Encounter with a neighbor today

[Don_C]

So I went down to my new-this-year lease this morning to get some stands set. The people to the south of us have wooden box stands along the line facing into our property. I havent been able to get in touch with them and when i noticed last week that they had done some repairs, I put up a few posted signs to let them know this property is no longer open.

 

Well it worked. Today on my way out, a guy stepped out if the brush in front of my atv. Holding a rifle. He was not hunting. I was polite and introduced myself, as did he. After some chit chat I told him we will respect property lines and we expect the same. His response was, and I quote. “I brought this in case I ran into any trouble” and looked at his 22 rifle. I knew what he meant.

 

Then he said “I dont know what you are saying to me” I said no hunting or shooting across lines, if you are tracking a deer no problem, have at it. He said “ I have been hunting this area for 40 years, it ain’t changing now. I am an armed citizen and no one is taking anything from me.” He looked down at the .22 he was holding then leaned it against a tree. I responded, I understand. I defused it by asking about other people i have on camera. He said they are his son and his friend. Hmmmm.

 

Then he asked if I had seen the 500lb bear on the (our) hill. I told him I have seen the pics. I was up there this morning cutting a path through the berries and was a little concerned that a 9mm wasnt going to be enough if I saw him. His posturing changed immediately.

 

I told him I was leaving and would be back tomorrow. He simply said “Im a good guy, I am glad we wont have any problems” He also said not to bother his son, hes a good young man. And closed with a complaint about the guy next door who put a stand too close to his property line... also shooting our land. wtf???

 

I just went to Tractor Supply and Home Depot and got every posted sign I could find. Not screwing around with this guy.

 

Any advice is welcome.

 

 

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[Lawdwaz]

Sounds like trouble but for your sake, I hope I’m wrong.  The guy sounds like a real piece of work....be careful. 

[KMurph332]

Sounds like a tough situation i can see problems in the future with those guys you already gave him a warning so next time just give encon a ring also try to use them to your advantage if they are on the line they will push deer to you

[sodfather]

Who did you lease through? I’d let them know immediately. Also I would let the guy know you spoke with the property owner and about what just transpired. 

Then I would look down in the eyes and say “ Are We Going To Have Any Problems staying on our sides..

[moog5050]

Pretty much anyone coming to meet their new neighbor with a rifle in hand is off to the wrong start.   Sounds like a bully.   Should be a conversation by your lessor and neighbor.  Good luck.  

[Don_C]

I have no problem with anyone being on the line as long as they are not shooting in at us. He already made it clear that he shoots our way and thinks its a problem if we put stands on our side anywhere near him. I am going to contact the lumber company on Monday and let them know as well. I am also having a very large and very official looking sign made for the gate.

The last thing i want to do is have any kind of confrontation so I will always remain calm and if I need to I will call the sheriff or dec. in fact I may tomorrow anyway. He basically threatened me with a gun in his hand today. Twice. Not putting up with it. His anger over the other other neighbor to our south is amazing. He was trying to shoot across the corner of his land into our land and thinks the other landowners are the problem.


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[rob-c]

I had the same problem ( with no fire arm involved ) with our new lease we picked up last year. Neighbor comes right over and says I keep your parking spot mowed so I can hunt on your lease, the last leasers  let me. 

I say, well you can stop mowing as your not going to be hunting on our lease, well he says the ones before let me, and the dug road leads to my brothers property. 

So I preceded to tell him he will not be hunting this land and further more his name is not on the lease papers and he will not be covered under the liability insurance, etc .. 

i installed a (security ) game camera on the dug road this year as there’s really no other way up the hill. 

Your probably going to have to be a dick to this guy to get your point across.  I had words again  with the neighbor this summer when we went to hang stands, and again I had to remind him he’s not allowed on this property. 

Good luck and make sure your always packin.. 

[steve863]

This dude sounds crazy, dangerous and capable of some ugly stuff.  In my opinion you should call a DEC officer, Sheriff or both.  He should not get away with a threatening tone like that.

[greensider]

If you don’t call the dec and state troopers you are the crazy one this has to be stopped or you are better off leaving the spot before something bad happens 

[Nytracker]

My neighbors took a little persuading.  We have an understanding now . I will track any wounded deer that comes acrossed. They will call me and make arrangements  for me to come up. Other than that stay off. Previose owner use to let them run the hill . He was a nice guy. They use to drive all week when we were working and we didn't see deer  on the weekends . I am not the nice guy he was.

Edited September 7, 2019 by Nytracker

[Nomad]

The first one to call the cops , is seen as the victim ,call and get the paper trail started . 

