Private Landowners: Do you post your land?

[30-30man]

In South Carolina you almost have to post your land.  I own 1200 acres and have to keep it posted for insurance reasons.  No signs and you are not restricting hunting.  If someone gets hurt on your land, you are liable if not posted.  I stopped all hunting on my place except family when an acquaintance I was allowing to hunt broke his arm in one of my fields.  His insurance company threatened to sue me for the injury that they paid for. The guy backed his insurance company down but the damage was already done.  The reason private property is posted is because of the sue happy society we live in.  You just can't trust everyone.  Back 50 years ago people weren't as sue happy.  A large paper company in SC use to let everyone hunt their land with no notice or registry.  This was 25,000 acres.  They had land all over the state.  This has sense past after being sued over a dog drive gone bad and a trigger happy teenager. It's a sign of the times friends

[flamenblaster]

I do not own land my own self..not yet..but i can sympathize with those of you who do. When im out target shooting on public land (blm mostly..some national forest areas too)..im often apalled at the trash i find in an otherwise beatiful, isolated location..everything from old (probably stolen) vehicles to every appliance in the book..plus all the various smaller trash.Many times ive pick up several trash bags full and removed it. At least that way i can honestly say that the place is BETTER for me having been there.I am honestly concerned about the damage this does to the image of us lawfull gun owners in the eyes of the general public.Far to many people..mostly from urban areas i suspect..have no respect for the land they tread on. I see postings all the time in and around the various places i go and respect them. No trespassing means just that.

[Grumulkin]

I make out a permit with an expiration date for all with permission to hunt on my land.  If they haven't gotten permission to be on my land and I catch them, I will call the sherrif or game warden immediately.

[DavOh]

I myself don't own land. However my family owns a nice size ranch of about 1700 acres in western central texas. In that part of the state, the county roads are basically easements on private property. Meaning no fences to keep people from just wandering through your pasture. This didn't use to be a problem, but in the last 15 yrs or so there's been alot of selling out and day lease operations opening.  Which means alot of strangers. There are a number of 100 acre hunting ranches along our eastern boundary where people have their blinds in some cases 10 feet from the fence line. Which really makes me nervous. Especially since I can sit on one hillside that used to be one of my favorite places to sit, and count 5 blinds(and feeders) along that fencline. All with a hunter sitting there. All within about a 1/4 mile.

Luckily, since none of us live on or near the ranch, the guy we lease grazing rights to was the county commisioner for many years and pretty much knows everyone and keeps a sharp eye out.

We do invite friends to hunt with us but a family member must always be at least in camp. But the people we hunt with are FRIENDS... close friends... not Joe Schmoe off the street. That's just the way we beleive it should be.

Hunting ethics goes beyond the kill and the meat. It applies to the land, the family, the friends... the entire process.

[Doug B.]

I live in the northern third of Wisconsin.  In our state if you don't have permission (and it should be in writing) to be on somebodys land you are facing BIG trouble.  It doesn't matter if the land is posted/non-posted or fenced/non-fenced.  Without permission you are trespassing.  Pretty simple rules.

[ba_50]

I keep our place posted but they ignore it. You throw them off they keep coming back.

My neighbor caught some kids coon hunting out of season on several places. (Ours too). He had them arrested. Two came from 50-60 miles away. One more arrest on one guy and he will be doing jail time. They hid their guns before coming out or it would have been worse.

During the deer season the dirt road is busier then interstate. They shoot deer from the road with crossbows or ride in the back of the truck shooting at running deer. My neighbor had to get behind a tree.

Cell phones make it tough to catch drop offs.

My neighbor got the game warden to check on a trespasser during deer season. When he got back the truck was gone and the license plate was completely phony.

The warden doesn't recommend approaching these people during the hunting season because you don't know what they will do.

Times have sure changed in the last 40-50 years.


They damage or cut down trees, steal firewood, or bring all their friends and relatives when only they, have been given permission.

My neighbor lives next to his timber and they still go in.

The people who act like friends don't respect your property or you.

