Trespassing Question?

I have a situation which I would like some input on. It maybe a bit confusing. I have permission to hunt on a total of 40 acres. 30 acres is owned by the owner who I was given permission. The other 10 is owned by someone not from the area. But the owner of the 30 is the care taker of the 10 and has the right to give permission and the right to remove people who don't have it. The caretaker informed me he found a stand on the 10 acre property and asked me to remove it if it wasn't mine. I went and investigated and the name on the stand happened to be someone I knew. I contacted him and told him he needed to remove his stand because he didn't have permission. The owner of the stand stated he did have permission from the caretaker(owner of the 30) to be on that 10 acre piece. I told him I personally talked to him and he said that no one but my dad and I has permission. He then changed his story and told me the other land owner who ownes a 5 acre piece that adjoins to it told him he could hunt it. The problem is the caretaker said that land owner of the 5 acres doesn't have the rights to give permission to be on that 10. So now he says he wont leave and will call the dnr for hunter harassment if his stand is removed, but the caretaker says that he will remove it and call the police for trespassing if he see's him on the 10 acres. Side note: the actual land owner of the 10 didn't give permission either and told the caretaker to handle it. Any suggestions I can tell him to try to understand and get him to remove his stand without any further confurtation?

I ran into this same situation several years ago in Waukesha. The landowner told me take the stands. I knew who had them up, they were not friends, just neighbors. I had a talk with them and they told me if I took their stands they would call me in for theft granted I had no intention on taking their stands, for a moment I thought about taking them since these guys ruined some alf alfa crop of my father in law's by riding dirt bikes in it, instead I was going to leave them in their driveway. I let the landowner know and he told me to deal with it, the people using his land were actually tenants of his in a house he owned. He had no interest in dealing with these people, my theory is he had more concerns that these people could trash his home. I called the sheriff and they said nothing could be done without the landowner calling it in, he hates dealing with the law and did not want to contact them. The sheriff also told me not to touch their stands, even taking them off the tree could be suspected theft. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It wasn't that great of a spot anyways except for early season goose and some dove hunting. I dove hunted and goose hunted it every day I could. Needless to say, I never bow hunted it and they had a terrible deer season. They moved this year, but the landowner now has the property for sale. So, unless I intend to buy it (and at $550,000 I do not) I'm down one hunting spot. I don't sweat it to much since I have plenty of private land to hunt. The only thing that bugs me is the trespassers got their way.

"owner of the 30 is the care taker of the 10" The owner of the 30 needs a legal, notorized paper from the owner of the 10 acres to legally enforce actions. The Caretaker should handle this. The deer stand perp needs to stay on the adjoining 5 acres he has granted permission for. Pretty easy to me

I just reread your original post, so he is not suppose to be on the 10, he is to be on the adjoining 5 acres correct? You are being told by the caretaker (who lets you hunt there) to take the stand down. Why even think about this? If he asks you to do it, then quit worrying about it and do it. The dude clearly does not have permission to be there so man up and take care of the situation before you get booted for not listening to the one who gives you permission to be there.

Why is the caretaker asking you to remove it? Isn't that part of his job.

let the caretaker handle it. it's not your land and not your business. you may even wind up shooting yourself in the foot and lose permission to hunt any of the land if your not careful.

I disagree. He should do nothing other than bring the matter to the attention of the caretaker. He has no right removing the trespasser or his stand. He is a guest of the landowner/caretaker. His only "right" is actually a privilege and that is to simply use the property. Taking matters into your own hands will likely only cause trouble for you. We had a couple of people who were granted permission to use our property by a caretaker. They assumed that meant that they got to call the shots on who else used the property and how it was managed. Needless to say, that didn't last very long.

