Worst fear has come true -

phew. that is really awful and scary. i am worried, too, as hunting approaches. i am on a main road, which is a help, but i have nine acres and abut hundreds more of open farmed land and woods. one reads of so many 'accidental' shootings of pets, livestock, and PEOPLE.
I TOTALLY understand your outrage and fear. don't know what to say about how to relax when you are away. you seem to be doing all that you can.
hmmmm, i think there are orange reflective collars out there for dogs.....maybe we should be putting them on our animals for the season??? maybe at least give us some peace of mind.
my ng wether LOOKS like a deer........light fawn color. great.
good luck to you, and i am sure you are welcome to share your worries here any time.
anybody have any ideas about how to stay safe at this time of year???

 

Goodness! I am so sorry for what you are going through. Without owning some of the roads I really don't know of any advice to give you except the private property signs and such but you have already done that. The signs serve as a warning though... and I would think the man that was on your property should have been fined... I wander why they didn't fine him.... maybe someone else can answer that. I hate it when other people trespass!! That bugs me more than anything! Last year we had a kid a couple of friends come up to my in-laws house and say that his 4wheeler was stuck on THEIR land but he couldn't remember where it was so he won't THEM to help him find it :roll: They looked but couldn't find it and he told the boy and the man that was with him that it was PRIVATE PROPERTY and they were not allowed to be on it (we have had problems in the past with kids riding 4wheelers through and cutting down fences to get in, our property is entirely fenced). Would you believe that the boys mother called that night and thought that it was WRONG of them to not want him on there land... that he should have some right to ride on it because he had a 4wheeler????? I mean come on..... You wouldn't believe the way some people think.

I really hope that the problem with the roads gets fixed soon so you will have a few more options maybe. Keep us posted!

 

Maybe you could lobby your county for some appropriate laws with FINES so that it would bite a bit to get caught trespassing?
Not the same thing but there was someone here shooting very close to my place at night-it went on for a week or more. The third night it was so close I finally decided to call the sherriff- I didn't realize that the magic words I thought someone was shooting at my house would trigger such a response but 3 deputies came up (back up for each other I guess) - they did not find anything but I never heard any shooting again and it's been over 2 years. Iguess someone here got the message.

 

Not sure about the spray paint, but check your local feed stores, and any auction barns if there is one near. Get a paint stick. They come in orange as well as many other colors!!!!! And are non toxic!!! I don't know if all feed stores would have them, but we do and we are just a small store!!!!

Even though I am a hunter, I have dreded hunting season for years. Where I am now there isn't any big game, but lots of birds along the canal. So far everybody that has hunted along there has been safe. But heaven help them if I ever see them even thinking about taking a shot towards my place. But I do remember having to keep my horses right at the barn. Specially the buckskin!!!! They didn't like it and neither did I!!!!

 

you can get the hunting dog reflecter collers that are orangeusualy at the pet store. i have a doe that looks just like a deer & i use to put them on her at hunting season. here is a picture of her with a deer to show how much she looks like one. i thought that every state had laws about how close they can be to a house when shooting

 

Any way you could put a gate up there? Even if you don't own the property the owners might allow it. Might be a little safer than parking a vehicle.
Best of luck to you!!!!

 

i googled 'hunting collars' and got several sites to come up. at least one has orange vests to put on horses.......and i realized my two mini donks are probably even more likely to be shot at than my goatees!!! there are many orange collars out there, and orange halters, too, for those with equines.
you yourself could stick on an orange vest when you go out.
not saying this is going to help, but at least sober and consciensious hunters will have some idea what they are looking at.
i can't beleive this dodo bird wasn't even fined for trespassing.
and i am so sorry about the dog behavior; does make one wonder if 'something' happened. maybe it was loud shots. anyway, i am just sorry for you. i would also be terrified in your situation.

 

good for you. you just might save yourself or others from horrible heart break. this rule is really necessary, esp as more people are living in rural areas.

 

We have problems with hunters here almost every year, because of the creek and all the timber they think they can just help themselves. It's really too bad hunters like that make it harder for the ones that DO respect people's property. I have no problem letting someone hunt if they stop & ask so we can talk to them about looking out for our animals, but most of them just don't bother! My Mom's pasture shares a fence line with ours. Two years ago we noticed a vehicle in my mom's pasture in the dark when we were coming home after one of the kid's school concerts. My husband & I went out to see what was up. It was three guys hunting coons, & they said they had permission from the owner (my Mom). We told him that was fine if he had permission, but to stay far away from our fenceline and not to shoot towards it. They said they would. We went to the house and talked to my Mom (she lives with us), and she told us that she hadn't given anyone permission to hunt out there and never would give someone permission to hunt right in the pasture. We went back outside and heard shots right by the house. This was when we still had horses in our pasture, it was pitch black out, and they were all running full speed scared of the shots. My husband went to talk to these guys again and found them standing down by the creek shooting up hill into the trees....right into our pasture. He sent them off the property and we haven't seen them back, but it is kind of scary going and talking to people who are trespassing and who are carrying guns. I can't believe the nerve of some of these people, they were trespassing, they lied right to us, and then they did exactly what we asked them not to.

Other times we have been awakened in the middle of the night by someone's coon dog howling at our front door because they were out hunting on our property (again without permission) and the dog took off. Once there was even a drunk guy running through the garden right behind our house trying to catch his coon dog. Some of these people just do not think!

 

Most hunting is during the day...I'm not sure of the laws for coon hunting but around here they are always out at all hours of the night with their spotlights and dogs. I am pretty sure the spotlights are illegal but they still use them all the time.

A lot of the daylight hunters don't follow the rules either...we get the lazy guys that will shoot from the road without even getting out of their vehicle.

kelebek glad you haven't had any more of them. It's so frustrating when they think they can go wherever they want whenever they want.

 

pull out an M-16 and these guys would scatter for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lol: