Trespassing

My nephew is having problems with a neighbor trespassing on his property.  The guy hung a tree stand.  I'm trying to help him out.  I never owned hunting land, so I don't know the correct way to proceed.

Can he prosecute if he does not have "No trespassing" signs posted?

Regarding the tree stand.  He set up two trail cams on the stand.  One in paling sight but high, one about 25' higher, covering both the stand and the other camera.  His bro-in-law wanted him to take it down and give it to him.  I said that may escalate the issue.  Nephew wants to get photos, then call the cops.

Ideas?

As a follow up to my post about my neighbor who parked his junker boat on my property... I called the sheriff’s dept. today, and got a call back from a deputy a few hours later. Super nice guy. He told me I can just pull it into my neighbor’s side and it will be documented if he ever calls in. Problem solved.

I kinda have the opposite: people putting posted signs on public land.  Or, more common is the "private road" signs. 

I'm sure it keeps a lot of guys away...but not me.

Little different scenario but we leased some land a few years back. A couple years after we got it I hunted the southwest corner of the property for the first time on opening day of gun season. Shortly after sun up I could see a guy in a blind on the neighboring property probably about 100-125 yds away. I’m about 75 yds in from the property line on our property and didn’t really think much of it. About 9am I hear a branch snap and when I look I see this guy walking towards me. He gets up to me and says “ you know this is private property right?” I say “ yeah we’ve had this land for a couple years now”.  Yeah but ur on my side he says. Umm I beg to differ, the landowner showed us all the property lines I think ur mistaken. He didn’t much like hearing that and walked away. So I contact the landowner and explain and he says I’ll go put ribbons up on the boundary line and it turns out to be right where I thought it was. I saw the guy a few days later and explained that the boundaries were marked. He finally admitted he thought the line was further in. All was good after that. Just goes to show that people’s memory may get fuzzy over the years and fences make good neighbors!

A few years back a friend of mine bought a property that had not been used in MANY years. He knew the family he bought it from so never had it surveyed or anything at purchase so he and I walked it after freeze up with the Onxy app and walked to all of his corner markers. Neighbors had already "grown" into his swamp not with stands but stands on the edge with long shooting lanes cut into his property. 

We marked the corner stakes with rebar and surveyors tape and then put signs along the property lines at the shooting lane locations. It was to much area to put signs along the entire thing. We then spent a few weekends clearing a path around the boundaries wide enough to get his UTV through. Shortly after he was at the house and a neighbor pulled in and started harassing him for cutting his property and putting up signs on his land. He politely disagreed and took the neighbor for a ride showing him all the corner posts, guy said he had been there for 25 years and never knew the survey markers were there and apologized for getting riled up. They get along great now too!

If your son-in-law is a new owner to the property I would have him talk to the neighbor and explain things to him first. Give him a chance to fix things himself. I would also verify the property lines and post the border just to make it clear to all if the stand is not the neighbor's. No need to escalate if it's just a simple case of communication needing to happen.

A friend of mine had bought property and had a neighbor chase them down and yell at them for trespassing on his friend's property when they were mushroom hunting. Turns out the neighbor didn't realize the property had sold and thought they were just some random people. Once they explained the situation everything was fine. A quick conversation can clear a lot of things up and prevent future issues.

Id take the stands and cameras! etc and lace into whoever was on your hard earned land without your permission, regardless what anybody says trespasser's 9x out or 10 know they are trespassing and doing it purposefully. if they play dumb or do the ol  oo ooo so in so doesn't farm dis any more mehhhhhh...................  they are full of bs and shouldn't be in the woods anyway due to stupidity.    there's no excuse for trespassing!

I bought my land spring of '14 and due to a swamp in the middle of it, didn't get a chance to explore the South side of it until spring of '15.  My son & I did a bit of walking and found 5 stands either on the border or 20-30 yards onto our land.  Just so happens we met the farmer who owns the farm just down the road from us that weekend.  In talking I told him about the stands and he said, "Hey, it's your ground, you have every right to take them."  He has 700 acres or more of land plus more his father owns so I know they weren't his.

Well, that fall come up to hunt and amazingly enough, all the stands were gone!  We also met some people that same weekend in spring who knew where our property was so obviously word got out.  We bought it from a friend of mine who pretty much stopped hunting up there after his wife passed away in '10 so I have a feeling some locals figured it was "open territory."

Since then the only issue I've had was February of '17 I have a trail cam shot of these two guys.  Ironically, my son & I came up ice fishing that evening and arrived around 6:00.  Had we been there earlier we would have clearly seen these yo-yo's form the road.

If your son is new to owning the land, the neighbors who may have had permission to hunt there will play stupid until told otherwise. Had that very thing happen to me. First thing that I did after the purchase was to put up new No Trespassing signs around the perimeter and on trails coming from other properties. That very fall, I caught an older guy sitting in one of my stands. He waved to me when he saw me like nothing was wrong. I politely but sternly confronted him and asked if he knew that the land was private and under new ownership. His response was, "oh, Chuck doesn't own this land anymore"? I bought the land from a guy who wasn't named Chuck and he hadn't hunted the land in many years. The trespasser left quietly and has not since returned that I know of. 

As for the boat issue. I'd call the sheriff's department. Have them document that the boat was illegally parked on your property and ask if you can tow it yourself onto his. If they won't let you, I'm sure that they have a way to send the owner a notice in HI.

I would meet the sheriff where the boat is located. They should have the best proactive route to follow (nothing at your expense). Or you could wait til next summer and attempt to talk it out with the new neighbor. 

Without intending to hijack the thread... here is a somewhat related question for you guys.

On the far back side of my property where my cabin is (across a blacktop road and down a gravel easement), I have a new neighbor who bought a small parcel (couple acres). In the year or two that he’s owned it, he’s turned it into a junk yard. Multiple junker boats, tote bins of crap blowing all over, etc. I recently saw that he parked one of the junker boats with flat tires on my side of the road and into my property. To make this more complicated, this clown is actually a Hawaii resident who only comes here in the summer to stay in a tent on this property. 

What is the best way to get this boat off my property? I have no way of contacting this guy. Should I call the sherif and have it towed? If so who pays for that?

I would take pictures of the stand in current location, take it down and give it to the sheriffs department. Post a no trespassing sign on the property line where you think they are entering. That way if they want the stand they can explain to the sheriffs department why they were trespassing. You do not need to post property but it is usually just easier if you don't want the dumb response of "It is not posted". 

Seeing that he is a neighbor and you might have to deal with him again, I'd recommend contacting him and giving the guy a chance to remove his stand on own.  If he's a jerk then call the cops.

Remember however he reacts to this will dictate the course of the relationship. Either he will have a friendly, cooperative neighbor or a lifetime of headaches.

I would contact him directly to work it out. If it doesn't have a name it may not even be the neighbors. Contacting and calmly discussing would be the safest course of action, it that doesnt work involve the police.

“The stand is still the trespasser's property even if he broke law putting it up.”

Sure, have him call the cops to get it back. 

Being a neighbor to neighbor dispute. I would peg a note on the tree stating the trespassing actions. Take pictures of the said cameras and deer stand. If the items are not removed, call the sherriff. Conservation wardens don't typically mess with trespassing complaints.