Trespassers

[archer19]

If anyone is missing a Game Winner pop up blind in Unicoi County come to the house and get it............ if you are brave enough to justify trespassing on my property. That is all.......... move along

 

[FTG-05]

Dang it, so that's where I left it!!!!

 

[archer19]

Dang it, so that's where I left it!!!!

 

[DoubleRidge]

What's worse is when they trespass on your land and take your pop-up blind....and don't bother to undo the tie down ropes....they just cut them and take the blind...but hey...they left my old blind chair so that was nice....glad I'm not where they are in my hunting career.... trespassing and taking another guy's stuff.... sad.....it's been a few years back..... frustrating to say the least.

 

[DoubleRidge]

You should go up in your climber.....where their blind was....so you can watch them walk up looking for it.....and video it all.

 

[archer19]

You should go up in your climber.....where their blind was....so you can watch them walk up looking for it.....and video it all.

Good idea

 

[Huntaholic]

I feel your pain! I leased a good parcel of land that unfortunately joins corps property. I wasn't here for MZ opener but my buddies on the lease ran NINE people off it and 2 of them were sitting their asses in MY STANDS! Its a good thing it was him instead of me that caught them, I wouldn't have been as nice as he was.

 

[MUP]

I loathe trespassers...

 

[recurve60#]

My brother asked me the other day if I had any pics from a salt lick I started in the spring. I told him I dont use cameras and he said, "well there's a cam on it." The nerve of people and its on my farm to boot!

 

[archer19]

My brother asked me the other day if I had any pics from a salt lick I started in the spring. I told him I dont use cameras and he said, "well there's a cam on it." The nerve of people and its on my farm to boot!

I'd have a new camera.
Put stuff on my property I take to mean you are giving it to me...

 

[recurve60#]

He didn't know it wasn't mine and left it. This was back in the summer and its gone now. Someone was scouting for the velvet hunt im sure.

 

[Ski]

They'll be back. When they do, stick a camera watching their camera and let the long arm of the law slap their butt.

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

It takes balls to do something like that. SSS.

 

[recurve60#]

Yeah it do. They shouldn't have put themselves on my radar.

 

[WhiteJD4]

If anyone is missing a Game Winner pop up blind in Unicoi County come to the house and get it............ if you are brave enough to justify trespassing on my property. That is all.......... move along

Wasn't me I'm from unicoi also well limestone cove to be exact.

 

[Nooga]

If anyone is missing a Game Winner pop up blind in Unicoi County come to the house and get it............ if you are brave enough to justify trespassing on my property. That is all.......... move along

 

[Nooga]

we have the same problems on Mowbary mtn, most people assume the same man, but it just sad it gets away with until now... the cameras are ready....

 

[TNDeerJP]

we have the same problems on Mowbary mtn, most people assume the same man, but it just sad it gets away with until now... the cameras are ready....

Is anyone aware of how TWRA is changing its own trespassing policies now that SB 2292 has been apparently signed into law by the governor? SB 2292 now limits trespass abilities of TWRA agents as follows: "Notwithstanding the authorization described above or any other law to the contrary, this bill limits the authority for a wildlife resources to enter privately owned
property, in the course of performing the wildlife resources duties regarding the enforcement of local, state, and federal wildlife, conservation, and
environmental protection laws, to the following situations:
(1) Pursuant to a valid search warrant;
(2) With the written permission of the landowner or the lessee of the property. In order to be valid, written permission to enter upon property must have been manually
executed or reauthorized by the landowner or lessee within the 364 days immediately preceding the date of the wildlife resources officer' entry onto the property;
(3) Upon a wildlife resources officercer observing, recording, documenting, and corroborating the commission of an illegal act that the wildlife resources officer is
authorized to enforce from outside the private property;
(4) To dispatch crippled or distressed wildlife; or
(5) To respond to a report of an emergency or another overt threat to public safety.

This situation occurred because of TWRA's activities trespassing on private property unannounced to place trail cameras and was contested by the Institute for Justice: https://ij.org/press-release/new-la...d-place-cameras-on-private-land-in-tennessee/

There seems to have been no announcements of any changes to TWRA policies.

 

[Specializedjon]

I'd venture to say, nobody is gonna have a problem with a TWRA officer on their property from time to time doing investigations and what not. They're the good guys, on our team. Of course...there will be some that get butt hurt, I get it. Just seems like they're handcuffing the officers from performing their duties. I know their main territory is WMA and waterways but still....

 

[tnanh]

Police have been limited for years. Game wardens should have to follow the same rules.

 

[KPH]

Just take the camera

 

[TNDeerJP]

I guess someone would understand better if it had happened to them. A couple of years ago I got a citation for doing something I was NOT doing on my own property. If you have a birdfeeder in your backyard and have a tree stand back in your woods that a game warden thinks is too close you can get cited for baiting. It's his subjective call. Something similar happened to me though the exact circumstances were a bit more complex. I had never seen almost anyone even near this spot on my property or adjacent property in probably 15 years, but one day there he was making claims. What stunned me was when I said "Did someone say they didn't like me hunting around here?" (not likely since I know all the neighbors) he said - "No, I've been trying to "catch" you for years." !!! When he said that I realized, he was totally stuck on his claims, and I was not going to be able to debate him there so I just shut up and filled out his forms. And to get to my property had to cross other peoples' properties! Repeatedly! No shots fired, no deer taken, in fact when he appeared I was actually asleep in the stand.

