I had to arm myself last night to confront a trespasser.

[Wcross]

I have lived in this home for 5 years now, a small house on 15 acres in a rural area. The closest neighbor is a little over 1/2 mile down the road. I have a locked gate up at the road and a prominent "no trespassing" sign at the road. Also I have the perimeter posted and a barbed wire fence that "was" in good shape. I NEVER have unexpected visitors. I have NEVER had a stranger come to my front door.
So, I am sitting in my easy chair watching television after working my 12 hour shift on Sunday. I hear an ATV and thought they were in the hayfield next door. But I figured it wasn't anything to worry about as it isn't my property. Then a knock on the door and my dogs go nuts, I inquire who is there and looked out the window. The individual would not answer and would not move into my line of sight. They then proceed to ride off into my back field. I broke out my shotgun & a handgun, got my spotlight out and found some cover behind the well house. They come riding back up my field and when they got within 25 yards of the house I lit them up with the light. They saw me and killed the engines, approached with their hands out (must have seen the shotgun). They explained they had shot a deer while bow hunting and it had ran. They were both somewhat intoxicated but very apologetic. I explained that I understood the need to find the deer (so it didn't die slow) but also explained that it is unwise to trespass at night on my property. I also said that it wasn't too cool not to answer when I called out the door to see who it was. They claimed that there was a break in the fence up by the road but I suspect they cut the fence. I told them I would take a look for the deer in the morning but would appreciate it if they left. I took a ride around and didn't see anything except the "break in the fence". It won't take much to fix it but in hindsight I should have called the sheriff on them for trespassing. My phone number is clearly posted on all the signs, they could have called and asked permission which I would have gladly given. Heck, I would have even brought out my hounds to help look for the deer.

[Rambis]

1. Not cool!

especially if he ends up drunk and shooting his buddy on your land then all hell can break loose.
If he cuts a fence turn the SOB in next time. WTF is wrong with some people.

[Locrian]

2. sounds like you handled it cool

Man I hate drunk stupid hunters. Nothing wrong with being just ONE of them at a time (drunk, stupid, hunter) but dont mix and match em.

[flvegan]

3. You handled that with a very cool head.

Well done.

[Sequoia]

4. What sort of hounds do you have?

I have some friends who live in an upscale rural area and one night I was there helping them lock up but they told me to not bother with it because no one comes there anyway. They don't even put curtains and shades on the windows, not even the bathroom which freaks me out at night. Call me paranoid but I like my windows covered at night and my doors locked.

[Wcross]

5. Here are my hounds......

I also have their Pop.


I only need them to give me a heads up with their barking and then I can take it from there. They are really good at tracking down wild animals though, especially if there is a blood trail. They were inside last night with me because I had worked all day and they wanted to hang out with me. My door wasn't locked either. Funny thing is I don't have any shade on the bathroom window either, nobody can see the bathroom from any neighboring property.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. I just want to smooch those sweet little faces...

I'm sure if you were threatened they wouldn't be so sweet, but they are so cute.
Duckie

[Wcross]

8. They are all bark.

The long haired one (Curly) runs and hides if he sees any stranger. My parents visited one time and asked where he was. He was hiding under the bed and when I carried him out to see them he hid his face in my shoulder and couldn't even look at them. He's a bit shy I suppose:)

[Sequoia]

7. Oh, what beautiful dogs.

You must be a guy not to worry about curtains. I watch too many B rated movies with mean guys looking in windows at night. Take care.

[Mugu]

9. If they were to cut my fence, I would be most upset.

The shotgun is an excellent tool to avoid/curtail most problems.

Regards, Mugu

Edited to add: I agree with you about the doggies. I only want them to alert me to the possibility of trouble, I wouldn't want to risk them getting hurt.

[Wcross]

10. Yes, it is upsetting.

I just wanted them to scoot so I didn't try to get Id's or anything. I might talk to the owner of the farm next door and see if he had given anyone permission to hunt. If so I will inform him of the fence cutting habits of his guests.
You are right about a shotgun, it gets peoples attention. I do have an M1a rifle but as it was night I felt better with my Benelli shotgun.

[davsand]

11. Shotguns are excellent defensive weapons.

Seems like no matter how rattled you might get, with a shotgun you still stand a pretty good chance of hitting what you need to...

(Not that you ever want to need one.)



I have to say I grew up hunting and I have a very big issue with assholes that trespass to do it. While I understand not wanting an animal to suffer, I have ZERO understanding for anybody coming up to your FRONT door in the night and acting like they did. Not to put too fine a point on it, but did they really think a wounded deer was gonna get on your property with it fenced off with barbed wire and gated? That story reeks. They were either drunk and hunting without permission or else up to no good. In either case it is a bad scenario.

I dunno if you got names or not, but I think it might be worth a call to the sheriff just to let them know in case anything else has happened in yoru area.


Regards!


Laura

[China_cat]

12. I don't know how it is where you are

but anyone saying they were hunting at night is either outright lying or they were poaching...in which case they wouldn't have been doing it with bows. If they had shot a deer earlier in the day and were tracking it, they would have had to give up by dark. You can't track even a blood trail without dogs in the dark. Hell, you can't even keep track of marked trails in the dark.

Even if you didn't get ID, you need to report this. You really need to report this.

[TX-RAT]

13. You can't track even a blood trail without dogs in the dark.

I've tracked many deer in the dark, not that difficult. It's not uncommon for bow hunters to have to track in the dark. Most usually let the deer lay down for about an hour, before searching for it. Do it to soon and you can end up with a deer traveling allot farther than necessary.

[China_cat]

16. The hills where I grew up made that an impossibility unless you wanted

to end up seriously hurt. It is still illegal to hunt after sundown every place I've ever lived and 2 guys on an ATV, after dark and cutting a fence say poachers to me, not trackers. And poachers can be dangerous.

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

14. Did they give a reason for not answering

when you asked who was at the door?

[Wcross]

15. No, they didn't explain that to me.

I suspect they heard the dogs (all five) and took off. They may be small but they have pretty loud barks.

[qdemn7]

17. You handled it well.

I certainly wouldn't have gone out at night with a couple of drunks to look for their deer. They might have had something else in mind.

[Wcross]

18. You have a good point.

I would have helped if they had asked ahead of time. Drunk or not I didn't see any long guns on them. I figure it would have been ok if I drove my truck out there and they rode their atv's.