Here is my ¢2. First make sure that he wasn't given permission, which seems like you covered. Second write a letter informing the trespasser that he does not have permission to be on the property and if his stand is not removed charges will be brought. Let him know that both the land owner and care giver know about the situation. Have the care giver sign the letter, make a copy, and send it certified mail. You could even include pictures of the stand with his name showing. Or, take it down, notify the trespasser in writing that it was removed and tell him where he can pick it up. If not picked up in a certain time frame tell him it will be donated to a hunting charity. This should call his bluff and get him to remove the stand, one would think. While you are doing some writing, get your permission to hunt as well as the terms of the agreement in writing. Provided these are deer stands, at least you have some time on your side and not dealing with this in September.

This guy does not sound like much of a friend to me. I would steer clear of this situation as it is not your land and you have no authority to tell anyone anything. This could get stupid real fast.

The caretaker doesn't have the right to press charges only the landowner does. If the landowner doesn't want to get involved then there really isn't anything the caretaker or you can do. I agree with what mike said with the letting the caretaker call the cops. He can report this guy as trespassing and all it will take is a call to the owner to verify this guy doesn't have permission. I also agree you need to get your permission in writing because if for any reason you would have a fallout with the caretaker or the owner and they call the cops on you, unless you have written permission you could be cited. Plus its always nice to be able to provide proof to anyone else that questions you about being on the property. Good luck

I second what Mike said, every single trespasser I have ever confronted always has a story that is always a lie. My only other advise would be to make sure the caretaker presses charges. Dont let him off with a warning or he will be back.

I have dealt with numerous trespassers. I watch over a large piece of property. The owner wants little to do with the problems and is often not around. The caretaker can call the sheriff . The sheriff will come out take a report from whoever called. Once the report is written sheriff calls the landowner to press charges. Sheriff arranges a time to get a simple statement that they did not give permission and that is it. Sheriff only has to call the landowner to find out if the guy has permission. Landowner says no the sheriff can give them the boot. Let the caretaker handle this. You did more than enough. All I would of done is told the caretaker about the stand For you sake I would get your permission in writing as this situation sounds as if it could get kinda ugly. As for the guy. Typical trespassing idiot. Everyone I have busted has pulled the same kind of crap. They make all kinds of threats and feed you BS until you dial the sheriff. Then they get real quiet and try to figure out a way out. I had one guy get all nasty with me once saying he had permission from the owner even had the owners name and address right. The owner was in the truck with me. Should of seen the guys face when the owner called the sheriff and told them who he was.

If it were me, I would talk to the owner of the 30 acres and let him know the situation. Let him know that you know him and that he is possibly a friend AND that you have contacted him telling him he is on private property. If the owner has any sense he will take care of it all call the person in. I would not ruin a friendship or cause problems with someone you know based on things happening on another's property. Finally, if you take it off this could cause you a major headache. Let the landowner know you have contacted the person and that he is giving you grief. He should be more than willing to take the next step and call this person in. If all else fails and its just you/your dad have your dad deal with it and take it off. Let him call you your dad in for hunter harassment. This sounds like a bluff and if he indeed does not have permission he is basically creating more problems for himself.

This is tricky. I don't know how the Sheriff's Department will handle this. They are going to want the REAL landowner to press charges. It sounds like that person will not get involved. However, I think the guy with the stand is blowing smoke, saying he will get hunter harassment charges filed. Best bet is for the REAL Landowner to write a letter giving YOU written permission to be on the land. Also, have them document that the treestand is to be removed. Then take it down and return it to the owner of the stand--don't keep it. These things have a tendency to backfire, pretty soon the landowner and the caretaker gets tired of this and says to everyone, "NO HUNTING"--so press easily!

I agree. That's like if I said that the guy you know can hunt that 10 acres. So what if I say so, not my call? I think he's in lala land.

Sounds like you've done what you can. If his stand is there and he's hunting without permission there should be consequences and the caretaker should contact the authorities. Don't understand why he beilieves it's ok for someone that has no rights to the land to give him permission to use it. Hope the guy's an aquantence of yours and not a friend.