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Tresspaser

Had a guy tell me today that a lawyer advised him to draw up a "hunting lease agreement" and make payment for such (even if only $1) from his father who owns the land. Lawyer claims that tresspassing while hunting on land leased for hunting rights was a $5000 fine. Any one heard this or just another misunderstanding of our crazy laws?

I dont know for sure but I think all trespass fines are assessed on a case by case basis by the judge, and if that is the case then maybe the max is $5000. If I remember right I was told that the fine for a trespass while hunting could be as high as $1000 maybe it just increases the max to $5000 if is on leased hunting ground but I wouldnt think it would make it a set fine but I dont know thats just a guess.
 
Trespassing while hunting deer is a simple misdemeanor, and if they shoot one the deer is subject to seizure.
 
a. Entering upon or in property without the express permission of the owner, lessee, or person in lawful possession with the intent to commit a public offense, to use thereon or therein anything animate or inanimate, or to hunt, fish or trap on or in the property. This paragraph does not prohibit the unarmed pursuit of game or furbearing animals lawfully injured or killed which come to rest on or escape to the property of another.
 
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Just a thought

Be careful writing a hunting lease agreement. Lots of the land we hunt is in the Timber Reserve Program. I could see a lot of back taxes being due if you ever had to use that lease agreement in court....
 
Treaspass signs

My wife found some ideas for new trespassing signs...;)
Here is one that I saw in a magazine.
"Is there life after death
Trespass and find out"
I'm actually thinking about making some of these up and putting them on a boarder with county land that I have problems with people trespassing
 
The way I understand it, if someone trespasses on a lease he can in addition to being charged for trespassing can be sued in civil court for damages to the least.. But it's very hard to prove damage above the price of the lease.
If the leases is only $1.00 that would be tha maximum damage you could get out of him
 
they cannot be cited for Trespass unless you can prove that they have been personally warned in the past. This info given to me by 2 separate CO's.


iowa1

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Also thanks for calling me out from up there in MN.

Let me clear something up for you. The dog in my avatar that is standing in front of an IA Sheriff's patrol car is a SO's police K9. He's mine. I'm sure that as smart as you are you've figured out by now that I'm a deputy sheriff in IA.
I'll clear something else up. NO WHERE IN THE IOWA CODE DOES IT SAY THAT TRESPASSERS HAVE TO BE WARNED BEFORE THEY CAN BE PROSECUTED.


But hey, what do I know? So, I thought I'd include the State of Iowa's position on it.

716.7 TRESPASS DEFINED.
1. The term "property" shall include any land, dwelling,
building, conveyance, vehicle, or other temporary or permanent
structure whether publicly or privately owned.
2. The term "trespass" shall mean one or more of the
following acts:
a. Entering upon or in property without the express
permission of the owner, lessee, or person in lawful possession with
the intent to commit a public offense, to use, remove therefrom,
alter, damage, harass, or place thereon or therein anything animate
or inanimate, or to hunt, fish or trap on or in the property,
including the act of taking or attempting to take a deer, other than
a farm deer as defined in section 170.1 or preserve whitetail as
defined in section 484C.1, which is on or in the property by a person
who is outside the property. This paragraph does not prohibit the
unarmed pursuit of game or fur-bearing animals by a person who
lawfully injured or killed the game or fur-bearing animal which comes
to rest on or escapes to the property of another.
b. Entering or remaining upon or in property without
justification after being notified or requested to abstain from
entering or to remove or vacate therefrom by the owner, lessee, or
person in lawful possession, or the agent or employee of the owner,
lessee, or person in lawful possession, or by any peace officer,
magistrate, or public employee whose duty it is to supervise the use
or maintenance of the property.
c. Entering upon or in property for the purpose or with the
effect of unduly interfering with the lawful use of the property by
others.
d. Being upon or in property and wrongfully using, removing
therefrom, altering, damaging, harassing, or placing thereon or
therein anything animate or inanimate, without the implied or actual
permission of the owner, lessee, or person in lawful possession.
e. Entering or remaining upon or in railway property without
lawful authority or without the consent of the railway corporation
which owns, leases, or operates the railway property. This paragraph
does not apply to passage over a railroad right-of-way, other than a
track, railroad roadbed, viaduct, bridge, trestle, or railroad yard,
by an unarmed person if the person has not been notified or requested
to abstain from entering on to the right-of-way or to vacate the
right-of-way and the passage over the right-of-way does not interfere
with the operation of the railroad.
3. The term "trespass" shall not mean entering upon the
property of another for the sole purpose of retrieving personal
property which has accidentally or inadvertently been thrown, fallen,
strayed, or blown onto the property of another, provided that the
person retrieving the property takes the most direct and accessible
route to and from the property to be retrieved, quits the property as
quickly as is possible, and does not unduly interfere with the lawful
use of the property.
4. The term "trespass" does not mean the entering upon the
right-of-way of a public road or highway.
5. For purposes of this section, "railway property" means all
tangible real and personal property owned, leased, or operated by a
railway corporation with the exception of any administrative building
or offices of the railway corporation.
For purposes of this section, "railway corporation" means a
corporation, company, or person owning, leasing, or operating any
railroad in whole or in part within this state.
6. This section shall not apply to the following persons:
a. Representatives of the state department of transportation,
the federal railroad administration, or the national transportation
safety board who enter or remain upon or in railway property while
engaged in the performance of official duties.
b. Employees of a railway corporation who enter or remain
upon or in railway property while acting in the course of employment.

