How Would You Handle This.

[Abndoc]

My 15 year old son knocked on a neighbors door about 1/2 mile from our house. She is 85 and owns around 120 acres.  He's been watching 2 nice bucks all summer long.  She gave him permission and said one other neighborhood kid is hunting it also but lots of land shouldn't be an issue.  He went and hung a stand a few weeks ago. Its the property where he shot the doe off in the previous thread.  Well the neighborhood kid turned into be a 50 yr old guy down the road.  He showed up at our house last evening, I wasn't home and had a discussion with my wife about how my son shouldn't be out there, has no right to be hunting there and didn't discuss it with him.   If he shoots one of the bucks out there, there will be problems.  I obviously called the gentleman last night and expressed my distaste for his attitude and his discussion with my wife when she was alone.  I also stated we are talking about a 15 yr old kid and I'm proud of the fact he's able to go around knock on doors, ask for permission, share his ability with landowners and get permission all on his own.  I talked with my son about it, and told him it would probably be best to not hunt over there and he needs to go take the stand down and move on.  He was heartbroken, since he got the permission on his own, put his stand up, cut shooting lanes.  I get someone being protective over a spot, I tried to explain to the gentleman that we are talking about a kid.  He has the permission to be there. How would you guys handle it. 

[Getanet]

Honestly, I would probably do what you did and tell my kid he did everything right, but to move on. This is assuming you didn't get the impression the guy was going to change his mind when you spoke to him.

 

Unless you know her, the last thing the landowner probably wants to do is get involved in the dispute. And I'm sure you don't want your kid out there alone, not knowing if the older guy will confront him or how unreasonable he could be if he does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nofishfisherman]

Tough deal on this one. 

 

You've got to decide how much fight you want to put into this.  There are also a lot of life lessons here to teach your son just depends on which one you want to focus on. 

 

In most circumstances I would start out by going to the landowner and explaining the issues and see if you can get it resolved.  However, with it being an 85 year old woman you'll have to decide if you want to drag her into it. I'd probably at least inform her of the issue so that she's aware of what is happening on her property and what type of person is out there.  She should at least know that much as the landowner  If she wants to make it right then so be it but I wouldn't push her on it.  Just leave it as a heads up and let her know your son will move on as to not cause trouble if she doesn't seem like she's got it in her to straighten things out. 

[ozzie]

Obviously the guy has "passion" for "his" hunting spot.  I would try to meet him face to face with your son and see if you couldn't reasonably discuss it and come to an agreement.  Possibly do it at the landowners home if you want to put him in his place.  This of course first goes with how you feel this gentleman would be towards a talk.  After all it is not his land and he can't just bully his way around.  Now if you feel he is psychotic then don't bother.  I have a chunk of land that I can't hunt (even though I have permission and all the rights to hunt it) because the neighbor is crazy enough that he will possibly hunt me and I don't need that feeling of being hunted.  Hope you can work things out!  People get funny when it comes to hunting land especially when they know there is a bigger deer in the area. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by ozzie

[roony]

He has permission from the landowner, let him hunt. If the 50 year old does anything to affect his hunt that is "hunter harassment" and he should be charged. 

[leech~~]

I would get a dlb ladder stand and sit with my kid as much as I could.  Don't let the dude bully you if you have the right to be there as well.  She may not know the age of this person if he had his kid go down there and get permission and he is really doing the hunting?

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by leech~~

[Abndoc]

Leech- I thought about that same thing.  I do not know the guy or the family, so unsure of what the dynamic is there. 

 

Thanks for the responses.  We are going to head over there this evening and talk with the lady. My plan is take it down either way.  If she says he can still hunt, and boot the other guy, or even let them both hunt i dont think if the experience is going to be anything we are looking forward to dealing with.  We have 10 acres at our house he's hunting too, and going to do some more knocking on doors.  I get being protective over his "spot". It just bothers me that he would be so unwilling to allow a 15 yr old to experience what he clearly loves to do.  Life will go on.  We will be in Montana in Oct, chasing elk and mule deer. He wont be missing out!  Those bucks are roaming the river bottom we live on, maybe the ultimate revenge will be having a chance to shoot one of them on our own land we are grooming for wildlife together.

[AlwaysFishing23]

Dang what a shame not cool at all. I agree with leech. That’s more than enough acreage for more than one hunter to hunt. If he had the guts to go talk to the neighbor lady and she was fine with it then all is good. If this “kid” ( old guy) has an issue with it then he needs to grow up It’s not his land. Not many kids even hunt anymore so the fact that he wants to is great. Let him hunt some and if it continues to be an issue then maybe just tell him to pull the plug? I’m also dealing with some crazy neighbors right now that continue to feed. The CO has been out many times and they still do the same thing tickets have been given and there’s been some talking. I hate to “ tadle” on others but when people think they have rights that others shouldn’t have then that’s where a CO may come into play. Not saying you need to do this but if he comes barging to the door and demanding your son leave then maybe something needs to change and maybe he shouldn’t be allowed there. 

