BoazBooner
Yearling... With promise
Hello all, although I don't comment much I frequent these forums and love all the insight provided here. I am in a bit of a conundrum at my new house and would like opinions/flat out tell me I'm being ridiculous.
We recently purchased a new house in South Central Wisconsin that has 15 acres of woods on the edge of town. Our house is up on a ridge above the river but our land below butts up to 13 houses along the river. The previous owner did not hunt but let a guy bow hunt, even though he rarely did. She told me that there are no doubt trespassers below and that one guy in particular baits the deer. So, going in to this situation I know that I will have an uphill battle because no one has cared about trespassing and the like for the last 24 years.
I hung a few stands, planted some fruit trees, cleared a couple trails, dug a water hole and put up cameras in the last 4 months so I have been busy creating a more inviting habitat for wildlife. Last night I sat in a stand above the house that baits/feeds the deer. It is a legit deer feeder, 2' wide trough with roof sitting 2' off the ground filled with corn. I was going to give the benefit of the doubt and think even if he is feeding the deer, they would likely only show up after dark. Well, deer showed up to the feeder an hour before dark and stayed there. Then about 15 minutes before sunset 4 floodlights turn on and are all shining directly on the feeder. These lights are bright and are not shining down on his patio or anything, they are clearly trained to light up the feeder area. I did not stay until absolute dark but have no doubt that he would be able to see deer from his house at all hours of the night with this setup.
So now my head is racing toward worst case scenarios where this neighbor has had these lights and feeder operation going for so long that deer are simply accustomed to it and have no fear. Could he be shooting these deer at night and then recovering them off of my property? He owns .92 acres that consist of about 25 yards by 25 yards of woods which is where the feeder is. It would be a stretch to believe that any deer he were to shoot would stay on his property. I have confirmed that he never asked the previous owner for permission to recover any wildlife, so perhaps he has never shot anything...perhaps.
My quandary lies in whether I am being paranoid and should just forget about this, or should I go speak to the neighbor or lastly, go right to the DNR? I have two young boys aged 2 and 4 and while they cannot hunt yet, they are interested in what Dad does and I hope they would like to some day. Do I need to nip this in the bud ASAP so that this isn't an issue many years down the road? I know that I cannot tell someone what to do on their property but there is a possibility that someone from my party could be injured should that neighbor shoot from his house toward the feeder as it is uphill from the house toward my land. Again, it is illegal to bait/feed deer in my county so perhaps I politely ask him to take the feeder down or raise it to a level that deer cannot reach it. Something tells me it won't be that easy so wanted to see if anyone has any experience or advice in this realm.
Thanks
We recently purchased a new house in South Central Wisconsin that has 15 acres of woods on the edge of town. Our house is up on a ridge above the river but our land below butts up to 13 houses along the river. The previous owner did not hunt but let a guy bow hunt, even though he rarely did. She told me that there are no doubt trespassers below and that one guy in particular baits the deer. So, going in to this situation I know that I will have an uphill battle because no one has cared about trespassing and the like for the last 24 years.
I hung a few stands, planted some fruit trees, cleared a couple trails, dug a water hole and put up cameras in the last 4 months so I have been busy creating a more inviting habitat for wildlife. Last night I sat in a stand above the house that baits/feeds the deer. It is a legit deer feeder, 2' wide trough with roof sitting 2' off the ground filled with corn. I was going to give the benefit of the doubt and think even if he is feeding the deer, they would likely only show up after dark. Well, deer showed up to the feeder an hour before dark and stayed there. Then about 15 minutes before sunset 4 floodlights turn on and are all shining directly on the feeder. These lights are bright and are not shining down on his patio or anything, they are clearly trained to light up the feeder area. I did not stay until absolute dark but have no doubt that he would be able to see deer from his house at all hours of the night with this setup.
So now my head is racing toward worst case scenarios where this neighbor has had these lights and feeder operation going for so long that deer are simply accustomed to it and have no fear. Could he be shooting these deer at night and then recovering them off of my property? He owns .92 acres that consist of about 25 yards by 25 yards of woods which is where the feeder is. It would be a stretch to believe that any deer he were to shoot would stay on his property. I have confirmed that he never asked the previous owner for permission to recover any wildlife, so perhaps he has never shot anything...perhaps.
My quandary lies in whether I am being paranoid and should just forget about this, or should I go speak to the neighbor or lastly, go right to the DNR? I have two young boys aged 2 and 4 and while they cannot hunt yet, they are interested in what Dad does and I hope they would like to some day. Do I need to nip this in the bud ASAP so that this isn't an issue many years down the road? I know that I cannot tell someone what to do on their property but there is a possibility that someone from my party could be injured should that neighbor shoot from his house toward the feeder as it is uphill from the house toward my land. Again, it is illegal to bait/feed deer in my county so perhaps I politely ask him to take the feeder down or raise it to a level that deer cannot reach it. Something tells me it won't be that easy so wanted to see if anyone has any experience or advice in this realm.
Thanks
follow it up contact to the local law enforcement to advise them of the situation. Not sure of your state's laws but here in Ohio it's illegal to even track a deer on someone's property without permission. Lights on a feeder, just sounds sketchy to me. Just my input.
