Has it come to this?

P

professor

New member
Ok. We have a farm and farmhouse north of hoisington, and it basically gets used 2-3 times a year by me. I live 3 hours away so the trip isn't just a hop skip and jump. My parents, who also live three hours away, own all the land, and it is broken up and scattered pretty well. So Saturday morning at first light we drive to one of our fields south of hoisington. We own 80 down this dead end road. Pretty well hidden, and a gem for deer. Anyway, we park and I look down at the end of this fence row, way at the back of our property, and I see this brown chevy tahoe. Thought it was kind of interesting, and was eager to head that direction. So, i don't make a big deal to my guys with me, and we walk the hedgerow. We get down to the end, by his vehicle, and this bow hunter comes out. Heads straight for us. I do the usual "How ya doing?" and he replies with "you have permission to be here?" I said I do, I own the land, do you? To which he replies "I lease it from "Bob Smith". I have leased it for the past few years. "Bob Smith" is our farmer who handles the land. So we leave it at that, he goes back to his stand, and he head to the truck to leave. The guy seemed a little scattered and nervous, but also was pissed we scared off an 8 pointer that he had been watching. And he made sure we knew he wasn't pleased. Soooo....I did the only thing a good son would do, and I call my mommy. :) I just wanted her to know that her farmer has leasing out land that she owned, and thought she should know. I know "Bob Smith" and he has always seemed like a good guy, but who knows. Anyway, mom calls "Bob Smith" and to make a long story short, basically says the guy is full of sh and is LIVID. So he goes out there the next morning, and sure enough the guy is back. "Bob" drives back, and same thing. Guy comes out, and this time more pissed than before and says "You need to get out of here. This is private property and i have this leased." "Bob" asks him who he leased it from and he says "Bob Smith." Well, that's funny. I AM BOB SMITH, and you need to got 15 minutes to get your stand, your trail cam, and your sorry ass off this property before I call the law!! He said the guy muttered something and was acting real strange so Bob got out of there, and came back 30 minutes later and he was gone.

But this is what i want to know. I haven't hunted deer in over 10 years. Has it gotten to the point where you would go in, set up shop somewhere that YOU KNEW was on a dead end road and seldom checked, and have the balls to act like you own the place?? This SOB got caught in a lie, but it really bothered me thinking that what else is going on out there. Again, we live 3 hrs away and can't check it every evening and morning. The farmers we have working our ground are good honest people, but they can't be asked to police land AND farm it. It just really bothered me that someone would go out of there way in such a complete fabrication. Anyway, I'd like some input.

Guess now I know why farmers almost slam the door on you if you ask to quail or turkey hunt on their land. Sad. :(
 
I was talking with a buddy of mine who wanted to hunt pheasant and quail on one of his honey holes on opening day. He has had permission to hunt this spot for years. When he got there, he found that there were five pickups/SUVs there. He was kinda pissed but didn't say anything to them, assuming the land owner had given them permission. Later that night, he ran into the landowner and asked who he had on his land.

You guessed it. They didn't have permission. Just drove up and started hunting. The farmer was pissed.

And, no, I'm not going to say whether or not they were from in state or not.
:)
 
After being lied to during the first encounter with this deliberately trespassing deer poacher (which is what the guy is -- a poacher, not a hunter), another option would have been to write down his license plate number and then drop a dime on him. A creep who would do what he did, he totally deserves to get handcuffed by a sheriff's deputy, booked and prosecuted.
 
I have heard similar stories to this but with a different tone. I have heard of deer hunters leasing ground that belong to "Bob Smith" just to find out the "Bob" they were leasing from did not own the ground but were scamming the hunter. This has happened to family of mine where I have found stands on the ground and ask if anyone has permission to hunt there. Of course the answer is no and so I run into the guy later and he says "Bob" game me permission here is my letter. I then say that is my "Grandpa" and no he did not give you permission lets go talk to him. The hunter was beside himself after paying money to the fake "Bob". Deer hunting is getting so big so quickly something will have to give some day. So many hunters and just so much habitat and game equals money to be made and stolen. I'm afraid it will start to give hunters a bad name.
 
Similar situation happened to me and where I used to hunt. Went back to a field where I usually sat for deer and seen a nice 8 point coming my way and next thing I know is that I heard a gunshot and the slug hit a rock and ricocheted and went by my head.:eek::mad: I seen where the shot came from and promptly let the guy know my thoughts and feelings on what he did.He tried telling he had permission and I told that I knew he did not because the owner told me that I was one of two people that permission and he was not the other person because I knew who it was. And he promptly took his stand down and left because the owner was coming down the lane with his tractor and had a gun in plain sight.
 
