Poachers

Anyone have any run-ins or problems with poachers on your land? I know people have posted pics of poachers before on here, but this can be a thread devoted to your poacher stories. Let's hear em! I'll start...

Not much of a story but on one of our border fence roads that parallels a road, we found a big bodied buck with its neck cut off. Damn shame. No telling how big he was but there wasn't much we could do to try and find the folks. Never had that problem occur again but one time is too many!

Here's my story for what it's worth. Worst poacher I ever ran across was a paying member of the deerlease I was on south of Sonora. He was always the first to offer to help and ALWAYS demanded that we eat " brunch " at his trailer. I'd give him money ( to buy more food ) as I felt so guilty, he would cook biscuits with white gravy, eggs and bacon and sausage ( a feast ).

He would ask nonchalantly when we were coming back down so he would know how much food to pick up and we'd let him know. Found out later that he was taking his sons and thier friends and shooting the hell outa bucks when we weren't there.

I went unexpectedly one night and somebody I didn't even know was coming out of my trailer zipping up his pants with some little senorita in tow. I got out and was like WTF??? All he kept saying was ( name withheld ) said it was alright, he said you wouldn't mind.

His sons and their friends leased a 6 man pasture close to ours and last I heard they shot MORE than 36 bucks off that pasture the first year. Been a long time ago but I'm still amazed at the gall of some people.

My dad's cuaght some guys on his place.

And?

If he told anymore he would be in prison.


Buddy put his game cam up for the very first time a few years ago. He lives about 2 hours from the lease and we park about 1.5 miles from the gate so you can't tell if we are there or not. Not a few hours after he left it caught some poachers on it. They were just coon hunting apparantly but still, that was quick!

I'm sure this will be controversial, but we caught the landowner on our lease that we were supposed to have exclusive access to. Full-blown hunting a spot we told him we had seen a big buck at.

The funny thing was that we had completely made the story up because he always seemed like he felt bad that we weren't shooting anything, like we weren't getting our money's worth. So we told him we had seen some really nice bucks that we just didn't get shots at.

Friggin' son of a gun goes and hunts the imaginary deer not a day later.

Have had poachers and thieves - new cellular cameras send pics to my cell phone immediately. Sheriff will come a running when I send him pics. I almost caught a guy in the back pasture as he left through the gate on his ATV. There were 5 of us out hunting that day - we all knew where everyone was at - all of a sudden we heard an ATV - well we radioed everybody and they were all in their blinds, so we all got to nearest gate as quick as possible to keep the SumGun on our land = I just missed him and the sheriff was only about 5 minutes away. Never caught him but sure scared the crap out of him. Havent seen him back since. Oh and we buried a nail strip in the high grass by that gate in case he came back. Long 16 penny nails - ha!

Rule #1 of hunting, you NEVER tell anyone you saw deer, especially nice bucks. When I was on a lease with other people, I always told them I spent the morning watching biurds and squirrels because no deer seemed to be moving.

Guess you know that it is illegal to set a "trap" that can injure or kill someone. If poacher, or anyone else, steps on a nail he will be driving your pickup and living in your house.

I know a man whom set a trap and killed a 16 year old boy. He did 10 year in the pen.

I've had more problems in Northeast Texas than anywhere but I did chase a guy that lived just north of our property. We were at the trailer and I saw a 4 wheeler going into the woods on the property next to us. I had permission to hunt the property if I looked out for it, friend of the family owned it. The jacka$$ had a rifle across his lap. I grabbed my pistol and took off after him.

He must of heard my 4 wheeler and ducked into the woods. We played cat and mouse for an hour but I never found him. I would shut my ATV off and listen, his would be off so I'd yell that he was as good as dead if I caught him. I found his stand and feeder, not his anymore. I also found where he came through the fence and made sure he would remember the next trip through the fence.

I actually found someone sitting in my stand. The property is not fenced and politelty asked him to get his a$$ out of my stand. I never saw him again!

