If you saw this on your trailcam, what would you do?

[T. J. Mercer]

Two scenarios, I can post the pics if need be. (Not my property, I'm asking on behalf of the land owner -- though I do hunt at the other end of it)

1) Trespasser - strange guy walks onto property, right past a new, bright, "No Trespassing" sign, looks up at a hang-on stand further back and out of sight, goes to the camera, opens it, presumably pulls all the pictures off of it onto a storage device, returns it, leaves.

We figure not only is he trespassing, he's tampering and stealing digital data.
We thought about printing out his picture, laminating it, framing it, and putting it on a tree at the boundary to let him know we're watching him and have evidence of his activities . . .
We also thought about leaving a number and telling him to text us and we'd just send him all the good pics, so he wouldn't have to go through them all!


Weeks pass . . . same stand and trailcam

2) Rangers? - the property backs up to a state forest. A side-by-side with two rangers are presumably surveying the fire lane / boundary and pass by. 7 minutes later, they pass back by (presumably done with their check down the path), stop, one gets out, walks onto property, checks out his smart phone/device, looks at stand, they leave, he didn't appear to see the camera. I'm pretty sure they were park rangers and not TWRA. He seemed to have a patch that looked more like a park patch and his back said Ranger.

Now, the owner does have a trophy rock on the ground and has historically dropped a few pounds of corn on the ground every few weeks to pull in deer for a "census."
As far as I know, there's nothing illegal about this.
He's not baiting for hunting purposes, and it was weeks away from a season (and that's only if you count velvet, otherwise, much longer).
As far as I know, you can even hunt the public land with a permit, but the stand isn't on it and the boundary is at the edge of bow range.
(I personally have not hunted the area, b/c I hate public land)

Maybe he's marking known stands on his GPS?
Checking OnX?
Taking a selfie while trespassing?

Given all the recent news and legislation, you'd think they'd tread more carefully about crossing onto private property.
And there can be no question of where the property line is, given the fire lane, the neighboring fences, the signs, etc.


I do not think the two incidents are related.
Initial thoughts?
How would you respond?
Thanks!

 

[double browtine]

Post up his picture! Someone needs to know who to watch out for.

 

[rem270]

I think it's 2 different incidents. 1st incident I'd find out who it is and prosecute for trespassing and not worry about leaving notes or anything like that.

2nd incident I'd be going and talking to someone with twra or the park rangers and ask what they were doing. But seems to me he was checking the property lines. I'd still ask tho. But the owner has a stand there but only puts out trophy rock and corn for "census"? I'm probably not buying that one but that's none of my business.

 

[Shanman]

#2……I've been as far as 40' across the line before using ONX, then it settles in and bumps me back closer to the line. If the park ranger saw any evidence of corn or stand, then my guess is he's checking the line and probably pinning the location for any future situation that might come up. Doing his job basically.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Have to agree with rem270. The landowner will likely have to be involved, would talk with your local warden, give him everything that you all have on both the digital thief and the park ranger.

 

[Ski]

strange guy walks onto property, right past a new, bright, "No Trespassing" sign, looks up at a hang-on stand further back and out of sight, goes to the camera, opens it, presumably pulls all the pictures off of it onto a storage device, returns it, leaves.

A side-by-side with two rangers are presumably surveying the fire lane / boundary and pass by. 7 minutes later, they pass back by (presumably done with their check down the path), stop, one gets out, walks onto property, checks out his smart phone/device, looks at stand, they leave, he didn't appear to see the camera.

the owner does have a trophy rock on the ground and has historically dropped a few pounds of corn on the ground every few weeks to pull in deer for a "census."

As far as I know, you can even hunt the public land with a permit, but the stand isn't on it and the boundary is at the edge of bow range.

A normal trail camera field of view is 30*-40*. Exceptional is 60*. Exceptional detection range is 100ft, roughly 33yds. Your camera can see people on public ground, people on private ground, see them step past the no trespassing sign to look up at the "out of view tree stand", and is center focused on the bait pile for "census" purposes.

That's a whole lot going on in a very tight window of space, meaning that bait pile is right on the line of public land with a tree stand hanging over it. Is it possible somebody on public ground saw what was going on and took evidence to turn in to the wardens or rangers, and then you saw the authorities following up on the lead?

Furthermore a fire break is not a border. It has to be wholly inside the border of the state ground, just as private fences have to be wholly inside their respective properties. Does your buddy have a valid survey and are there survey stakes in the ground to clearly identify his line? It would be a choke worthy crow feast if he turned in a trespasser only to find out that it's actually he who is in the wrong by illegally baiting and posting public land. Without a survey that line might not be where he thinks it is.

Just some thoughts. If he is certain he's in the right and somebody trespassed then he should for sure report it.

 

[Snake]

In both instances there was trespassing IMO .

 

[@fulldraw]

If it's a state forest then the guys would be in Forestry uniform. State Park would be park rangers.

 

[T. J. Mercer]

This spot is at the corner of the property, and an adjacent farmer with cattle has well established posts and fencing that runs the length of the fire lane / boundary.
Imagine a T where the two private parcels are the corners below the T-bar and the area above the T-bar is public.

In other words, there is zero question about where the property lines are, the private properties are either fenced or posted, and in some areas, the state property has boundary markers on trees. The fences and signs would be enough, but there's also a well-kept fire lane clearly indicating the boundary line.

During the summer, I drop a few pounds of loose corn, persimmon powder, and that bourbon dirt on my trophy rocks to help draw deer in, but the turkey, coons, crows and deer usually clear the corn in the first 2 or 3 days. Once they've established a pattern on the rock, you don't really need any corn.
The corn had been long gone when both parties visited the area, and it was clear both parties were staring at the stand that's further back.

I'll reach out to the local park rangers and see what they can tell me. Odds are they were just marking the spot, just don't understand why they felt the need to step onto the property to do so.

Thanks for the insight.
Tomorrow I'll post pics.
None of the neighbors knew who the stranger was.
My guess is he was walking the fire lane from much further away, scouting, saw the setup, investigated, stole data, in his mind, no harm no foul.
I could almost give him a pass if it was public land, but it's clearly not.
I think my biggest worry at this point is a potential conflict from him hunting out of the stand, should someone stumble upon him.

It's why I hate public land.
I often think a lot of the "hunting accidents" we read about start this way.