What to do... if anything

[T-Rex]

Me and my boys, 21 & 25, just got back from an antelope hunt in central Wyoming. We had a blast and both boys took great antelope.

The second day we were there, we parked on the side of the highway and hiked into a section of state/BLM land. We got towards the back of the area and noticed a truck up on the rim above us on the private land. He proceeded to drive off the rim and come barreling towards us, once he got there he started screaming at us that we had to get off his land, which we were well over 100 yds away from. He proceeded to yell that we "had to have trespassed to get to where we were at. I assured him that we did not and tried to explain to him where we had parked, he was having none of it and told us to "get the ()&* out", and he was calling the CO, to which I told him "please do and tell him to meet me at my truck off the hwy". Not wanting to escalate any further I decided to just leave, and I would call the CO myself when we returned to the truck.

On the way back to the truck my son shot a nice antelope buck, again we were dead in the middle of 3000 acres of public land that I knew we were good to be on because of the homework I did prior to season talking with the local wardens and state police.

We were about 150 yds from the truck when the warden happened to be driving by so he pulled in and helped us get over the fence and proceeded to check in my sons antelope. He said the land owner had called him, and he assured the landowner that we had not did anything wrong, and the L/O apologized to the warden about the way he handled the situation.

So here's my question

While getting yelled at by the L/O he stated that he hates hunting season because people are consistently trespassing on his land, and I can see his frustration if that is the case, some guys are lazy and go the easy route. I was thinking of sending the L/O a letter and bottle of good whiskey, apologizing for shi**y hunters on behalf of the hunters that do their due diligence and everything "by the book". What do you think? Should I do that or just let it go and forget about it?

Rich

 

[isItFallYet]

Send him your address so he can apologize and send you a bottle of good whiskey.

 

[Jakeb]

Hmmm whiskey? I was thinking more along the lines of pressing hunter harassment charges on him, but that’s just me. These entitled pieces of **** are getting tiring.

You weren’t in the wrong, you weren’t on his land.

 

[Yooper]

Send the CO a good bottle of whiskey for helping you out if nothing else. That bottle wont change the L/O feelings. You don't owe him anything and his actions would have ruined a lot of other guys hunts. Good on you for doing your homework and being successful in a less than ideal situation.

 

[ColPenguin]

Unless you want to press charges for hunter harassment probably best to let it go. Still accomplished your harvest goal so there are no damages.

You did nothing wrong. It's the landowner with the problem.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

F him and forget it. The world is full on his type. Congratulation on the buck.

 

[nettereo16]

You sound like a good upstanding hunter and father. Screw the landowner, he did nothing that deserves an ounce of credit aside from harass you and your sons (and likely other hunters in the past). If someone had at one point trespassed on his land, that’s their problem and doesn’t give the right to harass you guys. I would have recorded the confrontation and 100% pressed harassment charges.

 

[Eleven]

If send him a print out of on-x or a platt map to show him where his boundaries are. Not kidding.

 

[KyleR1985]

downside of your planned action: you’re out whatever you spend on whiskey postage and the time to write a note.

Upside of your planned action: the landowner sees that having someone hunting on his property with permission might prevent lots more hunting it without, and you forge a relationship that opens up more opportunities for you and your kids. And shows your sons that taking proactive and positive actions is still the right move in the face of negativity.


Doing nothing is fine too.

 

[Esteban]

Giving him whiskey for bad behavior would only affirm that his actions are ok in his mind and would incentivize him to yell at more hunters in the future with the expectation that he would get more whiskey....Akin to dog training, don't reward bad behavior, tell him to go lie down on his bed and stop barking

 

[Esteban]

Also I respect your intentions, you sound like you have a good heart, and congrats on the successful hunt!

 

[MarlinMark]

Did he drive out onto the public land to harass you? He probably was breaking the law doing that.....

 

[kpk]

I think the landowner was only apologetic because it didn't go the way he had hoped it would.

 

[sniper61]

The wrong think to do is reward or ignor hunter harssment. You had someone just harrss you on your property. You own that land if you are a US citizen.

 

[Wrench]

Been in this one many years ago. I had two interactions with the same land owner. After the first I called the warden and explained the situation. He told me to call him on his cell should it happen again. It did happen again and I did call.

The landowner was sighted for harassing a sportsman and issued a ticket and embarrassment right in front of me. The landowner asked me to not share the location of the easement and he would allow me to park on his property to access the land.

In the end it was quite a victory for me and you.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Don’t reward bad behavior.

If anything, sending him the whiskey is likely to reinforce in his mind that you must have trespassed to get to where you were.

I’d ignore the landowner and go hunt there again next year. If he does something similar again, then show him your OnX location. And if he still freaks out, consider your options carefully, but keep hunting there.

Filing a lawsuit at this stage is premature. In our society, we are only supposed to file lawsuits against people because we aren’t allowed to kill them. The entire process is deliberately unpleasant for both parties. So, I don’t believe in going from zero to murder over a single incident.

 

[T-Rex]

downside of your planned action: you’re out whatever you spend on whiskey postage and the time to write a note.

Upside of your planned action: the landowner sees that having someone hunting on his property with permission might prevent lots more hunting it without, and you forge a relationship that opens up more opportunities for you and your kids. And shows your sons that taking proactive and positive actions is still the right move in the face of negativity.


Doing nothing is fine too.

This was kind of my thinking except I'm really not worried about getting permission on his land. The next day we killed a second antelope off the same section. I was just hoping to open his eyes a little that we're not ALL bad.

Lots of great info/ideas in this thread, but it seems the majority say do nothing as he doesn't deserve it.

If I could go back I would have recorded the conversation when I pulled my phone out to show him where we came from.... hind sight is 20/20

 

[DanMan]

Send me the location so I can go hunt there and see if he does it again

 

[wytx]

I'd call that GW again and talk with him or her about hunter harassments charges.
Be firm and make him go talk with that LO.

I'd be curious to know if this LO does this every year.. Some are well known for this behavior and it should stop. A talk by a GW usually goes a long way. Call that GW and ask a few questions. If they don't want to handle it take it up the chain as they say and call Cheyenne.

 

[T-Rex]