Our first lease, we discovered the rancher was day leasing our blinds Mon - Thurs. It was a handshake deal and he said it was his land to do with as he wanted. We got off after the season was over. Our current lease is two locked gates from the nearest pavement. Never had a problem with poachers, but about every three years we get a group of illegals come though and steal food, flashlights, and clothing.

I can't go into too many details but found out buddies place was being poached by the ranch foreman. He lived there and knew when who was going to be there so wasn't too hard to get away with but after years of no big deer thye finally found out why. Kinda sucks when you put all that work into 11K acres and someone behind your back destroys it. And they guy is sitll there but on a very tight leash. He is a heck of a worker but in that part of Texas you are better off keeping your enemies close. lol.

We leased from a family for over 25 years and always had trouble with their hammer headed adopted son. He was nothing but trouble when he wasn't sitting in jail. He was caught cattle rustling, stealing four wheelers, raiding deer camps, and numerous drug convictions.

The old man we actually leased from always made things right and the son spent more time in jail than running loose. We found someone sitting in our stand, caught the son spot lighting, found casings that weren't ours, and all kinds of stuff.

Even with all of that going on the lease was still outstanding and overall good experience. He typically didn't mess with our camp.

I hunt in Louisiana and a couple of years ago we were hunting with dogs and lost one. We found the dog at a neighbors house and the man claimed the dog was his. The man who owned the dog knew it was his so in front of us he told the thief if the dog isn't at my house before dark I will burn your house down. The dog was home before dark. I told our hunter you really bluffed him out. The guy looked at me and said I was going to burn the house down I put a can of gas in my truck bed to get the job done. I never knew if he would do it but the others on the lease swear he would and the thief knew it. I guess Louisiana is a little different than other states. PS he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.

We had a guy that was a friend of a friend that thought that it would be ok to come out to our place when ever he wanted to.
He would leave gut piles in camp etc., we attempted to catch him to no sucess. So, we enlisited the help of a family friend, who is a DPS SGT., He set up out there and eneded up catching this guy at gunpoint until the local GW and SD arrived. Turns out this guy had his brother, who was an out of state hunter (no license), his 15 yr. old son with him, along with 4 wheelers and NICE guns, also when they went to the hotel where they were staying, he had 4 quarterd untagged deer in coolers.
This guy was a convicted felon who took it upon his self to drive 200+ miles to a place he had been 1 time to use as his own personal place...this had gone on for 2 years before this all went down. After it was all said and done this guy and his brother got off wtih a DEAL from Eastland County DA , no jail time for the convicted felon,They just confiscated all vehicles,guns equipment, game, etc., Just fines and probation for a low life who had to be held at gunpoint bt a DPS SGT.,then resisted arrest by thw GW and SD.
This guy had said in his defense that he "Thought it was ok",
even though he had never met the land owner or the relatives??
It is just amazing that this could happen this way given the circumstances of being caught by LEO rehanded so to speak.
We had attempted to catch this guy ourselves, probably a good thihg for him and us that we did not run upon him out there, We would probably be in prison now...GO figure.

Remember this story?

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/11/22_kelleherb_huntershooting/

One thing I have learned from experience and reading on here, don't trust someone because they are super friendly or helpful until you know they are like that in all their activities in life. Seems around the ranch/lease someone might be extra helpful since they have something to hide and just want you out of there.

I've only seen one indication that someone besides me took game at my section of the lease. What ever it was caused a mighty big commotion. There was a large area of grass about 10 feet from the feeder that had been trampled down and there were dozens of turkey vulture feathers on the ground. I imagine that was from the gut pile.

For Pete's sake, at least gut the damn thing somewhere away from my feeder. It stunk for days and I had nothing on the game cam as a result......

My biggest problem is with equipment poachers. Now I've got one broken down game cam out there as a decoy, with another set about 15' in the air up a tree. I hope I catch whoever is helping themselves to my gear.....

