And this is why I hate going to east tx.... that and there lakes suck for fishing.

Yes I was a member of several central TX leases over a 30 year period and the problems were just the same at several of those places. It's the people in the area,not the geographical area itself that matters....

A good set of game cameras,some strongly worded signs, and a good relationship with local law enforcement are keys to getting a handle on this stuff.

Another good tip is to fairly regularly show up at off times(during the week,late nights,etc.). This helps keep them off balance.

Good Luck!!

Just curious--
how did the land go from public to private ?

I have a business in Rusk, been in east texas since '82. there are a lot of folks that think all the river bottom is state owned. They have hunted and fished there for generations. You should have heard them howl when the Type II permits were introduced.

Any lease that borders the river will be tough to police.

You will probably have to catch , hold , and prosecute someone
to get any respect. Prosecute a few people , the word will
get around to stay off your property.

good luck

Mo

thanks for not putting us all in the fire, i am from cass county in the north east coner of texas, me and severeal more locals that work at the US .STEEL plant in lone star have had a lease for years , and even with us being local we have trouble from time to time with poachers and stands and camera theft, thats a good idea on dummy camera as bait, i also went to puting all my stands well off the beaten path, seems our outlaws are lazy like things they can drive up to and load, our trouble comes and goses last few years its died down thank god, its hard to walk off from a two hundred fifty dollar cuddeback sometimes. also we have some local homes in the area and they think the land is thiers one old man we suspect is main outlaw has all kinds of mounts and never had a leases or own land has only few acrer homestead , one thing seemed to help is we made a deal with a few nice couple in the area that do not hunt but have and ride horses we let them in the off season ride on our trails we asked they cheak our camp as some of us may be hog hunting, that with all the active seem to slow things down,

MO... A lot of land used as public (type 2 usually) was actually leased by the gov for public use.. They started lowballing and LOs marketed it in the private sector.

yeh MO is right anything by a river that is boat accessable will be hard . will have to catch and convict a few to slow it all down

Small signs that read...

East Texas Agkistrodon Piscivorus Habitat
Use EXTREME CAUTION when entering area
All variants of water moccasin, swamp moccasin or black moccasin; also cottonmouth, gapper, or simply viper are included in habitat

i thought if you had no trespassing signs up it is a felony. just what i have heard. and isn't if the river is a state river os something like that(not a creek) it is legal to be on the river if you don't trespass to get to it. its like the ditch, the state owns the ditch and same with rivers they own it and maybe like a few feet on the bank. just what i have heard but not positive.

Any creek, river, stream over 33 feet wide with or without water is considered state property.

I believe it has to be considerd a'navigable waterway'.Not many creeks in Texas are as wide as 33'..Dont get in trouble Tresspassing.

Good Luck, I think the Game Warden is the best solution. That is a rough area for that type of problem

Any good stories?

yep... Most not that great though. Most of the problems come from misguided kids that don't realize the costs associated with screwing up.

Love to see proof of this statement.

Texas water navigation by fact or statue:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications...igability.phtml

lawful activities:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications...ctivities.phtml

X2 on rough area,some of those folks on the Neches would just as soon drag your body into the swamp and feed you to the 'gators.This is true,no kidding.

I think I found a photo of your suspects.

Suspects

I could not resist. They seem like a happy couple of guys.

If anyone knows how to post this on here instead of a link, please do.

CALL THE GAME WARDEN OK CALL THE SHERIFF DEPT.
we had 2 on a 4-wheeler on camera ,didn't matter
we have gone thru the same problem the last couple years.Me and the property owner are the only one's suppose to be hunting it

Welcome To East Texas Hunting

call the law

String some piano wire up and it will stop some ATV traffic.

The only thing about piano wire is their head might pop-off,I hate it when that happens.

I grew up there and whatever they're saying probably doesn't even come close to truth about hunting there. I could take the poaching, you're never going to stop it. Many of the people there feel perfectly entitled to hunt anywhere they please. The local LEO's aren't going to stop it either but chances are it might involve a buddy or a relative. The attitude and the thinking is that since I live here, I really do have the right to hunt here and besides the landowner doesn't own the wildlife anyway. If you think you're going to catch them, you're probably not, some of the very "best" if you want to use that word are generational. What got me was the theft. A lot of them would steal because they could. You couldn't leave anything out there and that mean anything. Something as simple as a 5 gallon gas can would be considered fair game.

Ya need a dummy camera with an explodeing dye pack like the bank's use.

But they don't make them and if they did you probably wouldn't be able to use it. East Tex will never change till the attitudes and the culture changes and I don't think it ever will. The theft might but the attitudes toward poaching probably won't. You have to remember that dog hunting was huge just a few years ago and dogs can't read signs.

I agree with the game trail cameras. You have a picture of the intruder and this can be turned over to the local game warden. Last year we had a major problem with trespassing, we contacted the local Game Warden and they went to work. I never had much experiences with Game Wardens but these guys were amazing. The only thing I didn't like, they will scare the hell out of ya. We hunt pretty close to the Mexico border and they will show up at the camp house at all times. Give it a try and you might be impressed. I have a couple new hunting buddies out of it.