Boundary Line Warriors

Wanabhunter

A good 3 year old buck
Currently hunting a small track that’s a giant rectangle. On the south side the neighbor owns a few hundred acres. Currently lets bunch of his friends about 150 acres that butts up to the small 20 acres I have to hunt. This season I’ve noticed a significant amount of stands and cameras right on the property line that were not there last season.

I spoke with the landowner who told me he has a few other hunters on his property and didn’t seem to really care. I’m looking for way to show that I am out there other than no trespassing signs. What else can I do?

I thought about hanging an obvious amount of stands on that one side but I’m afraid they will trespass and hunt them.
 
Sacrifice your hunt one day and ride the line when they are hunting. You have every right to utilize your property when and where you want so screw em if they get upset.
 
Sacrifice your hunt one day and ride the line when they are hunting. You have every right to utilize your property when and where you want so screw em if they get upset.

Basically this. But don't make it seem like you are doing it on purpose to shoo them off. I had to do this once. It really pissed the guy off, but I just said "this is my access" and left it at that.
 
I have a stand near my line, I parked my sxs within sight of it twice this weekend. Don’t think anyone hunted it but it made me feel better.

And I’m not worried about someone doing it to me because…I don’t hunt the property line. Problem solved if they don’t like it
 
Basically this. But don't make it seem like you are doing it on purpose to shoo them off. I had to do this once. It really pissed the guy off, but I just said "this is my access" and left it at that.
I already thought of opening up and old trail and using an e-bike and ride up and down for acccess!
 
This topic has come up at our hunting camp as well. Thankfully no one is upset or takes issue ... yet. This is our 2d year having our own hunting property so im curious about what is and is not considered property line hunting. What do yall consider hunting the property line? Stand on my line facing my property? Stand just inside my line facing their property? What if my stand is 40 yards in facing my property?
One of our stands that would think some may be considered property line hunting. It is right on the line facing our land, and behind it is an open field but the rule is well known we do not shoot onto other folks land.
For context, we have met and hung out with both our neighbors and neither took issue with anything we are doing ... yet. But obviously we'd hate to reach that point.
 
Sacrifice your hunt one day and ride the line when they are hunting. You have every right to utilize your property when and where you want so screw em if they get upset.
Just be careful with that.could be perceived as hunter harassment.
While it is a d bag move, in some situations. They are within their rights as long as they stay on their side. In my own situation I have 1 stand pretty.much dead on the line. But we have a relationship that that works, he's even told us we can shoot into his land if we want.
 
Nah you’ll lose that one. I can do whatever the hell I want on my property even if someone perceives it as harassment. I can run a chainsaw 10’ from a stand if I’m on my place and they are on theirs. Moral of the story, don’t hunt lines
 
Nah you’ll lose that one. I can do whatever the hell I want on my property even if someone perceives it as harassment. I can run a chainsaw 10’ from a stand if I’m on my place and they are on theirs. Moral of the story, don’t hunt lines
That depends, a co worker had an issue on his small property near the line. The neighbor, an anti hunter, would drive by the line in sight of him and make noise, run a saw toss wood around when he was up in the stand - clearly patterned efforts to disrupt his hunting. They were going to do a sting operation on the neighbor and charge him. Ben just decided in the end it wasnt worth it but the DNR was going to go through with the charges and it would have ended up in the courts to determine. There are still limits for the courts to interpret.
And....... like you said.......... to a degree you can do what ever the hell you want on your own land - which includes the right to legally hunt tight to the line on your side - welcome to the world of owning your own land and paying taxes. Saying they can hunt where they want to on their own land well that is kind of counter to the I can do what I want on my Land statement.

Facing the stand can mean nothing, I stand in my stand 90% of the time im up and what looks like the direction im facing often is the opposite as I use the tree for frontal cover. The line issue is something that has plagued property owners for eternity and the smaller the parcel you hunt the more you feel the squeeze. Line hunting and or reacting to the practice just projects your/their footprint into the neighboring property and more often than not ends in a tit for tat pissing war which benefits nobody. Then,,, have your dream deer bleed into their side of the line and you kiss it goodbye because of a heated line issue.

