What are they doing

[backyardtndeer]

This property behind me has a new owner. Never met him, he doesn't live on the property. I have no reason not to believe this is the owner. Our property's join at the old river channel. Got a pic of him on my camera, back in October, on a Sunday carrying a rifle. We had been back there at about the same time working on stands, and never knew he was there. From where he was at, it is very likely he knew we were up the hill.

So I checked cams this morning on my way back and was pretty shocked at what I found. On a Sunday night at about 9 pm.

What's in the back of the side by side, does not look like a deer, but not sure? Where they are riding is down the center of the line. Now I know why my dog was going nuts that night!

And it gets better, a week later, this past Sunday also at about 9 pm. This time on foot and very likely over on me.

I am not familiar with night hunting or whatever it is they may be doing Sunday nights, anyone here have a reasonable explanation.

Bad thing is I moved this camera this morning before ever seeing these pics. Think I will move it back and put it on video. Maybe I should sit down there this Sunday night around 9 pm?

 

[kaizen leader]

If you can get any cell signal there I recommend getting an Edge trail camera and then you will get notified real time. Also put it high enough that it can't be f@@ed with. Good luck.

 

[HoytDawg]

Possibly coon hunting? At least appear to be wearing helmet lights in two of the pictures

 

[WilcoKen]

It's hard to tell what they are doing. Are they on their property and your camera is catching their activity? No matter, I have come to the determination that most neighbors absolutely screw the deer woods up. New ones moved in next to me 2 years ago and have ruined my place for deer hunting without stepping foot on my place. Mostly it's all manner of commotion going on over there. Everything from mopeds, dogs, clapped out trucks to hammering on boards at 4:30 every afternoon I decide to hunt. Living where I can hunt was the main reason I moved here 15 years ago. Oh well.

 

[backyardtndeer]

If you can get any cell signal there I recommend getting an Edge trail camera and then you will get notified real time. Also put it high enough that it can't be f@@ed with. Good luck.

I have a stealth cell cam, but I kind of hate to move it from where it's at. I will at least have one of my cameras back down there tomorrow though, and likely set it for video.

Possibly coon hunting? At least appear to be wearing helmet lights in two of the pictures

I wondered if that might be what they were doing. Didn't see any dogs in any of their pics. I don't know anything about coon hunting or whether they hunt them without dogs.

Are they on their property and your camera is catching their activity?

Where they are riding the side by side it would be about half of it on their side and half on mine. Where they are walking I believe the one is on me, maybe both on me. Thing is I don't know where they got to once they got past the camera. The angle they are taking had them coming into me, but they could have turned.

If they wanted to coon hunt on me and asked i might not have a problem with it, as long as they didn't screw up our deer hunting. But I have not had anyone ask me. My house is less than 200 yards from where they were, but I never knew they were there. But it dog was going nuts both times, and I know why now.

And fwiw, this is the same guy that I have seen with his side by side on a trailer turning onto our road, during rifle season, with bags of corn in the bed of the side by side. Also the same that set up a pop up blind last year right off the line, not far from where the side by side is parked.

 

[hunttherut]

Maybe try to develop a relationship with the guy and then you can have a conversation about it.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

That's odd. Why on Sunday nights? And why at 9pm? Surely not just coincidence.

 

[HoytDawg]

I have a stealth cell cam, but I kind of hate to move it from where it's at. I will at least have one of my cameras back down there tomorrow though, and likely set it for video.

I wondered if that might be what they were doing. Didn't see any dogs in any of their pics. I don't know anything about coon hunting or whether they hunt them without dogs.

Where they are riding the side by side it would be about half of it on their side and half on mine. Where they are walking I believe the one is on me, maybe both on me. Thing is I don't know where they got to once they got past the camera. The angle they are taking had them coming into me, but they could have turned.

If they wanted to coon hunt on me and asked i might not have a problem with it, as long as they didn't screw up our deer hunting. But I have not had anyone ask me. My house is less than 200 yards from where they were, but I never knew they were there. But it dog was going nuts both times, and I know why now.

And fwiw, this is the same guy that I have seen with his side by side on a trailer turning onto our road, during rifle season, with bags of corn in the bed of the side by side. Also the same that set up a pop up blind last year right off the line, not far from where the side by side is parked.

They wouldn't be coon hunting without a dog. Not sure what property size is but cant really run a dog on coons on smaller pieces of property either. But creek bottom is where the coons would be.

Only other things i could think of are looking for a deer they had already shot, or going to night hunt something else- deer, yote, etc none of which is legal obviously.

 

[Creek]

Approx how many acres do they own?
I know it's none of my business but was trying to justify them being so close to your property.
It might be time for a neighborly visit. If you make a friendly gesture of some kind, then the monkey is on his back, so to speak.

 

[30-06 type of guy]

Get you a family member or buddy and be there this Sunday night waiting in the darkness. As said above get you a cell cam that way you might not have to waste time if they don't show.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Maybe try to develop a relationship with the guy and then you can have a conversation about it.

