.

No sense dragging this out more than needed in my view, meet and greet or heave ho !

So, what's the down side to that? He'll have moved on and isn't that what Scuba wanted in the first place?

I'd at least give the guy a chance to do the right thing. I wouldn't take his stuff.

Dalton: "I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice." - Road House

Well Scuba what's the plan?

I went back to the beach today and don't want to leave the missus with that stuff, so will leave it as is till I get back on Monday as then I'll be there for around 3 weeks. Then I'll put a note in a zip lock bag on the camera with my phone number saying that there is not going to be any hunting on my property without my permission. Then he can either pack his stuff and leave or give me a call and then pack up his stuff and leave.
I don't want to just hand it over to a game warden as it could have been a mistake so will give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

Sounds like a wise choice to me.

sounds like it to me too. can always call l.e. if the guy turns out to be a jerk. if he is not you wont have made an enemy over something simple.

Sounds like I've got a few days to get my stuff out of there.

grab my camera will ya?

ick!!! Too much information pcr

Got back home yesterday. So had a proper nose around the place where the trail can is. Found a deer feeder there as well now. So I wrote the guy a note and stuck it on the trail cam. I did take the SD card out of the camera and turned it off. Got a nice picture of the guy scattering corn. My neighbor had no idea what was going on back there. I put the picture on my phone and will show it to my neighbor as in a small community like this everyone knows everyone else. It a young guy late 20s early 30's would be my guess. He has had some semi heavy equipment in there pushing a short trail through the bush with what looks like a tractor with a front loader on it, going by the tracks. So I am guessing he is from a farm near by, or borrow the tractor from a farmer near me. As far as I am aware it is not legal in TN to hunt over bait and that setup is put there to do just that. The feeder was empty and the camera out of batteries. So I guess he has not been there for a little while. Which seems strange with deer season going on. I'll wait a week, then hand things over to the DNR I think.

What was the date on the picture of the trespasser, if there was one? It looks very early to put out corn for deer.

What was the last date of the pictures on the camera?

Are there feral hogs or wild boar in your area?

Keith

Nope no feral hogs around here. The dates on that camera are messed up. But my suspicion is that this dude does not care much for the game laws. I mean what keep to the seasons if you are trespassing on someones property and hunting over bait, cut down bushes and trees that are not yours. Why bother with sticking to the hunting season?

Forget what I said about being nice about it, as far as I am concerned it is beyond that. Go straight to the wardens and the sheriff. Now he is out of line. He has not only trespassed but now he has destroyed your property and if it is illegal to hunt over bait there, there is that issue too. Take multiple pics of everything, give a copy to the wardens and a copy to the sheriff. I am sorry you gotta go through this Scuba.

It seems bizarrely brazen, if he did not think he had permission. The trail he made should lead back to somewhere.

Keith

Will be interesting once you are able to meet him eye to eye.

.

I have this funny feeling that that is not going to happen. Sneaky ones like that usually don't have it in them to man up to their wrong doing

X2 I'm betting he mistakenly thinks he's perfectly legal.

What’s the date of the pics of you? Whatever amount it’s off for you it’s off the same for him. Easy to figure.

Is the lawnmower better than yours? Could swap them out....I for sure wouldn't go back in there without my pig castrator! I am sure that is a given though. Good luck!

As I said, the camera was out of batterie juice so did not take a pic of me. And I left it there and only took the SD card of it.

I don't have a lawn mower. Or a lawn for that matter.

Looks like you do now, don't tell me you don't have a pig castrator either? Better get one, looks like your gonna need it.

I have a paddle and a creek

Who knows maybe the guy found out the place sold and decided to forget it, and his stuff, and abandon the operation?

Last year, I was looking for some land to hunt with my 12 year old son. I haven't hunted in many years and he wanted to try it. I didn't want to take him out on state land to find out on opening day that 3 other hunters have set up within 100' of our location.

I put an ad in the local paper looking for 20+ acres to lease for the year. I got a couple of calls and ended up leasing a piece of property from a woman named Colleen who lives about 15 miles from here. We were walking the property and we found a deer stand on that property. I called the woman I had leased it from. She didn't know who's stand it was and told me to get rid of it if I wanted too. I hung a note on the stand that I had leased the property and the stand had to go. I included my phone number on the note.

4 or 5 months later, it was deer season. No one had ever come out to get the stand ready, I had 6 trail cameras in the woods and never caught another person on the property. We hunted during what, in NJ, is called "deer week", the 6 day shotgun season. No one in the woods but us.

About 2 weeks later, during bow season, I get a phone call from a guy named Chris. He tells me he owns the stand and has permission to hunt from the owner. We talk a little. He thinks a guy named Mike owns the property. I leased it from Colleen. He doesn't know her and I don't know him. The next day I go to the township clerks office and ask them to pull the tax map. I find the property and they get the tax records for it. Colleen is Mike's ex wife. She no longer owns the property, Mike got it in the divorce 15 years ago. She leased his property to me.

I called Chris and apologized. I pulled our deer blind, cameras, and whatever else I had in the woods. With colleen's permission, and a signed lease, I had cut some trees back, posted the property, set up a couple of bait piles, and had my cameras all over the woods. I was on the property illegally but didn't know it.

Oh, I paid cash in full the day I signed the lease and never got a penny back.

It would be really easy for someone with low scruples to lease non resident property owners property to hunters, without permission. There are many thousands of properties owned by people who never go there.

Keith

I’m used to pulling out the plat book but if you don’t think about it and don’t get one it could be a really big mistake especially if someone lied to him it can happen.

I use the app ONX HUNT to find property lines and owners.

Im with Adam...just give it all to the Warden

THIS

Some good advice in many of these posts. If you leave a note, I'd certainly tell the guy you'd like to talk with him over the phone at least.

I'd go with a skirt & crop-top

oh.. don't forget the heels!

Dude I am 6'4 so heels would just look silly . Keep it real

Any updates?

Sorry for the late reply but I just now picked up my laptop from a recall repair and don't like to type on may phone that much. Yep the guy called and then showed up to pick up his SD card. I explained the situation to him and he was fine with it. He lives in the house at the other end of my property. They cut down all the trees on their patch for some reason. So everything sorted out now and he has another place he can hunt a few miles down the road so was ok with my decision.

Glad it turned out for the best.