It would be a shame to shoot a deer and lose it to the next property. That said, there is always another side to every story.
All of my neighbors hunt our property line, because they kill everything moving and know I am selective, that I have food plots, and that my acreage is triple theirs in size, so the closer they get to the line, the better chance they have of shooting something. To my East, my neighbor timbered all his property two years ago. He has four treestands lined up the length of his property all facing my property line, within 40 yards or closer. He is a bad shot and routinely has to come onto my property to find his poorly shot deer. To my South, two years ago, I caught a 20-something guy and his buddy 15 yards off the property line who took a doe out of season. This knucklehead offered me the deer not to call the warden. I got his ID, took some pics, and he answered to the warden. This year, that guy’s uncle shot an 8-pointer 25 yards off the property line. I was in my treestand and heard the shot. A little while later, I heard the deer crash down by our creek; when I got down there the shooter was standing on the property line scared to death. By the way, I dragged the deer off of my property, and back onto his, then asked him not to gut it there. Fortunately, he loaded it on his four-wheeler and disappeared into the twilight.
I’m very close to telling all of them that if the deer crosses the line, after they shoot it, it’s my venison. I have enough respect for them to hunt far enough in on my land so that mine don’t cross their line, and it’s been that way for 23 years. I’ve never been on their property to retrieve anything.
Please know that I realize this is not a feasible COA for everyone, and sometimes, it’s impossible to avoid a deer going onto another property. The principle for me is respect. Don’t pee on my back and tell me it’s raining.
This is even before the dog hunters start with their crap of running dogs across the property and sitting on the road to shoot drunkenly at the deer. So, please keep in mind that some landowners are not against deer hunters and hunting per se, they are just fed up with how they’ve experienced a lack of respect from even their neighbors. Everyone likes you when you let them do whatever the heck they want to do.
