Hunting the fence?

Does this qualify as a fence line hunter? Why or why not? Would this bother you if it was neighboring your property?

No it would not bother me since it is his land and his right to hunt it how he wants to. It would bother me more if he was facing his blind and feeder at my land or if I had a road down the fence.

X2

If you don't like it HF it. Otherwise not much you can do.

That would not bother me at all no road going down the fence plus deer jump from his place to yours as well. Just get along and work with them could be good for both of you.

I personally wouldn't do it... But, I wouldn't be offended if someone else did.

I guess it came across that I'm upset about this. I was just seeing what others thought. I showed these photos to a friend and he thought I'm way too nice. My biggest is concern is keeping honest. If there's a monster on the fence but on my side, will the hunter have the integrity to do what's right? There's already remains from two deer within 50 yards of the feeder. I found the head of one but not the other. This is goat country, top wires close together of a 10 strand fence, lots of deer hung in fence, so the deer remains don't concern me much.

The stand is located in about the dead center of this photo.

One thing for sure is when he shoots a deer that don't drop in its tracks we know where it is most likely going to run. But that works both ways.

If it were my neighbor, I would have to say that it is his property, and thus entirely his choice as to how he makes use of it. Much the same as it is entirely your choice to let brush grow right up to and/or through the fence on your side of that fence.

If the probable line of fire intersected my property line, I would have an issue. That does not appear to be the case based on the photo.

IMO your native habitat is being taken advantage of... You don't have a relationship where you can call and talk to your neighbor already? If not now is the time to get that relationship going. Explain your herd management intentions and if y'all don't agree you may have to high fence or just bend over and deal with it....

This is true. In most cases, a deer is going to attempt to seek safety in the cover from which it came.

Cover is one of the basic requirements of good deer habitat, and it's obvious that you have it while your neighbor doesn't. But with deer being the cash crop that's in relative high demand, there's no shortage of those willing to lease open pasture with the explicit intent of hunting fences of neighboring properties with good deer habitat.

Your only recourse is to inform your neighbors that it would be illegal for anyone, including a game warden, to retrieve any game or non-game animal that crosses the fence after being shot without landowner permission. It becomes your property, clear and simple. Just as your neighbor has the right to hunt near the fence, you have the right to keep anything that falls on your side.

If you have no interest in working out an agreement with your neighbors, I would suggest adding several posted signs.

Such things brings into question the ethics of those who will hunt a stand and feeder with such a high likelihood that breaking the law will be required to retrieve a deer.

Wouldn't bother me. I could drive my fence lines and take similar pictures of at least 6 blinds just like that.

No because I would out feed him, I will Feed enough to hold all of his Deer

That's a picture of what drives most high fences up.

It's extremely poor form for a neighbor to put a feeder on your fence like that. But perfectly legal.

Pretty funny that folks think they can keep deer on their side by feeding more. Sooner or later that doe in heat is gonna cross that fence and visit that feeder, possibly dragging the 4 year old mainframe 12 you've been passing with her.

It makes it worse IMO when they have cut all their cover down and are overtly attempting to draw the deer you saved your cover to hold, over to their barren land to shoot.

There's really no reason to pull a stunt like that. Says a lot about your neighbor. And not a lot good.

There's still grass under his feeder. Not the case on my side of the fence.

legal but unethical IMO

I like how on a lot of threads people tell you just put up a high fence like its not a big deal and shouldn't cost nothing !!

What that guy is doing is 100% okay. If it looked productive, I would clear a bit on your side of the fence and hunt the deer that are coming and going to the feeder on your side of the fence. He is close enough that you can take advantage of his feeder.



Hunt smarter, not harder.

I'd be pissed, especially since his land offers nothing to the hunt, it looks like it's just a field. That being said we have the same situation going on at the place I hunt. We talked about hanging CD's from trees and a radio, or spreading human hair down the fence line but just never acted on it. It's like farting next to an old woman at church, yes it's completely legal, we all know that, but you would hope that everyone has integrity enough not to do it.

This kind of stuff bothers me, especially when he's got 5 more buddies hunting the same 100 acres with him and 90 of it is a coastal field.

If my neighbor has good habitat on his/her side of the fence, I would gladly drag their harvest back to the fence for them should it cross onto my lease. But not in this case.

