"Catfished" on a Hunting Property

[Luke510]

I had an experience today that caught me off guard and I'm trying to figure out how I should feel about it.  I'm looking for opinions.  

 

A small piece of property (40 acres) I've hunted forever in Cattaraugus county was recently sold and posted.  Not that uncommon these days.  The property is small but it's convenient and close to other huntable properties.  The posted sign said 'written permission only' and had a phone number.  My hope was that it may be an investment property or even a lease situation becasue it was such a small piece of property, so I called.  The guy calls me back and tells me that he has no intentions of letting anyone hunt the property but he marked the posted signs that way so people would call him so he could tell them to stay off the property.

 

This is a done deal in my mind.  I have no desire, or need, for access to this property.  I have no hard feeling towards this guy or losing access to the property.  What has caught me off guard and has had me thinking about it all day is if this guy is a jerk or a genius for marking his posted signs that way.  Is it necessary to bait people into calling?  I'm interested in your opinions and whether your looking at it from a property owner position or from the position of a hunter looking for permision.

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Luke510

[thumbburn]

Unfortunately the land owner pays the tremendous amount of taxes .... he can do what he wants...


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[whaler1]

I say the guys a douche. The sign speaks for itself. To bait people in is crap.


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[whaler1]

Hachimo is the voice of reason, curious to hear what he thinks.


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[Never Ends]

I have a very similar situation with 40 acres just bought by a family member, the posted signs will say: No Trespassing Period!. Forget that guy for not being upfront and honest and trying to be sneaky about it. Kudos to you for actually following the rules!

[lost a lure]

Time to spread his number around. Sell it to the "spammers"

[Misdirection]

He would have been better off posting like this guy did!

This is a real sign ny friend saw out in Colorado this week.

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[Nautitroller]

I have been a land owner for 18 years. The first year I went around and talked to neighbors and to whom ever was on the property. I approached them in a professional way saying that the property they had permission on was now off limits because of our new ownership and for safety sake I couldn't let them hunt there. I've never posted the lines with the ugly yellow signs. Since then I've only had one trespasser.
I believe that we as hunters should be on the same page, whatever you can do to be a better neighbor do it. Whatever you can do to make hunters look good to non hunters, do it.
NY taxes suck. I understand why the guy posted his signs.The way he handled it without giving any respect to other hunters maybe wasn't the best solution, well I hope he dosen't have to track a deer onto his neighbors.

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[Frogger]

Typically or Usually I’d say when someone acts in that nature they may not be holding the poker hand their leading on to. Dig a little to see if in fact he is the owner etc. you might find some surprises. He may be fronting to keep other hunters out. Happens all the time. I’m not sure what county but in Ontario you can easily pull up ownership of boundaries etc.


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[gonefishing71]

this guy is a genius,     

 

i was raised in the back woods, with some questionable hunting methods, now I crossed over and became a successful  family man

 

he didn't lie, written permission only, he never said he would give it

 

also he now has a list of phone numbers, he catches you on there 

 

and you try to lie to the  LEO, it will be hard if he has your number and name from caller I.D

[JakeyBaby]

I have to agree, i would not consider this as "catfished". Believe I get how much losing hunting ground SUCKS!! I have been leasing the same property for 10 years now. I do ALL the work and pay for ALL that is needed from food plots to clearing trails and mowing or hanging posted signs. With all that, there has been for sale signs up the land to be sold! So some time in the near future I will be out, so again I feel your pain. But at the end of the day the new land owner has one goal right now just as any of us would, keep names and keep people off. Way to much goes into this sport to have one person come in that doesn't belong there that thinks they do to ruin an opportunity of a lifetime. That's my take.

[Nittanyfisher]

I also do not believe that you were "Catfished" at all. You do not have the permission of the new landowner, but if you are inquiring about hunting it, he is also able to keep a running list of people that he can reach out as possible suspects if there are findings of violating his rights as a land owner... 

 

After all just because you asked does not 100% guarantee that you will be able to obtain rights... It just means that he will only ever respond to people who ask. 

 

I think that you also did the right thing by asking and respecting his land owner rights. 

[BSmaster]

I don't know if it was such a bad thing.  If he was polite about it I am ok with how he did it.  I hate when you are respectful and ask permission and catch an earful from the landowner for what somebody else did.

[SeanP]

I understand both sides but I will tell you, I have over 400 acres of posted land and the trespassing has never been as bad as it is now. Last year I removed 7 tree stands, had atv roads cut, even had one jacka$$ put in a food plot!!!   I have people ask to hunt and honestly I let some of them on.  Those that i have not given permission have trespassed and prosecuted when caught.  Unfortunately the local jurisdictions do very little with trespassers.

[ontherise]

A duechy genius.

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[hawkeye625]

I understand both sides but I will tell you, I have over 400 acres of posted land and the trespassing has never been as bad as it is now. Last year I removed 7 tree stands, had atv roads cut, even had one jacka$$ put in a food plot!!!   I have people ask to hunt and honestly I let some of them on.  Those that i have not given permission have trespassed and prosecuted when caught.  Unfortunately the local jurisdictions do very little with trespassers.