c. Any person who is engaged in the operation of a lawful
business on railway station grounds or in the railway depot. 716.8 PENALTIES.
1. Any person who knowingly trespasses upon the property of
another commits a simple misdemeanor.
2. Any person committing a trespass as defined in section 716.7
which results in injury to any person or damage in an amount more
than two hundred dollars to anything, animate or inanimate, located
thereon or therein commits a serious misdemeanor.
3. A person who knowingly trespasses on the property of another
with the intent to commit a hate crime, as defined in section 729A.2,
commits a serious misdemeanor.
4. A person committing a trespass as defined in section 716.7
with the intent to commit a hate crime which results in injury to any
person or damage in an amount more than two hundred dollars to
anything, animate or inanimate, located thereon or therein commits an
aggravated misdemeanor.
5. A person who commits a trespass while hunting deer, other than
a farm deer as defined in section 170.1 or preserve whitetail as
defined in section 484C.1, commits a simple misdemeanor. The person
shall also be subject to civil penalties as provided in sections
481A.130 and 481A.131. A deer taken by a person while committing
such a trespass shall be subject to seizure as provided in section
481A.12.

I know a few outlaw shed hunters that always have a dog along with them because of what they call the " dog loophole" (716.7 #3) If you get caught and say you were trying to catch your dog after it "strayed" onto the property from another area, it is almost impossible to prosecute in court (and most prosecuters wont even try). This is one of the problems with iowa"s tresspass laws. They are hard to enforce/prosecute and the penalties are weak even if someone is prosecuted!

All a guy has to do is say his dog chased something and he was just on the property to find the dog and was on his way out when he was confronted/caught. This is the "dog loophole" and i know guys who have used it more than once.
 
WOW!

I was sort of offline for about 3 weeks, other than on my phone. This week when I was back at work and had a chance to catch up on IW I was reading all the CWD threads, etc and somehow didn't see this one. This morning when I logged in this one was at top and when I saw it had 29 pages I went straight to the coffee pot and fired it up! When I left this thread was at like page 5 or 6.......now 29 pages! This one is a legend!

What a rollercoaster thread though! The cam pics, finding out who it is, the tresspasser's totally pathetic post, dbltree living in Michigan (WTH! hahaha), the tide soap box and Nanny the snuggler, the suggestion to be nice to the felons because of fear, and then the completely pathetic penalty for being convicted of tresspassing. Been a great read this morning! Classic.

Congrats dbltree for busting him and learning about the practices of your "neighbors".

That fine is just another prime example of how weak the fines and punishment are in this country....it's just sad.

Keep posting up the tresspassing pics....these are great threads!
 
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