Trespassers on private property

[Guest Astra900]

That was my thought. I want to die an old man and be able to say that I have never hurt anyone, but shoot at me on my home place.....you better kill me, because I won't be shooting back with the intent of wingin' your ass, you're a dead man if I get a clear shot.

[Sidewinder]

Like the duck hunters in another thread here, it sounds as if these trespassers have no respect for the land owners, or the law. When I was taught to hunt as a kid, we were told to never go hunting on anyone's place unless you had their approval and permission. We respected other people and their land.

A friend and I we once given permission to hunt on an old gentleman's place that probably had only 5 to 10 acres of land. We would bird and rabbit hunt on it, and give him all the game for his family. We were told we could hunt any time we wanted, but never hunted once, without first asking for permission from one of the family members.

We got to hunt, and they got food for the table...a good deal for both sides. And, race relations couldn't have been better between us, even though this was in the sixties. Treating people with decency and respect goes a long way on getting permission to hunt on their land...did in the 60s, and I believe it does today as well.

They'll be wary, until they get to know you. That's to be expected. That's why it's so important for all of us hunters to put our best foot forward... treat other people like you'd like to be treated, and I'll bet you'll find someone that will let you hunt on their land. Then, the pressure is on you to "always" act responsibly.

Why do they call it common sense, when it's so uncommon? TN Sen. Fred Thompson

[Guest tnvolfan]

Anytime that anyone has an injury on your property, it becomes your L-I-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y.

Unfortunately, so much of the time it is not fair for the property owner. I would place the "NO HUNTING" signs high enough so they could not easily be knocked down -- it might not stop it, but it wouldn't hurt if they were higher. If you have problems with rogue hunters on your land, I would speak to TWRA as well as my insurance agent. You may need to increase your liability insurance. I had to take out a separate "umbrella" liability policy because of a neighbor who threatened to sue me if her child ever had an "accident" on my land. I was afraid of a planned "accident." Forturnately, nothing ever became of it, but I still keep the policy.

[Shug]

Growing up I was taught to respect the land and the land owner. You ask permission, and if told NO you still thanked the person for their time. Now days about everybody that you ask says NO they had a cow killed by the last person that they allowed. I still thank them for their time. And if given permission, I supply them with a signed release form. Relinquishing them from any and all liability from myself or anyone hunting with me.

[Guest tnvolfan]

Shug, your signed release form is truly classy. I wish everyone was as thoughtful and respectful as you. Your parents had the right idea and you practice it. I hope anyone who has land and lets others hunt on it sees your response so they can get their own signed release forms. Good deal!

[DaveS]

We had release forms we used to get hunters to sign when we let them hunt. We found out later from an attorney that most release forms aren't worth the paper they're typed on.

[Guest walkingdeadman]

He might have caught an arrow if that was me, might have "thought" he was an animal.

[Patrick Henry]

In some states a verticle stripe of bright blue paint approx. 3" wide by 8" high at eye sight level painted on your trees are acceptable for posting your land. I do not know about TN.

[Guest cjr]

Purple lines in Texas mean posted.When I was a kid we had to carry written permission on us from the land owner.If not the game warden would write us a ticket,if he wanted to be a real jerk he could take our guns.

[Hitower]

I got a problem with people thinking my yard is public property. I live on the river and fisherman( which i am myself) will just come down my driveway and take off through my yard. I don't have a problem given someone permission and letting em use specified trails( there is one fellow i already told could do this). However, the guys who have never asked permission are the ones i will see parked at the end of the road and have walked down there and when i go check it out after they have left there is McDonald bags and trash from opened lures laying everywhere. I'm not to happy. Then there is the times when im sittin in my recliner or on my back porch and all of a sudden a truck full of teenagers comes flying down my driveway doing 40 and straight into my yard. Then when i run em down they say "we just wanted to go four wheeling." Ok rant over, i just get ticked off thinkin about it.

