Ok deer hunters...fess up!

[Richard]

I'm declaring war and looking for advice:

Scenario: Live by recreational lake. In between the farm (250 acres) and water is a parcel of land owned by government. I don't know if it is more or less than the 250 acre farm. It certainly isn't SUBSTANTIALLY larger if it is in fact larger at all. My guess is that it is smaller

Ok, so you have common strip of land that borders our property, on other side of TVA land is the recreational lake with yes, fishermen, boaters and on other side of lake is a fancy gated retirement community.

Hunters are 100% legal to shoot on this land that in my humble opinion, is WAYYYYYY too small of land to safely hunt on. With lake on one side, us on other, the hunters have in effect a "hallway" of safety that they can shoot down without having errant shots go over our heads or across the lake. I doubt that all these hunters observe this "hallway".

We also have treaspassers (hunters) and some thieves (ironically during hunting season).

Now, this isn't to disparage any/all hunters. I have no problem with hunters doing their thing, I just DON"T want them doing it within ammunition distance of my home. After all, I doubt THEY would trust ME legally firing my rifle say....1,000 feet from THEIR house with their kids outside playing right??? /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Along with the spirit of the "Maximally Obnoxious Noisy Gun" thread, I have debated on walking the border of TVA and the farm with ?? and totally blasting the area with it. If I waste 50 shots of 12-g on TVA land and "harass" the hunters, I'm breaking the law. If I just happen to skirt my way onto the farm, I can blast until my hearts content and they can do NADA.

Here is where I would like some of you hunters to fess up and help someone on the "other side" (non-hunter)

What can I do while on MY land...shotgun, whistle...fly swatter...that would scare the deer the most and make them take off in flight?

My hope of course is to royally piss off the hunters (and do it legally) and maybe make them think it just isn't worth coming within the 1,000 feet of my home.

Additionally, I'm fighting back by working on my Congressman trying to make a 1 mile setback for hunting, thereby giving any errant ammunitiion time/distance to peter out before becoming a deadly treaspasser on my property AND I have already had installed by the county on the small road we live on (and used as the HUNTERS public parking lot) no parking signs installed. This has just been completed and any time I see ANYONE parked here (salivating for 1st day of hunting now) the Sheriff has assured me, he will ticket any/all.


Thanks for any thoughts
Richard

 

[Gatorboy]

I am assumming that you must be referring to Gun Hunters. An archery hunter normally only shoots at deer when they approach a distance of 30 yards or less.

From your post, it appears that you are only interested in your safety, for without the hunting of deer, they would multiply like rabbits, and then end up not having enough food available and many many deer would die of starvation.

For what it is worth, I think if you start pissing off the hunters, you will have more things to worry about than the hunters hunting deer.

By the way, I am NOT a hunter.

Regards,
Dave "Gatorboy" Hoffmann
Fallston, Maryland

 

[Richard]

In my calmer moments, I fully agree with you. My flip side view is, that logic (which I DO somewhat adhear to) means I just sit back, allow treaspassers, thievery, hide within my home and allow them to violate "my" rights.

What I would REALLY like to see happen is some common sense approach that says "Hmmmm, why don't we change the law and make it say that you can still shoot on TVA land, you must HOWEVER, have a 1 mile BUFFER from every borderline". Borderline includes water & land. Sure is bad PR to have fisherman dropping dead from errant deer shots!

I mean, these bozos can be on the hillside fully within view of my house and their only requirment as I understand it, is they have to be 100 yards from a dwelling, inhabited or not. 100 yards??? bow hunting...fine. Shotguns...don't care for it. Rifles???

Yesterday, my wife told me of her customer who in fact lives across the lake..her neighbor was incensed because they evidently found some form of shell or bullet in their yard. I'm going to try to reach them soon & find out.

I'm hoping to use them as a springboard to try to corral their entire community to rise up and raise some hell with our representatives.

Surely these hunters can to to a parcel of land that is safe for all? That is all I want.

Deer starvation? I must admit when I moved here I thought how cute...Bambi blah blah blah...

Now, the dang things are like rodents. Tons of them, road hazzards...in fact, I had one (must have been kinda slow in the brain) that simply ran into the side of my stopped Miata. What a klutz! I shudder to think what would happen if I clipped ones legs out from underneith and it ended up in my lap.

In a perfect world, I would be happy if deer hunters came out for ONE day and killed all of them in my area so that BOTH problems are gone. Unfortunately, I know that isn't going to happen. (erradication of the deer)

Richard

 

[Richard]

Couple of other thoughts as to why I'm sensative on this issue. We have had one hunter (was a bow) who shot the deer. Deer ran to OUR gravel road and, since I arrived there late am forced to believe, layed down & died. He GUTTED the dumb thing right there at my driveway side. Now this was 800 feet from the house, and "technically" on TVA land but how *^%#&% rude. Just what I and all the ladies want to see when we drive home at night, a bloodbath on the driveway.

ANOTHER neighborly hunter cleaned his deer and left the carcas maybe 200 feet from end of my property. Property defined as my mowed lawn & house, not the farm. I was walking around and started smelling something rotting and for the life of me couldn't figure it out until the dog walked up with some entrails in it's mouth. Followed direction from which dog came and found the mess.

