Picture of Deer Feeder on my property, June 2009.This deer feeder was placed by a trespasser on my property. The deer feeder is a improvised device that dispenses feed and sets a pattern of movement by deer that attracts them. In itself, it is not illegal. However, it demonstrates the extent of intrusion onto our property by unknown persons and their expectations to return later when they can take advantage of predictable patterns of movement.
There are many important issues that arise with this situation, among them, damage to property, security of personal property on site, owner safety, owner liability, and breaking NC Wildlife laws. Current NC law requires written permission from a property owner. The property owner assumes responsibility for the individual they have invited to hunt on their land and can theoretically be held accountable for any misdeeds or injuries. Because property boundaries are not clearly marked in a publicly visible manner, a permission by a land owner at RB is essentially a permission to the entire property. If a written permission is presented to an owner or wildlife agent, as required by law, it is generally not verifiable on site.
For information on NC Wildlife laws, go to NCWildlife.org. To discuss specific issues or events consider calling the wildlife officer assigned to that general area:
Bryan Scruggs, Master Wildlife Officer, 776-1028
We may need to plan carefully for this year's hunting season to avoid a repeat of last year's experience. Please wear safety colored clothing when hiking at Riverbend during the high risk season. Before granting permission to a hunter, please consider the impact on other property owners.
NC Eastern Deer Season-2009
Bow and Arrow: Sept. 13 – Oct. 10
Muzzleloading: Oct. 11 – 17
Gun: Oct. 18 – Jan. 1
DG
Should we post no tresspassing signs??
ReplyDeleteWe have many posted - no trespassing signs up now. I have posted several and others have put up posted signs. These generally are ineffective in keeping people out, but they reduce our liability if someone is injured on our property. The posting is a non rebuttable statement that they should not have been there.
ReplyDeletedg
We met a couple of young men last weekend that said they had leased Dave's land at the river bend. They were scouting the area on 4 wheelers and had a bag full of deer corn.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sharon for posting. The timing of deer hunters is to place feeders during the summer and early fall to establish predictable patterns of movement of deer. They then return during the season to take advantage of these patterns. I suspect that we are "in for" another season of deer hunters. It is very unlikely that Dave has leased his property to hunters. The two young men may be the same that I have encountered there in the past. They always have a convenient story. Sharon if you will email me directly, I would like to discuss this with you. Thanks. DG
ReplyDeleteDon't know if deer hunters are necessarily the problem, but there's a certain element of maliciousness to events on my property at least. I've had a canoe lifted, trees cut along the back end of my roadway, and last spring/early summer found that someone had turned out equipment I'd had in waterproof storage at my campsite. Had to toss most of it.The behavior is similar to what one might expect from a bunch of neighborhood juvenile delinquents and bullies: Nothing in and of itself threatening, but a very short step away from the line. In short, the activity makes it difficult to actually enjoy the properties, or have much enthusiasm for improving them. I'll retire in January, and plan to spend more time out there than I have of late. First order of business will be a number of no trespassing/hunting signs. Even so, I have a question. If I'm at RB for extended periods at particular times of the year should I just plan to hide or build a palisade around my little portion of RB and stay within it's confines?
ReplyDeleteMIke Sttringham
Thanks for the post. I share your concerns. Many RB owners have experienced acts of significant vandalism. In my case, these followed my removal of deer baiting devices. It would be a mistake to interpret these as pranks or harmless. I consider them to be messages of intimidation. Individuals who are capable of the damage we have experienced are dangerous, not just mischievous.
ReplyDeleteDG