[SDS-GEN]

Post and enforce.  I call the game warden a couple times a year to BS with him and invite him to patrol the area during gun deer season.  He has nailed someone every year.  For you guys having trouble out west on a thousand acres, we have the same problems in the midwest on 50 acres.  Usually its a neighbor who has been kicked off before for jumping the fence without permission, or one of the neighbors friends or relatives.  Same old BS excuse, "I must have gotten turned around.  This isn't so-and-so's property?" or "Of course so-and-so gave me permission to hunt here".  I started requiring written permission from people who hunt my land, since then neighbors have tied up a couple thousand acres in the "written permission only" program.  The quality of hunting has gone way up and the game warden doesn't have to look up a landowner to fine someone, if they don't have a signed permission slip they get hit.  The problem only gets worse as housing developments keep popping up everywhere around here.

[alsaqr]

"it is asahme they will not give you the trucks, guns and ATVs taht they take from the trespassers as payment"

Sometimes they do.  In 2004 an OK judge gave a new Polaris because the idiot owner repeatedly cut my fences and caused erosion on the place.  Turns out the guy was multiple felony warrants in TX. 

[billy_56081]

Up near Little Fork MN our hunting land is not posted. Most of the neighbors lands are unposted also. The locals shun most people that post there land. Where I live in Southern MN most private land is posted. Ours is not but it is mostly CRP and tillable land that does not need to be posted to be prosecutable. Plus my brothers house sits right in the middle of it and being he is the sheriff and his squad car is sitting there we rarely have problems with trespassing. Our neighbors and us hunt together quite a bit so we don't worry about the boundaries.

[EdK]

Up near Little Fork MN our hunting land is not posted. Most of the neighbors lands are unposted also. The locals shun most people that post there land...

Here too but an interesting thing: only the ones that have no land. Furthermore most (not all) of those folks drive new cars while mine is a 1986, live in nice homes, spend their money on lots of "toys" etc. Point being they could buy land too if they had a little discipline/made a sacrifice here or there.

[ba_50]

My neighbor was really boiling after arresting those 3 guys. He's got money so I got to thinking he might be interested in putting up surveillance cameras that can send pictures back to a computer.

Anyone come across anything like this?

[Land_Owner]

Yes.  Specifying EXACTLY which one...NO.  They are expensive and on the order of a grand plus Internet connection fees.  Perhaps they have come down, but I have not seen that.  Trouble with putting that much "infrastructure" out in the woods where the thugs can get to it is being at risk of losing it all and not catching anyone.

I am researching a VERY USEFUL camera test site I saw, but can not find its link.  When found, I will post.

[billy_56081]

Quote from EdK

"Here too but an interesting thing: only the ones that have no land. Furthermore most (not all) of those folks drive new cars while mine is a 1986, live in nice homes, spend their money on lots of "toys" etc. Point being they could buy land too if they had a little discipline/made a sacrifice here or there."


Actually the locals that have land are the ones who will shun you. Being at least half the land in the area we are is public or paper company. It is a completely different world up there.

[30-30man]

I inherited my property as most people have in my area.  Hunting land is a premium as all the large tracts have been bought by large developers.  Retirement homes and horse farms are springing up everywhere. I have never felt like I wanted to keep what I was blessed with from anyone wanting to experience the outdoors.  I had to unfortunately, and I long for the way things use to be when you didn't have to worry about tresspassers.   It is more of a liability thing rather than wanting to keep the game to yourself.  I do it for protection of a lawsuit more than anything else.  I have more trouble with people stealing pine straw, peaches, and firewood than anything else.  I sell peaches, blue berries, pecans, and baled pine straw to supplement my income.  I once caught a guy who was in the business and sells straw to the big stores baling on my place.  It was no mistake, he clearly knew he was tresspassing.  He told me that he was doing me a favor by cleaning the pine rows.  I made him dump the bales and put everything back.  The thing that bothers me the most is I would have let him bale all he wanted to if he would have asked.  I had already had the balers come through and got all I needed.   I use to let a nearby club hunt on my land for free pest control but it almost got me into court over a dumb mistake on an atv.  I was liable period according to the insurance company.  How can anyone expect someone to jepardize their home, property, and bank account when there is no protection to let people hunt?  I think that is why most private land is leased and clubs are made to carry insurance.  It is the norm here now.  I've heard people paying as much as $1200 a year in my area, which is ridiculous in my opinion.  It really stinks for those who can't afford a club and own no land.  All they have is the WMAs which are overcrowded and sometimes dangerous. 

[nomosendero]

Yes, we post.

[Redhawk1]

I sure do, last time I checked, I never seen anyone else make a payment on my land.