How close is too close?

[chucker34]

Hello. I will be slug hunting for deer in a stand of woods next week near a cabin we are building. The neighbor on the land adjacent to ours has hunted the same woods for years and got some nice bucks. I have been trying to talk to him in person just to introduce myself and let the topic of deer hunting come up naturally but he never seems to be home. I know that come this weekend, we'll both be hunting and we'll only be about 300-400 feet from one another in our tree stands since our strips of land are long but narrow and we're both trying to be near the popular trails. He has seen my stand (and I saw where he puts his last year) and talked to my father-in-law, who owned the land before us, asking if I was planning to hunt. My father-in-law said I bowhunted but wasn't sure if I would gun hunt. So the neighbor has an idea I could be there no too far away from him and will be able to see me in my blaze orange. I am not too concerned about safety (or negotiating with him since we are both hunting on our own land) but wanted to know different opinions on how close is too close to be to another hunter? I bet there'll be some different ideas depending on where you hunt and what the hunting pressure is like.

[Ole #1]

How much land do you own?

300 feet is only 100 yards, I think that's pretty close.

If there are other good areas for stands, I would sit farther away. Technically it's your land and you can hunt where you want to, but if he's been hunting in the same spot for years and you set up that close to him, it could cause some tension.

The best bet would be to keep trying to talk to him about it and see what he thinks.

Ole

[chucker34]

We both own a couple of acres of woods so it would be hard to move much farther away - especially considering if we moved in the other direction, we'd be headed toward several cabins. I guess another neighbor has set up not far from him on our land the past few years unbeknownst to my father-in-law who owned the land before us. I know this because our neighbor who will be hunting not far away from me told my father-in-law this.

On a sidenote, I have not seen his tri-pod stand up yet and I would think it would be out soon. I think I'll check again tonight and see if he's home. It's really not something I want to discuss with him on the phone. I'd rather do it in person and not have it turn into a big deal.

[Mr Special]

I personally think if you can see each other then it's to close. Those narrow stretches of land does make it hard to hide. Having a good understanding is the key. Where I hunt we "surrounding land owners" have an agreement that if a deer leaves your land it's fair game and whom ever makes the killing shot gets it. We've only lost a few deer but have gain a couple as well. There has been situations that we allow them and they allow us to track deer through their land especially if it's a big one. Again having a good relationship with the neighbors is most important.

Good luck

[bigbucks]

We hunt about that distance for each other on some of our stands & also from some of the neighbors. You have to be careful, but if that's all the land allows for you to do. I sure don't see any problem with it.

Where my stand is, my Dad sits about 100+ yards East of me. He has a guy about 100+ yards North of him on the neighbor's land & I have a guy about the same distance North of me, again on the neighbor's land. We have another guy in our party who uses two stands, one's about 150 yards South of me, the other's maybe 200 yards South of my Dad. There's also guys 200-300 yards West of me in the woods that I can't see. We never have a problem & most of us see deer, some of us kill more than others, but that's more to do with shooting ability than anything. In slug zone, you actually need to be fairly close if you really want to cover an area.

[paceman]

We have stands that are on our property line that are about 200 yards from the neighbors stands. One is deep in the woods so I doubt if a bullet can get through. However when he shoots he scares the bejeepers out of me. I once put up another stand on out land along our property line but the neighbor called and complained that we were too close. He thought it was unsafe. It was in a good area but I got sick of him bugging me so I removed it. I put it back this year but farther away. I can however see another stand from another neighbor about 300 yards to my right. I will have to be carefull if I shoot that way. I hope he is as well......

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

I'm sure he is not going to be happy about losing some of the hunting land but that is life. Your doing the right thing in trying to talk to him. If your both decent about it then he will adjust. If not there will be tension. Hopefully he has enought respect for your to not shoot towards your stand and you his. My inlaws and I are pretty darn close on their land. We all have a decent shot at getting the deer first though. We have been very lucky in that nobody hunts the adjoining land. That has gone on for 10 years. Every year I expect it to end and our hunting area to shrink. If it does I will be forced to hunt elsewhere.

[picksbigwagon]

I think the biggest thing here that you guys are forgetting is communication........I hunt in south east Mn and there always seems to be some kind of conflict where shots are fired or fights break out because when the sun comes up, there is suddenly a person within 100 yards of you. I think you have 3 nights to get a hold of this guy to let him know that you are going to be there, don't leave it to chance...

In fact, the person who owns our 80 that we hunt on (brother in law;'s mom) decided to rent out access to the 80 acres to two guys from the cities. we hunt second season so it didn't bother us. well these two guys ran into the neighbor who has always let us hunt his 520 acres, p'd him off, and now we have 4 guys on 80 acres instead of 6 guys on 600.....all because the land owner didn't communicate with the neighbors.......

Good luck everyone, if yer looking for meat, brown is down

[chucker34]

Thanks for all of the replies. I think I will give him a ring in the next night or so. The call will probably go something along the line of an introduction and then letting him know I will be hunting on my land this year and just wanted to give him a heads up of where I will be for safety sake. I don't think he can really argue, especially when he's been complaining to my father-in-law the past few years about the trespassers who have been At least this way, he'll know who's there and where they are and that they are concerned about safety.

[chucker34]

I finally got a hold of the guy last night! He doesn't have an answering machine and is trying to finish getting his crops in. Anyway, he was very cordial. I introduced myself and let him know for safety's sake that I would be down there too. He seemed nice and glad I called. He said that last year, this guy who always trespasses on our land set up so close to him (and directly in his main shooting lane) that he was afraid to lift his gun. Anyway, I let him know where I will be. We'll be close to one another but not too close as we know where one another is and out of one another's main shooting lanes. I think he was relieved as he thought I would be sitting in a ground blind much closer to his stand that I use for archery.