If I can ever catch up with him here I will.

Approx how many acres do they own?

Here behind me almost 200 acres. Property viewer shows he has other property he owns away from here, quite a bit too. They have to come well over a mile after he gets to the back of his property to even get back get where he joins my line.

Get you a family member or buddy and be there this Sunday night waiting in the darkness.

I have a stand where I can see where they were on the side by side.

 

[Snake]

I'd have a friendly conversation with him heck if he don't deer hunt may be an opportunity for you .

 

[megalomaniac]

We caught a dude walking down the powerline at 4am last week. Behind posted signs, fairly thick. No rifle. But 4am???

Just can't figure out people

 

[backyardtndeer]

I'd have a friendly conversation with him heck if he don't deer hunt may be an opportunity for you .

They do deer hunt it. I just can't believe that they would be looking for a deer in about the same place two Sundays in a row at about 9 pm at night.

 

[chris1976]

As long as they are not blatantly trespassing, not just walking the line, I would probably leave them alone.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

It's fine line. For example , if you walk a boundary line to mark it, you're going to break the plane of your neighbors boundary every time. Hopefully you would just get along well enough to understand that and it's not an issue. I know I do that all the time walking boundaries but it's no issue for anyone, myself included. Very different from blatantly crossing over and doing something. My opinion, if you're really concerned, you would need to catch them actually within your property, not just on a border. The helmet lights look exactly like what alot of Coon hunters wear.

 

[nso123]

Worst case, go post the property lines clearly in that area. It looked like a branch or something in the back of the side by side in that one pic.

 

[backyardtndeer]

It's fine line. For example , if you walk a boundary line to mark it, you're going to break the plane of your neighbors boundary every time. Hopefully you would just get along well enough to understand that and it's not an issue. I know I do that all the time walking boundaries but it's no issue for anyone, myself included. Very different from blatantly crossing over and doing something. My opinion, if you're really concerned, you would need to catch them actually within your property, not just on a border. The helmet lights look exactly like what alot of Coon hunters wear.

Thing is, if they happened to be looking for deer on both occasions on Sundays a week apart at around the same time in the same area, and they know they were on the line and possibly going to have to follow onto my property, then why didn't they come to my door. The boy that had the property before was a pretty good dude, we gave each other mutual permission to go recover deer. I live here, they can see my house from where the man is at in the first pic.

And who walks their boundaries only at 9pm on Sunday nights in the middle of rifle season? Sure I have walked the boundaries, and I have no problem with that. I would have no problem with them retrieving a deer that was on me, so long as they let me know.

As long as they are not blatantly trespassing, not just walking the line, I would probably leave them alone.

I am just trying to figure out a plausible explanation why they are there when they are there. I have no idea beyond that camera where they went, for all I know they could come up in my pasture behind my house, or into my yard which would be a huge mistake for anyone. I do know my dog was going nuts at those times on both of those nights, and I looked with a spot light and didn't see anything. Had I stayed outside longer I would have heard them.

Maybe someone here knows them. Feel free to pm me if that's the case.

 

[tug]

It's hard to tell what they are doing. Are they on their property and your camera is catching their activity? No matter, I have come to the determination that most neighbors absolutely screw the deer woods up. New ones moved in next to me 2 years ago and have ruined my place for deer hunting without stepping foot on my place. Mostly it's all manner of commotion going on over there. Everything from mopeds, dogs, clapped out trucks to hammering on boards at 4:30 every afternoon I decide to hunt. Living where I can hunt was the main reason I moved here 15 years ago. Oh well.

Join the club. I am considering moving to town, selling all the deer/tractor/mower stuff and just hire a guide once every year or two. I have the most expensive clover plots on Earth. I feed minerals. I kill does to get the ratio improved. I let very nice bucks walk. I have traps set for nest raiders. I kill a buck about once every 3 or 4 years. I fix the border fences for free. What does this get me? Not a damn thing. Just rednecks who appear on opening day of rifle and blast all weekend and ATVs right on my fence line and a video of guy walking on my deer trail in tennis shoes with a cocked and locked .45 in a SOB holster. That is what I get.

 

[backyardtndeer]

So after a closer look, there are three people side by side in this pic, and looks like a fourth with a headlamp on further back. The one wearing the vest is carrying a long gun. I looked at prior activity, and there was NO deer that ran past the camera on either date those afternoons, or even late in those mornings. My wife hunted the afternoon of the12th and she heard no shots nearby that afternoon. I hunted the 19th and there were no shots from that property. So can rule out that they were looking for a deer. And I am not buying that they are just looking at their boundaries either.

Also the side by side on the 12th that goes down the channel passed by at 8:50.

At 8:51 there is a what I now believe is a second side by side on the bank on their side. No way they turned around and got up on the bank in one minute without triggering the camera again.

And then the first side by side came back and pulled up the bank at 8:52.

So I think there may have been two side by sides. Oh well, maybe they are looking for bigfoot. One of these days I will catch up with the current owner.