Last year on my lease in Nacogdoches we saw a truck parked in front of our main gate at 1am. There were 5 of us there so we "loaded up" and jusmped in my truck and snuck up to him with the headlights off. We were pretty sure he had a buddy on our place hog hunting and was waiting on him to return to the gate. We have had problems with this in the past. The guy was obviously nervous and couln't get his story straight. We let him drive off without his buddy. When he drove off we unloaded about 50 rounds into the ground from various handguns,ak's,7mags etc.....At 1am it echoed for miles and sounded frightingly loud. Anybody poacher on our proerty at the time would have taken a dump where they stood. The gate was the only way out to the road. We have not seem them since.

It was my understanding if your property is posted that wasn't the case.

So if I want to put a board down on the ground that may happen to have a few nails on it.....on my own property I can't do that?

It doesn't matter where you put a board with nails down. If you do it anywhere ON PURPOSE, you can still be charged with negligence I believe. Think of it this way, your own kid is playing at home and you create an unsafe environment by leaving nails sticking up in boards and allowing them to play in the area. It's the same scenario if they are left in an area on a ranch intended to harm someone regardless if no one should be in the area. It could be the GW that gets injured.

I guess I'd just do it on accident then...

Not only that, let your child know where not to play. Don't see why you could get in trouble for doing something like that to your property. If someone gets hurt, they should not have been tresspassing. How does that even make any sense?

Then why do we have insurance then?? There is a reason for everything.

Insurance is for accidents and acts of God not gross negligence and/or intent to harm.

Going to have to agree that setting traps is a really bad idea.

They guy you're trying to teach a lesson is going to end up owning your ranch.

Right but these guys say they just want to throw boards with nails out b/c they want to. Insurance will pay up before wasting tens of thousands from court fees unless the person dies from tenanus. lol. Anyway, it's not a good idea unless you like attorney's.

If I am confronted on my property by a poacher who is armed I can exercise my right to protect myself and shoot him. (from the words of the game warden)

As an underwriter specializing in General liability insurance, I can say that We would fight pretty hard to deny the claim if it was an intentional / malicious act. Regarding the defense costs... Where there is no coverage, there is no duty to defend... You better believe my carriers would file for summary judgement and would get dismissed from the case PDQ.

If I was you and thought I might "accidently" leave lumber laying around with nails in it, I dang sure wouldn't mention it online...

I prefer to leave No.15 Offset Bear Traps laying around.....
you know @ the base of deer stands ect....

Personally, if it were me, and someone felt the need to tresspass MY land, I would not throw down a nail strip. I'd do it differently.

ehh. Im not worried about it. Im real forgetful and have junk all over the place so they can just take it as a friendly reminder.

So I guess an electric fence would fall under the same category? Even if it was posted. So if someone didn't have livestock but put up an electric fence anyway. That's an "intentional" act.

This story seems to have lost a lot of the info that was posted when It happened, from what I remember. The article seems to say the foreigner with no understanding of boundaries just opened up and kill them . I believe it turned out like below where the guys cornered the Asian guy and insulted him because of his race, then while walking away they took shots at the ground, then he gunned them down. If a paocher is caught hold him at gun point if need be and call the GW , not your beer drinking buddies.

Don't do this. Unless you actually want a cellmate...

How could they lock you up for that. The hunter approaches his stand and confrots the poacher. The hunter shoots him, killing him. Hunter calls the local law enforcement. Hunter tell locals that he approached the stand, told the guy to get off the property, the poacher raised his weapon aggressively so hunter shot him. Unless they can get the dead poacher to talk there isn't a DA in Texas who would prosecute this, well maybe around Austin.

Had a place in Haskell that had two many access points we caught people on game cam , found shell casings, car tracks , found trash in our stands that was not there the weekend before it makes it very frustrating to put all the hard work into a place to have crap like this taking place while you aren't there . I also had a place in archer city that was on a deadend road we were the last place except for the land owners house had a wheatfield next to the road a spot lighters dream we had problems in the past with the issue . We had gone into town to eat and one the way back I noticed the tail lenses of a pickup that was parked down the hill pulled into our second gate i flew down the gravel road sliding in my truck right behind the outher vehicle as i noticed someone in the truck thinking they were waiting on ther friend to find the deer that they had shoot i ran up to the truck put a 45 up to the window to realize it was a 16year old boy getting his first bj i you should have seen the look on his face priceless i felt like crap knowing i ruined his night guarantee he wont ever forget that night .

