You find a prime spot for ambushing a buck, but it’s hugging the boundary line. Do you hang a stand anyway?
When you invest in your own hunting property or lease, you want to take advantage of every square inch of land. But hunting property lines is a bit of an ethical gray area, and it’s best to just not be that guy.
From a law perspective, it’s generally legal to hang a treestand on the outermost edge of your property — but it’s also legal for your neighbor to do the same.
If you shoot a buck and he bounds over to the other side, you better know your state law as with many it’s not legal to just trudge through and start tracking without permission. Depending on state, your neighbor isn’t required to allow you on his land, and state wildlife agencies or other law enforcement will be hesitant to get involved. If your neighbor does grant you permission to recover your deer, you should be prepared to make the same concessions. Other states you can cross property lines to recover your game without permission however your weapon must remain behind. If you live in one of these states it is best to consider how you would feel if the shoe was on the other foot and not even a courtesy heads up was given.
In every state it is of course illegal to shoot an animal that’s across the boundary line (again, without express permission). So, could you really resist the temptation to shoot a monster standing broadside 20 yards away? Perhaps just don’t put yourself in that situation.
Either way, it’s best to have a sit-down with your neighbor before hunting season starts. If your neighbor bowhunts too, you can try to come to an agreement on specific permissions to reciprocate. Showing some respect and mutual consideration can go a long way.
If your neighbor hates hunters or is a generally miserable person, you probably won’t get anywhere. And it’s not worth starting a war for the sake of 100 yards.
If you choose to hunt right along your neighbor’s fence line, you should carefully consider where a deflected or misplaced arrow could fly when hanging your treestand and cutting shooting lanes. Never risk taking a shot that could potentially hit a hunter on the neighboring property.
In closing a well-known golden rule can be applied here, “Treat others the way you want to be treated yourself!”
The Bow Bully,
You brought up some really interesting points about which I need to think. The gent who repaired our air conditioner is a long bow hunter, and he asked if he could have permission to hunt our land this Fall. Since he did a fantastic and much-needed repair at a really good price, my wife and I felt like it would be kind of rude not to allow that. The only thing we asked is that he go “buck only,” as the does eat her year-round and are more like my wife’s pets. He is fine with that; but I also asked that he come out pre-season so I can show him our land’s boundaries. The thing is, we live on a triangle; the road is a well-defined boundary on one side, and the fence that separates us from the golf course is a well-defined line on the other side; but our southern “boundary” is a 1000-foot line that goes through the middle of a marshy patch in the middle of a hardwood forest. I’ve tried to mark it several times, but the spring rains cause the marsh to flood and carry away my markers. This bow hunter could easily shoot a deer on one of our trails (which are all well within our borders), but if it heads south into the deep forest, it could well wind up on my neighbor’s property. I hadn’t really thought about that…till now. 🙂
Thanks for making me think things through,
dave
dave – Definitely could be tricky because you don’t want to get in hot water with your neighbor, especially for someone else’s hunt
Yes, Sir, exactly; if that gentleman does come back to hunt the property this Fall, I will contact the widow who owns the land south of us. It’s a large L-shaped piece of land, and she has a house on the far side of the “L.” Hence, as long as I give her the courtesy of asking ahead of time, I think she will be agreeable to it; but thank you for bringing up this important issue. 🙂
TBB
Agree good points. Growing up on a farm with 2 other farmers that locked my dad’s property and their property. Well both of my buddies dad’s were the other farmers. We all helped each other out on each other’s farms. And we all hunted each other’s land. We all fished on the lake together. So we all basically had a agreement to more or less be on each other’s property and take care of it as if it was our own. All I can say is we had some heck of BBQ’s and fish frys on 4th of July. Good times.
“So we all basically had a agreement to more or less be on each other’s property and take care of it as if it was our own.”
Gunfun1, that’s a good lesson there, looking out for each other…great stuff! 🙂
Dave
That’s how we done it when we was kids.
*thumbs up* 🙂
Dave
🙂
Gunfun1, that’s rare these days but an absolutely awesome situation
TBB
Yes more rare these days. With land available and some do stick together. But I would say from what I have seen over the last 60 years I have been alive that things are fading away. From how it was compared to now.
In closing a well-known golden rule can be applied here, “Treat others the way you want to be treated yourself!”
There was a very funny answer to this rule: “I can’t just walking around and do … to everyone I see” 😀
tomek, ha that’s a new one!
Each side of the fence is owned by the 3rd generation landowners. We are lucky that our neighbors don’t hunt much. We have known each other forever. Never had a problem trailing deer across the fence. Just give them a call and let them know what’s going on. He tells me to shoot em all. We do what we can…..just to help him out.