The question was would this bother you and I am surprised at the comments saying it would not bother me. I will have to say in this case it would bother me. Still not much you can do but talk to landowner and hunter if it bothers you.

wouldn't bother me at all if the biggest buck in the county jumped that fence and he was lucky enough to be in that blind and get a shot at him I would be happy for him, looks like the land owner spent a lot of time clearing brush of his land so now he is hunting the only brush he's close to, looks like a good plan to me no laws broke!

Wouldn't bother me, I would look at it as having a free feeder to hunt near.

That is terrible. I have the same situation on my place. Wide open on the neighbors with feeders just off the fence. These guys even run their road feeder down to our fence and along our fence.

Zero deer live on their place they just hope something jumps over. Twice this year I have heard them shoot and evidentially whatever they shot jumped back over on our place. They even stand on the fence and were shining their flashlights onto our side trying to see if they could spot the animal.

Looks like a good setup to me. He can see down that long fence line. And those that say he has nothing to offer deer with his open field, well if that was true, no deer would cross the fence in the first place. He isnt shooting across the property line. I guess if a big buck crosses his property from the far side and goes onto yours, you wouldnt shoot it?

I swear, by some of the comments on here makes me think these guys want HOA type rules to cover what you can do on your own land.

blue square with ? mark. have seen in other threads were people complaining bout how some one sets up stand.

same ol, same ol. last lease was on, lease next to us poured corn on road 2 yards from fence & sat bout 40yrds away, watching fence line. didnt bother us. even toldem if wounded deer jumps across ta our side, would help. walked the fence line ta go check on sons stand. it was bout 100 yrds out from fence & past. he took deer every year. had foodplot along trail crossing & corn feeder. had two does & a huge buck jump same fence line, onto their property. it in different thread. best wishes

This question is for the hunters that this wouldn't bother, if you were hunting the stand in the field, would you be bothered if TxAggie10 set up a stand 20 yards to the left of the feeder...say 3 feet on his side of the fence and shoot the deer that are walking to the feeder that you have been supplying? I'm just wondering if there is any unwritten common courtesy in today's world or if most hunters go by "as long as its legal" who cares about courtesy. I guess this must be a flat bill era thing... My grandpa would hop out of his grave and slap the s#$% out of me if I did this to anyone.

This would bother me. It is not safe. Anyone ever seen a bullet ricochet after hitting a deer? The line from his stand to his feeder needs to be pointing back into his place.

X2

what ever happened to this law...I sure wish it would've passed

http://www.[censored]/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23

if we are going to allow unsafe hunting practices, why would we even make people take hunters safety...it's hypocritical, IMO

I can't link that forum, it's against the rules but google "Hunting Fence Lines in Jeopardy", it's a very good read

The reason for so many high fences.

Looks like a safe line of sight stand to feeder so the shot is not crossing the fence. Would not like it, but i would not be that upset. What i would and have done is put a tripod or other stand 100 to 200 yards inside from the fence in my cover across from the feeder. Out of line of sight from the stand and feeder if possible so you and any deer around you are not constantly glassed from the neighbor's stand. Older experienced deer hitting the open ground feeder will stage in the thick cover before hitting the feeder after dark. That is where you want to be and I would not place my own feeder. Make lemonade out of the situation. It could end up being the best stand on your place.

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest. His feeder is angled away from the fenceline and from what I can see, there is brush on his side of the on beyond the blind. We also don't know what the brush is like left of the blind, in the distance or right of the feeder. This is commonplace and has been since people were hunting out of deerblinds and feeders. Don't you think you are also getting deer crossing through his pasture out of the brush on his side too? Perfectly legal and not unethical as I see it.

Huh? Looks like he is shooting back towards his land to me. And no I have never seen a bullet ricochet after hitting a deer.

I have it so bad on two sides of my ranch it is almost comical. except that their feeders are only about 5 foot from my fence and their shots are directly at our property. Twice we have pictures of their "tracking dogs" on our place. They have been warned by the GW now twice and we have 10 cameras along the fence lines. Now they are erasing the SD cards. We will catch them as I work for a trail cam company and can put out as many as I need to.

Maybe naive of me but regarding fenceline infractions, I assume innocence until I have hard evidence of an actual infraction. At that point, my perspective changes quite a bit; until then I don't sweat it.

Looks like nothing some early morning dozer work can't fix.

It is at a VERY slight angle. I have seen bullets take much greater angles after hitting a deer. Of course a bullet isn't gonna go 90 degrees, but it may go 10 or 15 degrees, putting it over the fence and right down that road.

Meh just hunt hard and good luck to you both

Hope you don't have a blind within eyesight on your side of the fence.