Thats funny!!! You poached the smile off his face!

how did you know that it was his first?

LOL

X2

I don't doubt for a minute that they guy was poaching.....but there is no way one man was able to poach all the good deer off 11,000 acres by himself.....not without a helicopter and a mini-gun.

We all know there are poachers who lurk around this site - and especially in the Photo forum - constantly asking where a buck got shot - trying to narrow down to a county road or landmark. Like "we hunt off FM 1745 near Dodge Cemetery". I wouldn't believe everything you read on here - alot of this dribble is half truths.

Here is some stuff I found about trespassing and liability - looks like ME Lackey is correct - read on
According to the Texas Penal Code, a “No Trespassing Sign” is automatically imparted by fences or other enclosures obviously designed to exclude intruders or to contain livestock.


Judon Fambrough is an attorney and senior lecturer at the Real Estate Center of Texas A&M University. “According to case law, a landowner’s liability, or responsibility, for anyone entering the property depends on the legal classification of the person at the time of the injury,” he said. While state laws differ, most rely on these classifications:

• Invitees, including fee-paying hunters. You must protect them by keeping your property safe and warning them of dangerous conditions that a reasonable inspection would reveal.
• Licensees, including nonpaying hunters with permission. You have a duty to warn them of known dangerous conditions or make the place safe, but no inspection is required.
• Trespassers, including hunters not given permission. You owe trespassers little legal duty.
• Trespassing children unaccompanied by an adult. You have greater responsibility to children.


Landowner’s Liability
to Hunters
A landowner’s liability (or responsibility)
for the safety of anyone entering
the property depends on the legal
classification of the person at the time
of injury. There are four categories: an
invitee, a licensee, a trespasser and
children under the attractive nuisance
doctrine. Theoretically, a hunter could
fit in any one of these.
Fee-paying hunters are classified
as invitees. Landowners have a legal
duty to keep the premises safe for the
invitee’s protection. The landowner
must give the fee-paying hunter adequate
and timely notice of concealed
or latent perils (dangerous conditions)
that are personally known or that a
reasonable inspection would reveal.
Injuries caused by dangerous conditions
that are apparent or that could
be revealed by reasonable inspection
are the landowner’s responsibility, but
comparative negligence may lessen the
liability. (See reprint 893, "Landowner
Liability for Hunters," for a complete
explanation of comparative negligence.)
Nonpaying hunters with permission
to hunt are classified as licensees.
Landowners have a legal duty to warn
licensees of known dangerous conditions
or to make the conditions reasonably
safe. No inspection is required.
Hunters who enter without permission
are classified as trespassers. The
landowner owes them no legal duty.
The law prohibits the landowner from
willfully or wantonly injuring a trespasser
except in self-defense or when
protecting property. The landowner is
liable for gross negligence or for acts
done with malicious intent or in bad
faith.

Like I've posted before, all this Rambo stuff will end up with you in jail and broke. Confront the guy, tell him to stay off your property and call the game warden. And don't blow a hole through him with some jacked up, hand loaded, reload.

Don't disagree with you

I agree with you Huntmaster, some people just dont understand the legal ramifications of a situation like this. Especially those that dont own any land.

an electric fence would be something that is reasonable and customary on a tract of land that could be used to contain livestock. A booby trap is a different thing altogether. A person can generally tell when there is an electric fence, all you have to do is look for the insulator on every post...

The whole concept of negligence is a lot more tricky than yall are making it out to be. First, the property is not "open to the public". If it was, that would be a different deal.

Second, its trespass. If you invited a guest into your home/property who then gets injured because of your negligence..then you are getting closer to clear cut liability.

