This person in the pic has been warned once by me and once by the officer that showed up after this pic was taken. The officer assured me that if she trespasses again she will go to jail, I gave her husband the same warning. You need to let people know your SERIOUS.
Buffs...a friend of mine was out at his place and some local yahoo told him "these city slickers come out here & buy these places and think they own them".
Uh yeah buddy....thats how it works. You buy something...you own it.
But these country guys seem to think city slickers owing property is not legit...as if it's still public domain because "well dats the way's it's always been".
smallpond- I might also add that if the law enforcement knows your age and about how hard you are working on you project, I can't believe that they will not go the extra mile to help you out. Let that work for you here.
Originally Posted By: Zep
Is it mostly stoner high school kids tryin to party?
Believe it or not, alot of the problems are folks who are old enough to know better, 25 and older. I occasionally will catch little kids 8 to 15, but they are usually very nice and are are scared to death by the "experience". It was so bad at one time, the police actually brought 4 wheelers out to patrol the properties. Like I said, if you give the wrong-doers an inch, they will take a mile. It never gets better. It was left go way to long without reinforcement. As long as you stand firm, the police will help you out. I have had very good help from them. I might say that it hasn't always been that way either.
Side story here, AP your comment reminded me of it.......My disclaimer here is do not do this. But years ago there was not much law around here, if you had a problem, take care of it yourself. Thats the policy my dad grew up with as I am sure many here have been thru the same. Probably a lot of yous down in Texas, its still that way. Well as a kid, I remember my dad having problems with poachers at the pond. The pond sits down below a pretty good bank as you approach it from our barn. They would come in from the backside of the property and start fishing and stay to that side because if they heard a tractor/truck coming, they would have a fast retreat. My dad was in WW2 and reminds me so much of George here on the forum. Very respectfull and carefull of others. My dad and I would go for real quite hunting trips on the farm. Teaching me how to hunt and such. Once in awhile we would take a detour towards the pond. When we would crest the hill top, he would see the guys fishing. Carefully, he would position himself in the just the right spot, and wait, ....and wait, ..........and wait some more. Seemed to go on forever. Finally the guy would throw out the line in just the right spot and my dad would shhoot the bobber. Man, I never seen someone leave an area so fast in all my life. Throwing up their pole, leaving behind their tackle box, and fish. To this day, I am still reminded of this when I go fishing, because most of the tackle is still from what was left behind at those times....
Ahhhh... the stories could go on, living in the country back in the good old days.
SP. if you haven't done so already, call the DNR (or have your Dad call them) and tell them someone was poaching on your property, and that you want an officer to come out and talk to you (or your parents) about it.
That's the only way that you will get anywhere. Let us know what they say.
fish n chips made one of the best points in his reply.
Keeping scumbags out is a never-ending process. NEVER ENDING.
There's always a new crop of scumbags being raised.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
SP. if you haven't done so already, call the DNR (or have your Dad call them) and tell them someone was poaching on your property, and that you want an officer to come out and talk to you (or your parents) about it.
That's the only way that you will get anywhere. Let us know what they say.
May have to find out which law enforcement agency handles these things.
This is more akin to livestock theft than poaching. Do they still hang rustlers?
I agree that you need to get the officials involved as soon as possible, and as many times as you need to.
Finally the guy would throw out the line in just the right spot and my dad would shoot the bobber.
That is a great idea. From my garden potting bench at our ground-level basement door, I can easily see both ponds, but it is extremely difficult to see the bench from the ponds. The scopes on my .22 and my 1100 fps .177 air rifle are both sighted in almost perfectly for the middle of both ponds.
The .177 would be ideal, as you can barely hear it shoot -- and probably can't hear it from the pond.
Be careful, but get law enforcement involved -- local and state game people.
[quote=Zep] Finally the guy would throw out the line in just the right spot and my dad would shhoot the bobber. Man, I never seen someone leave an area so fast in all my life. Throwing up their pole, leaving behind their tackle box, and fish.
Finally the guy would throw out the line in just the right spot and my dad would shoot the bobber.
That is a great idea. From my garden potting bench at our ground-level basement door, I can easily see both ponds, but it is extremely difficult to see the bench from the ponds. The scopes on my .22 and my 1100 fps .177 air rifle are both sighted in almost perfectly for the middle of both ponds.
The .177 would be ideal, as you can barely hear it shoot -- and probably can't hear it from the pond.
Be careful, but get law enforcement involved -- local and state game people.