Simple answers is get to know your neighbor - maybe its an issue that can go bye bye, most likely not. Then if it is that important of an issue to you just pop up a stand on your side of the line same distance away. You got a pee scrape, they got a pee scrape - they know and you know. See what happens. I would not start the whole Im going to cut a path or park utv's every night there game right away as that kind of escalates things and now your doing what you didnt want them to do.

Its a balance thing that gets harder with the less you have access to which ultimately puts you closer to the line and noticing stuff. If and its a BIG IF - they respect your side and are not shooting into it there is almost zero you have to say about it. Everybody's got their own self written book of morals and ethics.

Its a guess but if your hunting 20 acres and they have hundreds their probably noticing your movement more than you are theirs. Dont get me wrong Im not drawing sides - I do not know the whole story apart from property line camping.


Put a cheap tree stand up in a mirrored setting and then just go back to your other stand and forget about it for a while. Fighting over property issues will ruin your experience out there if it consumes you. I know this from personal experience,,,, and I have line campers on one of my little chunks of land.
 
One of my neighbors has turned their 30 acres into a mini farm with goats, a donkey and a pony. Then they put a stand on the line facing my property, this pisses me off because they choose not to make the land conducive to deer but they still want to hunt. It would be different if they didn't own enough to hunt, I could share a little but this BS. What have I done..........nothing yet. If I decide to fight back I would put up a stand right in front of them, I am talking about in a tree 20 feet away facing them and then get in it and wave to them opening morning. As ridiculous as that sounds it would be me doing the exact thing as them. I gusess I have better places to hunt but it is just the principle of the thing
 
This topic has come up at our hunting camp as well. Thankfully no one is upset or takes issue ... yet. This is our 2d year having our own hunting property so im curious about what is and is not considered property line hunting. What do yall consider hunting the property line? Stand on my line facing my property? Stand just inside my line facing their property? What if my stand is 40 yards in facing my property?
One of our stands that would think some may be considered property line hunting. It is right on the line facing our land, and behind it is an open field but the rule is well known we do not shoot onto other folks land.
For context, we have met and hung out with both our neighbors and neither took issue with anything we are doing ... yet. But obviously we'd hate to reach that point.

Stand on the property line facing into the neighbors.

Your other scenarios aren’t an issue.


To the OP, I would drop a no trespassing sign right out front of any stand facing you. And I would talk with the landowner about it.
 
You have every right to utilize your property when and where you want so screw em if they get upset.
This same sentiment goes for the landowner on the other side of the fence too. If a person on other side of fence is hunting the opposite side ot the fence property, that is wrong all day long but if a person has a hunter in a stand on their side of their property, watching and hunting their side of the property, more power to them.

I own a couple small properties, 80 and 54. My stands are on the outside, looking inside and hunting inside. If I hunted from the inside my property to the outside, I would have no deer after the first sit or two and deer, unless dropped in spot would/could make it to the neighbors property. This would result in a recovery attempt onto neighbors property where they may be hunting or may be planning to hunt, possibly blowing up their property.

In the 17 years we've owned this property, we have only had one deer cross the property line after being shot, and it was in the first couple years when we hunted from inside to outside. It was a doe my wife double lunged that ran about 120 yards, dying 40 yards into the neighbor's land. Thankfully it was during the late antlerless season and didn't interrupt their hunting as they didn't hunt antlerless. After that season I changed tactics and hunting from outside in.

During this 17 years, an outfitter leased the 375 acres directly north and east of me for 12 years(starting after the year of the doe recovery mentioned above.. He had stands from 40 to 100 yards from my line(ones that I could see). During this time he asked me 4 times to recover deer on my property. He complained of my stands on my property, 5' to 20 yards on my property, saying he didn't like that I could see onto his leased land. He said I should have my stands in the middle of my property. I explained I would be pushing the deer of my property in a couple hunts and he said "that's bullshit". I really didn't care for him either as I caught his hunters doing a deer drive across my land and he refused to cooperate with the CO when I wanted to press trespassing charges.(caught via trail cam, non cellular}.