Our neighbor to our east, who sells hunts, built a blind right on the fence between our properties a couple of years ago. We've had a blind in place a couple of hundred yards from the fence for eight years.

My son and I decided to hunt our blind one morning. We were both glassing with binocs around when my son said "Would you look at this idiot?", pointing at the blind on the fenceline.

Here is a bonehead, in the fence blind, looking at us through the scope on his rifle.

After the second time it happened, I got down, walked over, and had a little chat with him. Basically, I told him if he pointed his rifle at us again I was going to drag him out of the stand and I wouldn't be in a talking mood.

I talked to the neighbor's ranch manager a few days later. He couldn't apologize enough. He, then, told me his customer complained to him that I had ruined his hunt. He also told me that he would put signs in each of his blinds warning of looking through rifle scopes at other hunters.

"Some people you have to tell them to sweep the floor. Others, you have to tell them to GET THE BROOM and sweep the floor."

Stones1950

It's bother me so bad if sell and move across the state.

I've dealt with this issue, and worse, so many times in the last 30 years I can't even begin to count. As previously stated by several, your best course of action is to put a stand on your side, facing into your property, with no windows facing them. I have done this before, and usually the 'offending' feeder/blind disappear soon afterwards. It also makes me chuckle thinking of the reaction these hunters have the first time they see my new setup. I have no doubt I get a thorough cussing.

Wouldn't bother me unless the stand was facing the fence line!!!

what about just plain old common sense and respect for your neighbors? Equivalent to letting your dog bark all night next to your neighbors bedroom window or having a bright light shine all night into a neighbors house - I was taught growing up to treat others like you would want to be treated. For me that still goes - wouldn't dream of putting my stand and feeder on my neighbors fence line.

YEP! But then again, nobody wants HOA rules because they don't want to be told what they can do on their own land. They just want to make sure their neighbors can't do what they don't approve of them doing.



Ever notice when people complain most about a lack of common sense in when the common sense of another doesn't agree with what the speaker doesn't think is right?

"Common sense" is information or understandings held in common. Based on the discussion of this thread, the "correct" placement of that stand and feeder is not commonly held.

It's not a common sense issue, it's a safety and integrity issue, very different. I wish it was common sense, but I think that term is a myth these days, "common sense" waved bye bye to this world a long time ago...

With an open "field/goat grazing area" with that kind of cover surrounding it I object to that set-up. They should remove the feeder & plant it all in wheat to lure in the does & bucks that perceive feeders & feeder pens as a death trap.

Just think of the possibilities if he planted that open field with winter wheat

Just think of the thread that the guy who planted the wheat would post on THF about his neighbor across the fence hunting his wheat and deer on it.

This.

His land, not shooting into the neighboring property - there is nothing to complain about here.

Yeah id have that entire pasture as a plot!

I bet your grandfather also didn't act like he owned the deer simply because he put a feeder up on his land. I also bet he had the attitude of "his land, his rules" and not "it's MY fenceline and he can't do what I don't approve of on HIS SIDE of that fenceline".

It works both ways with the "common courtesy" and "ethics" thing.

IDK but whatever you do - do not google blowdart + deer + testical.

I disagree - the reason for so many high fences lies mostly with those high fencing and the prevailing attitude that if you feed deer, they are somehow your deer and you are somehow guaranteed a return on your investment.

If more people would talk to each other and not have the attitude that you own wild game, or that horns are the end all of all things deer hunting, high fences would not be as much of an hot button topic as they are today.

That won't eliminate the d-bags that day hunt on 20 acres and leach off of their neighbor's larger place, but it would reduce the attitude of "welp, just high fence it" that is unfortunately so common.

This is exactly what I thought soon as I saw the pic

It was my grandfather who taught me to treat neighbors with respect and like I would want to be treated. There are many things that are "legal" but still simply not the right thing to do to another person. Common respect and courtesy is a pretty hard thing to argue with but I am sure you will

Is this your stand???

The reason we have laws is because people can't agree on what is supposedly common sense, integrity, courtesy, or what have you.

As for things being better in the good old days with grandfathers and such, those old farts got mad at their neighbors as well, complained that they did things wrong, etc. Invoking nostalgia for the good old days is just ice cream served over a helping of small pox.

Common respect and courtesy is, like anything else - highly subjective.

I respect property rights and think that the guy that owns the land on the other side of the fence has a right to do what he wants within the confines of his property boundaries, especially if said activities does not endanger you or encroach on your private property rights.