I own a few parcels myself and agree 100%. Had 2 different people ask me who gave me permission to hunt on my own land last year. When I flipped the question on them they quoted my name as giving them permission! It only takes a few assholes to turn a landowner sour. I pulled a cell cam off a new food plot this year and left a note for the guy who rode his quad past my posted sign to put it up! Not many guys will get my permission this season.



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[NymphO]

Signs or no signs, people still trespass. I can rattle off story after story of people coming on our property. It's rediculous and I just don't get it. Good for you for at least calling though instead of just saying " I've been hunting here for years" and just trespassing.

[Hachimo]

I’m tryin to look at this from both sides. (Land owner and hunter)

Part of me thinks guy is a genius.  Other part an a**hole. I own 12 acres and caretaker of 57 right next to me prime hunting. A guy who lives an hour away and hunted the property for 20years was on my land. Settin up a treestand and i caught him and politely asked him what hes doin.  He was real cocky amd disrespectful With the whole i been here 20years so he got the boot and I had to forcfully remove him from my property.  Next week I found the stand in another tree.  I cut the tree down on top of it.  Left a tresspasing sign with my number on it askin to clean up his treestand. He never called or cleaned it up. 
       A 65old neighbor came to me after i purchased the property. His family owned the entire mtn. Years ago and slowly sold off parcels and past 25years he hunted behind my house.  Bein he asked how he did I gave him permission. Sometimes people think just becouse they hunted an area for 20years there able to hunt there forever , and give new landowners issues. 

i like the idea becouse most likely almost everyone who passes the sign is gonna call. As a landowner it gives u the idea of how many people are on your property , but on the other side i could feel the pain of havin posted signs go up just before huntin season at an area you hunted for 20years. Then see that sign and it gives ya a little hope, just to get shutdown. Pretty cruel. 
     I rarely hunt my land. Usually only bear and deer archery. Spend most my time in state gamelands miles from anyone to minimize interference. I always tell trespassers “theres enough state land for everyone to hunt”.

[jckjr8]

As a landowner in afford mentioned county and lived here my entire life. (Not the owner of this property lol) I can probably say the guy was just trying to figure on people trespassing and this way if any of the people were people he had talked to he has a leg to stand on when talking to the ECO or law enforcement. Last year I had a terrible time with trespassing and even had group trying to do a deer drive. Just thought they wouldn't get caught. I actually called the DEC and they said even with posted signs local judges don't do much with it but if they were spoken to before and still came on your property it was more prosecutable.

[Fat Trout]

3 hours ago, jckjr8 said:

As a landowner in afford mentioned county and lived here my entire life. (Not the owner of this property lol) I can probably say the guy was just trying to figure on people trespassing and this way if any of the people were people he had talked to he has a leg to stand on when talking to the ECO or law enforcement. Last year I had a terrible time with trespassing and even had group trying to do a deer drive. Just thought they wouldn't get caught. I actually called the DEC and they said even with posted signs local judges don't do much with it but if they were spoken to before and still came on your property it was more prosecutable.

I ran afoul of the situation where prior allowance turned into not allowable but I respect the land owners right.  It was an erie stream.  I had been there before going past signs because it was accepted or so was our understanding.  I was with another and we went past signs  as in the past.  a person came out said you need to leave and we left, no questions asked.  made it back to the parking lot and was met with DEC who asked us to stay and then a PA trooper.  Both were cool, so were we, PA trooper went and talked to the landowner who gave him an earful.  He didn't appreciate the earful. The story was that the past October (it was march) some bad actors were really bad....a bad season salmon guy when asked to pick up trash literally (I was told) took a dump in front of the landowner out of a F-U disrespect.   We gave info, left without incident but I later got a ticket in the mail from the town for $75.  OK, I paid it...it is what it is. BTW, we had great fishing and it was worth the $75 but I would never have done it (had we realized) and have never been back since.  We didn't have advanced approval....our fault even if I can say we had reason.  The trooper was understanding although not thrilled with the situation  (I can't blame him).  The town got their $ which was unnecessary IMO but I had no defense.  I also don't blame the landowner at all.  I'm just saying that I understand the posting with phone # as they are trying to get the word out (or so I hope the intention was ....in this case).  as a last edit I'll add this to the LONG list of places I've lost access too because of bad people.  I don't question any land owner's right regardless of where it is and what's stocked where and blah blah blah position non land owners might feel (stream rights or otherwise).

Edited October 1, 2020 by Fat Trout

[tuffishooker]

Great topic with some excellent stories ! It is the FEW poachers and trespassers who ruin hunting for the rest of us and can prompt needless postings of the example given ! A no trespassing sign has to be respected ! We advise land owners to post their property that we have permission to hunt on then they find the signs have been vandalized !

[Gator]

Good neighbors are invaluable. So is routine hunter presence. We have both. Thus far, in five years, I haven't had to kick anyone off either property. But if we did have trespassers, I would know about it ASAP - particularly with the advent of cell cams. Given that there's no way anybody would be hunting through either property without knowing full well that they are trespassing, I would simply hand them off to either DEC or the State Police and be done with it.