If one is hunting their property, what themdawgs said absolutely applies. Not all landowners are blessed with 100's of acres they can have stands all over and not blow out the deer.

The outfitter lost the lease last year and the new lease holder is a dream to work with and understands what our properties can do when working together. We have both taken the biggest bucks of our lives in the past two years. The potential has never been greater for both of us.

I also own my parent's 160 farm and I approach this the same way as above. I have a fence sitter on the neighboring property. He hunts his side and if a deer goes off my property onto his, he has every right to try to hunt it as long as he's got the tags and such. There is really no habitat for them on his propery except for rotating corn/soybean fields. My 160 is essentially all habitat via crp and habitat my dad started a long time ago without gov involvement, incurring economic loss because of taking land out of production for wildlife. Its the reason deer and turkeys are in the area now. When I was in high school, it was rare to see a deer or tracks and there were no turkeys.

The neighboring hunter is ethical and responsible and is great to have as a neighboring hunter. The way land is being broken up into smaller parcels, there really is no way to expect that one won't be hunting land without close neighboring hunters. If they are legal and hunting their own side of the fence, that is about all they can do. If they are hunting the wrong side of the fence, prosecute them or they will continue to run over their neighbors property.

If a neighbor were harrassing me as some have suggested to do, I guarantee there would be law enforcement involved.
 
We have an outfitter that leases the 100+ acres next door. They have had a stand 5’ from the fence for the last several years. I know it is legal, but I wish they would move it in just enough so they couldn’t shoot our side. I made our side of that spot our parking place to hunt this year.

I had a couple bourbons last night and saw his truck lights on the road waiting to pick up a hunter from that stand. I decided to mosey down there and have a chat. He asked if there was a problem and I told him though it was legal we sure didn’t appreciate the stand being right in the fence. He assured me his clients are instructed not to shoot on our side. I told him the fact that they could was enough and just reiterated that I know it is legal, but we still didn’t appreciate it. He told me he would move it. We’ll see if that holds true, but it’s the first time he has said he would. I really need to buy that piece…


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I generally don’t put stands within sight distance of the property lines if I can help it just less annoyance and animosity between neighbors when the stand can’t be seen this isn’t always the case but it’s my rule of thumb if practical.
 
For everyone who says the other property owner has the right to their property they damn sure do. They can hunt 1” inside their line and be legal. But my recourse as the adjoining property owner is to make it uncomfortable to do that. And I would have every right. My outfitter neighbor has a stand about 20 yards off my line but on a field edge so anything they see comes off me. Well I use that corner to dump guts. Screw em. If they don’t like it move the stand. Next year there will be a road in there and I’ll clear out a parking spot for my sxs. You know why he can’t do the same against me…cause I don’t hunt on the damn line. I haven’t caught them retrieving game on my side but when they do it will be an issue. In 4 years with two properties that border him I’ve never gotten a call to retrieve something. I find that hard to believe. My answer would be no. Not till after hunting season. Stop hunting the line.
 
For everyone who says the other property owner has the right to their property they damn sure do. They can hunt 1” inside their line and be legal. But my recourse as the adjoining property owner is to make it uncomfortable to do that. And I would have every right. My outfitter neighbor has a stand about 20 yards off my line but on a field edge so anything they see comes off me. Well I use that corner to dump guts. Screw em. If they don’t like it move the stand. Next year there will be a road in there and I’ll clear out a parking spot for my sxs. You know why he can’t do the same against me…cause I don’t hunt on the damn line. I haven’t caught them retrieving game on my side but when they do it will be an issue. In 4 years with two properties that border him I’ve never gotten a call to retrieve something. I find that hard to believe. My answer would be no. Not till after hunting season. Stop hunting the line.
I'm sorry but that's kinda crappy. You can't have it both ways, tell your neighbors they can't do what they want then you do what ever you want.
Seriously you lost me with the anything he sees comes from me line. We don't own the deer. This, imo is a product of the horn porn and naming "your" deer.
Why not be neighborly until they give you a reason not to be?
 