You notice there is an exception from willfully or wantonly injuring a trespasser while protecting your property or in self defense. You place a trespasser with a firearm on your property... the odds are you will obtain the exception for self defense.

Most of yall are missing the other point to this. What is the goal of placing down a spike strip? To flatten the tires right? "Willfully or wantonly" injuring a trespasser will likely require more than inuring the trespasser's personal property. It would require a clear intent to cause actual injury to the "person", not their tires. If him losing control and rolling his truck down a cliff is a foreseeable consequence of flat tires...that may get a little closer to willful or wanton. So far, I see it more as causing harm to his property.

Placing a nail strip on your road that injures persons committing the crime of trespass making you liable...ehhh..doubtful in Texas.


One thing that I always thought was weird was shooting an animal on your property and it jumping over the fence before dieing. Anyone know who has the legal rights to it? It will surprise you.

There's also a difference between civil and criminal liability. You may not catch a criminal charge, but could still face a civil judgment. I was involved in a lawsuit (as a witness) where the ranchhand from a neighbor's place was illegally crossing the Plaintiff's property and was involved in a crash. My position was that it was the ranchhand's fault because he had no right to be there. The Plaintiff's attorney advised me it was only the events of the crash that determined liability and the fact he was trespassing was a different issue. The same principle should hold true. If you set a booby trap that injures or kills someone, the fact they were trespassing may not matter. I don't think that's fair, but it may be true.

Another issue regarding booby traps is that you only have the right to use deadly force in the defense of your life or the life of someone else. The Castle Doctrine gives you more legal ground in that event, but you still have to be defending someone's life. If your trap injures or kills someone who, for example, hopped your fence to take a leak, you could have a problem.

Texas penal code allows booby traps.

Do you have the specific reference for the booby trap? Chapter? Subchapter?

[/quote] If a paocher is caught hold him at gun point if need be and call the GW , not your beer drinking buddies. [/quote]

My buddies get there quicker

^ true and there aint nothing wrong with reloading (its cheaper & more fun) jmo

ain't nothing wrong with scaring a man if he's on your place and i would hope that if i found a guy with a gun in his hand pointed my direction that if i shoot him i won't go to jail but if i had to shoot him to protect my own life i would take the chance of a criminal law suit because if a man threatens you especially at night you have the right to take lethal action if you have a chl you should know this.

Here is our families story. My family hunts in east texas and for a couple years we could tell that stuff was being messed with around camp. One night in bow season a couple family members heard shooting at the road (less than 100yds away). They grabbed their pistols and went running. Turns out it was a low life neighbor that was poaching. Called the game warden who arrested the guys and confinscated their vehicle guns etc. A week later on opening weekend of gun season the whole lease showed up to 1 cabin burnt and smoldering 2 travel trailers burnt and smoldering and 1 outbuiling burnt.

Luckily my family was smarter than most and set up 5 infared game cams around the place and guess who showed up. Last we heard they were in prison for a while.

glad ya'll caught em hope they are in there a long while

Karma is a mother.

I was 18 and hunting in Coryell co , with the family . We stared to see 243 caseings in all of our stands . Well none of us had a 243 so i told my dad i was gonna go in the middle of the week . Got up drove to the lease . Parked the truck behind the cabin and kinda sneeked throught the broom weeds in the dark . About 100 yrds from my stand i layed down in the grass , All of a sudden here comes a flash light . Knowing that everyone in my family was gonna be working ( i called everyone ) i just sat there . Right when you could see i was watchen him through my binoks. All of a sudden here walks a nice buck from behind my stand , This guy freezes as the buck walks right past him i see him reach down . Then here comes the gun out the window . Right about then i let a 308 round through the top of my blind . This is were to me it got funny . The dude broke my door off the hing'es running to the fence about 75 yrs to the road . I 'M sorry but i was laughing my [censored] off . The owner of the next place over drove up to the fence and asked what happened and i told him . Seems like the same guy was doing his place also . But after that morning we never had a problem .