[roony]

Horns make some otherwise normal people crazy. I'm not a horn hunter myself and that is one reason why.

 

[Big Dave2]

27 minutes ago, Abndoc said:

Leech- I thought about that same thing.  I do not know the guy or the family, so unsure of what the dynamic is there. 

 

Thanks for the responses.  We are going to head over there this evening and talk with the lady. My plan is take it down either way.  If she says he can still hunt, and boot the other guy, or even let them both hunt i dont think if the experience is going to be anything we are looking forward to dealing with.  We have 10 acres at our house he's hunting too, and going to do some more knocking on doors.  I get being protective over his "spot". It just bothers me that he would be so unwilling to allow a 15 yr old to experience what he clearly loves to do.  Life will go on.  We will be in Montana in Oct, chasing elk and mule deer. He wont be missing out!  Those bucks are roaming the river bottom we live on, maybe the ultimate revenge will be having a chance to shoot one of them on our own land we are grooming for wildlife together.

 

I agree with you 100%. If it were me who had the permission to hunt I would approach things differently but when my son is involved I would back down and use it as a learning lesson. I would however tell the lady that your son is not going to be hunting her land and the exact reason why. If it were my land, I would want to know.

[Big Dave2]

The one thing I can think of that your son could have done differently is that maybe he should have got a name from the land owner and sought out the other hunter for a discussion before hand. The hunting woods are a much safer place when everyone hunting the area knows the whereabouts and plans of each other hunter in the woods.

 

That's not to say that the other 50 year old guy isn't being an unreasonable, entitled, first class a hole but part of this may be due to a misunderstanding if there was not a discussion prior to hunting season. 

[Wanderer]

@Abndoc I hope your conversation with the Landowner goes well.

 

In my experience, the 85 year old landowner truly DOES believe there’s enough land for the two hunters and couldn’t possibly think of a reason why it wouldn’t be.  A 50 year old will always be a kid in her eyes but she may not have even met him personally.  He could be a friend’s or even a friend of a friend’s “kid”.  This is a remnant if the good old days of getting private land access.

 

Modern deer hunting teaches us to have as much control over as much ground as we can to be more successful, so some people really forget their place as a guest of the true landowner ( I know you’ve been around long enough to know this). 

 

I’ve  personally seen these situations go both ways:  The landowner finds out there’s a conflict and either kicks the 50 year old out for being a Dick or kicks the 2nd hunter out, feeling bad that they [PoorWordUsage]ed off the first hunter.  It’s crazy!

 

I think you’re handling it pretty well since the season has started.  Let her know and let her decision be the final word, without pressure from you.  BUT encourage your boy to be the FIRST person to knock on her door before next season starts!  Then he can tell the 51 year old to [PoorWordUsage] off! 

[Abndoc]

Well I couldn’t make it over there yesterday, so my son went over today after school to tell her thank you but he’s going to take his stand down. After a 30 mins conversation with her, he now gained bow hunting, shotgun hunting and turkey season next spring. She told him that he has permission as does the other gentleman and don’t worry about it. This is where it gets good. Cole went out to his stand and guess who shows up asking what he’s doing. The other “kid”. Asking why he is back out there, Cole explained to him that he talked with the land owner and sees no reason why they both can’t be out there. The guy stormed off. So I called him a while ago.....yes the first 15 mins were not some of my best moments, but I finally was able to get to the bottom of his problem. He’s never shot a deer, he’s never shot anything and only took up hunting 3 years ago. Whoever has been “coaching” him has given him some very bad information. Told him things that I’ve never even heard of. So I told him not only will we help set you up, but we will move your stands into good spots, I will hang a double set if wanted and either myself or my son would be glad to sit with you and help walk you through the first time, video tape it and even offered to let him come sit in my ground blind on my field and get him a shot a doe any night. We are all meeting tomorrow night so i can go over some maps with him and show him where I would put my stands at if I were him. I told Him instead of running my son off who could a complete asset to him, learn from him. He might be only 15 but he’s a wealth of knowledge and loves everything about hunting, not just the killing part. He just wants to be in the woods and help others. Looks like a bad situation may turn into a good one.  I hope at some point this fall I can post a picture of my son guiding this gentleman to his first archery deer. 

[Mike89]

that is so great!!!!!  You folks are raising a good son!!!!  

[Wanderer]

Yeah, that is awesome!  I hope the guy chokes down his humble pie and realizes what a gift you and your son are willing to give him!