Setting a stand and feeder up to take advantage of the terrain on his side of the fence line, while it may be annoying to you, is not disrespectful or discourteous in of itself. Especially if he's shooting away from your fence. Now if you went and politely talked to him about it, expressing your concerns on safety, etc. and he told you to stick it where the sun doesn't shine, then you'd have an argument on disrespectful behavior. But the OP has made no mention of that aspect.

What I find interesting is the idea that you should be able to dictate to your neighbor how, how much, when and what for they can use their own property.

How about this scenario - instead of a feeder, the neighbor plants the field in alfalfa and winter wheat and in doing so the deer are not nearly as interested in your feeder and therefore spend more time on his side of the fence instead of eating your sweet corn at your feeder? Would he be the d-bag you want him to be in that scenario?

Nope, I don't have a dog in the fight. I just get tired of the attitude that many seem to have with respect as to what they think their neighbors should be able to do on their side of the fence line.

It generally seems to get lost in the bitching and moaning that a fence line has 2 owners and not just one, and I'm a huge believer in not having my neighbor be able to dictate what I can and cannot do on my own land (hypothetically speaking, because I unfortunately don't own any land).

Figures - you are arguing his right to do it - I am arguing that I would not do it out of respect for my neighbor - big difference. Again a person has a "right" to do a lot of things but it doesn't make it the right thing to do. It is amazing to have to argue with someone about being respectful of other people and being thoughtful of others -

So you're THAT guy?

I'm that guy. No feeder, just a plot and about 500# of corn scattered across it when I planned to hunt....with a stand looking like an air traffic control tower where I could shoot it all.

rifleman?

"My grandpa wouldn't do it", a feel good statement that doesn't hold water, your bucket is full of holes. The same crap went on years ago, as far back as you want to research. You can go to any county in Texas and look up legal property disputes and find where grandpas were arguing with neighbors as long as records have been kept. You can then add thousands of situations that never went to court to be settled.

An example, I remember one dispute over weeds growing on the fence line, one was pissed at the other because he let the weeds grow on his since of the fence.

That works!

You should be able air a few shots out from that one

As long as there were no Goats, Turkeys or Coons I would be okay with all of that set up..

Who the hell said "my grandpa wouldn't do it?" I said my grandfather taught me to respect others - but you are right. Screw your neighbor -

Oh my, I want one.

There is one in Huntsville!

Think its on Hwy 75

Yep there is one.

Whatchu doing around Huntsville? Prison?

Not tempting fate by driving through Huntsville...

Its pretty serious.. you can see it standing over the pine trees for miles before you even get close

Darn I forgot my bullets, I'm going to have to go back down to the truck and grab them...ouch! Or worse, TP after a few coffees, would be a hell of a climb down with one knocking at the door.

If the terrain looked the same on both sides of the fence, would the guy still have put his stand and feeder there? That's my biggest problem with it, he wouldn't. He knows because he's got a wide open pasture with no cover he has to put his setup as close to his neighbors as he can. If you want to deer hunt your neighbors fence line because you have no deer population because of the decisions you made by clearing your place out and putting in a coastal field that won't support deer... That's bs. Hunt the carrying capacity of your land. That means quit cramming 12 hunters into a 400 acre pasture that has a deer density of 1 to 20 acres.

You make a lot of assumptions. Maybe it's someone poor guys lease and its all he could afford. H may not be the one that cleared it t all, he's just working with what's he's got.

I am a HUGE believer in individual landowner rights. You do as you please on your land and I'll do the same on mine. I'm about the only landowner that deer hunts. Some of my 5 to 10 acre neighbors with land adjoining mine are anti hunting and choose to start target practicing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons. Irritating? Yep. Rude? Of course. I have heard that there are laws involving hunter harassment. But I'm not going to try to tell them what to do.

I've considered retaliating by starting shooting somewhere around 5 in the morning when the season ends but that's just not my style.

I agree. Legal? Yes. Unethical? Yes. Our neighbors don't pull stunts like this and neither do we. Poor form is right. Of course your neighbor has no cover at all. Not your fault.

I read through most of the post in this thread and many say that fella doesn't have any cover? how do you know with that one photo?? I wouldn't like that set up and bet you would get very little out of speaking to that hunter, BTW it does appear that that hunter has at least angled the feeder away from the lateral fence line and not directly towards your property.

It may be worth getting to know them in any event, just so y'all can size up each other. Could be a guy that only hunts once or twice with his kid IDK, but a bunch of assumptions being made with only 1 photo

Naahhh.... it is just a knee jerk reaction to someone hunting their deer. No one wants their deer shot unless they shoot them.

