Tired of it... Need help with confrontation

[jorswift]

So my buddy bought an old farm with 34 acres that butts up to about 150 acres. Long story short, the neighbor is a nice dude, but he used to basically trespass on the 184 acres before they split it up and sold it off in 2 tracts. My buddy who bought the house asked the farmer to hunt, so he agreed to lease to us and the neighbor. So we agreed to put up stands and hunt accordingly. Well, my buddy and I put up 6 stands, to the other guy's 1. We did all the tractor work for food plots, lane cutting, etc. Now at first we didnt have an issue with it as the property was just developing since the farmer was doing a bunch of work, (cutting fence rows, logging, etc.) But fast forward to 3 years later, same story, we do all the work, they reap the benefits. We put up a new stand without tell them, and they hunt it opening day (as wind was wrong) without telling or asking and they get a doe. They are constantly back there walking, hunting, fishing the pond, shooting ducks/geese, etc. But like a said, its my buddies neighbor and he is a nice guy. How do we confront him and talk about the issue?

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

If you're splitting the lease equally 3 ways, not sure you can do anything about it. Understand you guys did all the work and maintenance, but did you ask him to pitch in to help? Have you discussed a schedule for who hunts when? I'm sure there are guys on here with leases that can help with the rules, but it sounds like you guys just need to start over and establish some rules. If you can't reconcile and come up with a plan that works for everybody, maybe he'll "sell" his portion of the lease to you and your buddy. Maybe its just a misunderstanding and he'll jump right on board, but if I'm a betting man there will be some hard feelings.

 

[wind gypsy]

Sounds like all you can do is be open and honest with your main desires for the property and tell him how what he is or isn't doing bothers you. Seems like your main gripe is he isn't concerned with putting pressure/intrusion on the property and you are. Chances are he isn't going to care or understand why it bothers you but you never know until you try. The majority of shared lease situations are bound to end up with these issues unless you know the other parties have the same goals for the property, same idea of how to achieve them, and same feelings on how to allocate the use of property amongst lessees. Good freakin luck with that!

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Sounds like all you can do is be open and honest with your main desires for the property and tell him how what he is or isn't doing bothers you. Seems like your main gripe is he isn't concerned with putting pressure/intrusion on the property and you are. Chances are he isn't going to care or understand why it bothers you but you never know until you try. The majority of shared lease situations are bound to end up with these issues unless you know the other parties have the same goals for the property, same idea of how to achieve them, and same feelings on how to allocate the use of property amongst lessees. Good freakin luck with that!

100%

 

[ognennyy]

Confront the neighbor with what expectations in mind? You left that part out and before you consider confronting anyone I think you should work that out in your head.

 

[Rich M]

What I find interesting is that everyone thinks you need a food plot and have to spend a lot of time, effort, and money to hunt the lowly whitetail. Pull all your stands and go mobile. Put the food plots on your buddy's 34 acres and leave the 150 acres alone. Use a climber when you want to hunt.

Who is "they" - the neighbor is more than 1. How many is more than 1?

You need to talk with the neighbor and do it in a nice gentle manner - cause if push comes to shove. You & buddy are the outsiders here. The farmer is gonna side with the guy he's known for years.

A bitter pill. Is it better to hunt there and deal with the neighbor or not hunt there? That is basically what you are talking about if you go about this wrong.

 

[KHNC]

What I find interesting is that everyone thinks you need a food plot and have to spend a lot of time, effort, and money to hunt the lowly whitetail. Pull all your stands and go mobile. Put the food plots on your buddy's 34 acres and leave the 150 acres alone. Use a climber when you want to hunt.

Who is "they" - the neighbor is more than 1. How many is more than 1?

You need to talk with the neighbor and do it in a nice gentle manner - cause if push comes to shove. You & buddy are the outsiders here. The farmer is gonna side with the guy he's known for years.

A bitter pill. Is it better to hunt there and deal with the neighbor or not hunt there? That is basically what you are talking about if you go about this wrong.

Thats impossible! Cant kill a deer that way.

 

[wind gypsy]

Sounds like all you can do is be open and honest with your main desires for the property and tell him how what he is or isn't doing bothers you. Seems like your main gripe is he isn't concerned with putting pressure/intrusion on the property and you are. Chances are he isn't going to care or understand why it bothers you but you never know until you try. The majority of shared lease situations are bound to end up with these issues unless you know the other parties have the same goals for the property, same idea of how to achieve them, and same feelings on how to allocate the use of property amongst lessees. Good freakin luck with that!

Also wanted to add, I would approach it carefully because he likely sees things differently than you and that doesn’t necessarily mean he is wrong and burning bridges probably doesn’t help your case much either.

 

[Augie]

It seems like there isn't a lot of communication between you and your buddy with the neighbor here. Definitely try to have a civil conversation with the neighbor as it's probably not a major problem. If certain stands belong to you and your buddy just ask the neighbor to not sit in any of your stands without shooting you a call/text asking permission first. It's a tough situation but if it bothers you that much you should address it, if not now during the winter/spring so they have a year to help out around the lease or make other plans.

 

[TSAMP]

What I find interesting is that everyone thinks you need a food plot and have to spend a lot of time, effort, and money to hunt the lowly whitetail. Pull all your stands and go mobile. Put the food plots on your buddy's 34 acres and leave the 150 acres alone. Use a climber when you want to hunt.

Who is "they" - the neighbor is more than 1. How many is more than 1?

You need to talk with the neighbor and do it in a nice gentle manner - cause if push comes to shove. You & buddy are the outsiders here. The farmer is gonna side with the guy he's known for years.

A bitter pill. Is it better to hunt there and deal with the neighbor or not hunt there? That is basically what you are talking about if you go about this wrong.

Lowly whitetail? I'm hearing some healthy outfitter costs these days to hunt these critters. With western tag allocation going down and hunter numbers going up, I think whitetails are on the rage!

 

[camping1601]

I'd pull every stand and let every plot or field go back to weeds and hunt from a mobile setup. I'm getting to old to fight over these kind of things.

 

[Boarmaster]

I'd pull every stand and let every plot or field go back to weeds and hunt from a mobile setup. I'm getting to old to fight over these kind of things.

This. Even for the east or midwest its a small area for two different groups with different goals and no coordination to be hunting without headaches. It would be different if all three hunters were one group then you could coordinate. My guess is this arrangement is not likely to work out. But I wish you the best.

 

[wytx]

Yep, pull those stands and hunt from the ground.
Give them opening day to hunt and then hit it harder during the rut.

Can you put up tree stands with removable steps, no way up makes it hard to sit a stand.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Yep, pull those stands and hunt from the ground.
Give them opening day to hunt and then hit it harder during the rut.

Can you put up tree stands with removable steps, no way up makes it hard to sit a stand.

Never used one personally, but saddles would be a good solution.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Might as well be hunting public land.
Sounds like you've got yourself in a "club",
and with a "club" there will be drama.
I'd find some other places to hunt, and keep
that place as an extra. I wouldnt put any work
in it, and would get a climbing stand for when
I did go.
You dont have any leverage, so there's not much
that can be done about it.