I'm sorry but that's kinda crappy. You can't have it both ways, tell your neighbors they can't do what they want then you do what ever you want.
Seriously you lost me with the anything he sees comes from me line. We don't own the deer. This, imo is a product of the horn porn and naming "your" deer.
Why not be neighborly until they give you a reason not to be?
Seriously…the guys runs an operation that pimps wildlife for his gain at the expense of all the neighbors who actually care about the resource. He has a revolving door of people that come and shoot whatever and leave and are no worse for the wear while we are scramble to pick up the pieces. He’s scum to me. Who is the better neighbor? And I can have it both ways. It’s my land. I can move a rifle range to my line. If he doesn’t like it he can move far far away and be totally fine. And another reason why I don’t hunt the line, I don’t want to have to call him and ask to trail a deer on his property because that opens the door to him asking favors of me.
And I have never told him what to do at all. I can’t. I can’t just make legal reactions to his decisions if I feel like they are affecting me.
 
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I guess we'll have to agree to disagree..imo what the land owner chooses to do with his land is his business just what you do is yours. Live and let live.
 
This topic has come up at our hunting camp as well. Thankfully no one is upset or takes issue ... yet. This is our 2d year having our own hunting property so im curious about what is and is not considered property line hunting. What do yall consider hunting the property line? Stand on my line facing my property? Stand just inside my line facing their property? What if my stand is 40 yards in facing my property?
One of our stands that would think some may be considered property line hunting. It is right on the line facing our land, and behind it is an open field but the rule is well known we do not shoot onto other folks land.
For context, we have met and hung out with both our neighbors and neither took issue with anything we are doing ... yet. But obviously we'd hate to reach that point.
For me as I am only hunting 20 acres compared to their 150 shows that my spots are limited. But when the other property hunters floods the property line with cameras every 80-100 yards and has 3 stands 30-40 yards off the line (facing to shoot deer coming off my property) shows that they are constantly there and not considerate. Which is understandable but the fact that the last three times I’ve been out and I run across one of them walking the line is getting irritating. I don’t like getting in early to have my hunt ruined at 0737 am because they wanted to check their cameras. As everyone should be a sportsman’s, this implies a line of respect for other hunters and with the amount of stands in line, amount of cameras and the disregard for other hunters shows their intentions.

I even went so far to speak with the previous owner who still hunts the land and the current land owner to “show” that I am out there as well in hopes that everyone knows that this (my property) is being hunted.
 
Here is my story. I have a 60 acre property. Mostly timber, a five acre field that is in a quail program that I “farm” the middle of (foodplot) and several other food plots. To my west, there is an ag field with NO cover all the way to the road. Farmer rents it to a guy that crops it.

The land owner, a retired farmer, let some local peckerhead set a wagon blind 20 yards from my line. My side of the line is the quail program/food plots. Really pissed me off. Where the wagon blind is there is no cover, nothing but corn or beans, all the way to the road.

He was hunting my ground. I don’t care what anyone says. I work my ass off every year, he drags a wagon blind out there into a bare naked field. Is it legal? Sure it is. But just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean that you SHOULD do it. People have no manners.

I had a 3x6 piece of plywood with 1x3 framing around it that was part of a crate. I made up a big sign. It said “For Sale”. I put in a price I would sell for. I put in what I pay every damn year for property taxes. I included, No Trespassing and No Entry For Any Reason. I then put it on my property line facing the wagon blind so they’d have to look at it every time they hunted. It was about 6’ in the air. After all, the blind faced my cover and food plots, that’s where they were looking while they hunted. It was an asshole move on my part and pics of it went around the local area. I don’t really care.

I’ve been making payments and paying property tax since 1997. I gave some things up to do it. People say “you’re lucky to have your own ground”. No, I’m not lucky, I committed to something you weren’t willing to commit to. And… you’re a dumbass that had to have a Harley. A second one for your wife. Had to have a sxs and a ski boat. Had to shoot deer with a new Browning every year instead of a 25 year old Remington. Had to go to Mexico every winter. Had to piss money away sitting in a bar 3x a week. But yeah, I’m lucky.
 
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