Hunter harassment

[Northcountryman]

Any one ever have trouble with people harassing them while hunting, scouting, etc? I was bored the other day and googled this topic and some stuff came up from a few years ago in Minnesota where a landowner who was vehemently antihunting employed tactics like blowing her horn and walking her property line playing loud music to scare the deer away. Never has happened to me, hopefully never will , just wondering if anyone has been unfortunate enough to experience this . 

[ATbuckhunter]

The worst I ever had it was the neighbor of one of the places I hunt. Once she would hear a shot she would come screaming and call the state troopers on us. Thankfully she moved and we havent had a problem since. 

[Salmon_Run]

I've never personally experienced harassment as I hunt the Adirondacks and am normally a good distance from roadways and population.

I know some of my buddies that hunt waterfowl in the Finger Lakes region have been verbally harassed about goose hunting their use of retrievers.

I would immediately gather as much information and let law enforcement handle the case to avoid face to face confrontation now that we live in the digital world. I'm sure a video would surface showing only "part" of the true story...

[philoshop]

In the mid-1980's I was followed to a public hunting site in the Alfred/Almond area. I don't know exactly why they targeted me, but there were a half dozen cars filled with people who then followed me into the woods and sat around my treestand for a couple of hours talking loudly and ruining my morning hunt. Once I started taking the long logging road in from the other direction, which wasn't easy, the harassment stopped.

[moog5050]

We hunted one small 10 acre plot my first year where a neighbor would bang pans if they knew we were there.  Wasn't a great spot - maybe the pan banging had something to do with it -  and we just stopped hunting there.

[phade]

13 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

We hunted one small 10 acre plot my first year where a neighbor would bang pans if they knew we were there.  Wasn't a great spot - maybe the pan banging had something to do with it -  and we just stopped hunting there.

You also left out the air horn on opening weekend...lol.

[Robhuntandfish]

Have been to an outdoor show in Syracuse with protesters yelling some nasty stuff.  My buddy went over and asked out the cutest one there and they didn't know what to say....lol

[NFA-ADK]

Had one of my buddies tree stand harnesses for the ladder stand cut and he fell really bad.  Broken leg in 3 spots.  Be careful and make sure you always check your stand when going in the dark, a few shakes at the bottom and slightly up will help verify no one is trying to kill you!  Some of these people are real idiots who could care less about harming another person if it saves one animal.  5 years later they will complain to the DEC about why they have not done anything to cure lyme after they get it a few times. 

It's illegal to harass hunters, if it happens to you record it so you have evidence!  Then let the DEC know. 

[moog5050]

28 minutes ago, phade said:

You also left out the air horn on opening weekend...lol.

LOL - how could I forget.  Ruined my chances at that booner headed my way.

I actually recall David texting asking "so what do I do now?"  haha

Edited August 15, 2018 by moog5050

[Northcountryman]

Wow, scary how the country has changed . I just don’t understand people that try to impose their value system on others. I respect people’s right to disagree , I would even have a respectful conversation if they wished to attempt to dissuade me from engaging in hunting, but harassing and interfering with hunters? A bit over the top. I saw another yutube clip online in Florida where 2 fisherman were legally fishing in a state park pond and were harassed repeatedly. When one of them caught a fish, one of the activists grabbed it and threw it back in , unreal. 

[Swamp_bucks]

30 minutes ago, NFA-ADK said:

Had one of my buddies tree stand harnesses for the ladder stand cut and he fell really bad.  Broken leg in 3 spots.  Be careful and make sure you always check your stand when going in the dark, a few shakes at the bottom and slightly up will help verify no one is trying to kill you!  Some of these people are real idiots who could care less about harming another person if it saves one animal.  5 years later they will complain to the DEC about why they have not done anything to cure lyme after they get it a few times. 

It's illegal to harass hunters, if it happens to you record it so you have evidence!  Then let the DEC know. 

Had same thing happen. Luckily my friend didnt fall but i had to go help him get down. Found out they cut those straps and cut up our ground blind.

[grampy]

Back about 15 years ago, the state bought the property that borders ours, and opened it up for public hunting. The first couple of years, they would come by the carfulls, to bang pots, sing songs, and shout how hunting defenceless animals was wrong. Worked out perfect, as I dropped two deer that they drove to me!!!

We called DEC when they trespassed on our land. And they made them leave the area, ours and the public land.

I was sure to thank them both times though, for the deer they put in front of me!!!!!!  But got no "hi fives" with my bloody hands. 

[moog5050]

22 minutes ago, grampy said:

Back about 15 years ago, the state bought the property that borders ours, and opened it up for public hunting. The first couple of years, they would come by the carfulls, to bang pots, sing songs, and shout how hunting defenceless animals was wrong. Worked out perfect, as I dropped two deer that they drove to me!!!

We called DEC when they trespassed on our land. And they made them leave the area, ours and the public land.

I was sure to thank them both times though, for the deer they put in front of me!!!!!!  But got no "hi fives" with my bloody hands. 

By the way, the air horn incident occurred at the stand you sat in Mendon.  Some hiker decided to be a PIA but gave up quickly.

[Don_C]

I have had two problems with hunter harassment.  The first was many years ago. A farmer next to the property we had access to was not happy we were there. They wanted to buy this property from my friend who was elderly and did not hunt any more. The farmers were hell bent on preventing a sale to anyone else.   When we were there the wife would send her kids out on ATVs to rip back and forth along the woodline for HOURS at a time.  We called the Sheriff, they did nothing because they weren't riding on our property. My best stand was only 80 yards into the woods so it was a real problem.  The very last time we hunted there she sent them out during rifle season. Yep, she sent her 12 and 14 year olds out to harass a group of men with guns.  I found another property after that.

