[Dawgs]

ok the other day i received a letter in the mail from the land owner of the preperty i lease..in the envelope there are 2 letters...1 that he recieved from upset residents (actually 4 residents-identicle letters) that live in the developemnet that borders our property and 1 that he in turn sent back in reply to their letter

the letter from the residents says something to this nature..the residents are a little upse because the club will be parking at the end of the cul-de-sac to load "their kills"..they are cocerned with hunters with lethal weapons this close to their propety...they will warn their children not to tresp [no swearing please] on this property and keep their pets away from the property also...then they get into how they know that when bow hunting the animal rarely dies right on the spot and has to be tracked for a long period of time before the animal bleeds to death...and it would be unacceptable to have a wounded deer to be tracked across their property.and an estmated %50 percent of shot animals are not recovered....its a cruel sport...yada yada yada

then they ask to reconsider leasing this property..and the deer are tame ..it would be like shooting cats or dogs..

the letter sent to them in return says this... its its not possible to reconsider this lease..no club member will tresp [no swearing please] on their property...the law requires 450 feet...and be aware that NJ DEP and other leading environmental organizations regard the overabundace of deer as one of the biggest cause of environmental destruction in NJ...deer hunting is encouraged by NJ.

do i leave it at that or do i try to contact these residents? do should i contact UBNJ to ask their advice? i have a feeling this may get messy there this year...this is the 1st year this property has been hunted (legally) in some time

 

[Dragthor]

I would leave at that for now.

But maybe you should remind them that it is illegal to: treasp [no swearing please] on your property AND to interfere with a person legally hunting in the state of NJ.

If you are approached entering/exiting/hunting on your lease by someone... walk away...put your gun in the car... I would call a NJ conservation officer immediately. Try to get the person's name, address, phone, license plate, etc.

Heck...if you gotta feeling its gonna be "bad"... then I would call your regional F&W office and see what they think.

One place my family hunts in PA has similar "issues". We sometimes place a note in our wind shield for the cops stating: my name is XYZ. I am legally hunting. Please do not bother me. Meet me at the car at dusk if necessary. Thanks.

 

[JJoe]

It sounds like your land owner has it taken care of. I would let the owner you would contact the residents if he needed you to.

 

[MS22]

I would sugest you try and be as polite and respectful as possible towards the neighbors that border your lease while not backing down from your position. Also I would advise on taking extra care when you are hunting to follow the rules and regs. to the t as you always should. Note that these neighbors will be watching your every move. Anything you do wrong will be ammunition for these people. I am sure the UBNJ would have a whole host of approaches to the situation at hand. I wouldn't contact the neighbors until first talking to the UBNJ or someone else who has a lot of experience in these areas. They may even help you draft another letter in response to those you have received. Face to face confrontations as you said may get messy. People who are against hunting are usually very passionate about that and friendly discussion about the truths/myths/rules/regs of hunting can deteriorate very quickly as emotion will overcome rational thought. I would avoid them until you speak to someone about dealing with Antis or it becomes necessary. As I said be polite and respectful yet never back down...We must defend our sport since so many people are dead set on taking it away from us.

 

[VENISONEATR]

Invite them for a liver and heart dinner!!!

 

[Geneo]

The land owner has taken care of it for now. ????

 

[Dawgs]

he has sent a letter back in defense of the club

 

[JerseyJim]

Sounds like the land owner has it under control for now.... It's his property so I would let him handle it the way he sees fit... If you are confronted by them just be polite and avoid getting involved as much as possible... Call the law if you need to but don't take things into your own hands... Nothing good will come from that! Good Luck and happy hunting....

 

[Bacs]

Go in early and stay late, read go in and out in the dark. If you find that your vehicle has been messed with call the police straight off. Be polite to anyone you encounter, because you won't know where the camcorder is.

 

[apmaurosr]

I think there is a lot of good advice in these posts. I'd leave it alone at this point too with the neighbors and see whether difficulty develops.

You might want to contact the police beforehand and let them know that you will be legally hunting the propety so that if complaints are called in they afre aware of the circumstances and will leave you alone.

Don't forget NJ has hunter harassment laws too.

Ant

 

[raptor]

All 50 states have hunter harassement laws.
The landowner told them like it is. I would leave it at that. Maybe a trail cam set up in a hidden place to watch your vehicles for the first couple of outings might be a good idea. Carry a cell phone (with F&W's phone number) and a camera in case they get nasty.
Oh....and they really hate it when they come close enough to see whats going on (wanting to be nosey) and chase the deer right to ya! so, maybe it can be a good thing. All depends on how you look at it.

 

[OutlawJT]

FYI - The NJ antihunter harrassment laws are hard to enforce/prosecute unless YOU, the hunter, have the police &/or a NJ F&W Game Warden witness the act OR you have it video taped &/or have really clear pictures.

This information comes straight from a NJ F&W Deputy Game Warden that I work with, as I had a problem on one of my properties with snow mobilers and ATV "enthusiasts" tresspassing and harassing me and my club members at last light/legal shooting time when the deer moved across a road onto our property each night.

It took me having to call the local police to get a few of them busted for having unregistered and illegal "vehicles" on a public road to get them to stop!!!

 

[OutlawJT]

Also, I failed to mention that unless you bring to court a survey map of the property that you are claiming someone tresspassed on, odds are greatly against you being able to prove your case, and judges in Hunterdon County have been know to dismiss these cases without ever really hearing them due to lack of evidence on your (the plaintiff's) behalf.