My grandfather had the same experience. Guys were hunting pheasants and he stopped. He asked if they had permission to hunt, they said yes and to leave them alone. He simply remarked he didn't remember giving them permission. They left. This happened several years ago. Not sure what people are thinking when they just step onto land that isn't theirs, or they don't have permission on. Kind of sad and scary.
 
The nerve of the public never surprises me. You can bet your last dime the poacher new that the land was owned by an absentee, and the name of the tenant farmer, figured he could bluff his way past anybody. Bowhunters un-nerve me anyway, ever since opening day pheasant season, in Nebraska a few years ago, on a public area, which was full of pheasants, and pheasant hunters, as birds get up and guns are shooting and swinging to shoot again, a yell comes out from a camoflaged bowhunter in a tree, and the line of fire, for us not to shoot in his direction! Of the six of us, none ever even saw or located the exact position of the bowhunter, we just hunted a different direction. I spent the rest of the day hypersensitive to looking for camo deer skewers instead of pheasants. Takes the joy out of hunting when your afraid to shoot anywhere near a hedgerow or treeline. I don't have a solution to either issue, there's always going to be some yahoo with more guts than a government mule, who feels entitled to everything, and archery deer season is long and liberal. Maybe the state should issue some kind of landowner permit, and have drawings for public ground to limit and control the access.
 
every year...

I run a group or two off some stuff we own every year. It looks really good and I know why they are tempted. They always sheepishly amble off. Here's the problem, it now makes me really angry and I am no longer polite to them in the encounter. In fact, four letter words are becoming not uncommon. They also look a little startled when I tell them I have their license plates and they can expect a ticket for trespassing in the mail when I report them to the sheriff (fat chance (and fat sheriff for that matter) but I still hope they go to the mailbox a little scared for a week or 2).

I haven't noticed any pattern in terms of out of state, eastern kansas, etc. As a matter of fact, the guy I ran off saturday was from ellis county. They are all a__-holes to me.

Top excuses:

"I didn't see the no hunting signs" (I point to 3 within sight)

"I thought it was WIHA" (why, there are no signs that say wiha?)

"We ran some into there and were just going to go into to get them" (sigh)

My opening conversational parry here lately is the simple, yet direct "Get the F___ off y land." My wife always says, "you know you are saying that to armed men? I always say, when you are in the right and keep coming you can't fail. I think I am going to start firebombing their trucks. Hunt all you want but come back to a charred mass of metal and rubber you jacka)).

Sorry for the tone, but I grow weary of this annual conversational confrontation.
 
It is not only hunting where this occurs. My family has a real nice farm pond on some land. There are good fish in there, real good fish. You cant even see it from the road. We find tire tracks going in and out of there a couple of times a year for people "poaching" our fish. Last month we went out and found empty shells and a box of blue rock that someone had shot. This was not "the middle of nowhere" they leaned their guns up against our big JD tractor. People do have nerve, that is for sure.

A good solution when you do find someone hunting/fishing our ground illegally. use a screw, nail, or pebble and wedge it in the valve stem of one of their tires. It will let all the air out without really doing any damage. It will ruin the rest of their day and they get the message across without you getting shot. It also gives the sheriff more time to get to the spot if you so choose to call him.
 
I know this is counter-intuitive, but I think what we are experiencing is a by-product of the success of WIHA or similar programs. Wait, wait, hear me out! Prior to the WIHA program, many, many hunters had no place to hunt and were unwilling or unable to spend the time/money to gain private access. Accordingly, they simply did not go hunting - whether for upland or big game. But WIHA brought them back to the fields. At first, it worked great - plenty of land for the hunters. But as time moved on and more and more hunters slipped back into the sport, the available WIHA was too crowded. But by then the hunters were hooked again. Plus, they now had an excuse to be in the field in the first place. Sure, they will try hunting WIHA. But if that fails "we'll just road hunt." Eventually, the road hunting turns into trespassing. Bottom line, unfortunately, is that for every 10 good sportsman, there are 2 or 3 rogue hunters who have no respect for the game or the land. Without WIHA, they would be on their couch where they belong. But WIHA brings them into the fields, and from there, it is anyone's guess what they may do.
 
