How do you handle trespassers

[redman08]

It really depends on the situation.

A quick conversation can determine whether they did it intentionally or not.

I have trespassed (accidentally) a couple of times. I hunt a lot of public land and not everyone puts up posted signs. I was hunting public land in KY and accidentally trespassed onto a hunting club's property a few years back. I was walking in with a climber and was about 2 miles deep. My planned hunting spot was nowhere near the property line, but I was walking in on what I thought was the edge of public land. Had someone come up on a 4wheeler screaming and hollering. Turns out I was walking about 20 feet from the property line, which was not posted - and had no fence row. I tried to apologize, but he wasn't having any of it.

Long story short, he followed me on the 4wheeler all of the way to where I was wanting to hunt on public. Screaming the whole time. I took pictures of him on the 4 wheeler with GPS location showing he was riding the 4wheeler on public. Sent the pictures to the game warden. Game warden said he routinely does this - pretty sure the Warden pressed charges against him.

It was a simple solution. Had he pointed out that I was 20 ft from the property line, I would have profusely apologized that would have been the end of it.

If you don't have a fence row, road, heavy trail, etc. bordering your property, please post signs. ESPECIALLY if you border public land.

 

[Kentucky Charlie]

I own a farm bordering a WMA. I deal with this all the time. Most often hunters realize they are on my place and they leave without any issues. I have found headless deer in my fields and people in my barns looking around. A few things have been stolen.

To those saying call Fish and Wildlife:

Last year i found 4 rabbit hunters on my place with a pack of dogs. I yelled down from a hill to them they were on my place and needed to call their dogs and get back on the WMA. They ignored my first couple attempts. Then they began to cuss me and challenged me to come down there for an ass whipping. So I started that way. Once I got about half way to them they began moving back to the fence they had crossed. I got to my fence and stopped. They walked about 50 yards on to WMA and began shooting their shotguns over my head. I called Fish and wildlife and they told me to call the state police. I called state police and told them what happened. 2 hours later nobody showed. No return call. nobody cared. You simply can not trust that anybody will come help you so chose your fights wisely.

 

[CRFmxracer]

I know all my neighbors and they all know me. So there really isn’t any excuse for any random people to be on the property regardless of posted signs. But, you cannot prosecute if it’s not posted so it will be posted from now on.

Agreed. However. The OP did say he was going to mark the property with a bunch of posted signs. Leading me to believe it’s not posted. Couple that with the fact that said guy is a first offender. I’d be polite about it first.

 

[CRFmxracer]

Most. Trespassers don't park at gates . they slip in from neighbors property.

It was a weekday and they probably know I live out of town. Ballsy, as my cousin hunted it previous 2 days and I hunted it previous weekend

 

[waterfowlerted]

My uncle put a bear trap under some leaves at the base of a deer stand that someone kept putting up after we cut theirs down multiple times with his phone number written on the bottom of it with sharpie..... never called us but his stand disappeared...

Neighbor texted me and said someone was parked at our gate this morning and assumed it was my cousin, as he is the only person we allow to hunt our property. Well it was not my cousin. Going down tonight or tomorrow to post the heck out of POSTED signs. But my question is, anyone who has caught people trespassing, especially if they are hunting and in possession of a firearm. How have you handled it? My thoughts are if they are parked at our gate get their license plate and call the sheriff and wait for him to arrive, but not sure how I would act if I caught them on our land away from vehicles.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Neighbor texted me and said someone was parked at our gate this morning and assumed it was my cousin, as he is the only person we allow to hunt our property. Well it was not my cousin. Going down tonight or tomorrow to post the heck out of POSTED signs. But my question is, anyone who has caught people trespassing, especially if they are hunting and in possession of a firearm. How have you handled it? My thoughts are if they are parked at our gate get their license plate and call the sheriff and wait for him to arrive, but not sure how I would act if I caught them on our land away from vehicles.

