Posted: No Trespassing

The old sign, note that it has been pretty well riddled with bird shot, which was typical of that era, and prompts today’s blog.

Last winter, while walking near the edge of our community woodlot, I noticed something yellow poking out of the snow. Thinking it to be a piece of trash, I retrieved it and found it to be one of my old aluminum posted signs from the 1970s, which had been on a post facing the road (more modern signs are made of plastic).

In Iowa and across the country, the number of people who hunt has been in decline for several decades. Hunter-based organizations and state DNRs tend to deplore this decline, but I’m not so sure that it is an unhealthy trend.

We bought our rural property in 1971, and back then hardly a year when by when we didn’t have a couple of hostile incidents with trespassing hunters. And these bozos were so bold that sometimes even when caught in the act, they would stand in my yard and read me their riot act. When an aggressive guy who smells of alcohol is standing there waving a loaded shotgun around, you doubt that you will miss him if he decides not to hunt next year. Being a hunter myself, I found this appalling because I know that only a few of these guys were giving the rest of us a bad reputation.

The state contributes to this problem with their rule that allows hunting in the roadside ditches. In most cases, this land in fact belongs to the adjacent property owner and the state merely has an easement to do what is necessary in the R.O.W. to keep the road functional and safe. When a pheasant flies up from the road ditch, it either flies across the road and you shouldn’t shoot across a public road, or it flies over the adjacent private land where you cannot hunt without permission. It is a rare bird that flies exactly down the ditch and keeps the ammunition confined to the R.O.W. In the short term it gives the bold and careless an excuse to trespass, and in the long run it alienates more property owners against hunting.

Even with hunters who are trying to avoid conflict, there are sometimes extenuating circumstances. One of my most extenuating arrived late in the season about two decades ago. A troop of hunters appeared in my carport and explained that they had wounded a deer a half mile away, tracked it to our place, and wanted to continue the hunt for it. The trail in the snow showed it to be a dying deer headed for our neighbor’s house, folks who strongly disapproved of guns and hunting. I could have said no, but that would have left a dead deer in their yard and they would have been very unhappy.

So I made them leave all but one gun in my carport, along with two of the guys who had started drinking to keep warm. The rest of us followed the trail right to the neighbor’s house, and there it was, leaning against their garden fence, only a stone’s throw from their door. Not a place to fire a gun. So I sent the gun bearer down into the valley below with clear instructions how and when to shoot, only if it revived and came past him via the most likely escape route. I stationed one guy with a knife near one end of the fence and I borrowed a knife and sneaked around the house below window level to the other end. On signal we rushed the deer from both sides and before it could regain its feet we had it down and dead. The snow was crimson, and while two guys dragged the deer back to our place, the rest of us cut pine boughs and swept away the tracks and covered the evidence with snow. The neighbors apparently never noticed.

My shoulder patch for completing the course.

To my mind, the knifing incident represents the transition era from the sorta lawless old days to a newer and often younger generation of better behaved hunters. I especially attribute this to the DNR hunter safety course required of all younger hunters, because it includes a component about responsibility, ethics, and landowner relationships. Even though I was exempt from the requirement, I took the course with my kids in 1984, just to observe how it was taught, and came away satisfied.

I find today’s hunters to be much more conscientious and when I tell them that hunting in our neighborhood is reserved for community members, most accept it graciously. Consequently, I haven’t posted “No Trespassing” signs along the road for several decades, and have not regretted it.

Hunting can be a part of being a conservationist. When your kids or grandkids get old enough, offer to take them to a hunter safety course. At a minimum, they will learn about gun safety, and might go on to take more interest in animals. Many boys and some girls go through a stage where they want to hunt. For some, it will be a brief experience, and for others it evolves into a lifetime involvement, committing to habitat and other forms of land management.