Twice on Saturday we had groups pull up to us after we hunted a private field asking us what we saw in there and how we did. No big deal just being friendly until they both said they were going to hunt the ground too. Both excuses were they thought it was wiha and were just confused on where they were on the map. If we hadnt been there they wouldnt have thought twice about it.
 
I appreciate all the thoughts. I think my posting that was more my way of venting than anything else. That and just so people are always aware of the negative things people are doing, so we can do extra positives to somehow try and outweigh the bad. Lord knows there are lots of bad seeds out there.
Back to my incident, one thing that made me lie in bed last night and just stew was the fact that guy had literally set up shop there. He had another nice tree stand he wasn't even using, and a trail cam to boot. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. In his mind, this was his land to do with as he felt fit. What really made me mad was when I apologized to that SOB for running off his deer, and told him we were moving on. God willing, our paths will cross again......
 
I believe your best way to prevent this man from moving on to the next landowner is to submit his actions and plate to the local authorities. The natural resources department there will get to it in time. We must work together to stop actions like you experienced. If you choose to do nothing, it will continue some other time and at some other place.
 
Yea unfortunately it probably would have been better to have had Bob Smith have someone (either a sheriff or game warden) on stand by when he confronted the guy. If you didn't get plate numbers will be hard for them to do much unless you some way could find him again. That really sucks to hear about. I see it too often and have again this year, many people drive the roads and if it is not posted and is good cover- they will pull over and help themselves. I have permission to hunt some private places and deal with this too often and it really gets old every year.
 
I have a friend who has relatives that farm over 10,000 acres. The day before the season I put out over 200 no hunting signs and take them down the last day of the season. Through out the season we catch countless people trespassing on the land. I think the signs make them want to hunt it even more. We confronted a group last year with the landowner and the group still said they had permission from a women who had been dead for 10 years. My friends family would let people hunt if they asked but not any more. This year we are going to just call the game warden and let him deal with it.

zeepo
 
In Kansas post it "Hunting by Written Permission Only" or mark with purple paint and let the game wardens do the rest.
 
There's just plain a lot of A** Holes in this world. We had hunted a tiny WIHA for 3 straight years and were about too last year. It was on the current years map and was always very productive. we got there and there was no WIHA signs. We talked for a few minutes about it and passed. Wasn't worth the guilt we would have laid on ourselves and we just moved on to the next spot.

i know it just takes one to screw it up for others.
 
Authorities need to be involved. We pay way to much in our sport to let poachers get away with this. Why confront, it only gives them time to pack up and get out. Dont confront and call the law. Straight up. Puck foachers.

Does Kansas have the TIPS program? Other states have the TIPS program where if you get a poacher nailed they will give you a tag depending on the bust. I dont need the tag but it may be initiative for some to call the law.
 
PBuster said:
Does Kansas have the TIPS program? Other states have the TIPS program where if you get a poacher nailed they will give you a tag depending on the bust. I dont need the tag but it may be initiative for some to call the law.
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Some farmers I know, think it should be a requirement to bag five doe before you get a license to shoot a pheasant.:);)

I did have a lot of deer at the ranch, but this drought is so severe that even the deer abandoned my place-----now that is a tough year. Have a feeling the deer will be back quicker than the pheasants.
 
Boys I think it's only going to get worse. In my family I'm a 3rd generation hunter. I remember as a kid my grandfather and uncles had forged relationships with farmers by spending a few weekends a year working on the farms. We NEVER went empty handed. Always fresh pasteries and a cold case of beer. The generations after that spoiled it for us today. Trespassing, shooting livestock, littering the property etc. In Indiana if we walk up to a door wearing camo or orange they don't even answer the door. We are so land locked on hunting I can't even begin to tell you. I was on the wrong end of a lease scam 3 years ago. We went door to door a month or 2 before the season started and found a property where a guy was mowing grass. Said he was the land owner and would give us a season pass for $500.00. Said we would have exclusive hunting in the corn as well as the 4 acre pond for waterfowl. We couldn't pass it up. Opening day we went to the property only to find a dozen trucks all with the same lease from the same guy. He didn't own the property. We was a handy man hired by the realator who was selling the property. This guy was nowhere to be found. LESSON LEARNED. The more property that gets locked up the bolder these people are going to get and I have a feeling it's going to get ugly especially when weapons are involed and there are more conflicts in the fields. Be safe when you guys approach these meat heads.
 
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