Trespassers are liars, cheats, poachers and thieves at the very least, more likely at LEAST all of the above.

I treat them like they are.

 

[1FowlHNTR]

I own a farm bordering a WMA. I deal with this all the time. Most often hunters realize they are on my place and they leave without any issues. I have found headless deer in my fields and people in my barns looking around. A few things have been stolen.

To those saying call Fish and Wildlife:

Last year i found 4 rabbit hunters on my place with a pack of dogs. I yelled down from a hill to them they were on my place and needed to call their dogs and get back on the WMA. They ignored my first couple attempts. Then they began to cuss me and challenged me to come down there for an ass whipping. So I started that way. Once I got about half way to them they began moving back to the fence they had crossed. I got to my fence and stopped. They walked about 50 yards on to WMA and began shooting their shotguns over my head. I called Fish and wildlife and they told me to call the state police. I called state police and told them what happened. 2 hours later nobody showed. No return call. nobody cared. You simply can not trust that anybody will come help you so chose your fights wisely.

I respect your values for life, but I don't care WHO you are. If you even dream about pointing something at me, I'll gun you down where you try it. It's called self defense, and I dare ANYONE to say that even though they were on the WMA they weren't putting his life in danger

 

[Trapper Delk]

Yep you are exactly right
There may come a time you need to protect your self. But I think his point of view is don't depend on law enforcement

 

[muddhunter]

We're living in some scary times for lot's of people for lo'ts of reason's right now.The more compassion and wrongdoings you can tolerate the better.Jobs ,food,family normalcy are all aschew.Take the time to listen and maybe there will be folks coming through your life that might need a kind word or a bag of food or a place to hear a turkey.

Are you serious?

 

[KY MountainMan]

Yep you are exactly right
There may come a time you need to protect your self. But I think his point of view is don't depend on law enforcement

A valid point for most of us in Kentucky. In my county we have the sheriff and..., well I think that's about all nowadays. No deputies. He was in the news recently telling us to get a large dog and a gun cause he doesn't have the budget to hire or respond. Not that I ever relied on a 30 plus minute response from the law. And never will. I do regularly deal with trespassers, but not as many since we went from two large dogs to six. They are very territorial and because of the coyote problem here they stick together and work together.

If its not one I recognize as having been here before, I approach and yes, I am nice but stern enough so they know I'm serious. I will make sure my normally concealed weapon is clearly visible, or shoulder a long gun. I've learned that "CCTV cameras in use" signs and "Warning- Live Fire Range" signs are more effective than the basic "No Trespassing" signs. If I'm feeling lazy, I have a drone that I will buzz their heads with, just for fun. The occasional repeat offenders or more stubborn ones may require warning shots kicking up dust. The way I see it, if I've warned them off once before already and they return, they have a clear criminal intent. But this is where you need a screenshot library or video pulled from your cameras showing you have already provided that warning. At the very least, a written log of vehicle plates and descriptions with dates and times.

Always, ALWAYS protect yourself first. That includes legally. Kentucky's laws are pretty clear on this and it's your responsibility to know them. KRS Chapter 511 deals with criminal trespass. Other relevant sections are important to know as well - damage to property, access to property by professional surveyors, right-of-way access, fencing laws, etc. I suggest reading up on them. It's best practice to go above and beyond minimum requirements of the law.

 

[woodsman92]

I got caught accidentally trespassing once. I was sitting 20 feet up a tree when a guy comes through the woods with his dog. I say hey do you have permission to hunt here? In which he proceeded to tell me I was the one who didn’t have permission since it was his property. I climbed down gave him my name and apologized. He was polite but stern about it and he showed me where the actual property line was 50 yards before you got to the old fence row in the woods. Nothing was posted. I packed out and told him I wouldn’t be near the line now that I knew where it was.
Long story short we became friends out of the deal and talk about the deer in the area come season. We talk about it’s wild how we met and how it could of went bad real quick but didnt.

