POWWWW!!!!!! I came out of my seat!

This is where a cell phone comes in handy! Get on the horn and call RAP or the local police.

If you know where the guy parked, maybe get his plate number off his car.

Don't get crazy and confront this guy. Let your adrenalin stop running and try to stay calm.

What this guy did is a B.S. thing to do, but it's not worth getting in trouble with the law over or getting hurt over.

What goes around, comes around. Sooner or later this guy will get his!

WOW, that quite a story! The first thing I prob would have done is taken a deer, I mean why let him ruin you first day out? Then I would have called the DNR or the police or who ever you need to turn this guy in! I think thats bull, you don't do that ****, pardon me. I don't agree with trespassing, but if its not on purpose then thats a different story. But this guy jumped a posted fence and wasn't wearing any orange, he NEW what he was doing.

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Time to get those reels back in the water, and catch some BIG fish!

well....I would keep a level head and not let anger get the best of me, and confront the hunter. I would like to find out why he was trespassing and why he had no orange. Let him know that he does not have permission to hunt this property and talk to him about the hunter orange. Depending on his attitude I would go from there.

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"In the wind he's still alive"

I would have calmly walked over to him. Informed him that I was the property owner and I wanted to see his hunting license. If he refused I would not get into a pissing match with him just say OK. I would attempt to have a polite, short conversation with him while noticing all things that might help me remember how to identify him in the future. I would inform him he was trespassing and that he must leave (notice, I don't ask him to please leave, "MUST"). I would walk with him to wherever he came from to get an idea how and where he came in from. Hopefully he walks back to his vehicle and I get a license number and description of the vehicle. If he doesn't walk to his vehicle I attempt to locate all vehicles in the area and copy them all down. Sooner or later though, being 4 pm already, he's going to a vehicle or residence close by somewhere. I then return to find out if he did shoot and get a deer. If it's after dark before this I call first and tell the DNR I will meet them at the location by the road and walk them back to locate a deer with them. If before dark, I don't go near the deer or touch it. I then go call the DNR, tell the officer I will testify and prosecute. I request to the officer charges of recreational trespass, fail to display license to a landowner (if he had refused, if he showed you, copy the number and his name from the license, I always carry a short pencil and folded up peice of paper in my pocket while hunting), fail to wear hunter orange and illegal deer(if he got one).

Now doing that is not going to mess up the rest of your season because for the officer to complete the investigation, do the report, submit it to the prosecutor, and the prosecutor to decide what charges and issue warrants, we are looking at two weeks minimum, probably closer to a month.

Once the warrants are issued and the guy is picked up and goes to court, assuming all the "i's" are dotted and the "t's" are crossed, then I would probably never have to testify because the guy pleads guilty.

That's what I would do!


[This message has been edited by boehr (edited 02-10-2001).]

Wow Boehr it doesn't get any more correct than that ! NOW SONG DOG WOULD HAVE.... Circled back to where I thought he would leave his vehicle, once located imobilize it a la' valve stem. Then make the call to the propper law enforcement division. Now I'm sure letting hte air out of someones tire is probably somewhat grey in the eyes of the law but he is not leaving until the officers arrive anyway. OF COURSE YOU ARE THE EXPERT HERE and you have offerd some very good advice I believe.

Well said Boehr, Thats what everyone should do. To confront someone when you are argry, ticked off is only going to cause more problems. You just dont know about people these days, if he is willing to poach a deer, tresspass who knows what he "might" do, its just not worth it.How did it turn out?

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HUNTING IS NOT JUST A PASTIME, iTS THE BEST TIME!BE SMART,BE SAFE & DONT DRINK & HUNT!!

I agree with those that say you should keep a cool head, getting into it with this SOB will do no good! Find out where his vehicle is, write down the number adn call the DNR. From there, all you can do is hope that there is no retaliation from this SOB!!

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ONE shot, ONE kill..No excuses, no exceptions EVER!!

I would offer to help the guy track his deer. When he got to a fence, I would hold his gun for him until he got one leg over the fence, then I would shoot him with it and lay it next to him so it looked like an accident.

That's just a fantasy of mine, never mind. I really don't like trespassers.

I usually tell the guy that he gets one break. Walk away, don't come back. That has always worked for me. But if the guy had just killed the big buck I was after, I'm not sure I'd be so lenient.

I've never taken it to the point of calling the DNR and trying to prosecute. For those of you that have, I have a question: how do you prove that someone trespassed? If he drives away, all you have is your story that you saw him there, and a plate number isn't proof that the guy trespassed, is it? If he denies it, how can law enforcement prove he's lying, short of matching his boot tracks? I've heard that affidavits and sworn statements are proof enough, is that true? I've always thought a photo of the guy would be solid, but that could really make him mad.

Dangler...never under estimate the power of one's word in court. You are right, it's your word against his but you do have a license plate number which the officer through investigation shows that this person had access to that vehicle at that time and so on. That's why the officer does an investigation, more proof. Now this is not a fairy tale and it always doesn't work out but...

I don't know if you have ever watch a trial or not (not TV court) but if you ever get the chance, find out when the local court holds bench trials and watch a few of them for a half of a day. It will be real obvious to you most, not all, of the time when somebody is lying through there teeth. Now take into account that the judge listens to this stuff all the time. That's when your testimony in court is as good as gold the ther bad guy's testimony turns to rust!

The public doesn't realize this but testimony is evidence!!

Thanks for all your thoughts and fantacys.

Well, back to opening day……
Like I said, I’m really mad but I told myself the next time I had a chance to do something about a poacher I would. I told myself to calm down, then I grabbed the rifle and took off after him.
He had already started back the way he came. I lost track of him but followed his most likely course. After 200 yards I see him sitting on the ground in an opening. As I walked towards him I saw stand up and turn his cap inside out. Voila, he now had some orange on! I walked up to him then stepped to the side of him a couple paces and set my gun on the ground. Then stepped back to face him. As calmly as possible I looked him in the eye and asked him if he knew how furious I was. He looked at me a second and as he racked the only shell he had in his gun he said, you’re the owner aren’t you? I just stared at him. We talked for a few minutes. As we talked I started tallying up the lies. (Probably 5 lies) One was he did not bring his wallet with him, and his license was with it. I finally told him I didn’t know what I was going to do with him, and told him to show me how he got on the private land. We went to the fence and he showed me how he jumped it. I fixed this fence twice in the last three years where he jumped it! I hinted if his story checked out that I might consider letting him go. He had no car because his friends had dropped him off. I talked him into walking to my car a half mile away.
This story is getting a little long so I’ll just say that I had a phone, pen, and paper. I did not use any of them. I flagged a state officer over and gave him the story. He called a CO and he flat out said he would not come to the scene. (Nov. 15) Boehrs info is probably good for most days of the year but, maybe not on opening day. I had a police report filled out on him. And he had a bench warrant on him. The officer took all his money and most of his friends to keep him out of jail. As I drove off his hands were on the hood of one of the two state police cars while being frisked by one officer. Another was dumping out and sifting through his backpack on the trunk lid of the other car!


(no deer was found)

That is a terrible story all the way around.

I was invited to hunt some private land opening day this year. At the end of the day the 'owner' said if anybody approached me and asked me to leave I should do what the guy says. The land turned out not to be owned by this guy at all, it was actually his neighbors land. The neighbors don't hunt, and supposedly they don't mind but I did mind when I found out so I left.

Man I was mad.