No hunting Signs?

[greg916]

Took the stand and feeder down. Was hoping someone would come and claim it. They never did.

[blind ear]

BeerBelly, +1, Not only are we loseing numbers to support hunting, we are loseing numbers to support gun ownership. We are helping to eleminate ourselves in many cases. eddiegjr

[slim rem 7]

 nope but screw it up they will.. i don t mind sayin i walk many places unseen ..
 im pretty good ghost in the woods now.. but usually only have my ccw..
 
 

[30-30man]

The biggest reason most landowners including myself post, is because of insurance liability.  If there are no signs you are responsible if someone tresspasses and gets hurt.  I have had my fill of folks who care nothing of the investment I've made.  The trash and property damage are the main reasons I only let close friends and family on my place now.  I had a fellow break his arm on my place and his insurance company wanted mine to pick up the bill.  It's just not worth it to let everyone on your land anymore.  It's the sign of the times now.  There is a reason states have WMA land, it's for the masses.  Let them go there.

[spikehorn]

I only own 1.68 acres so hunting on others or state land are the only only options I have. There are two farms near me that I can hunt, but I don't take it for granted. I always call every season and ask permission and I always offer some venison. Only one year did one of the farms say no, and he explained that they found a wounded deer and didn't know whose fault it was so they weren't letting anyone hunt for now. I told them that I hadn't even shot at a deer on or near thier land last season, but if that was thier decission then so be it. I then asked that if one was shot on the other farm and goes onto thier land could I retrieve it, to which they said yes. The next year I again asked to hunt and the said no problem. I understand people posting thier land, but at the same time common courtesy of the people asking to hunt goes a long way even if it's something as simple as picking up your empty shells.

[ironglow]

There is more posted each year here in NY State. The idea of "leasing" land has not been a popular idea, except for the lumber companies etc. Leasing is gaing ground slowly however with "timberland management" people leading the way.
   Hunting is a big income producer for the state in many ways, so a few years ago the state legislature passed a law that made the land owner not responsible for accidents to hunters etc., especially trespassers (those without permission). I am well known in my area so I have verbal and tacit permission from many in my area. I have no paper that states as such, but I am not concerned too much with that, since the word of all those who I have permission from is as good as a signed paper anyway.  Even then, I will probably hunt in my own small woods, at least to start, since it is a "bottleneck" or wooded area that connects two larger wooded sections.

[squirrellluck]

Here in Louisiana it is no longer required to put posted signs up. If it isnt public land and you dont have landowner permission you are trespassing. It is your responsibility to know where you are. The I didnt know it was posted or there isnt any signs argument doesnt cut it.I like that the responsibility is on the hunter where it should be. I always know whos property Im on and where its bounderies are. I think we as hunters should know where we hunt and the property lines. As far as posting a mans property it his right but its also the right of the landowners he hunts on to refuse him access to their land. If he is hunting on the neighbors they should return the favor

[alsaqr]

These days ya really just can't afford to let everyone come onto your land to hunt or fish or to do whatever. Way too many lawyers and folks wanting to sue you. The land owner or lease holder if such exists makes the rules and if you don't respect that then you not they are the problem. It's not your land and you do not control it.

What Graybeard said.  Know a man in WV who lost his farm because a hunter fell out of a tree stand and was paralyzed from the neck down. 

Had a heck of a time keeping trespassers of a place that we own here in OK:  The place was posted.  The huge place across the road was leased by a bunch of hunters out of OK City.  There was little to hunt because the the landowner over grazed the place. 

Those guys would come across the road and hunt rabbits, quail and deer on our place.  Kicked a couple dozen hunters off that place.  Our neighbors had a lot of trouble with trespassers also.  One day some hunters drove their new Dodge diesel pickup into a neighbors field and went hunting on his place.  A grass fire destroyed that new Dodge truck.  Bingo, no more trouble with trespassers. 
 

[Spanky]

I work at a Tractor Supply Company store and naturally we sell "Posted" signs.
I hate to say it but they are flying off the shelves as fast as we can stock them... as a hunter it bothers me to even put them up on the shelves.
To each his own but what ever happened to being neighborly and letting people use the land?



Spanky

[jjas]

Spany

To each his own but what ever happened to being neighborly and letting people use the land?

Slob "hunters" and a litigation crazy society........

[LONGTOM]

Just because someone puts up no hunting signs doesn't always mean he won't allow hunting.
I have access to two such farms.
The signs are to keep people the land owner doesn't know out.
I use to drive past one of these farms for years and always saw game in the fields.
One day while they were cutting hay I stopped and talked to the owner and was able to get written permission for my family plus a buddy.
Have had this set up for six years now.
I mainly only varmint hunt on it but have the rights to all the game.
I always check each year to make sure nothing has changed.
One of the gates had a broken hinge and was a bear to open so one day I took some tools down and repaired it.
It was weeks before I saw the owner and he said he figured I was the one that fixed it.
It is the only gate that swings on it's own now.
Sometimes little things go a long way in hunter/land owner situations.
If he said I could no longer hunt his land today (after making sure I had done nothing wrong) I would hold no hard feelings towards him.
I would be grateful for the years he did allow it.
Things change sometimes.
It is their land and they have the right to do as they please with it.