 

[Carl]

Laffin’. My communication skills are superb thanks. I’m not the one running around like a 16year old prankster that discovered fox urine.....

Did your father ever tell you that it’s better to keep quiet and let people wonder how ignorant you are instead of opening your yap and removing all doubt?
Y’all have fun with this thread....shoot people, slash tires, poop in a bag and light it on fire in their truck bed for all I care,

 

[redman08]

Kentucky's laws are pretty clear on this and it's your responsibility to know them. KRS Chapter 511 deals with criminal trespass.

Excellent point. The way the laws are written, someone must KNOWINGLY be on your property trespassing -OR- they must REFUSE to leave after being given notice / warning.

If you fail to post your property and there is no fence or clear indication that someone may be trespassing, that person is technically not breaking the law. If you tell them to leave and they refuse, then they are breaking the law.

The key here is to first make sure your property is posted! If it isn't posted, you have no grounds if someone trespasses. Second - make sure to document any and every instance of trespassing. If someone is a repeat offender AFTER you warn them - even if you do not have signs posted - then they are criminally liable. If someone is a repeat offender, you have never warned them, and your property is not posted that trespasser is not breaking the law.

Whether you agree with this or not is irrelevant. It is simply how the law is written.

Post your property and you can avoid all of this headache. You can buy aluminum posted signs for $1 each and plastic signs for $0.75 each. These signs must be posted 50 ft apart and 3 to 5 ft off the ground (in Kentucky). Assuming you own a 100 acre square, you have a perimeter of 8400 ft. If you post one sign every 50 ft, you will need 168 signs (at $0.75 each). That means the cost to post 100 acres is around $125.

The point is posting your property is not expensive. If it prevents a single person from trespassing, it is worth it in my book.

 

[Brown Dogs Matter]

Did the purple paint law pass recently?

It's in effect here in TN, so I grabbed a couple on cans from Walmart and went to work on the borders. The previous landowner was a 77 year old widow who leased out hunting rights. No telling who came and went when she owned the place.

Only had one negative encounter with a neighbor thus far. Short version is, a tweaker looking kid accused me of hunting over his field. He said he saw me and my kids doing it....well, why didn't you say something then?

Oh yeah, cause he was pissed that we were hunting too close to his stand, on our side of the fence. I even waved at him and his buddy as they walked past, but got a dirty look in response. Normally, I'd not have hunted there, if I'd known where he was setting up...but screw him and his attitude.

 

[Stone Branch]

Excellent point. The way the laws are written, someone must KNOWINGLY be on your property trespassing -OR- they must REFUSE to leave after being given notice / warning.

If you fail to post your property and there is no fence or clear indication that someone may be trespassing, that person is technically not breaking the law. If you tell them to leave and they refuse, then they are breaking the law.

The key here is to first make sure your property is posted! If it isn't posted, you have no grounds if someone trespasses. Second - make sure to document any and every instance of trespassing. If someone is a repeat offender AFTER you warn them - even if you do not have signs posted - then they are criminally liable. If someone is a repeat offender, you have never warned them, and your property is not posted that trespasser is not breaking the law.

Whether you agree with this or not is irrelevant. It is simply how the law is written.

Post your property and you can avoid all of this headache. You can buy aluminum posted signs for $1 each and plastic signs for $0.75 each. These signs must be posted 50 ft apart and 3 to 5 ft off the ground (in Kentucky). Assuming you own a 100 acre square, you have a perimeter of 8400 ft. If you post one sign every 50 ft, you will need 168 signs (at $0.75 each). That means the cost to post 100 acres is around $125.

The point is posting your property is not expensive. If it prevents a single person from trespassing, it is worth it in my book.

You need to re read the law the way it is written, in a nut shell if you are on ground that you don't own or have permission to be on you are trespassing. Fences, signs, paint, warnings, ignorance, make no difference.

G