I cautiously posted this story because I don't want anybody to get hurt. I eluded to the fact that my dad was in the service WW2, but forgot to mention why that was important. During his training, his markmanship was listed similar to/or as sniper. He was very good his whole life shooting. He actually was a twin, and they served together. He was ready to be shipped out via train to be be a tailgunner in a plane. The twin brother got sick with scarlet fever and held him back also so they would not be split up. Good thing, becuase I probably wouldn't be here today if he served in that capacity.
Just have to remember bullets richote off water!!!!!! Sometimes their poles weren't left behind at the water. They would run off without reeling them in and later we would come across the line in the woods and most of the time we could follow it to the pole.
Sorry for the Hijack SP. This will be the end of that story.
no need to apolagize thats a real funny story i'd hate to be the guy geting his bobber shot. This afternoon i put up the posted sighns made it real clear i didn't want anyone there. im way ahead of you AP i was already looking into one of those motion alarms.
Random visits at odd times are critical to the process for absentee land owners. Good point.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
The other common thread here is remaining serious.
Do you keep your property posted properly - replacing signs that are torn down, etc?
If you can find a place where they are crossing to gain access to your land, have you closed it off? Either barb wire, or cut limbs and yard debris, etc. Something that looks man-placed to place an obstruction with a posted sign nearby.
There is a landowner near me who has placed signs saying:
"Tresspassers will be SHOT!"
Don't know if he's serious or not, but I have absolutely no intention of even driving up his driveway to meet him and find out!
I'd guess he's shooting often around his land even if he is putting those signs out for dramatic effect.
I practice training drills with my firearms, and the benefit of that is the neighbors are aware. I hope and expect it will pay off next deer season with regard to dog hunters.
small pond,I got tired of replacing no trespassing signs too,last time I posted them I placed them pretty high using the bed of my truck as a ladder.So far they have lasted a little longer then before but time will tell.
SMPD, looks like you are in the middle of the action. In Va. if you make a siver paint stripe between 3&6 ft. tall. It must be 2in.x 6 in. and face outward. Game wardens can write citations on these signs. Of course this doesn't keep out the SOB' but they can't tear down your signs. Maybe they have something like this in your state. Good luck and post some more pictures of your hog trout.
Two ponds, 13 and 15 acres on the Mattaponi River.
thats intersting kenc im gona have to look into that. i have another idea could i plant a high density of briar bushes on the bank below the pond and around the front side where the people could see the pond. if i did that it would definatly camaflouge the pond+those briars would definatly detur me i've walked through them things before and i've learned to hate them. would this work any thoughts?
Thorny blackberries would probably work and taste great in season. Multiflora rose will stop a gnat from going through it but it is invasive. Good luck,you will figure something out.
Two ponds, 13 and 15 acres on the Mattaponi River.
SP another thing on posting,a lot of places require it for insurance purposes.A friend of ours was having similar problems on his hunting property and his insurance agent recommended taking pictures of where he posted the property to keep as proof it was posted.
thanks for the advice kenc no one is gona get through them nasty things. i love picking blackberrys, but i think i like eating them more when i go picking normaly the bucket comes back empty but i'm always full i can't figure it out i think i definatly should take pics of the posted sighns and where they are located for prove that the property is posted or was posted if someone tears down the sighns. thanks great idea robert
SP. if you haven't done so already, call the DNR (or have your Dad call them) and tell them someone was poaching on your property, and that you want an officer to come out and talk to you (or your parents) about it.
That's the only way that you will get anywhere. Let us know what they say.
Last Saturday a neighbor told me about a poacher in my pond he discovered thru their own postings on Facebook. She's a neighbors kid who probably was allowed to fish by the previous owner, but I have never had a conversation with them. Initially I thought it was an older photo, but the presence of a fence I installed in October proved otherwise. They have gone into foreclosure and moved out last weekend, so this particular problem has solved itself but since I'm presently an absentee owner, I'm sure the problem will recurr. I plan on adding some IP cameras soon. I don't have internet service available there, but I can relocate a spare server and capture stills and video using the cameras motion detection. At least I'll have some record of their activities. I wonder if she released the LMB she's holding in the pic!
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
If she released it, lets hope that she didn't damage it's gills with the hook on the scale when she weighed it.
From the looks of the fish, you might want to do a fish survey. To me, that fish looks like it has a relatively large head for it's body, which might mean that the forage base might be a little skewed. Or that age class of LMB might need thinning. But, it's impossible to make an informed observation on a sample of one.