16ga.com ~ View topic - Hunting

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1844 Location: Central ND

I live in Central ND and the nearest traffic signal is an hour and change away. I live on the gravel and my neighbors are farmers. I help one of my neighbors move equipment from field to field sometimes. Right now there isn't an idle combine or grain cart around. So I am the Uber driver.

I was driving my neighbor and another farmer to get a combine and a tri-axle, and we happened upon 2 hunters from out of state hunting on a piece of P.L.O.T.S. (Private Land Open to Sportsman). These two knuckleheads were within 150' of an obviously occupied house. The law is 440 yards, unless you own the property or have written permission from the property owner. And they drove into the property to park their truck, and there are approaches on both ends and in the middle of this section where they could have and should have parked. There also signs warning of the nearby house. Why they were hunting that close I can't figure out, because of the 327 acres to hunt that is the last place to find any game bird, even if the house wasn't there. (Yes I do hunt there and I know the property and where the birds hang out.)

Both farmers were on high alert and the first thing they did was look at the license plate to find out where these hunters were from. It was an out of state plate. The comment was "It figures".

Do you think that anyone from that state will ever hunt on property owned by these two farmers?

Would you want someone hunting 150' from your living room? Would you want folks driving in your fields when there was plenty of room to park at either end?

I am not accusing anyone of anything, but I just want everyone to be aware of what goes on and how the actions of a few can ruin it for a lot of people. Oh and small towns have the best communications in the civilized world.

MSM2019,

Unfortunately there are more than a few sportsman who are unaware of how common curtesy effects the entire hunting community. Much of this foolishness is because they do not know what hunting traditions happen to be, especially in certain areas of the country, Parking where you should, leaving gates in the position that you find them and much more will get you invited back. Violations of these traditions can often times have the access to a ranch or private forest revoked from hunting accessibility.

We had to actually post no trespassing signs on our land because of some of this foolishness. Installed a big cattle gate on our road, and now have security cameras also. I definitely agree with your post.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

It is not just out-of-staters. I am lucky enough to own some land in Kansas and Oklahoma. I had a neighbor call me one year and ask if he could deer hunt a 1/4 in Kansas. I was more than happy to have him hunt (I do not deer hunt) but made it plain that I was giving him permission, not a extended group. Well you guessed it, I happened to go up there the day before opening weekend of quail and pheasant season to pick up some stuff. The neighbor knows I am generally out in western Kansas opening weekend. What do I find but a truck from Georgia with a couple of deer stands and bow cases sitting on my land. It turns out this jacka$$ had been selling hunts to these guys for a couple of years on my land. No surprise NO ONE has permission to hunt my land at this point.

Ethics, and the lack of, knows no geographic boundaries.

James

Mark , I know when we were hunting up that way , Nick would spend a LOT of time talking to land owners if we could ID them More so when we got into Standing Rock in ND as we weren't as familiar with that . Usually a friendly chat with the owner and we had the keys to the ranch . We also stayed diligent with any requests made ..... we still made a few mistakes right up to the last trip , but even with the most updated section maps , etc, it was still possible to be in the wrong place occasionally . Many times , the owner would be driving by , a quick , friendly chat , rules set and away we'd all go !!... by the way , not the same scene here in NY !

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1844 Location: Central ND

16gaDavis,

Well that was before onX. Now with onX and all the electronics and maps given by the states, there is no reason to be anywhere that you shouldn't be, no matter where you hunt, let alone 150' from a very visible and obviously occupied home.

Even though I live here year round and getting to know folks, I don't go on any private land, even unposted land, without talking to the owners first. I am sure that's why Nick took so much time contacting people. A little common courtesy goes a long way. I just sent a letter to some long distance landowners that I have never met, asking for permission, whatever that decision is, I will respect it.

Good news travels pretty fast in these small towns and bad news? Well that travels at the speed of light. Many of these folks have bluetooth headsets/ear buds and what do you think they are doing as they are planting, spraying, harvesting and driving truck?

The landowners most likely have had this land in their families for generations and if anyone thinks that there isn't pride in that fact, that is a serious miscalculation.

Gentlemen,
For many many years here in Pa, if the land was not posted in some manner it was the custom for land owners to let the land be hunted, no permission necessary. Recently however this tradition is fading out. More land owners want to know who and when sportsman are on their land. Mostly because the land owners are hunting their own land quite a bit, and many are leasing their land to hunt clubs. For some reason trash has also become a factor, and 4 wheelers using farm land are not helping anything either. When you roll all this together the old tradition of letting people hunt unposted land here in Pa is fading away.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Member Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 376 Location: North ID.

Many years ago in the 70's when S Idaho was a pheasant hunting destination, A friend whos family owned a large farming property invited myself and another friend down for a few days of pheasant hunting. I remember while we were driving to our hunting spot on his property, we passed a vehicle that had pulled off the side of the road, hunter's bailing out on what looked to be a multi-point charge to the farmers front yard, where a couple of roosters were walking. I asked him if people did that around the area. Nobody but the hunters from out of state, was his reply! We drove on by, so we didn't see the final outcome. In Idaho, if the land wasn't posted and was undeveloped land i.e. timberland, no permission was needed to hunt it. That changed in 2018, now if private ground, permission must be obtained, posted or not.

Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 2126 Location: Hudson,Wy

I will add a thought to this. There is one very good reason to park close to the house-so you can hunt away from it, eliminating any chance of pushing birds toward the area where you should not be shooting without permission.

Sad part is there is a big lack of respect nowadays & most feel they are entitled & the rules don't apply to them. See it all the time hunting public land.

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3178 Location: NCWa

Another unacceptable behavior: Last week I was elk hunting- walking up a hill on a motorcycle track. Down the hill came a two person quad. Each "hunter" had their rifle across their lap, muzzle pointed outward. To allow them to pass, I stepped off of the trail, but recognized too late that I had chosen the wrong side as the muzzles were pointed to my side. The quad passed, both muzzles passing as they pointed directly at me. It was unnerving and unacceptable- but worse, the two slobs on the quad had no idea of what they had just done-.