Just heard this story last night. This guy with a nice deer lease; food plots and such, got trail cam photos of some people poaching his lease when he wasn't there. He thought it was pretty sure it was guys from the neighboring lease but wasn't 100%. So he bought a bunch of big sheds from the midwest and dropped them in the food plots of the neighboring lease over the winter. He heard through the grape vine that they were buzzing about the big bucks they had and hasn't had a poacher on camera since. The grass is always greener.
Ive had people steal cameras and cards from me. My brother has had the same thing and hid a camera up in a tree facing his camera so he can find who it was. This was just last week so Im waiting to see if it worked for him.
Pretty bad when you have to have a camera to protect a camera. Pretty soon, there'll be more cameras out there than trees. Or deer.
It is bad, and sad that those measures are needed. But when you spend a lot of time and lots of money to buy, maintain and improve your deer hunting land you have to protect it. Other hunters can be greedy and try to take what you worked so hard for. If you figure the amount of money it takes to do all the work, all the fuel, all the time, it costs a lot to hunt big deer. And someone can walk onto your farm and take a simple camera or SD card and find out exactly what you grow on your land and how often you come down to check on it. Then they can hunt your farm and kill the deer you work so hard to be able to hunt. It really is sad the deer hunting is turning into a money sport but there are a lot of people with plenty of money ready to push other people out of their leases and the private farms they have permission to hunt. Its getting harder an harder to hunt private land with just a handshake with a local farmer. Around me and a little further south its all being leased up. Especially when people hear of the big deer taken on a certain property.
Yes. Hunting has become more about the dollars than I would ever have imagined. On my way to hunting camp there is a huge billboard that reads "Hunting rights-The other cash crop"....of course its for a hunting lease website. It just irks me everytime I pass it. City folk get on there and lease away for crazy $$$ and the locals get on there to see what they can lease their land for
All the land around here is pretty much leased out to southerners. I'm glad I have some land in the family to hunt on. We don't have too much trouble with people hunting on our land, but every once in while you'll see someone out there. Nothing makes me than when you catch a guy trespassing and he gets mad because you ask him to leave. One guy was really belligerent. Swore up and down that I had no right to ask him to leave...that he knew the guy that owned the land I wasn't him. I said, that's fine, let me see your signed permission to hunt here. He, of course, didn't have it. I said I've lived here my whole life and I couldn't be more sure that he was trespassing...and I have a phone in my pocket if I need to call the CO. He finally left the woods cussing me at the top of his lungs the whole way. I've also found a couple tree stands on our property. They are mine now .
I was curious what I might do with the stand I found a few days ago. Turns out it was just outside her property, so I didn't need to do anything. I like the idea of confiscating it......maybe leave a note. I know that wouldn't sit well with guys on here who hunt, but I also don't think the guys on here would trespass either, so, moot point.
If I found a stand I would take it down. I also know people who have dropped their trousers on such stands.
Heard a story about an old lad, war vet, who had a fairly large farm. Was out on his tractor one day and came across a new 4 wheeler parked on the edge of his field near a large prime hardwood ridge. Got pizzed as NO ONE had permission to be there. Took a trip back to the equipment shed and pulled his small Cat dozer out, took a ride down to the field , and right over the 4x4 with the right track. The arrogant SOB that owned the 4x4 was an out of towner who tried to have the old lad arrested. Local PD told the visitor that it was a civil matter and that the trespassing wasn't. Eventually, the visitor packed up and left the area after getting no co operation from the Po Po. Some lessons in life are expensive.
