40 acres is small .....they must have been on an adjacent property.....dogs don't read signs or gps....just saying


Prolly they should have gathered the dogs and left


No killum bear .....better luck next time

Unless the hounds were carrying guns, the owners should have been able to read and ask permission.

read what is there not what you think is there. That it's to bad you would get into trouble IF.

Not that I will or would. people would be more respectful if this country had not gone so soft.

There are more stupid people now that don’t realize they are stupid.

Here in NH, if the land is not posted it is open to hunting. No permission is needed.

There are a couple guide groups in your area that don't care, they even get trespassing tickets often and it doesn't seem to faze them, they also train heavy in your area. I also know a lot of local guides that wouldn't run without permission and several others that only run state land because it's getting tough to get permission. I would try to ask an adjacent landowner, preferably someone that's fulltime- they'll know every pickup truck and who it is, I would be polite and make it well known that you do not want hunters and dogs on your property. The risk you run is- if your family is planning to sit baits in upcoming years, you don't want your target bears run, if you have adjoining lands where it's allowed- hounds man can try to control the dogs, but the bear is unpredictable. You can post it and add gates to entrances as a deterrent, but nothing will say "No" better than you guys being there- it's a tough one.

A guy from PA bought the property next to me to hunt. I got to know his family and if I didn’t recognize a vehicle there I made an inquiry. I don’t understand the thought process to trespass. Do you just ride around and think this looks like a good place to hunt and go hunting? There is probably 4,000 acres of state land within a ten minute drive that can be hunted but I guess some folks see no trespassing signs as a dare. lol

They ride around with the strike dog on the hood of the truck, attached to an eyebolt and a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet- when he lets loose- they dump the dogs. In winter, they drive the same roads after a snow and look for a fresh set of cat tracks- the same groups run cats and bears for the most part.

So it’s the dog’s fault. lol

I miss the days when this country was not so crowded that 40 acres was a land baron.

Like it or not, this kind of stuff is what’s going to get hound hunting shutdown in some areas. It’s been a big topic of discussion in my state for the last 15 years or more. Population is increasing, wood lots are getting smaller and right or wrong, folks think they can still do what they’ve always done. Most of the folks I know who complain about the dogs understand you can’t stop them from crossing lines they don’t know exist, it’s when their owners shoot the game or purposely put their dogs out to jump game in posted areas that causes all of the issues.

That is one of the reasons I no longer have hounds anymore for coon hunting. It is impossible now to release one around here without a good chance you will end up on somebody's deer lease or a 40 acre baron's property. Best reason IMO to stop all this immigration. We have plenty of people here now.

We deal with that during deer season. Their excuse is that the dogs don't know where the property lines are. No but the hunter does. You need to press charges or they'll just keep trespassing. I tried being the nice guy and the next thing I knew I had hunters killing deer behind my house. Then the dog hunters can't figure out why they keep getting more and more restrictions. Eventually hunting deer and bears with dogs will come to an end and they can only blame themselves but it'll be your fault!

That would still work except the deer hunters with dogs will have you arrested if you hunt on their lease. But it's OK if they hunt on your property.

Hounds do not understand property lines, but people should. They should have looked you up to see if it is ok to go on your land to take that bear. If at night, and probably was, they should wait until morning. that is how we did coon hunting long time ago for me......jk

The penalties for trespass used to be more severe… just ask some of those mountain men who lost their hair in the Rockies!

Haha, you picked the wrong site to talk about trespassing. We had guys on camera cross a posted gate with a shotgun and folks on here condemned us for pressing charges, lol. And had their father been nice about it we wouldn’t have, but show your butt and face the consequences.

In your situation, we wouldn’t have an issue with just retrieving the dogs. Shooting the bear is the issue. Dogs can’t read and hunter’s can’t get in front of them fast enough to catch them before trespassing. We have hog dog hunters and they let us and surrounding landowners know when they’re running. All we’ve ever asked is if their dogs bay up on our property or they have to retrieve them, just give us a holler letting us know they’re on the property. Sometimes they’ll release on ours and sometimes other properties, either way they always call and let us know. Don’t know how far bears run, but hogs can go for miles.

In these small towns- nepotism runs rampant, I would start with, approaching who it was and state " I'm the new owner and appreciate you may have run your hounds through my property in the past, but it will no longer be allowed, I don't want to see you get a trespassing ticket in the future and I wanted to introduce myself". He's been warned... after that it's a Rusk County Sheriff's call.

Regardless of what the laws says for your state the courteous thing is to ask. Don't people have some sort of guilt just rooming around on others land? I have some of the problem and mostly people from one state. Not sure what their laws are there but it is interesting that 90% of the problems come from out of state hunters.

I guess I just don't understand people not asking regardless of the law. I catch a lot with cameras and turn them ovah to the law.

The dogs didnt shoot the bear....the trespassers did. They could have fetched their dogs and left without killing the bear since it was private property. This business with dogs not reading is nonsense