mountain bike trails

[skully]

I live in a private gated community where there is only 10 houses and there is literally 100s of acres almost 2500 to be exact. I have been there 12 years myself and the new home owner has now made mountain bike trails going through all of woods and some trails literally go between ladders and trees.  Now they were made in spring and from what I hear took almost a month to do and I do not think they are used often but Im gonna be pretty pissed when I get up at 430 am and I am in my favorite tree and this guy comes by me at 730 am with 6 of his friends who by rules of association do not even belong there.  How would you guys handle this??? 

[Adkhunter1590]

I'd simply go over to the guy and tell him you have no issue with the trails but could he possibly stay off them during deer season. Or if there's a certain area or side of the property that you don't plan on hunting, ask him if he can stick to that until season is over. Make sure you tell him when exactly hunting season starts and ends. If you have 2500 acres there's no way two guys can't figure out how to avoid contact during a 2 month period of time.

 

In the end neither one of you own the land so neither one of you can say who gets to do what. So unless you two want to ruin the access for the both of ya, you best go in with a level head ready to compromise a bit.

[Doc]

5 minutes ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

I'd simply go over to the guy and tell him you have no issue with the trails but could he possibly stay off them during deer season. Or if there's a certain area or side of the property that you don't plan on hunting, ask him if he can stick to that until season is over. Make sure you tell him when exactly hunting season starts and ends. If you have 2500 acres there's no way two guys can't figure out how to avoid contact during a 2 month period of time.

In the end neither one of you own the land so neither one of you can say who gets to do what. So unless you two want to ruin the access for the both of ya, you best go in with a level head ready to compromise a bit.

I agree with all of this reply. You haven't told us of the stipulations of permission and any rules that may apply. So be sure not to raise too much of a ruckus. The landowner may just decide that permission for outsiders to use the land is not worth the hassle.

I have to say that I have all kinds of sympathy for what you are going through. A few years back the DEC opened up the state land that I hunt to sizeable club of mountain bikers, and they did hack-in a maze of trails that is super hard to avoid. That led to hikers and all kinds of non hunting use. It actually gets downright busy and noisy up there. But I have to resign myself to the fact that at anytime while hunting I could see gangs of bikers or 20 or 40 hikers walking by my stand. It has basically cut out my use of about 75% of the land that I used to hunt. But that's what can happen when you don't own the land.

 

[wildcat junkie]

My experience with deer and bicycles is that unless the bicycle stops, deer don't seem to associate it with danger. I have had them literally stand less than 5 yds away and watch me go by when they were in cover. Unless you have crowds, I don't think it will affect your hunting much. I have also ridden within 30yds of Black Bears and mere feet from Ruffed Grouse. MTBs don't make much noise and the frontal and perhaps even the side profile must look like another deer to wildlife.

Edited September 30, 2017 by wildcat junkie

[skully]

Yea I understand that bikes really do not bother them to much but Luck and probability makes up most of hunting and if it just so happens that I have a nice buck coming through and decides to change direction cause 5 bikes are coming throught then that screws me bigtime....... 

 

I have a camera on the trail right now and nobody has used them in weeks but if I happen to run into the guy I am gonna say " hey listen do me a favor and give me woods from mid october till Thanksgiving as you could have them the whole year and I will look the other way that your friends are in here, as they do not belong in here"

[wildcat junkie]

5 minutes ago, skully said:

Yea I understand that bikes really do not bother them to much but Luck and probability makes up most of hunting and if it just so happens that I have a nice buck coming through and decides to change direction cause 5 bikes are coming throught then that screws me bigtime....... 

 

I have a camera on the trail right now and nobody has used them in weeks but if I happen to run into the guy I am gonna say " hey listen do me a favor and give me woods from mid october till Thanksgiving as you could have them the whole year and I will look the other way that your friends are in here, as they do not belong in here"

Yeah, I understand your concern, but it would not leave the stand if a MTB goes quietly by. It just might nudge some subtle movement and it's not likely spook deer out of the immediate area..

 

If it were me, I would be proacgtive and go talk to the new homeowner. See if you guys can work out some sort of schedule.rather than waiting to encounter him in the woods.

[left field]

24 minutes ago, skully said:

I am gonna say " hey listen do me a favor and give me woods from mid october till Thanksgiving as you could have them the whole year and I will look the other way that your friends are in here, as they do not belong in here"

2

Let us know how well that works out for you. 

[Doc]

1 hour ago, wildcat junkie said:

My experience with deer and bicycles is that unless the bicycle stops, deer don't seem to associate it with danger. I have had them literally stand less than 5 yds away and watch me go by when they were in cover. Unless you have crowds, I don't think it will affect your hunting much. I have also ridden within 30yds of Black Bears and mere feet from Ruffed Grouse. MTBs don't make much noise and the frontal and perhaps even the side profile must look like another deer to wildlife.

Oh really? I have tried hunting in the areas where they ride these things, so I have first hand experience with the hunting conditions while all of these circus acts go by. I can tell you that no deer is going to watch 6 guys stretched out about 50 yards along the trail yelling back and forth to each other as they go. And the hikers that use these trails sound like a bunch of old folks having a party. None of these people are just quietly riding or walking by. And then there are the joggers all dressed up pretty in their fluorescent spandex gear running along like gazelles. I have never seen a deer stand there and stare at anything that is running. I mean all this crap is going on top of a killer hill. I will give these people a lot of credit for somehow getting up there but they have just turned good hunting area into a complete riot.

Now I don't have any idea whether that will ever happen to the land that Sully is trying to hunt. I hope to hell that it does not, but I will tell you that where they have let down the floodgates and turned loose the horde of health nuts, it is not a hunter-friendly atmosphere.

[genesee_mohican]

It sounds like the new owner put some effort into making bike trails for people to enjoy. If I was in this situation, I would just move my stands away from the trails and leave it at that. I kind of doubt a guy or gal who doesn't hunt, but just wants to ride a bike through the property once in a while will understand and stop riding there all of deer season. Just my opinion. It's tough when we don't own the property we hunt on, there are usually others using the land too. Adapting to other people becomes part of the plan.

[skully]

1 hour ago, genesee_mohican said:

It sounds like the new owner put some effort into making bike trails for people to enjoy. If I was in this situation, I would just move my stands away from the trails and leave it at that. I kind of doubt a guy or gal who doesn't hunt, but just wants to ride a bike through the property once in a while will understand and stop riding there all of deer season. Just my opinion. It's tough when we don't own the property we hunt on, there are usually others using the land too. Adapting to other people becomes part of the plan.

He put a ton of time in but he was not supposed to.  I am not moving stands as they are in perfect spots and he has figure 8s all over the place so there are trails are everywhere.  I am just hoping we could come to some kind of agreement and it does not turn into a problem. 

[ELMER J. FUDD]

A gated community in Cold Spring with 2500 acres. Interesting.