Then they need to "Tag", "their" deer!!

That would be so much easier..think about it. If every wild game animal had a tag on it then no need for guides or outfitters. You self guide yourself. You purchase or draw a permit and it will have a tag(s) number on it for your species. You pay the same set fee per animal as everyone else. They tell you what you can shoot and when. They tell you where it is and you have to hunt it. You can hunt it anywhere it lives on private or public. No need for game laws, GW's, state DNR or wildlife dept. You will be told what you can kill and when. Now serving...... It would be kinda like the Ickey Woods commercials...#44...get you some cold cuts...get you some cold cuts...

There are laws that protect hunters from harassment, however target shooting will probably never qualify for this.

People lease land like that in the photo. I have seen ads that ended up being a feeder and blind in a pasture.

Deer like pasture just as much as cover. Here pretty soon when there are no more acorns browse in the woods will be limited and the burclover and volunteer rye along with other browse will be heavy in the pastures... nothing wrong with leasing a place like that and hunting it.. especially if your feeding heavy.

You are completely missing the point of the argument because you can't see beyond what you think the neighbor should do on their side of the fence.

You wouldn't do it? That's fine - and your choice. But simply because somebody makes a different choice than what you personally would do doesn't equate them to being disrespectful - that is simply how you are choosing to view it because it's different than the choice you make.

There are a whole lot of unknowns based on one single picture.

You're kidding, right?

hopefully so!

I don't go near the cover on my lease, that's theirs, I hunt nothing but open crp and wheat fields. See several sometimes 30+ a sit.

Nope.

Its a balance. They need cover but pasture also plays a big role.. the edge line more than anything

If I was the guy that people are complaining about I would have set the feeder farther into the open area. Actually I would have set 3 feeders in that large open area. With the blind near the fence line as it currently is. Facing the open field from the blind one feeder off to the left at 45 degrees at a 100 yards, one to the right at 45 degrees at a 100 yards. The last feeder straight down the middle at 100 yards.

The above basically describes what one of our neighbors set is. The field/pasture was a grain field but the new owners don't farm it, so they have let grow up in weeds and what ever voluntarily grows in the field. We have cover as does the landowner to the south of them.

They never shoot anything, they are too lazy to walk to the blind, they park their pickup or a 4 wheeler next to the blind to alert everything and everybody that they are there for the weekend. They feed "my" deer year around and feed them protein. We start my feeders in September or October and keep most of the deer in the cover of our pasture. Our neighbor to the south of them does the same thing. You got to love neighbors like this.

That looks like it's all edge line as short as the cover is.

back in the day 100 yds off the fence was the rule of thumb..not so much these days..

Back in my day my favorite blind was on the fence line with an adjoining neighbor at a cross fence of ours. Perfect spot with three lanes to watch from the fork of my tree.

Ill agree with navs comment.. I see it every time I go to our lease... If the 200 acres one side probably bout 70-80 acres is pretty open.. Has a few small cedars here and there but that's it... We always see deer out there and they are just hanging out, eating,..etc.. So yes I agree deer can like open areas as much as cover

I will say this to the op.. I don't like the setup that your neighbor has.. I'm sorry you are dealing with it.. I've got a neighbor that has a feeder bout 40 yards off our fence at most and his blind faces the feeder so that means it faces our fence!.. When he shoots there is a pretty good chance the bullet may cross over... My brother actually had to move his hunting area from away from there after having setup a blind the year before... The new neighbor rudley setup his setup like I described.. Our side and his side are the same cover and terrain so I'm not sure why he feels he needed to do this... Pisses us off!!..

Had this happen a few years ago with blind about 10 yards from our fence line. Their lease had been pretty well cleared of brush with oak trees left. They had a feeder about 40 yards from fence 100 yards from their blind. I just parked my truck on road next to fence 40 yards from feeder. They moved feeder and blind to other side of their lease. Our pasture is thick and good bedding area. What chapped my back side was they had windows facing our land. I sure some nimrod that didn't know any better.

I'd say it depends....if basically all his property is pasture and he is setting up stands all along the fence line and leasing it out to hunters then yes it would bother me...or if the guy only owns 50 acres of pasture and sets this up and proceeds to take five deer from the stand, two nice bucks etc...then yep it would bother me but it the guy was hunting it himself and only taking a buck and maybe a doe then nope it wouldn't bother me.