The second problem was only three years ago and is more of a "lease gone bad" story I guess.  I was a member of a  hunt club that  leased 125 acres in Catt county from a couple of brothers who had a family cabin on the property. They did not hunt and lived in Long Island I think, they only traveled to WNY a few times a year. It was a great situation. One early October day a woman drove up as a few of us were getting ready the first bow hunt of the year. She was a sister of the brothers (who knew?) who decided our group of 8, some of which had been hunting there for 15 years, had to leave immediatly so her newly found State Trooper boyfriend and her could "enjoy" the property.  We did have a lease and basically ignored her for a while. She pretty much moved into the property and began calling the police whenever we would arrive. She and her boyfriend would use his bullhorn to scream into the woods if they showed up after any of us were on stand. It was nuts, I never went back, not worth it. The neighboring farmers told me she called the police on them any time she heard a gun shot as well. Total nut job.  This took place in early October, we never got our lease money back. 

[GreeneHunter]

I was harassed years ago dragging a buck out of the woods on my own property . I knew where the individual lived and sometime late that evening a Gut Pile ended up in their driveway ..... interesting huh !

[BigVal]

Never deer hunting but have been waterfowl hunting. I try to shake it off but some people aren't easy to ignore lol.

[Moho81]

1 hour ago, philoshop said:

In the mid-1980's I was followed to a public hunting site in the Alfred/Almond area. I don't know exactly why they targeted me, but there were a half dozen cars filled with people who then followed me into the woods and sat around my treestand for a couple of hours talking loudly and ruining my morning hunt. Once I started taking the long logging road in from the other direction, which wasn't easy, the harassment stopped.

They sat around your tree stand!!!!! 

That's nuts

I have never had anything happen to me while hunting. Just the occasional friend of a friend type thing asking me how can I shoot a defenseless animal. I usual give some stupid answer like where to aim and to squeeze the trigger not pull it just to piss them off even more.  

[philoshop]

37 minutes ago, Moho81 said:

They sat around your tree stand!!!!! 

That's nuts

I have never had anything happen to me while hunting. Just the occasional friend of a friend type thing asking me how can I shoot a defenseless animal. I usual give some stupid answer like where to aim and to squeeze the trigger not pull it just to piss them off even more.  

I thought they'd go away when they saw I wasn't intimidated. They had some weed and a few beers with them, though, and had to wait for daylight to find their way out. I honestly that maybe a curious deer would come within range and I could really make a spectacle of the whole thing.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I had a spot that I had hunted forever, someone bought the adjoining land, said I was fine to keep hunting it, but then started riding his ATV around the outside of the property on a daily basis. He resold the land after 1 year. I had already stopped hunting there, just because I had other land to hunt elsewhere.

[Hunter007]

2 hours ago, Northcountryman said:

Any one ever have trouble with people harassing them while hunting, scouting, etc? I was bored the other day and googled this topic and some stuff came up from a few years ago in Minnesota where a landowner who was vehemently antihunting employed tactics like blowing her horn and walking her property line playing loud music to scare the deer away. Never has happened to me, hopefully never will , just wondering if anyone has been unfortunate enough to experience this . 

Nope I hunt a lot of state land that hikers and even mountain bikers use  and they all are friendly  to me wave say HI or ask me if I got anything . I mean think about it would you really want to piss someone off  in the woods that is  holding a gun  In there hands and is  legally  allowed to be hunting there ? 

Very few are that dumb .

[jmark]

2 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Have been to an outdoor show in Syracuse with protesters yelling some nasty stuff.  My buddy went over and asked out the cutest one there and they didn't know what to say....lol

Probably the first man she'd ever encountered.  LOL.  

[Nomad]

Does my wife count ? 

Really she’s glad when I’m not home , thinks I should take up golf as well .

There was a big creek bed, which we called “ the big creek bed”, we’d drive all the time, it  awesome very thick around it , started very wide and tapered down to,nothing . It was 100 yards or so from a road that paralleled, and also down hill from it, so drivers could look down and see us .

You could do the drive with a couple guys and kill a deer, but to cover all the escape routes and have enough drivers to,prevent them circling your needed 10 or 12 guys , which we didn’t always have, but this one woman used to drive the road slow blowing her horn when she saw us !

That was nice as we didn’t have to post as many guys on the other side .Should have got her number ,was a nice help,.

[philoshop]

Use the harassment team as Ghillies. I love it!!

[Dinsdale]

Used to have a group picket and make a general protest at local 800ac state land about 8-10 years ago. Forest Ranger with jurisdiction didn't do squat, but then a ECO got involved and they seemed to have lost interest last 5 years or so. I have been yelled at and even had State Police called on me walking on the road back to my place during season; SP have no clue at all on environmental laws by the way; so DEC had to come and say I could walk home. LOL

[jmark]

3 hours ago, Northcountryman said:

Wow, scary how the country has changed . I just don’t understand people that try to impose their value system on others. I respect people’s right to disagree , I would even have a respectful conversation if they wished to attempt to dissuade me from engaging in hunting, but harassing and interfering with hunters? A bit over the top. I saw another yutube clip online in Florida where 2 fisherman were legally fishing in a state park pond and were harassed repeatedly. When one of them caught a fish, one of the activists grabbed it and threw it back in , unreal. 

I think it's fair to call these people domestic terrorists, not activists.  They are violently interfering with the exercise of basic rights.