I found a hunter in his truck and conversed a bit. I quizzed him on how HE as a hunter can reconcile the issue of hunting on some of this land that is SHARED by campers. He just gave me a muffled ha ha and proceeded to tell me that the prior year he got out there at 5 or whatever...found his spot and early in morning found/heard a deer and took his shot (rifle). OOPS...turns out that 30 yards behind him were some campers that absolutely freaked out. All this moron could do was chuckle about it.

As "civilization" and population creeps into this area, the only safe answer is for the hunters to move elsewhere.

 

[Von]

Richard,
It seems you want your cake and eat it to! You can't always have it both ways. Maybe you could have the rules changed to shotgun and bow hunting only, with a 500 ft. from any building. Range of a shotgun with slug is about 150 yds. Or maybe buckshot which is even less. They could make it bow only and allow the hunters to take more than one deer. If you ban all hunting you will have a huge problem in a very short time. You can post your property to keep anyone off, and press charges against anyone who trespasses. I think its unfair of you to group all hunters as bozos and theives, its like saying all muslims are terrorist. I don't know your state laws but doing what you suggust to scare the deer and disrupt legal hunting is considered "hunter harrasment" in this state and you can be charged for it. I say try to work with the hunters and not against them.

 

[Richard]

Von

I, honestly, am not insensitive to your comments.

You are correct about the "hunter harrasment" statement also...other than the fact that if I"m doing something on MY land, irregardles of what it is...it isn't covered. Well, pot shots at hunters might be (but that's a joke). But seriously, if I were to be hunting on OUR land and aiming INTO the woods at a deer....heaven forbid...what if there is a hunter (moron or not) on the FAR side of my bullet? So now I can't even hunt without the chance that they accuse me of shooting AT them??? Again, I don't have ANY problems with people hunting. To illustrate my primary point.. would you mind me hunting within 1,000 feet of YOUR home?? I also haven't mentioned the empty beer cans that happen to accumulate where they park. Drinking BEFORE hunting?? I don't know, AFTER hunting...I would HOPE so. I'll bet though that you probably know of ONE person in your hunting career that had had a couple PRIOR to going out. Now..if so...would you want ME shooting my gun AFTER drinking, 1,000 feet from YOUR home & children?? I would hope not.


Sorry about bundling them up together but I've given some examples of "their" consideration for the locals. As "they" as a group don't seem to police themselves and during friendly discussions with them, without an exception, they acknowledge some of the issues (bloody remains on road, beer cans...) but since it's always the "other" guy I'm afraid I'm forced to lump them together. Not ONE of them has seemed to take issue with some of these irrefutable facts.

Not only does that sadden me, it disturbs me.

We are looking into buying signage for farm. I suppose circumference is probably mile or two?? Unfortunately (for me) some hilly/tough terrain also. There IS a fence. I say that losely because in the woods where it is in close proximity of two tracts of TVA land, it gets constantly torn down. Since we are literally at the end of the road and the lake covers 3 sides of the farm/tva land we are in effect, on a peninsula and the ONLY way to this fence is either treaspassing or TVA land. As we are there year round and can typically see when people are there, we know that the almost exclusive time folks are present is hunting season. Since WE are not tearing the fence down, through some simple deduction (AND lumping and a form of predjudice) we infer to know that it is the hunters causing the repeated damage.

The joke in all of this, if they would drive 5 miles down the road there is a HUGE tract of land they can hunt on. I suppose the deer here are easier kill because they are bordered on 3 sides by water. If so, THAT surely makes it sporting!!

Richard

 

[Von]

Richard,
You forget that I am from NY and my wife is not my sister! We are more togeather than your neighbors down in Tenn. I don't know anyone who drinks before going in the woods to hunt, hell, I don't know anyone who drinks that early in the morning! As for hunting 1000 ft. from my house it happens everyday during hunting season, but like I stated, not much inbreeding around here. You are more spaced out than we are, we hunt small pockets of woods that are any where from 5 acs. to 200acs. But it is shotgun and bow only. I guess its different in other areas, as are the people who live there.Around here we have too much respect for the land owners to do anything like you are experiencing. good luck with your problem.

 

[Richard]

1. I think you hit one nail on the head regarding respecting landowners. A bit more of that EVERYWHERE would go very far in making everyone better off.

2. I'm unsure as to your inferences about wife/sister and inbreeding. I have seen you too often being polite & helpful for me to believe you to be that rude and for you mean that as a personal attack. As such, I conclude it is (hopefully) just a sophomoric attempt at illustrating your comment about “saying all Muslims are terrorists”. If so, it is still poor taste, HOWEVER, if your logic is everyone you have met from Tennessee has those characteristics and you therefore apply them to me, I would understand. My “WIFSTER” (wife/sister) says she agrees too! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

3. Thank you for your wishes of luck, as indeed, it is a problem

 

[Von]

Richard, The wife/sister remark is not directed to you, but to your problem slob hunters. We don't seem to see many of them around here, like you do. Most of the people I hunt with are business owners, teachers and professional types, so I don't run into the slobs. I think the more rural poor areas will have this type. I guess I have seen "Deliverance" too many times!

 

[Richard]

My apologies on my remarks.

Yes, I think (yet again) you hit a nail on the head. After visiting with a fair number of these folks, I have yet to meet one that I would expect to see walking downtown in a suit/tie or even khakis.

I think "slob hunters" is very right on. They do exude the appearance of being the steriotypical unshaven, slouched in chair w/beer cans lying on floor, asleep watching "snow" on the TV type with their loaded gun lying in the corner of the room.

Just my observations.