damn. yea id not mess with hunters.

Getting the trespassers on camera is definitely the play. Captain certainly isn't strapped for cash and having a few extra game cams will never be a bad thing. 100% should just call the game warden and ask their advice. I know some state's make it difficult to properly post the land.

I wouldn't confront them in person.

Man, you are in a ****ty situation; on the one hand it's in your best interest to try and get along with your neighbors and locals in the area, but you've got to stand up for your rights, too.

You've got 40 acres, and you mentioned that you put up a fence along the back of the property...I don't suppose it's reasonable / feasible for you to fence the entire property? Not that that would necessarily stop someone from trespassing on your property, but most people have some level of respect for personal property and property rights.

Completely understand why you don't feel comfortable approaching them by yourself, but are you on friendly enough terms with other locals who could make introductions and help you make this guy understand that just because he's been hunting this land for the last 20 years, the land has been sold, it's your land now, a man has to respect another man's rights, and if he or anyone else wants to hunt on it, they'll need to talk to your first?

If not, ever thought about buying a few large dogs? Unfortunately the dogs would likely interfere with your daily Bambi sightings, but they might also hear/smell/sense trespassers, run off barking in their direction, thereby scaring away any nearby deer and thus making hunting on your land unproductive.

While you're obviously 100% in the right and this guy is clearly being an *******, yours is a good example of why when you move to a new area, it's almost always a good idea to go out of your way to introduce yourself to the locals and try to get started off on good terms with all your new neighbors. Even more true when you're living out in the hills & hollers...

Good luck however you handle it, but I'd vote for first trying to get a local good 'ol boy to help you resolve the situation before involving the authorities.

As de cap says, the bad guys will just steal the game cameras. I believe the closest military situation is a tonnage war. You need to bankrupt him by taking tree stand after tree stand, and not replenish his funds with game cameras.

I don't see what putting a fence along his 1/4 acre property is gonna do. Won't he just walk up the road a few feet to go around it? I have a 1/4 acre lot and it's like 20 steps to my neighbor's property. Unless you're planning on putting up miles of fence along your whole perimeter.

Man, you are in a ****ty situation; on the one hand it's in your best interest to try and get along with your neighbors and locals in the area, but you've got to stand up for your rights, too.

You've got 40 acres, and you mentioned that you put up a fence along the back of the property...I don't suppose it's reasonable / feasible for you to fence the entire property? Not that that would necessarily stop someone from trespassing on your property, but "most" people have respect for property rights.

Completely understand why you don't fell comfortable approaching them by yourself, but are you on friendly enough terms with other locals who could make introductions and perhaps help this guy understand that just because he's been hunting this land for the last 20 years, the land has been sold, it's your land now, a man has to respect another man's rights, and if he or anyone wants to hunt on it they have to ask permission?

If not, ever thought about buying a few large dogs? Unfortunately the dogs would likely interfere with your daily Bambi sightings, but they might also hear/smell/sense people on your land, run off barking in their direction, thereby scaring away the deer and thus making hunting on your land no so productive.

While you are 100% in the right and the guy is clearly being an *******, your situation is a good example of why when you move to a new area, it's almost always a good idea to go out of your way to introduce yourself to and try to get started off on good terms with all new neighbors. And this is especially true when you're living out in the hills & hollers...

Good luck however you handle it, but I'd vote for first trying to get a local good 'ol boy to help you resolve the situation before involving the authorities.

The guy probably thinks another idiot hunter stole his tree stands. Next time you take one down, tack up a sign that says "Stay the **** off my property".

You don't think the 'No trespassing' signs and purple tape (commonly understood 'no trespassing' signal) tipped him off to who it was?

I'd invite some militant vegans to come camp on your property to stop the hunting. Can't believe nobody has thought of this!

The only solution is to just build a wall around the perimeter of your property. Like a really huuuge wall. A glorious wall. A wall so beautiful that the deer will want to stay inside of this fantastic wall, on this great land of yours. The evil, terrible, thieves on the other side of the wall, will no longer be able to steal any of your resources. They are stealing your job and your livelihood too. You could start that hunting business right up. Don't let those "people" take your job. You could even have the evil thieves build the wall for you. You could convince them that it will be good for them because then they won't have to worry about those pesky deer eating all of their corn and vegetables.

You have exhausted every effort trying to reason with these invaders and it must be stopped with an astonishingly big, bright and beautiful cascading wall that the whole county will be proud to see. You could even build a moat. That's what you could do build a moat with alligators. But back to the wall. Make sure that the wall has pictures and stuff on it. Like pictures so exotic that a painter painted them. Pictures of like deer and corn and grass and tree forts and stuff. You know, make everyone feel comfortable on both sides of the wall.

