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Hunt deer or hunt trespasser?

hickslawns

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Ohio
Update: Last night the only deer I saw was a silhouette across a plowed field hundreds of yards off. Couldn't tell much about the rack, but it was a mature body. Stopped and I got a great view of the shadow figure. Took off again and I just scratched my head.

Fast forward to this morning. I was certain I was going to have a doe on the ground. I was hunting a stand with easy access and a perfect wind. It is an amazing "back to bed" route and they often times bed right in this area as well (within 50-75yds). Not a thing. Well, I did find one lonely, confused, and horny buck wandering around at 10am. He was a juvenile buck and did about a 300 degree loop around me while scent checking then continued on his way. I get a phone call shortly after. Trespassers shot a deer. Asked permission from the property manager to the north of us to track.

Long story short. I headed back to the truck and grabbed two more cameras. I already had 2 in my pack. I walked this property from east to west, and could see long distances during my journey. I even covered some ground we absolutely HATE to cover unless shed hunting or recovering a deer. We do have a stand in there, but it is one of those stands only to be used when we are 90% sure there is a favorable killing pattern in which we can kill a buck from this stand. Other than this, it is simply too close to their sanctuary. The winds must be right and we need reasonable belief we are going to this stand specifically to kill. However, we also have pictures of trespassers from this stand last year.

So. . . I repositioned one camera. I put a new python cable lock on another which had been tampered with. I also placed 4 additional cameras. Phone calls have been made. Ground has been walked. We did our part to search for the buck which was shot with no luck in the recovery efforts. Doors have been knocked on. People have been made well aware they are not welcome on the property. No threats. Simply a strong voice stating our position. It is well known this will not be tolerated. There will be NO trespassing. There will be NO more poaching.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
Part 2 of the bad news. One of the houses my buddy stopped at is the neighboring property to his west. Apparently this owner had someone in their lane the other night at 4am. They had spotlights.

He gave what description of the vehicle he could make out at 4am. It matches a description of a vehicle I saw Sunday at 11am doing some creeping around and long distance glassing. Related? Unrelated to these other incidents of trespassing? I don't know. Reliable source? I don't know. Worth keeping an eye on? Darn right.

Today I was skunked again. Well, basically. I saw one dink buck lost at 10am. This is nothing at all like the property we were hunting 2-4 weeks ago.
 

CJD3

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14,630
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NE Ohio
Today I was skunked again. Well, basically. I saw one dink buck lost at 10am. This is nothing at all like the property we were hunting 2-4 weeks ago.

I hope you get to bust his balls.

That being said, its somewhat typical for the older deer to start to get a little shy at this point with all the increased human activity in the woods in general. Full moon and night time feeding. Some guys a country block south of me were sighting in shotguns Sunday evening. The only thing that brings back the movement big time is the fast approaching rut. Big deer know whats coming.

Do the best you can with this guy but when the rut hits, be in those woods! If it comes to it use him. If you think he may come in a certain point, be where he will bump the deer too...
 

Hoytmania

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Gods Country
Man this really sucks to hear this Phil. All the hard work that both you and your partner have put in to have some douche ruin it sucks. Catch him and make a good example of him and that will send the message to all the others in the area to not mess with you guys.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
That being said, its somewhat typical for the older deer to start to get a little shy at this point with all the increased human activity in the woods in general. Full moon and night time feeding.

I agree with some of this as well. Some is seasonal patterns. Some is probably from our presence.

This still does not excuse the fact these guys are on camera Friday and Saturday and hit a nice buck in the shoulder on Sunday. I can't help but think their presence through the middle of the property is a big reason as to why the deer are holding up in other areas. I can tell you exactly where the deer are right now. It is clear as to what is happening. The deer are getting bumped from the direction they are coming in. Seasonal patterns don't cause deer sightings to go from 10-20/night down to zero. There are much better food sources around than where they are holed up. Not just our property, but even neighboring properties. They are simply bumped out of there. This is extra frustrating when we have tried to stay out 4-5 days in a row in efforts to rest the farm but these guys are in there the days we are not.
 

Beentown

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15,740
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Sunbury, OH
Had to deal with it last night. BS. At around 20 til dark and I hear some major rattling. Too much too fast to be real. Called Dad and had him drive to the lane and park behind the well so no one could see him. Hoping that if the car comes to pick them up again Dad can bust their asses. He is not as nice as me.

Well I heard the dude climb out of my stand as I was approaching (putting the sneak on him and he hit metal on metal). When I got there he was gone. No one came to the lane and no vehicle came either. This means this fuggar is coming from a LONG way.

