Regarding the costs of trespassers.
A client of mine had a trespass problem. The trail cam locked in a bear proof box, 3/8" Python cabled to a tree lasted less than 2 weeks before it disappeared.
A 1 ac pond that was stocked with forage fish, RES and YP and was at the cusp of getting SMB stocked was bucket stocked with LMB. The pond was partially drained and rotenoned and it cost him 3 years (between stocking the forage, and getting the pond to the point to stock the SMB).
This pond is 1/2 mile off of the road, and it's not visible to anybody. Closest house is roughly 1/2 mile away.
FWIW, the LMB were 12"-13". Fish like that just don't magically appear one day. No water could enter the pond runoff wise (groundwater pond), and fish can't swim through dry woods.
Scott, what is the situation on neighbors? How many are there, how long established are they? If the BOW isn't visible from the road, then someone knows it exists from prior knowledge. Pretty determined to carry fish in a bucket for half a mile, are there trails through these woods that pass close to a neighbor's place?
2 houses near the road, one house has an 8 year old, the other house has an older couple that are like hermits. No other houses within roughly 1/2 mile. Pond is about 1/3 mile off the road in the center of the woods. Pond is only a few years old - historically there was no pond there before.
There are other ponds on the property, and only 1 has LMB in it. None of the other ponds have had LMB show up were they shouldn't be. There's no way that these fish could have come in with the minnows or other fish - all of a sudden they were chasing FHM in the shallows. They don't grow from fingerlings to 12"+ long in a pond without being spotted at least once.
The thought is that it was a teenage relative of the 8 year old. The absentee owner is now making trips there more frequently to target practice, and I drive in when I'm nearby - no set schedule. I've been there as late as 11:00 p.m. and as early as sunrise.
I have written permission from the owner to press charges on trespassers (I'm his "agent"), and the DNR has a written letter from the owner saying that he will press charges if anyone is caught. The local Conservation Officer has it in his filing box that he keeps in the truck.
There are "No Trespassing" signs up around the perimeter of the property now, every 100'. Thin aluminum, placed on the trees at roughly 10' height (ladder against the tree to install). Plastic signs were chewed by squirrels and only lasted a year.
Knock on wood, no problems in the past 2 years.
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