The hunting season woes that I hinted at in my last post have come to a swift and favorable ending! Basically it goes like this.... as you all know from my yearly gripes, with September's hunting season comes a veritable parking lot of hunters' cars in my cul-de-sac as they go back in the woods behind my house and hunt deer and sometimes turkeys. We have seen some really old Posted signs on various trees, but figured either they were outdated or maybe these hunters know the landowners and have their permission.
In any case, things took a nasty turn when Dave discovered a tree stand installed in a tree NOT TEN FEET away from the edge of our property in the woods. Our property is lined on 2 sides by an old stone wall as is common in New England for marking property, and this tree is just steps away from the wall. This was just too much. I do not exactly live in a rural area. We live in a residential area that just happens to have some nice woods behind it, and LAZY hunters think they can just go back there and do whatever they want near people's houses. So we were really ticked off by this as we do not want bowhunters dangling around in the trees around our house. HELLO?!?!?!?
Dave was nice enough to keep this discovery to himself for a while so he could figure out what to do. He knew I would be furious about it (and I was) but in the meantime he was trying to find the hunters to personally ask them to move it elsewhere, but wasn't able to. He even called the landowners at home but couldn't get anybody to answer their phone.
When he finally did tell me, after I scraped myself off the roof, I emailed the Law Enforcement Division of the NH Fish & Game Department for advice. They basically told me to go fly a kite as I have no rights as a homeowner apparently. WTF??!?!?
Here is my email:
Hello,
I have a question regarding my rights as a homeowner and where hunters are able to put up a tree stand...... I live in Goffstown, in an inhabited area. However I am in a cul-de-sac and surrounded by woods on two sides and we discovered that some hunters have put up a tree stand not 10 feet beyond the stone wall at the edge of our property. I doubt it is more than 300 feet from the back of our house, to the back of our property.
We have not yet been able to find the hunters who put up the tree stand so we can ask them to move elsewhere, nor have we been able to contact the owner of the land (which is posted, by the way). I am scared for the safety of my family with these hunters being so active right in my backyard basically (we have deer and wild turkeys).
Do I have any recourse in asking them to move their tree stand (if we can locate them?) I am really uncomfortable with them hunting so close to my house as I like to be outside with my son quite a bit. We know they are around ALL the time as there are always hunter's cars parked in front of our house.
Thank you,
Erika Follansbee
And here is their response:
----- Original Message -----
From:
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 11:05 AM
Subject: RE: tree stand at edge of my backyard
Erika,
Unfortunately, if the tree stands are not on your property, you have no authority to force them to leave. If you find out who the landowner is, you can contact them about the tree stands, but they could be there with permission of the landowner. Whereas only the archery season for deer is open, I am assuming they are bow hunters. Please keep in mind that bows have an effective range of only about 30 yards. Tree stand hunters commonly see multiple deer on a daily basis, but as they are aiming down from the stand, the deer need to be almost directly under them to take a shot. There would be no threat from a bow hunter to abutters, and we have never had a member of the public injured or placed in harm's way by an archer, as they hunt at such close quarters. Bow hunters play an important role in thinning the deer herd in the more urban areas of the state. If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.
Administrative Lieutenant
Law Enforcement Division
NH Fish and Game Department
11 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 271-3127
A few thoughts on this.... this quote ticked us off to no end: Bow hunters play an important role in thinning the deer herd in the more urban areas of the state. First of all, there aren't that many deer around here. We've been here five years and I only see deer a few times a year, probably less than four. They eat my hostas, yes, but not that often. Second of all, just because they are doing the ecosystem this huge favor does not mean they need to be hunting over people's backyards!!! There is JUST NO NEED FOR THAT. It is ridiculous that these hunters have more rights to scamper through the woods than the homeowners who want to enjoy their backyards with their children.
Anyway, to get on with the outcome of the story. Dave finally got a call back from the woman who owns the land and she is SO nice. And clarified for us that the land IS posted, and that NOBODY has permission to hunt back there. So we are all about nailing these guys as soon as they show their faces again. We are now hunting THEM. We're taking license plate numbers, taking photos, whatever it takes to make them go away. Dave bought some new Posted signs last night that are going up today.
Woohoo!!!