Stop and think about that. He admitted that he had been creeping around my/our property for years without so much as a word to me or I guess to them. Trying to "catch" me. At what? Really? Why not just contact me and say you can't be doing this or that (whatever he was thinking) I would have told him I was not doing that. Come over and take a look and we'll talk about it. ! Now, because of this overzealous game warden I was facing appearing in court, getting a lawyer, losing my crossbow, etc. etc. This situation has not been resolved to my satisfaction, so I will leave it at that for the time being.

If a wildlife officer thinks something is not going right, why not actually talk to the landowner? FIRST? Why not say "I think you're doing something you should not be doing" And talk about it? Rather than just making a claim and issuing a citation.

I was talking with a TWRA BIOLOGIST several years ago who said he was quitting and getting a job somewhere else because "TWRA is going totally law enforcement" Not stressing outdoor education or game research. Stressing Law Enforcement. Maybe it's simpler and increases revenue.

I have had both good and "bad" interactions with TWRA officers. Once, when just arriving at a dove shoot on a TWRA sponsored field in upper East Tennessee, an officer approached my son and I to check us out. We put down our seats, coolers, shells and guns (unloaded as yet) and offered him our guns. It turned out my son had forgotten to put in his plug (the dummy!) to limit the 20 gauge 870 pump to 2 shells in the magazine. I knew the plug for his 20 gauge was back in the truck and the officer said since we had just arrived and not started shooting he would let us go back to the truck, get the plug, and come back to the field and put it in the shotgun. Which we did. Nice!

However, on another occasion, going squirrel hunting with a friend on Mt. Roosevelt, we were stopped in the woods by a wildlife officer that wanted to check our guns, My friend had a 12 gauge pump and I had a Ruger 10/22 rifle and a Ruger 22 Single Six on my belt. The shotgun and 22 rifle were fine (he also inspected our ammo) but he also wanted to inspect my sidearm TO MAKE SURE IT WASN'T A LARGE CALIBER REVOLVER "which would be illegal for squirrel hunting." This was BEFORE the laws were changed so that a person with a Concealed Carry Permit (which I did have at the time) could also carry their personal defense sidearm into the woods. Then he said,"I caught someone last week carrying a 357 in the woods and cited him" - he said very PROUDLY. He was LOOKING to cite someone. I was really glad I had left my Ruger Security Six in 357 back in the truck!

The approaches of TWRA offices in interacting with the public has the possibility of alienating the very community they are supposedly serving. Let's hope there doesn't arise a movement called "Defund TWRA".
.

 

[BlasterPits]

If anyone is missing a Game Winner pop up blind in Unicoi County come to the house and get it............ if you are brave enough to justify trespassing on my property. That is all.......... move along

Been there before sucks

 

[TNDeerJP]

Over the years I've had probably 10 treestands stolen and two game cameras. Some in Loudoun County and some in Knox County. I talked specifically to both Sheriff's offices. Both pretty much said that unless your dollars lost value is about $500 or greater its hard for them to prioritize it for an investigation. They simply have too much to do. I chain my stands and cameras to trees with 1/4 inch chain and padlocks (easy to carry in) and they still get stolen occasionally by people that come back with bolt cutters. If I think someone might be going to steal a camera or stand I mount an old dead camera in an easy to see/steal place and then mount high in a tree with chains another camera pointing at it. I once got enough of a picture to confront a trespasser and they stopped trespassing. I put huge hardened steel padlocks and 3/8 in chain on my climbers and have never had one of those stolen.

 

[1jamey]

It's a shame any landowner has to go to extra securities to protect their property. Put chains up this year on my property. I will probably get in trouble with the next one I catch.

 

[DoubleRidge]

After one camera stolen.....then having to haul 32 tires and bag up 16 bags of junk and trash that was dumped on us....we finally fenced the front of property and posted with signs and paint. Gates stay locked..... frustrating process but they finally got the message..... hadn't had any issues in years

 

[jc0313]

Folks seem to think they can do whatever they want nowadays. This joker was trespassing through my buddy's place yesterday morning right behind his house. He's lucky neither of us were there to handle the situation. The game warden in our area nails guys that trespass, and he lives close by which is nice.

 

[TNDeerJP]

Game wardens are usually ready to help but don't have much authority on these issues. Its a phone call or visit from the County Sheriff that will get people's attention.

 

[xtremedeerman]

Why i need help i want them there always welcome with me

 

[jejeffrries71]

Thieves and trespassers seem to have over proliferated. What is the season on them? Is there a bag limit? Do you have to check them in or just leave them for the buzzards?