So we have some interesting behavior being displayed by some hunters on one of our neighboring properties. We have a 350-acre tract of land that we've been hunting for the past 12 years. Our house is on the far west end of the property so it's where we live when we're down at our hunting properties. A couple of years ago some people started turkey hunting a 60-acre or so tract of land to the north of ours. We didn't think much of it because it wasn't our land and they never seemed to bother us. Well... Things changed drastically this year.
The ground that they hunt has a couple of tiny draws on it and the rest is pasture or crop ground. I'm not trying to belittle their ground or anyone else's, I just wanted to state this to make the point that their farm does not hold any of the wildlife. Deer are seldom on their land, but the turkeys like to mingle in the pasture mid-morning and throughout the day. The turkeys roost on our farm 100% of the time. But, by all means, if they want to hunt their ground and harvest the turkeys that happen to go out there, that's completely fine and I would not have a problem with it if they hunted the way they did the past couple of years. But as I said, things have changed.
This year they decided to move their blind from their normal spot, which was about 200 yards off our property line. We did not have any issue at all when they hunted the blind where it was the past couple years. For some reason, they decided to move the blind literally 10 yards off our fence this year. I was pretty perplexed and a bit irritated when I saw the blind being that close to our property line. Number one, it is extremely unsafe to hunt that close to someone else's property, especially with a gun. Number two, it's pretty much an unwritten rule and common courtesy to not hunt the borders of property like that. We stay away from the north section of that farm just for that reason. In fact, in all my years hunting I've never hung a stand or set a blind within probably 200 yards of a neighboring property that other people hunt on. I wouldn't want people doing it to me, so I don't do it to them. Anyways, as I said I was irritated but prepared to take the high road when I saw the blind 10 yards off our fence. That was up until we received a phone call from the folks who happened to set the blind there.
The guys who set the blind up called to make sure we would be staying off the north end of our farm come turkey season. That's a pretty bold move if you ask me. They have every right to hunt where they want, even if I don't agree with setting a blind up 10 yards off the property line, but don't have the arrogance to call and make sure we won't be hunting a certain area of our farm that we've been hunting for over a decade. Their reasoning for requesting us to stay off the north end was "safety". I completely agree with them about wanting to be safe. But if safety was truly their main concern, they would back the blind off the fence to where it was last year and the chance of being shot or shooting someone else would be zero. It was also interesting because they had clearly staked their claim by putting the blind up the first week of April. So in order to be safe they can hunt the property lines, but we must stay in the middle of the farm? Interesting. The whole ordeal is simply disappointing because we would never infringe upon someone else's ground in such a way, much less have the arrogance to call and request them to stay away from a certain end so nobody gets shot. You would think safety would come first, and if that was the case they clearly would keep their blind off the border. Anyways, I just had some free time and felt like throwing my two-cents out there. I'm sure there are people who will disagree with the fact that we're upset with how they've handled the situation, but oh well. Part of hunting ethically is respecting surrounding hunters and not infringing upon their land. I feel like they have violated this norm and just wanted to see what others thought. Had they handled the situation in a more personable manner, I wouldn't have a problem with where they hunted. They chose not to handle the situation as adults and it's left a sour taste in our mouths. I attached a picture of their blind and then another picture of a blind that my brother tossed up yesterday morning just to let them know we can play dirty poker too (we won't be hunting out of the blind, we just put it up to play a little cat and mouse with them). Hope turkey season is going well for everyone out trying to get one. Weather was tough 2nd season but we managed to kill with 3 out of the 4 guys who bought tags. I killed mine about 150 yards SW of their blind (it felt pretty good, not gonna lie)
The ground that they hunt has a couple of tiny draws on it and the rest is pasture or crop ground. I'm not trying to belittle their ground or anyone else's, I just wanted to state this to make the point that their farm does not hold any of the wildlife. Deer are seldom on their land, but the turkeys like to mingle in the pasture mid-morning and throughout the day. The turkeys roost on our farm 100% of the time. But, by all means, if they want to hunt their ground and harvest the turkeys that happen to go out there, that's completely fine and I would not have a problem with it if they hunted the way they did the past couple of years. But as I said, things have changed.
This year they decided to move their blind from their normal spot, which was about 200 yards off our property line. We did not have any issue at all when they hunted the blind where it was the past couple years. For some reason, they decided to move the blind literally 10 yards off our fence this year. I was pretty perplexed and a bit irritated when I saw the blind being that close to our property line. Number one, it is extremely unsafe to hunt that close to someone else's property, especially with a gun. Number two, it's pretty much an unwritten rule and common courtesy to not hunt the borders of property like that. We stay away from the north section of that farm just for that reason. In fact, in all my years hunting I've never hung a stand or set a blind within probably 200 yards of a neighboring property that other people hunt on. I wouldn't want people doing it to me, so I don't do it to them. Anyways, as I said I was irritated but prepared to take the high road when I saw the blind 10 yards off our fence. That was up until we received a phone call from the folks who happened to set the blind there.
The guys who set the blind up called to make sure we would be staying off the north end of our farm come turkey season. That's a pretty bold move if you ask me. They have every right to hunt where they want, even if I don't agree with setting a blind up 10 yards off the property line, but don't have the arrogance to call and make sure we won't be hunting a certain area of our farm that we've been hunting for over a decade. Their reasoning for requesting us to stay off the north end was "safety". I completely agree with them about wanting to be safe. But if safety was truly their main concern, they would back the blind off the fence to where it was last year and the chance of being shot or shooting someone else would be zero. It was also interesting because they had clearly staked their claim by putting the blind up the first week of April. So in order to be safe they can hunt the property lines, but we must stay in the middle of the farm? Interesting. The whole ordeal is simply disappointing because we would never infringe upon someone else's ground in such a way, much less have the arrogance to call and request them to stay away from a certain end so nobody gets shot. You would think safety would come first, and if that was the case they clearly would keep their blind off the border. Anyways, I just had some free time and felt like throwing my two-cents out there. I'm sure there are people who will disagree with the fact that we're upset with how they've handled the situation, but oh well. Part of hunting ethically is respecting surrounding hunters and not infringing upon their land. I feel like they have violated this norm and just wanted to see what others thought. Had they handled the situation in a more personable manner, I wouldn't have a problem with where they hunted. They chose not to handle the situation as adults and it's left a sour taste in our mouths. I attached a picture of their blind and then another picture of a blind that my brother tossed up yesterday morning just to let them know we can play dirty poker too (we won't be hunting out of the blind, we just put it up to play a little cat and mouse with them). Hope turkey season is going well for everyone out trying to get one. Weather was tough 2nd season but we managed to kill with 3 out of the 4 guys who bought tags. I killed mine about 150 yards SW of their blind (it felt pretty good, not gonna lie)
Last edited: