Property Line Hunters

[Robert_in_NY]

Safety is not a theory. If you read the passage again, you will see that my suggestion would allow you to determine where the food plot would be, hence allowing you to control the angle in which you are shooting, which would be the safest angle depending on the layout of your property and those that surround yours. Shooting down the line has to end up somewhere and that somewhere may be someone working near that line. No matter what size a persons property is, if it isn't set-up for safe hunting they shouldn't do it. Just because it's legal on paper doesn't make it the must responsible thing to do. This is the same train of thought used by fence line hunters.

And by using your theory that the hunter has the knowledge to be safe then wouldn't hunting the property line only increase the neighbors safety? The reason I am engaging you in this is because I have neighbors who I actually prefer they hunt my boundry line as then I have less worry of their bullets coming across the property line. So from a neighbors perspective I prefer they shoot away from me. If you knew these neighbors you would understand.

 

[CTW]

And by using your theory that the hunter has the knowledge to be safe then wouldn't hunting the property line only increase the neighbors safety? The reason I am engaging you in this is because I have neighbors who I actually prefer they hunt my boundry line as then I have less worry of their bullets coming across the property line. So from a neighbors perspective I prefer they shoot away from me. If you knew these neighbors you would understand.

Robert, I'm simply saying if the property is safe to hunt on, regardless of acreage, the hunter should take every step necessary to insure that the shot they take is in a safe direction. I don't agree with fence line hunting and don't believe hunting it would increase the neighbors safety. Here's why. The fence line that is being hunted ultimately continues into or dead-ends at someone else's place so once that bullet sails down the fence line your ability to control where the shot ends up is greatly hindered. As a property owner, you know how your place is laid out, not so much with the neighboring property so it's anybody's guess where a fence line shot will end up if you miss that animal. You wanting your neighbors to fence line hunt may be the safest practice for you, but may not be the case for the neighbor down the fence line. I'm sure you can take bits and pieces out of my passages to make your individual points. It is my desire, however, for you to understand what I'm saying as a whole.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Robert, I'm simply saying if the property is safe to hunt on, regardless of acreage, the hunter should take every step necessary to insure that the shot they take is in a safe direction. I don't agree with fence line hunting and don't believe hunting it would increase the neighbors safety. Here's why. The fence line that is being hunted ultimately continues into or dead-ends at someone else's place so once that bullet sails down the fence line your ability to control where the shot ends up is greatly hindered. As a property owner, you know how your place is laid out, not so much with the neighboring property so it's anybody's guess where a fence line shot will end up if you miss that animal. You wanting your neighbors to fence line hunt may be the safest practice for you, but may not be the case for the neighbor down the fence line. I'm sure you can take bits and pieces out of my passages to make your individual points. It is my desire, however, for you to understand what I'm saying as a whole.

I do understand you and to be honest I don't care for people who intentionally set up on a fence lines for multiple reasons as I have previously stated earlier in this thread. As for safety of shot direction its a gamble. I'm use to hunting in Western New York and most parcels of land are long and narrow and along the lake there are lots of roads. Your area most likely is different and if your on large blocks of land then hunting the interior is going to be safe for almost everyone. But hunting small blocks that so many people do just isn't always best to shoot from the interior outwards. It seems like a lot of people have a hunting cabin on 30 -80 acres of property. With a shotgun thats usually ok but with a rifle hunting the interior doesn't seem like the safest situation for all the neighbors. If you feel the hunter is smart enough to control his shot from the interior then I would have to believe it only increases safety if that same hunter is on or near the property line. Yeah, eventually the property line ends and borders another property but if you shoot straight across the property you reach another property line anyway.

This thread was started by someone who if I recall hunts on a small block of land. Property line hunters are just a fact of life for small block hunting, the safest way to handle this type of hunting is to get along with your neighbors and have mutual respect. Yeah, thats not always an option but if your friends with your neighbor and respect each other and their property then you will have a lot better hunting. If you shoot a deer and it runs onto the neighbors property how do you retrieve it? What about if they shoot one and it runs on yours? Knowing your neighbor and where they hunt and being friendly with them and letting them know where you hunt is ultimately the safest practice you can have (well at least in my area). Hunting the interior doesn't make it safer here if the person hunting is that careless with where he aims

And for the neighbors I mentioned early about wanting them to hunt my boundry, their good people and I get along with them but their terrible hunters and very lousy shots. Every season they shoot like crazy and launch around 50 rounds and are lucky to recover 2-3 deer. Their property is only around 40 acres and mostly open but luckily there is a creek running along our border thats grown up with trees and brush but if I ever build a tower stand on that section of ground the wall facing their property will be lined with steel thick enough to stop a shotgun slug as I just don't trust their judgement.

 

[CTW]

Best of luck to you and stay safe my friend.

Chris

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Thanks, you too.

 

[TripleR]

I must admit, I have read quite a few though not all of the posts. We have property line hunters on two side, the other are not accessible or suitable for hunting.

Both property owners are like us and plant food crops, cover and such; we took over forty acres out of row crop production and reforested it while one guy plants crops and leaves them for wildlife. I barely know them, but we respect each others' boundaries and I have no trouble with them coming on our property to retrieve game.

I think the quality of your "neighbors" has been touched upon and agree; what works for us may not for someone else. We all have several hundred acres and that is also a factor.