I guess you missed the part where I posted a no trespassing sign on the tree with a built in deer stand? I posted a no trespassing sign with my name, phone number, and address on it. The sign is nailed to the mother****ing tree. It not only says "No Trespassing" but it's purple too. The guy is (was) climbing over the sign to go up into the tree stand.

ETA:
The initial interaction was that I found the tree stands last spring. I took them down and left them laying at the base of each tree. I then took purple surveyors tape and tied around each tree. The poachers hauled off the tree stands only to bring them back and re erect them this fall. They also removed my purple no trespassing tape from said trees.

Are you getting into your girlfriend's supply now?

These are hillbillies, not corporations, that I'm dealing with.

I would put a sign by the road "Tree stands for sale"

That's really good. I may actually do that, but take it one step further by erecting said tree stand in a tree overlooking the road. I'll chain it to the tree with a for sale sign on it.

IMO put out obvious game cameras right next to no trespassing signs and then rig up some hidden security cam to get video of the trespassing + theft. The cams are probably valuable enough would be a felony to steal one or two I think. Then he probably can’t own guns. EZ game.

Bow hunter though. '08 reg date means you should remember Bo and Luke.

thats pretty funny and all, but seems like its more likely to incite some **** than it is to bring any kind of resolution.

Clearly my response was fairly tongue in cheek but you obviously haven't met too many really militant vegans if you think that they would have no chance against some hillbillies.

"Militant vegans" sounds pretty funny.

I don't think you've met any real American hillbillies. They ain't from Beverly.

Yeah that was silly. Last Texas hick I visited told me to show up with any bullets I wanted to fire and then drove us up to the range with 12 guns. And by range I mean abandoned quarry. And by 12 guns I mean 16 guns and 148 beers.

found a clip of the hillbillies vs vegans encounter

Man you guys seem really passive-aggressive.

OP made it clear to the poacher that he was being a **** for hunting on his property. The guy hasn't listened. If that isn't a sign to get authorities involved, then what is? Do you have to wait until there's a gunfight?

^^This^^ I don't know what State your property is in but in Virginia it isn't enough to post No Trespassing signs. You also have to Put up "Posted - No Hunting" signs.

With no foresight and just dumb luck here is how I solved my hunting season trespassing
Some years ago a neighbor kid asked to hunt...after I said yes I continually had to refuse his offers of free work. Initially he let me know of trespassers...then the kid became a state cop...I love it when he(ethically) hunts usually passing over does for specific bucks
Maybe its a coincidence but I think poachers can smell cops

de captain, I'm gonna still make a case for an in-person discussion. You've clearly done everything right so far, making it abundantly clear what the new situation is. And I don't think anyone is questioning this person has ignored those clear messages.

But. There's no replacement for a discussion with the guy(s). You seem like an entirely reasonable person, and my guess is you're a good judge of character. That discussion, if it happens, will tell you everything you need to know (beyond what you already know), and what your next move is.

Are you considering that? Or are you more inclined now to keep going with what you've already been doing, perhaps a bit more aggressive in your efforts?

Going over to that guys place is a horrible idea. If there's going to be any face to face talking, it should only be done if yje6 poacher pulls his head oit of his ass and comes over decap's place to discuss things.

Why in the world would you want to go knock on the guys door and risk a possibly violent altercation. Even if the chance of that happening is only 1%, why risk it?
And if for whatever reason you absolutely feel the need to approach the guy at his place, at this point it should absolutely only be done with DFW/sheriff/whatever law enforcement in tow, and only with hard evidence of the trespassing.

This is the correct approach.

40 acres isn’t really a lot of land, I’m sure the deer pop is in constant flux. Still, can’t have people on your property...but if you want more than an unenthusiastic handjob from law enforcement it’s best to have actual connections. If you have any (think of a friend’s brother’s dad’s secretary’s husband is a cop), then go that route. Or let the kids of leo hunt your land, etc. It sucks that this is how to go about things in life, but yea, make connections.

Long term you can also manipulate your land with natural defenses around the border (man made pond that runs lengthwise, planting thickets along one border, etc)

You can also contact a bunch of university biology departments and offer up your land / deer pop for study. Once they are on your land, you have made a much bigger case for law enforcement to take a trespassing hunter seriously.

You can sabotage the tree stands that won’t be immediately apparent to the hunter. i.e. pouring liquid tide detergent all around the area they hunt.

If you want to go a special kind of crazy, you can tranq the bucks and hacksaw their antlers off.

Deffo wouldn’t do anything with the stands (like selling them I mean), law enforcement will not take you seriously if you are both just feuding. You need to be the professional in this situation.