So far we haven't been able to catch the trespassers. Now I've got new problems. About a week ago a new owner moved into the nearby farmhouse. He seemed polite the first time I talked to him, and explained that he was a BIG waterfowl hunter, expressing interest in being able to hunt ducks and geese off the pond.

I told him that I was doing that myself and that he would have to ask permission from the pond owner. I also indicated that he would more than likely require him to only hunt with me or a relative of the owner, as the pond owner only trusts us to escort visitors to fish or hunt. The pond owner has previously warned me that this new guy might start causing him problems, so I was sure to mention the above criteria.

Anyway, Monday opened up goose and mourning dove season in Ohio and a friend and I went out to hunt the field behind the pond. We had been shooting for several hours (doves are hard to hit) with no problem, and during this time the new home owner was out in his yard doing various chores.

With about a half hour left of hunting time I noticed him watching us from the back of his barn. I shot a dove that was flying in front of a line of pine trees. About five minutes later the guy comes FLYING down the access road in his ATV and skids to a stop right in front of me. "YOU SHOT MY BARN!", he yelled right off. I thought he was joking, as I was shooting a 16 gage using #8 low brass, had a line of pine trees behind the bird I was shooting at, and was a good 300 yards from that barn.

When I asked if he was sure, explaining the above variables, he became irate and said "This is the LAST time I'm going to warn you about safety", as if he'd warned me many times before. I tried to calm him down by saying that maybe he was right but falling shot isn't really dangerous, and promising to never "aim his way" ever again. This didn't seem to satisfy him.

He blazed off on his ATV (By the way, as long as we are talking "safety" he isn't winning points driving like that.) and I was left scratching my head as me and my friend wondered what that was all about. I've been rained down on many times before by shot but never from that kind of distance.

I called the pond owner on my cell phone to explain the situation and he said that he gets the idea this guy thought he'd have the whole place to himself. Then I realized, as I've seen this happen to other friends who lost permission to hunt land. He's trying to worm me out of there and worm himself in by making me look bad, unsafe, and god knows what else. Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? I know for darn sure that I won't shoot north anymore, as I don't want this guy to have any reason to complain.