Am I wrong to close my land to hunting....

JimMorrissey · Mar 20, 2005

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have to think there are no organized "anti-hunting" insurance companies, maybe agent/brokers....However, I do think that "they" will say ANYTHING in order to reduce their liability in any way shape or form.

I personally like the idea of No Hunting Without Permission route. That way (as previously stated) you know who is on your land and how many are hunting at any particular time.

dmccarty · Mar 20, 2005

Dukenyc,

As other have said the law is going to depend on your state and maybe even your county.

What I read years go for my state was that by posting your property you reduce your liabilty since anyone who is on your property is now trespassing and has comitted a criminal act. Its much harder to sue if when the person suing committed a crime.

Later,
Dan

poorboy · Mar 20, 2005

I will have to agree with tinkerer for the most part. It's your land and you can make the decisions. My dad, BIL and I both hunt. We hunt here in our home state and take a once a year trip to OH to deer hunt. On this trip we get to spend alot of time together away from everything including work. Its also a time of year that we all have something in common. Dad and I have been doing this since I was 13 and 24 years later I guess we have made our last trek together.
The last place we hunted was closed to us because of a bunch of idiots over running the place and acting like fools. The owner was upset and said he was closing it to all. I don't agree with the logic but we respected his wishes and thanked him. This guy was afraid of making anyone mad. These guys weren't even hunters but just a bunch of yahoos. That lead us to go ask permission in other places. Out of 24 other places we stopped only one agreed to let us hunt. I can't say I blame them, we were out of state and it was during hunting season and I'm sure they had family or others already considering hunting. We didn't try to come across as professional hunters or as idiots and we asked as nice as we could. The way that some people talked to us was enough to make us not want to go back. If people ask for permission just tell them no if you don't allow hunting. If they are nice enough to ask they will get the idea without turning the dogs loose.
Poorboy

L3650 · Mar 20, 2005

<font color="red"> What I read years go for my state was that by posting your property you reduce your liabilty since anyone who is on your property is now trespassing and has comitted a criminal act. Its much harder to sue if when the person suing committed a crime. </font>

The jacka$$es tear down the signs and claim they didnt know. The two clowns I caught were in the back corner of a 90 acre parcel and they claimed they didn't know they were off the county land. They were using the no trespassing sign they tore down to pour nails onto.

tawilson · Mar 20, 2005

Hey Duke,
Nice discussion you got going here. I'm guessing you're from New York City and your profile says you purchased land up north. Maybe I'm one of your neighbors. Seriously tho, it sounds like you will be on the property only occasionally, which is why I suggested enlisting your neighbors in watching it. I've seen from experience that non landowners with hunting permission can be more ardent than the landowner when it comes to keeping an eye on property.

dukenyc · Mar 20, 2005

Thanks for all the replies. I am actually originally from upstate, I just moved to the city to work. I have been very fortunate, and after July I will be on the new property full time. I definately want to place nice with the neighbors, but I won't be pushed around on my own land.

I am going to post the land and just sit back and watch. If I see things I don't like, I'll be more aggresive and do some fencing and gating. Hopefully, it won't turn out to be a big issue, but you never know...

I really appreciate all the replies. This really is a great forum.

riptides · Mar 21, 2005

My land is not posted. Only been in and out of my one property since January. But this weekend, I had two young gentleman knock on the door and ask for hunting permission.
How cool was that! I told them at the moment, no can do. I ask them for their name and numbers, and we exchanged information. I also told them I would need help with the place.
They said they would consider it. I also found out they volunteer at the local FD. Too cool!

I told them I *really* appreciated the fact that they stopped on by and introduced themselves. That was the right thing to do, IMHO.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

millsnhills · Mar 21, 2005

Just as farmers lease land for crops(liability there too) hunters including myself lease land here in North Carolina. As part of such we are required to post the property x feet separating the signs and obtain liability insurance covering the hunters and the owners (cheap).

Since we have to pay for the use of the land we also help in maintaining it year round. We usually cover the owners propoerty tax evey year which helps him keep his land as well. Now the owner has multiple eyes watching after his land. We have called the game wardons mulitple times for tresspassers with no problems.

It is your land so you should not feel bad either way in making your decision.

ByronBob · Mar 21, 2005

I hunt and have the same feeling as others here do. You have the right to do whatever you feel is right. If you are being intimidated by your insurance company then thats wrong. It seems that New York has measures in place to protect you from liability. Even with all those measures in place could you get sued if your place was posted up like fort knox??

Building a relationship with a landowner is the best method to get permission to hunt his property. We all need to start understanding that better before everything is closed forever. For some owners labor might be the best asset to him and for others maybe a gift certificate but some appreciation short of a lease contract which binds both sides seems fair.

Most people are nice if you give them the opportunity and set some guidelines in place.

Docsknotinn · Mar 21, 2005

I am a hunter. I also believe in your rights to do as you wish with your property as long as it's within the four corners of the law. I feel most disclaimers are not worth the ink and paper to print them. I never use signs that say "No tresspssing without permission". I believe that they imply its ok to be on my property. You might be suprised how many people you never even met who thought they had permission to hunt your land ! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif I do not allow anyone to hunt my property unless I am in camp and then you can be darn sure its VERY few people who get permission. In three years that number is a big ZERO ! All my signs say NO TRESSPASSING. No mushroom pickers, star gazers or just plain nosey neighbors. Even so I keep a one million dollar umbrella policy which runs about $150 a year from my insurace carrier. Liability is a big and very real concern. Even a single case against you that might be dropped in the end could cost tens of thousands in legal fees to defend. On top of which I just plain do not want others who will not respect my piece of heaven, trampeling, riding, shooting, pooing and littering on my ponderosa. It's just too bad people act the way they do. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just toss all the No Tresspassing signs and believe that others would treat our propertys as they should ?