LONGTOM

[ironglow]

Longtom has a point; one we teach in our hunter safety classes. The land owner, most often a farmer or rancher has a lot of work to do around the place. It sure doesn't hurt hunter/landowner relations to give him/her a little help now and then. Or for instance, or if he's baling hay..drop off  a six-pack of Cokes for him. Perhaps offer him some of the game meat his land fed....a little consideration goes a long way.
    ALWAYS treat his/her property with the respect you would require of someone visiting your back yard.

[Brett]

My closest neighbor and I had to post our lands.  50 years ago, folks would stop by and ask permision to hunt, mostly rabbit hunters. Good folks and we always allowed it. Then came "hunters" from Rochester NY, about a 3 hour drive or more. Pocket flasks with brandy, empty ash tray in driveway, shoot at anything that moved and a few things that didn't. Cut barb wire fences and leave trash. Twice shot towards my cabin and I heard the BB's hit the steel roof. Twice I chased them off, at gun point. Third time, State Police came and arrested them.
Now everything for miles around is posted. My neighbor and I agree to go freely on each others land.
I'm too old to climb a tree stand anymore, but I keep his ground stands swept out, and use his and mine at different places on either properties.
It saddens me to do this and it saddened me to have to lock up all my cabins. Used to leave them unlocked, so a traveler or hunter could use them as needed. Never had a problem. Most people would bring in fresh wood and split kindling for the next person. Cook a meal, then clean the dishes.Those days are gone forever.
Sorry to carry on so, but this topic, for me, high lights drastic changes in society for me.



The Hermit

This is the sad truth of the matter.  People just don't respect other folks property anymore. That coupled with the sue happy state of mind that a lot of individuals have these days you have to post your land to protect your investment. 

Good neighbors though should communicate with each other and explain why they are going to post their land and work out an agreement to allow one another hunting access in exchange for keeping an eye out for uninvited guest on the others land.  Even if a neighbor gives me blanket permission to hunt his land I would let him know a day or two ahead of time when and where I intended to hunt out of respect for the land owner and would expect the same curticy in return.

[Sensai]

LongTom stated my reasoning pretty well.  My land is posted and I have only denied one "hunter" permission to hunt on my place.  He had four other people with him and showed up on opening day to "tell" me that they would be hunting behind my house and not to worry if I heard some shooting.  I informed him that the local game warden could use the sounds to find them for me.  They left and I never heard from them again.

My reason for posting my land is so that I will know who is hunting, and when and where they they will be hunting.  I don't require any payment in cash or kind.  If there is someone, includeing family and/or friends, hunting at a particular time; I let the requester schedule another time to hunt. And yes; me, my family and my friends do have priority.  I did, after all, put my own sweat, toil and fortune into this land.

[30-30man]

We use to have a paper company next to my farm that let anyone hunt on their land if they registered.  That only lasted five years, too much trash and damage.  It's all posted now and I can't help to feel better for it. I'd buy the whole place today if they'd let me.  You just can't let anyone on your place, or you won't have one for long.

[FourBee]

I have a 2 acre pond that lies a 100 yards off a dirt road less than a mile from my house.  Some winters it will be full of ducks.  Its a pleasure to get a knock on my door from hunters wanting to take advantage of an easy situation.  Some even offer part of the game taken if successful, which I'm thankfully uninterested in. 

Then there are those who cause me to face a dangerously offensive situation, because I'm being forced to have to investigate who it is startling me and my family with the unexpected  volleys of blasting gunfire. 

[beerbelly]

I think the lawyers are the reason most land is posted. When I was a kid U S Steel and Alabama power owned our whole world. For the most part they still do. But back then you could hunt their land and did not need a permit. Hell on U S Steel land you could cut wood to keep you warm in the winter, as long as you only cut hardwood and not their pines.
   Now you are not allowed on their property period !No  hunting permits no nothing. Stay off !
     They were sued by dumb a$$ folks ,doing stupid things and getting hurt. The juries would say that big company has all the money in the world and give huge sums to the idiots. So now we are all bared from their land. You can’t blame them, blame the greedy lawyers!
   Every state should pass a law that   if you are on someone else’s land with or without permission ,you can not sue.
                                   Beerbelly

[spikehorn]

A few years ago I had a treestand accident the result of which I ended up with the bottom lobe of my left lung collapsed. When I saw the land owner a while later and told her what happened I could see the fear in her eyes,and I know what she was thinking. I reassured her that the accident was my fault and that she had nothing to worry about. You could see the sense of relief come over her.

[mechanic]

If you think about it, its gotten so bad that there are a lot of things we are probably afraid to do.  When I was a kid I would go around to my neighbors and get up odd jobs for money.  I had two kids of about 12 or so stop by this summer with a lawn mower and offered to cut my grass for $10.00.  That was about 1/5 what they should have asked.  My fear one would get hurt and I would get sued.  I just gave them $10.00 because I felt bad about not giving them work.  In another world I would have let them cut the grass and given them the fifty and felt good about it.