trespassers

[catskillkid]

It sounds like the DEC should set up a sting operation in your field. They set up a buck decoy and arrest everyone who shoots at it.

I know it is done in Jersey!

[UpStateRedNeck]

DEC's budget is shot to heck.  Less EnCon officers to cover more territory.

On the subject of jacking, I know for a fact in southern albany county alot of, shall we say less privileged families, and some jack______ just looking to make a buck pop the bucks, cut their heads off, freeze em, and sell em to city toolbags come hunting season.  Especially bad out in the Catskill foothills/Helderbergs area.

[bushnell]

The PA game commission uses a robo-deer. It has controls in it to make the head move and the tail move. They have had some good success in it. I don't know what the state police are like in NY but maybe you could contact them to make them aware of the situation because chances are there is more than game law violations going on.

[UpStateRedNeck]

On the subject of robo deer:

About 15 years ago EnCon bagged like 8 guys, all related (in multiple ways) for rolling up with like 6 guys in the back of a pickup and just BLASTING their mechanical deer to hell and back again.  Chase's, Snyder's, and Case's for the most part as I recall in the sleepy little town of Medusa.  I am not making this up, the EnCon guys came running out of the woods where they were hidden yelling "STOP SHOOTING!" because they were destroying the decoy.

[VenaticOutdoors]

The did decoy the field but at that point I think the poachers knew the DEC was patrolling our land.  They didn't catch anyone, but it's really cool to hear about how they set up these sting operations.  They went over it all with us.

[burmjohn]

Have you had any issues since?

[Culvercreek hunt club]

With idiots like these guys out there I't hard to beleive more folks aren't against hunters...

all these shots at a deer that doesn't run...IQ has to be about a 4

[catskillkid]

awesome video, I wonder how many holes they put in that decoy?

I think that I would have my gun out of my holster if I was that Con. Officer.

[fasteddie]

The DEC guy whistled and they were so intent on shooting that they didn't pay any attention to him ..........

[burmjohn]

[ADKSasquatch]

LOL... love the vids of the Cons. getting those morons. 

As for tresspassing issues, I ran into a few guys on my B-I-L's place last year.  They didn't believe me when I told them they were crossing the property line.  So, he got the land surveyed, posted, and is planning on prosecuting them if they come back this year. 

I grew up in SW Pa and we always had a problem with tresspassers.  The worst I saw was when a guy drove his pickup truck through a fence, parked at the top of a hill in a corn field and went hunting in the woods below.  Well, my Pap found the truck easily due to the huge ruts in the corn.  So, my Pap first shoots a few holes in the truck, taking particular aim at things like radiators, windows, and radios, gets the tractor, hitches it to the truck and drags it down onto the road, then up the road, with the truck still in park mind you, and into the barn where he locks it up.  He then calls the sherriff.  So, this guy shows up at Pap's door because he sees the sherriff's car and says his truck has been stolen, admitting he parked on the "state owned corn field land".  The sherriff then proceeds to ticket the guy for tresspassing.  The guy demands his truck back, which Pap agrees to do.  The guy sees the truck and of course flips out.  Pap simply says, guess there was lots of shootin' going on in that corn.  Guy calls my uncle to town the truck, which he does.. for a fee, and that's the last we heard of it.  Granted, it helps if the Sherriff is your brother. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Those videos are great. I gotta go look for more now lol.

[sbuff]

Does anyone know why you must wear a back tag in Southern zone and not northern?

Tresspassing is bad, plain and simple.Why people would do it blows my mind.

[Slugger09]

This is a farely recent article from newsday on Long Island about using the deer decoy.

Kaitlin Grady heard a sound, stiffened and whispered, "Car!"

She and fellow state Department of Environmental Conservation police officer Josh Verhague flattened themselves against a Calverton hillside and waited.

Soon, a blue SUV came bumping down a dirt road and slowed in front of the officers. Verhague fingered a remote-control unit, and a deer on the opposite slope pivoted its head. Its tail would have swished, too, if the mechanism hadn't been damaged by a poacher's shot.

But being shot at by poachers was the reason the deer was there. Buckshot, as it has been named by the DEC cops, is a $1,300 hybrid: the hide of a real deer covering a foam body containing remote-control motors.

Since the DEC purchased Buckshot three years ago to flush out poachers hunting out of season or in prohibited areas, the decoy has helped nail four shooters, one for each slug hole in its hide.

But the driver of the blue SUV never stopped. So the officers continued their stakeout.

Temperatures had sunk below freezing when the team, headed by DEC Lt. Dallas Bengel, arrived in Calverton around 6:30 a.m. during the last week of the monthlong deer season that ended Jan. 29.

Buckshot helps the DEC catch people "roadhunting" - shooting from a road. The practice is not only illegal but "a very dangerous activity" because other people on the road or in the area might be shot, Bengel said.

"A couple of bad apples hurt the whole sport," said Bengel, who hunts for deer himself with bow and shotgun. "We're after those bad apples."

