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You can, but should you?

So today, at lunch, I shot over to some new DCR pieces I'm excited about and have done some work in. I've got a good handle on one, the other has a lot of promise, but likely will take a few years to really dial - at least for my skill set.

Any way, while looking for a spot to put a cam on a run with several old rubs from previous years where deer work over and around a rocky knob, I see something. So I look - it's a can of buck bomb, probably from last year, maybe a few years ago. Also today, about a quarter to third of a mile away from that spot, I found an old lawn chair clearly set up for hunting against a hemlock tree looking out over a little valley. One the other spot, I've found some stuff like this too.

Now, if this was state forest or previously legal DCR it would be annoying, but at least it was huntable. This land has not been legally huntable for decades, and people could not have messed up and just gotten 50yds over the edge - as it's well marked property lines and CLEARLY has big giant DCR signs that still have "No Hunting" on them. (I've checked, it's newly legal they just havent gotten to the signs yet...)

It hit me, that unless you lived against this land, you couldn't have hunted it, any town PD or bird watcher or EPO or DCR officer (of which many are always around this area) would have noticed the car/truck parked and checked it out. I just dont believe someone would "accidentally" hunt this.

So if you lived in a spot, where you very very likely, could have shot out your back door into the woods and hunted a big bit of land that was illegal, would you do it - knowing it's probable you would never be caught?

For a second, I found myself thinking: "Ok, I get it, you live on this nice country road, there is a zero % chance of someone seeing you going out or coming back, so I guess I get the temptation..." But that quickly hits "I'd always be a little nervous, and I'd feel like I'm teaching my kids that it's ok to do something, even if it's not legal or ok, when you think you wont get caught." And the latter sucks in my opinion.

I suspect from knowing you guys a little that I know your answer... But what would you do? Hunt the off limits land because you could get away with it, or no?

Second to that, I pondered if I should talk to DCR or EPO's to discuss. Given the land is now 100% legal to anyone with a DCR permit, it's seems a moot point. Am I correct there, or should I, as my wife noted, let someone know what I found given it's newly legal ?

legally there is nothing that can be done about the person illegally hunting unless caught in the act with photos or some other very hard evidence. so I wouldn't bother saying anything. you never know...maybe it was a wildlife photog trying to get pics of a rutting buck? :)

personally I'm a rule follower by nature (except for speeding), so no, I wouldn't hunt it.

I hunt almost all public land archery only limited draw. Every new property I hunt I see hunter sign, and have poacher upset I am legally hunting “their” spot.

I had a great place in Hingham. I set up the first day we could, and this guy is all pissed because this is “his spot”. Mind you he poached there for years before it was open and now I am supposed to move my legal permitted stand to respect his poaching spot? Hell no.

This has happened at least 6 times on first year properties. Poachers mad at the hunters who went through the hoops to legally hunt.

GED - that stinks. It will be interesting to see what I encounter here when the season turns on... Mid October come soon please!

Will

No, you shouldn't. I knew what your answer would be before you wrote it Will, that's just the kinda guy you are. I would not willingly break any hunting laws, but it did get me to thinking about a couple of my spots were the line between state and private owned is difficult to decipher. This is my own personal perspective, if it isn't posted, and it's legal to hunt , I put boots on the ground and scout. If I find good sign, and not much sign of hunting activity, I hunt it. If I run into the owner or someone who has permission and doesn't want others hunting, I move to another spot. It's just that simple, I hunt the way I live my life, respect others, and be considerate. Remember that golden rule thing? I still think that's a pretty good rule. The funny part is, I won't rat though , that's probably just the Eastie in me! Lol. Should I be asking for permission on private land? Maybe, but that's a moral argument, not a legal one. The same way that I wont judge the old guy sitting in his lawn chair across the street from his house in those woods, I wouldn't want someone judging me for sitting, or saddling ;-) , in a tree on private land , but that's just me. ,Bryan

I would not hunt it if I could get in trouble. So if illegal to hunt, I don't do it. I looked at a house where the back yard ended in the forest, but next to Sharon and not legal to hunt. So I would have needed AL my neighbors to sign authorization and still could only hunt my back yard. To much risk for breaking the law. So I bought a house that the land end at legally huntable land. I still get animals in my back yard out of hunting season and my kids say "daddy go shoot them." I then tell them the law and how we have to follow it. That just happened last Monday. I had a doe in my back yard. I think we all are responsible hunters and teach it down. We, I mean on this site. I guess it's just good practice.

Hunting is pretty much a religious experience for me. I treasure that time. There is no way I’m going to spoil it by looking over my shoulder. 100% legal, or nothing at all.

I appreciate the ideas guys, and the affirmation.

I was gonna answer this but after reading Eastie's response I'll just say "Yeah, what he said"

If its now legal land , no need to report the past evidence.

If I was able to hunt in my back yard and others were hunting posted land illegally ,close by ,then it is time to talk with them if you can find them. That is , if they are disrupting your private land back yard legal hunting.

If it is a no hunting town then its a question of what is a higher law in ones mind. Are the animals that we share ,co -own,as citizens of the Commonwealth ,being protected in a way as to deprive us of our state constitutional rights? If so then it is a question of what to do about that.

If I had the land abutting posted land , I would develop my land in order to bring them in to my private space. If that is an option. If someone is cutting off that option illegally then it is time to stop them.

I would Need More info to answer more specifically.

Meh, what Pi. Said, but I'd give myself about a 20 yard margin or so if I was on private land abutting, lets say conservation land. Aside from that, if it's no hunting, it's no hunting. That's thousands in fines and lost license indefinitely. Additionally, you don't want to give any LEOs an excuse to take your FID away.

Pi, broadly, it's state land that has been "No hunting" and basically minimal legal uses outside walking for decades (like 4-6 decades I believe, potentially more). Based on location, an abutting land owner would have to be at least 2-300 yds into the no hunting area, or as much as a half mile, depending on where they came from. There is no realistically (IE, beyond 500 foot setback from neighbors) private land for quite a way's that would be big enough for someone to have "accidentally" got to where the stuff described in my first post was located.

Either someone likes to watch deer... or was hunting them illegally. I'd put a really solid estimate on that.

I get that Will. Would I have hunted it when it was off limits? No, But on the edge of it if I could. And I would have scouted it if that was an option for the reason you have found. Now that its legal, yup, if its good ground. But it is discouraging to find some land that was supposed to be closed to hunting, just to find out it has been invaded.

I had a spot on the RI-MA State line boundary. Bordering a reservoir. No trespassing, hunting or anything allowed ... POSTED and FENCED. Local People walked in with dogs, kids on bikes, hunters and who knows what else. It was perfect on paper ... until I found that people were going deep into the forbidden zone and cutting off the natural flow. From a parking spot up the road. A lot of great bucks came out of there and the temptation must have gotten the better of them. It was still a great pinch point but that intrusion "up the line" really made it tougher hunting. It happens.

There were likely poachers in the past in your spot. The evidence is there... People should not be keeping/leaving their crap in the woods if they don't own it. **it happens.

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