P.S. I saw no deer on an all day sit. Nothing except I heard a major fight in the corn in the am....nothing.
 

Darron

Junior Member
273
0
Dayton, Ohio
Not a problem Jesse. They don't need to fear me, I am just the Sheriff. It is the town Mayor with his name on the deed they should worry about. lol. Then again, I have a backhoe at our retail location a mile down the road and if that is broken, my buddy has 5 hoes within driving distance at his business. hahahahaha



Not necessarily true Darron. Our local GW will write a ticket for it. His thoughts are "I know I don't always hang a stand so I get a shot head on. I like shooting around the tree behind me to block my outline. How do I know you are only hunting your side of the property?" I have heard him say this and know of people he has ticketed for this before. I am honestly not worried about the guy hunting the line. He was hunting the line on the property north of us. Fortunately, this 85acre property has one guy that hunts it and his goals are very similar to ours. Property to the west is 65acres and is not hunted. The property two doors to the west is probably 3/4miles to the next road and is hundreds of acres. To the south is our road frontage. To the east is a railroad. It provides a good buffer for us. In short, these guys are trespassing across hundreds of acres to get to the property. All trail camera pictures are on the west end so they are either walking a long way to get in or they are riding a quad in there or something.

I will continue to hunt them. Tonight was the first time I was skunked on this property this year. One month ago it was nothing to see 15+ deer per sit. Might not be in bow range, but you could at least see them within gun range. I didn't really expect to see much tonight as it was windy and I only saw 6 there last night. With the increased activity of other hunters it is getting worse and worse in sightings.

Tentative game plan: Supposed to rain tomorrow or Tues. I am pulling all non-essential trail cameras and re-deploying them onto this property. I truly do not care if we are not using them for deer at this point. We know which deer are in the area already.

I would have a hard time swollowing a ticket when I am hunting what is technically my property. Now if the stand is set up within inches of the line and facing onto neighboring property that is one thing (shooting deer off property). But I have set up 40-50 yards from the line and have shot deer as they crossed over to my side of the line. This is especially true when hunting with a gun (drop the deer instantly). If I have permission to retrieve deer from neighboring properties I will sometimes hunt within 50 yards of the line because the "edge" can be a great place to hunt. I don't try to make a habit out of it though as I would not want my neighbors doing it all the time to me.

Interesting that the game warden will give a ticket.........never heard of that one before.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
A little update. Yesterday I was driving back from getting some work done. I see the barn opened up on the neighbor to our west. Randomly pull in to let him know what is going on. White guy around 60yrs old standing there with an old JD tractor. He looks displeased. I introduce myself and wanted to let him know what is going on. Asked him if Joe "the owner" was around. He said "I AM the OWNER!" Awkward!

Proceed to talk to him and find out the guy that has been telling us he owns the place is simply a tenant. We talk for an hour. In the end, it appears we are on the same page and he is thankful to hear we are keeping an eye on the issues. Find out he is the one that moved our camera around. Handed my strap back to me. Told me he had the tractor warming up because he was heading back to remove the other camera I hung back there which had a security box. Long story short, he is retired Army Chaplain. Good guy. Exchanged cards. We are going to have lunch next time he is in town so my buddy (that owns the property to Pastor's east) can meet him. While this eliminates a trespasser messing with our camera on the 5th, it does not eliminate the trespasser on camera on the 4th or the deer shot on the 6th. In the end, it is good to know who the true land owner is and to have his info. Good to know we are on the same page with hunting and trespassers. He is ready to prosecute if we can nail these guys. Doesn't give us any info on the late night spot lighters though.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
I am confused, are the cameras on your property or his? If yours, why is he "removing" them?

They are on the line. Thing is, it was surveyed last year when my buddy bought the property and they are on the line. Problem is, the neighbor bought his chunk of ground in the 80's and I think he may not quite remember where the line is. In talking with him, I told him those cameras were set up for trespassers and not deer. While this is about 50% true, he was cool about it. Sure, we like to see the deer on them. But, that specific camera is to catch trespassers. The other 4 I put out last Monday were also for trespassers. He told me to leave it there and let him know if we could get a positive ID on anyone. He would prosecute.

I might also add, this camera was facing his property. He turned it to face our property.
 

Ohiobigbuck

Junior Member
i was talking to my buddy that hunts 2 properties to the west of you and he was telling me about the buck that was poached by the 3 kids with a rifle. He had a camera stolen back there also but was hoping the GW had picked it up because Joe told him the GW drove back around there.