It's a misdemeanor to shoot from a roadway, shoot from a vehicle or have a loaded gun in a vehicle. The penalties include loss of a hunting license and thousands of dollars in fines.

Bengel and his team selected an area near a condominium complex where hunting is never allowed. They carried the 40-pound mechanical deer up a hill behind a yellow sign that read "Restricted area. No hunting," positioned him on the frost-covered leaves and tested the remote control. "We think it doesn't look that realistic, but apparently the poachers do," Bengel said.

"The movement is what gets them," Verhague added.

About 6:45 a.m., Grady and Verhague climbed 50 yards up the opposite slope to be out of the line of fire and moved some branches to conceal their position. Officers Dustin Oliver and Jeremy Eastwood drove their vehicles off in different directions so they could box in a poacher.

Although their breath was visible in the frigid air, the officers shrugged off the cold. "You get used to it," Verhague said. "And you dress for the occasion."

"It could be a lot colder," Grady added. "And you don't have to worry about ticks because it's too late in the year."

Bengel describes stakeout duty with Buckshot as "hours of boredom" broken up by occasional "frantic activity." While they wait, Verhague and Grady discussed the reaction of those caught in a "takedown" if they shoot at the decoy, often after making multiple passes to scope out the situation. "They're kind of in shock when the deer doesn't fall down," Grady said. "Sometimes, they take a second shot because they think they missed."

The blue SUV was the only vehicle to come along until 8:30 when Verhague hears something and says, "There's a truck!" He and Grady flatten themselves until they realize it's one of the DEC chase vehicles. Bengel decided to call it a day.

As they carried Buckshot back to a truck, Bengel said the DEC's use of the decoy is widely known. "It's the worst-kept secret in the hunting community," he said. "But it seems like the poachers get caught up in the moment."

[VenaticOutdoors]

Have you had any issues since?

Those are great videos and stories.

We have not had a problem since last year but poacher's do not usually funnel out of the woodword until mid September in our area.  The fields are no longer cut along the road, which keeps deer from feeding in them (instead they hit our food plots) and gives them additional cover.  We'll see how that, coupled with the high voltage fence, treats people.  I'm sure they won't care but who knows.  Anything to make it difficult on them.

[fasteddie]

I recall seeing a video where they had a decoy setup and the guy had his kid shoot a muzzle loader out the window . It was funny because the old man thought his kid missed and they were reloading the ML inside the vehicle .

[VenaticOutdoors]

haha yea, that's not obvious!

[Geno C]

those videos are funny, man some people are crazy huh? that one guy didnt even hear the officer whistle... another prime example of people ruining it for the legit guys. i dont get why they do it? thats not even a sport and i highly doubt they are in that bad of a situtation to want to provide for a family. i think it is purely idiotic and just plain lazyness..

[VenaticOutdoors]

Two guys were just arrested last night in my parents neck of the woods - big fine.  It's sad that it's starting already, always seems to be mid-September....

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S1745974.shtml?cat=566

[burmjohn]

At least they caught them.

[catskillkid]

September seems to be the start of the poaching season. They want a head start on the real hunters before the legal season begins. Any deer shot that way is nothing to be proud of.

I'm sure they do not know how to get a deer anyother way. Only ilegally. It is too bad that they teach thier bad ways to thier kids.

[nyslowhand]

Two guys were just arrested last night in my parents neck of the woods - big fine.  It's sad that it's starting already, always seems to be mid-September....

Used to see the DEC set-up a decoy and watch it from a side road above Palmyra in Wayne County.

Wonder if this were these jerks got caught?

[JW QLTY]

Its a hard thing to deal with,i belonged to a club in Sullivan Co.NY and we had some defiant ones that even when confronted would continue trespassing.The only way to stop them would be for at least 1 member to file official charges and follow thru with court appearances etc. So not so easy with many living out of town or with busy schedules.Then with the advent of 4 wheelers things got worse.Before that I had to sell a camp up in Pine Bush that had been a haunt for kids before I bought it,I practley rebuilt the place many week ends but the kids kept breaking in,it was a sad thing but I sold it and later joined a club that had local members that kept an eye out which turned out to be the best alternative.Picture is of my Pine Bush NY camp with lake frontage, deer stand was a 15 minute walk away,still dreaming bout that one .John aka JW QLTY

[catskillkid]

That's too bad JW. A freind of mine has a camp in Colesville. He has found gut piles 20 yards from his tree stand when he returns to his place to hunt. He is trying to follow a QDM plan but I told him that why should he let the small bucks pass only to have a poacher shoot it. Also it does'nt pay to scout deer paterns when some local is shooting them and disturbing their behavour when he is not there.

He also must board up all windows and doors on his camp with plywood and long screws to keep people from breaking in as has happened many times in the past. It takes him about 30 minutes just to get into his own camp. He says they also use his campfire pit when he is not there. It is not like his place can be seen from the road, it sits about 1/4 mile back in the woods but somehow they know when he is not there.

I know another guy that returned to his camp only to find that someone had burned it down!

[burmjohn]

JW where is the picture?