Record every future interaction .

Expect problems you’re there once in awhile ,he lives there .

I would be armed every second I was there .

Hope it’s not a long term lease .

Edited September 7, 2019 by Nomad

[Don_C]

We were hoping it would be long term. All of the other neighbors seem great. When I asked them about this guy they all said they didnt really know him. I am going to call the Sheriff and dec tomorrow when we are down there just to get something on record.


Worst case is he just keeps doing what hes doing. Im certainly not putting anyones life in danger for a deer.


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[grampy]

This nut job is going to be nothing but problems. He is trying to intimidate you to get what he wants. Will no doubt cut straps on stands, steal cams, and any number of nasty things, to ratchet up the intimidation factor. To either get you to leave, or get his way. In his twisted mind, he's been there longer than you, and it's "his" land!!! 

First thing, is to tell your landowner what happened. And that you were threatened. And that you'll be filing a report with the authorities. Then follow through with the report. They have dealt with this kind of stuff before, and most times will handle it professionally.

Use exteam caution while scouting, hunting, or any time you are using this lease. And don't let your guard down. Most of all don't give in to this A-hole!!

[Jdubs]

Sounds like brandishing to me.  Anyone with their brain wired to think that kind of behavior is ok is a risk.  I wouldn't trust him at all.  Start the conversation with LE and put this guy on notice.  

[wolc123]

If this guy lives on the land adjacent to your lease, then it would be a lot better for both of you to get things "smoothed" out.  There does not have to be a "looser" in the situation.  Maybe try inviting the guy over for a beer and see if you can get things resolved peacefully.   I had a similar situation over at my folks place a couple years ago.  No guns were involved, and the roles were somewhat reversed.   

Their farm is about 1/2 open fields in the front, and an "L" shaped hardwoods in back.   There is a big overgrown field, inside of the "L", that had been "no-mans-land" for about 10 years.  The original owner passed away, and the kids never paid the taxes.  Literally everybody and their brother hunted that field over that time, many of them coming from a trailer park that is on the other side of the base of my folks "L" shaped woods.   I had two tree stands close to that field, both of which I thought were in my folk's woods. 

A new neighbor, on the next road, bought that field in a tax-auction two years ago.   Shortly thereafter, my dad called and reported that there were "nasty" notes, threatening litigation, etc. on those two tree stands.  The fella had the land surveyed, and it turned out that one of the stands was 10 feet on my folk's side of the line, but the other was about 30 feet on his side.  The guy had plastered posted signs about every 50 feet along the line.  My dad was a little upset over the deal, and asked that I call the guy, who had written his number on the notes.   

I called him immediately, and arranged a meeting the following weekend (one weekend before opening day of gun season).   He turned out to be alright, especially after he learned that those stands belonged to the son of the owner of woods on two sides of his new purchase.   He let me move the one stand off his land, and I also moved the other a little farther from the line.  He gave me permission to follow wounded deer onto his land, and my dad reciprocated, but he asked that I call him first.   I took him deep into my dad's woods, to the two story blind from which I had killed what might be my heaviest ever buck the weekend prior, with my crossbow.  He showed me some trail camera photos of that buck on his smart phone.   Later on into gun season, I watched a young buck walk out of my dad's woods. across his field, but I held my fire and ate my buck tag that gun season.  Fortunately, I got a doe later at home and my crossbow buck was HUGE, so we ended up with enough venison. 

The first year that guy moved in was good for me but last year was better yet.   His energetic posting and pursuit of tresspassers has completely eliminated all of that from my folk's woods.  I would always haphazerdly put up a few signs every year, but I do not remember a weekend hunt over there during gun season when I did not see at least one tresspasser.   The new guy cut them off entirely.   Now all I see is deer when I hunt over there.  I killed a slightly lighter (per the PA chest girth chart), but larger-racked 3.5 year old buck over there on opening day of gun season.  I called the guy (who was down at his dad's southern tier camp) and asked if I could drag it across the corner of his field (to get around a swamp).  He gave me the ok and asked for a picture of the buck.  I sent him one and he sent me back some trail cam photos of it.   

I had never killed a mature buck on that property, before this new guy moved in, and not even an immature "antlered" one over the 10 years that field was a "free for all".   Now, it has been a 3.5 year old buck for me on two consecutive years, and an added bonus for me last year was what might be my largest ever button buck.          