[Guest cjr]

I got a problem with people thinking my yard is public property. I live on the river and fisherman( which i am myself) will just come down my driveway and take off through my yard. I don't have a problem given someone permission and letting em use specified trails( there is one fellow i already told could do this). However, the guys who have never asked permission are the ones i will see parked at the end of the road and have walked down there and when i go check it out after they have left there is McDonald bags and trash from opened lures laying everywhere. I'm not to happy. Then there is the times when im sittin in my recliner or on my back porch and all of a sudden a truck full of teenagers comes flying down my driveway doing 40 and straight into my yard. Then when i run em down they say "we just wanted to go four wheeling." Ok rant over, i just get ticked off thinkin about it.

Do you have your property posted

[inspecting1]

OK Believe me I understand all of your complaints but as a kid in Louisiana the area that I lived in was/is probably one of the best areas to hunt for trophy whitetail in the state. My Dad and Grandpa farmed a lot of land there at one time. Then in the early 80's we lost it all. From there until I got out of high school times were tough for me and my Dad. every where I hunted I had to walk to and all of it was posted. The one time I was actually caught the guy told me that he my Dad had the money to get me on a club somewhere. That particluar year the deer that I killed fed us through the winter if not for that I'm not sure what we would have done. My Dad actually told me years later that it would have been real bad if not for those deer that year. YES I KNOW I WAS BREAKING THE LAW!!! BUT IT HELPS TO KNOW THE WHOLE STORY BEFORE YOU TRY TO BREAK IT OFF IN SOMEBODY. The funny thing is tht those guys still chase me through those woods to this day. A few years ago I was walking across the road there and one stopped me in the middle of the road and started to get on my case about hunting in those posted woods and told me that they would have caught me a few days before if I had not swam the bayou. The funny thing is I had just got home that night before and had been gone off working for the past 6 months. I told him the only thing that I could better luck next time. I've seen a lot over the years about taking kids hunting and continuing the hunting heritage but when was the last time you saw somebody ask one of the local kids to go hunting? I realize up here in TN ya'll have huge amounts of public land and that is great if you are close enought to walk to it. Now I stay on the up and up because I can afford to but just think about it next time.

Edited October 30, 2009 by inspecting1
didn't finish posting

[Guest mosinon]

I got a problem with people thinking my yard is public property. I live on the river and fisherman( which i am myself) will just come down my driveway and take off through my yard. I don't have a problem given someone permission and letting em use specified trails( there is one fellow i already told could do this). However, the guys who have never asked permission are the ones i will see parked at the end of the road and have walked down there and when i go check it out after they have left there is McDonald bags and trash from opened lures laying everywhere. I'm not to happy. Then there is the times when im sittin in my recliner or on my back porch and all of a sudden a truck full of teenagers comes flying down my driveway doing 40 and straight into my yard. Then when i run em down they say "we just wanted to go four wheeling." Ok rant over, i just get ticked off thinkin about it.

It ticks me off just reading about it. I don't hunt but when I go fishing anywhere (public or private) I always try to make it a little better when I leave than when I got there. If I fish at Norris (for example) I'll take all my trash (not much) and at least some of the other trash. People leave fishing line stuck in bushes and so forth and I'll take the the time to cut it out and haul it out. Same with lure boxes and even cig butts. There's just no excuse to mess up some else's land or public land with the stuff you carried in but were too lazy to carry out.

Honestly, I don't even bother asking people to fish from their land anymore, I just use a public place because the folks with access have been burned so bad by trespassers and such I figure they'd just say "No" and I couldn't blame them a bit.

And the things the hikers do on the AT and Smoky Mountain hiking trails should gett them locked up.

[Mark@Sea]

When I first moved to TN, fellow asked if he could hunt my land (while he was hunting, he was kind enough to stop by the house). I said sure - as long as he wasn't too close to the house and didn't disturb the wife.

So he hunted. At 2 or 3 A.M. With dogs. Within a couple hundred feet of the house.

Guess what?