        

Edited September 7, 2019 by wolc123

[ATbuckhunter]

Sounds like he doesnt care that you lease it, he's going to do what he wants to do no matter how you like it. He tried to be a bully...especially when he said don't bother his son. Id have another conversation with him saying there are no if ands or buts, don't shoot toward or come on the property unless you're tracking a deer. Only way to deal with these guys is to be stern in what you expect 

[Don_C]

Wolc.. I agree to a point. This guy approached me with aggression and a gun. So Im going to post the hell out of it now. He said he even invited the local Amish to hunt it last year so the problems will compound if I dont make it clear that we are serious. As far as he goes i do agree, my son just called me and suggested we take a case of beer down tomorrow and try to be friendly with him. Lets face it, he lives there, we do not. I will reinforce respecting lines, and will call the Sheriff to get something on record, but im not battling this guy. We have 94 acres of amazing oak woods. Deer are everywhere, one of the nice neighbors showed me a pic if a 22 pt non typical he shot last year on our hill. It is well worth it to get along. But i wont be bullied either.

 

 

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[Don_C]

Sounds like he doesnt care that you lease it, he's going to do what he wants to do no matter how you like it. He tried to be a bully...especially when he said don't bother his son. Id have another conversation with him saying there are no if ands or buts, don't shoot toward or come on the property unless you're tracking a deer. Only way to deal with these guys is to be stern in what you expect 

Exactly. I will be friendly to him, but I will not be bullied.


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[BowmanMike]

6 minutes ago, FatBoyD said:

 

Exactly. I will be friendly to him, but I will not be bullied.


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That is the right attitude. The guy sounds like a total jerk,i guess being friendly is worth a try,but i wouldn't expect that to work. Get on the record with Law enforcement and keep your guard up. 

Don't let him mistake you being friendly for weakness.

Some people are just nuts.

[Don_C]

Don't let him Bully You!! File a complaint on him for appearing before you with a Rifle.  I hope he does not Trespass on your land to kill that 500 Black Bear. He wants that Bear for himself!

Yep. He said as much. I didnt want to post this because i am not 100% convinced its true, but the neighbor to the north sent me this pic. He said its zoomed in from a pic his wife took with her phone in their yard.



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[First-light]

Find out who leased the property before you. Call them or send a letter asking about certain neihbors. You will get the information you need and will know how to handle it. WTF this guy think its the wild west! 

[Nytracker]

21 minutes ago, FatBoyD said:

 

Yep. He said as much. I didnt want to post this because i am not 100% convinced its true, but the neighbor to the north sent me this pic. He said its zoomed in from a pic his wife took with her phone in their yard.



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That's a brute. 

[Pygmy]

3 hours ago, FatBoyD said:

 

So I went down to my new-this-year lease this morning to get some stands set. The people to the south of us have wooden box stands along the line facing into our property. I havent been able to get in touch with them and when i noticed last week that they had done some repairs, I put up a few posted signs to let them know this property is no longer open.

 

Well it worked. Today on my way out, a guy stepped out if the brush in front of my atv. Holding a rifle. He was not hunting. I was polite and introduced myself, as did he. After some chit chat I told him we will respect property lines and we expect the same. His response was, and I quote. “I brought this in case I ran into any trouble” and looked at his 22 rifle. I knew what he meant.

 

Then he said “I dont know what you are saying to me” I said no hunting or shooting across lines, if you are tracking a deer no problem, have at it. He said “ I have been hunting this area for 40 years, it ain’t changing now. I am an armed citizen and no one is taking anything from me.” He looked down at the .22 he was holding then leaned it against a tree. I responded, I understand. I defused it by asking about other people i have on camera. He said they are his son and his friend. Hmmmm.

 

Then he asked if I had seen the 500lb bear on the (our) hill. I told him I have seen the pics. I was up there this morning cutting a path through the berries and was a little concerned that a 9mm wasnt going to be enough if I saw him. His posturing changed immediately.

 

I told him I was leaving and would be back tomorrow. He simply said “Im a good guy, I am glad we wont have any problems” He also said not to bother his son, hes a good young man. And closed with a complaint about the guy next door who put a stand too close to his property line... also shooting our land. wtf???

 

I just went to Tractor Supply and Home Depot and got every posted sign I could find. Not screwing around with this guy.

 

Any advice is welcome.

 

 

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Good luck, My friend  !!….I know what you are  dealing with... If push comes to shove, one shot dead center mass right through the sternum should settle it...

Oh.. Wait a minute....We're talking about the BEAR, aren't we...??

[Hunter007]

Dam what a downer  this lease Seems more trouble then it is worth .Hope it works  out ok ,  good luck 

[doebuck1234]

Best of luck,stand your ground and dont let your guard down.this guy sounds like a real douche bag.